Egypt officially opened a road lined with hundreds of 3,000-year-old sphinx statues in an evening ceremony at Karnak Temple featuring Pharaonic chariots and hundreds of performers in Luxor on November 25, 2021.
The nearly 3km (1.86 miles) ancient road, which took decades to excavate, will help improve access between the temples of Karnak and Luxor.It’s taken decades to excavate ancient walkway, which is nearly 3km long and connects two of the city’s greatest temples.The ceremony incorporated elements of the ancient festival which travelled the route each year. It also included music inspired by stories written on the walls of the temples in hieroglyphics. Egypt hopes the event will boost its ailing tourism sector, battered by political turmoil and the pandemic.
Link: https://www.nbcnews.com/video/ancient-egypt-s-avenue-of-sphinxes-reopens-in-luxor-with-spectacular-celebrations-127190085881?fbclid=IwAR1Iv1F_FOcwSi-4pvajqbDktHnB86OQDBHUzRow21rRuQzc5Igoo2TXn_E
Monuments historiques et spectacles vivantsLe président du Comité des Jeux olympiques, Tony Estanguet parle d’un “projet participatif ouvert avec des valeurs humaines très fortes”. Six kilomètres de croisière entre monuments historiques et spectacles vivants. Le projet et beau reste à régler des problèmes de sécurité un véritable défi face à tant d’affluence espérée.https://www.francetvinfo.fr/…/paris-2024-les-jeux…
Plus de 600 000 spectateurs sont attendus pour célébrer les Jeux dans la capitale française en 2024. Le comité d’organisation des Jeux Olympiques 2024 a présenté lundi les grandes lignes de la cérémonie d’ouverture des JO de Paris. Comme prévu, celle-ci se déroulera sur la Seine entre le pont d’Austerlitz et le pont d’Iéna. Ce sont les athlètes qui, aux alentours de 20 heures le 26 juillet 2024, donneront le coup d’envoi de la cérémonie en défilant sur la Seine.
Plus de 160 barges seront louées pour transporter sur 6 km les 10 500 athlètes et membres de délégation pour la première cérémonie de l’histoire des Jeux (hors celle des Jeux Olympiques de la Jeunesse à Buenos Aires en 2018) à se dérouler en dehors d’un stade. 600 000 spectateurs sont attendus tout au long du parcours pour acclamer les athlètes et les spectacles qui seront proposés sur des bateaux ou certains ponts tout au long du parcours.
Arrivée des athlètes place du Trocadéro
Des gradins seront installés sur les quais bas et d’autres ponts dont l’accès sera payant. Le spectacle sera en revanche gratuit pour les spectateurs qui auront pris place sur les quais hauts. Quatre-vingt écrans géants sonorisés seront répartis tout au long du parcours pour une cérémonie appelée à durer 3h30′.
La partie spectacle aura lieu à des endroits fixes du parcours ou sur de bateaux qui descendront le fleuve.
L’arrivée des athlètes se fera place du Trocadéro où sera installée la tribune officielle qui doit accueillir 120 chefs d’État ou de gouvernement.
Le lieu et le cérémonial d’allumage de la flamme n’ont pas encore été déterminés.
TRAVEL NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
BA THREATENS TO CUT HEATHROW FLIGHTS OVER AIRPORT FEE ROW
Airport plans massive 76% fee increase. “Hiking charges will not help. It will not attract demand – it will have the opposite effect. If the rise in landing charges goes ahead, I know IAG will not be alone in reconsidering our airlines’ use of Heathrow.” The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) plans to allow the airport to lift the normal cap on the airport’s average charge per passenger by up to 76%.
TRAVEL COVID TESTS COULD BE SCRAPPED BY EARLY 2022
Policy up for review in January. Hoping the aviation industry will ‘bounce back’ in the coming months, he told industry leaders the testing policy will be reviewed in early January. “We’re going to review the policy. We’ll be looking to see what we can do at that stage,” he said at the Airlines 2021 conference. The government has reportedly formulated a Covid exit plan to end self-isolation and testing by next spring. Dubbed Operation Rampdown, it is part of an extensive review of the current ‘test, trace and isolate’ policy by the Health Security Agency. The 160-page leaked dossier looks at scrapping self-isolation and ass testing as Covid will be ‘endemic’ for years, health experts say. These protocols will be rolled back by next April, according to a government source.
Link: https://www.travelmole.com/news/destination/government-reportedly-reviewing-covid-exit-strategy/
REFUND CREDIT NOTES (RCNS): BRITISH HOLIDAYMAKERS URGED TO ‘USE IT OR LOSE IT
Still £132 million worth of unused vouchers
TRADE GROUPS CALL FOR EU TRAVEL POLICY ALIGNMENT
Governments must coordinate their responses. Travel industry groups across Europe are urging member states to align and coordinate in their responses to the current Covid situation sweeping across Europe. A broad group of travel and tourism stakeholders called on governments to better coordinate and their heath and travel policy responses to avoid re-imposing restrictions. It cites the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which states that in the current situation, travel restrictions are ineffective in reducing virus transmission, hospitalisations, or deaths. They claim limiting border crossings would indeed not carry any public health benefit.
Up to 900,000 jobs could be lost across the EU’s tourism sector this year if travel restrictions are re-imposed this winter, citing WTTC data. It says European tourism cannot function with ‘inconsistent and constantly changing national approaches.’
“Coordination is the only solution to protect the sector from the effects of prolonged uncertainty in Europe.”
The lobby groups are calling for a number of measures including move towards an individual risk-based approach, rather than the current country-to-country approach. Member states should urgently adopt a common and fully aligned approach on the eligibility as well as timing of booster doses.
The groups, made up of Airlines for Europe, CLIA, WTTC, European Travel Commission and others, also want national governments to support the full digitalisation of the verification process by providing a simple ‘okay to travel’ message as part of the online check-in process.
www.travelmole.com/news
HOLLAND
Partial lockdown in the Netherlands is set to last three weeks. Restaurants, bars and essential shops must by 8 pm and non-essential stores and other services by 6 pm. A second night of protests took place in The Hague at the weekend. There were protests in Belgium with police firing tear gas and water cannon at crowds, while an estimated 40,000 people took to the streets of Vienna to protest.
AUSTRIA
A nationwide partial lockdown commences in Austria on Monday. Austria upped the ante and has imposed a full national Covid-19 lockdown starting on Monday. It comes days after the government decided to lockdown only the unvaccinated. It is extended to a full national lockdown for up to 20 days. Additionally, everyone must get vaccinated by 1 February 2022, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said. Austria has record infections and one of the lowest vaccination rates in Western Europe. People are asked to work from home, and on-essential stores will close.
GERMANY
CHRISTMAS MARKETS SCRAPPED IN GERMANY . German states Bavaria and Saxony are cancelling all Christmas markets due to of surging Covid infections. “The situation is very, very serious and difficult,” Bavaria Premier Markus Soder said. Restrictions will amount to a ‘de facto lockdown ‘for unvaccinated people. He also called for mandatory vaccinations. The state of Saxony also announced public restrictions to start Monday the closure of Christmas markets. It includes one of Germany’s largest festive markets in Dresden. Link: https://www.travelmole.com/news/destination/christmas-markets-scrapped-in-germany/
CROATIA, ITALY, SWITZERLAND, IRELAND, GUADELOUPE
Thousands protested in Zagreb, Croatia over the mandatory use of Covid passports to enter public buildings. Violent protests in Milan and Rome saw clashes with police for the same reason. other demonstrations occurred in Switzerland, Northern Ireland and even the French Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe.
ASTE OF PARIS 2021.50 Chefs, Various Culinary Creations at Max. 12 Euro.A four day festival where you can sample some of the most delicious food in Paris in taster sized portions, served by the chefs themselves at their pop-up restaurants. Whether Michelin-starred, trend setters or future young talents, Taste of Paris warmly welcomes today’s most sought-after chefs to bring you a gourmet experience to remember.
Link: https://paris.tastefestivals.com/en/
https://youtu.be/QQlnz56TnAI
Following Alitalia’s cease of operations on October 15, Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) will replace the state-owned airline and will start flying from that date. As reported by Reuters, Italy reached a deal with the European Commission after months of haggling over the fate of the failing airline. ITA was originally intended to begin operations as soon as April 2021.
A key portion of the negotiation was focused on ensuring ITA was independent of Alitalia, so that it was not liable for paying back billions of euros the old carrier had received in state aid. The new airline said in a statement it will aim to raise initial capital of roughly $826 million in order to buy assets from the old company and begin operating.
Another result of the negotiations is that ITA will inherit only part of Alitalia’s flight slots, which are a major asset and proved a major sticking point in the talks. Specifically, the airline will receive 85 percent of the Alitalia slots at Milan Linate Airport and 43 percent at Rome–Fiumicino International Airport.
ITA will initially operate a fleet of 52 aircraft, seven of which are wide-body and used for longer-haul routes. The number is expected to increase to 105 aircraft (including 23 wide-body) by 2025. Eighty-one of these aircraft will be new generation, having replaced the older technology.
At the start of operations, the airline will serve 45 destinations with 61 routes, which will rise to 74 destinations and 89 routes in 2025. In the winter 2021 season, ITA will operate routes to New York (from Rome and Milan), Tokyo, Boston and Miami (all three from Rome). In summer 2022, the company plans to launch new flights to Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, São Paulo and Buenos Aires. Short and medium-haul flights will include those to Paris, London, Athens, Madrid, Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt and Geneva, along with Tel Aviv, Cairo, Tunis and Algiers.
Of the 11,000 Alitalia staff, between 2,750 and 2,950 will be employed in the ITA’s aviation unit this year, rising to 5,550-5,700 by 2025.
Air France #AF342 A350-900 is partially using used cooking oil as fuel from Paris to Montreal.At 3:40 p.m. today (18 May 2021), Air France Flight 342 took off from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport’s Terminal 2E for Montreal with its tanks filled for the first time with sustainable aviation fuel produced in Total’s French plants.Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) is a blend of conventional aviation fuel (JET-A1) and biojet fuel made from waste and residue sourced from the circular economy (animal fat, used cooking oil, etc.).The biofuel used for this flight was made from waste and residue sourced from the circular economy. Total produced the SAF from used cooking oil at its La Mède biorefinery in southern France and at its Oudalle factory near Le Havre, without using any virgin plant-based oil.
(From LtoR) Air France-KLM Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Smith, Air France CEO Anne Rigail,Total Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne, French Group ADP (Aeroports de Paris) Chief Executive Officer Augustin de Romanet, Total Aviation head Paul Mannes and Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport head Marc Houalla pose at Roissy airport on May 18, 2021, prior to the take off of the first Air France jet long-haul aircraft fueled with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) produced by French energy group Total. (Photo by Eric PIERMONT / AFP)
Some Hotels (Marriott International, Omni, Pullman, Others) are partnering with Tech Providers to offer New Hybrid Meeting Solutions.
During the Covid era, Hybrid meetings have become an essential way for meeting. Event professionals will have to provide an immersive, engaging experience that integrates both virtual participation and in-person experiences through technology.
Marriott has hosted “Connect with Confidence” meetings for its customers using the latest hybrid meeting technology. The most recent event included 100 in-person attendees and 800 virtual attendees at Gaylord Rockies Resort and Convention Center in January 2021. The attendees were given information about planning and implementing an in-person event incorporating cleanliness protocols, physical and social distancing, redesigned food and beverage, contactless check-in, well-being checks, occupancy monitoring, and more. Survey results from this event, according to Marriott, revealed that 51% of meeting and event professionals are planning to host a hybrid event within the next 6 to 12 months.
The “Connect with Confidence” event announced the introduction of optional health protocols including COVID-19 testing. The event implemented many of the protocols, which meeting and event professionals will be able to incorporate into their own group meetings at Marriott hotels in the U.S. and Canada beginning in March 2021.
Link: https://meetingspotlight.com/article/marriott-international-partners-providers-new-hybrid-meeting-solutions?
(Image: Eerste-livecongres-van-Nederland-met-100-gasten-een-feit-©-Patrick-van-Katwijk-v2 (1))
Accords between Greece, Cyprus and Israel allowing citizens with Covid-19 vaccination certificates to travel unimpeded between the three countries have been hailed as a possible first step towards normalising tourism during the next phase of the pandemic.
The prospect of people being able to move freely in the age of coronavirus received a concrete boost last week.
The agreement is expected to come into effect by 1 April.
Like Greece, the Mediterranean island’s economy is heavily reliant on tourism….
Mitsotakis’s proposal was initially met with scepticism by the EU amid fears it could be perceived as discriminatory. But in an indication that the idea may be gaining traction the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said on Monday he believed coronavirus certificates might be “very much in the mix down the road”.
“I think inevitably there will be great interest in ideas like: can you show you’ve had a vaccination against Covid in the way that sometimes you have to show you’ve had a vaccination against yellow fever or other diseases in order to travel somewhere” Johnson told reporters.
For more details, please click on the link:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/15/post-covid-tourism-hopes-buoyed-by-deal-between-greece-cyprus-and-israel
In Brief:
For Lebanese Travellers, settlement in Cash (Green Bills). For other:
1. Prices to Zigzag
2. Health & Vaccination Records – a Must
3. Masks Mandatory
4. Domestic and Near-Home Travels
In Details:
What type of traveler will you be?
Add to the below for Lebanese, to travel you will need CASH, loads of Green bills.
Grounded fliers should see plenty of change this year on prices, mask rules and rewards programs—if pandemic conditions improve
We can’t know the one thing we all want to know about travel in 2021: When can we confidently start traveling again safely? As we’ve seen lately, uncertainty continues with developments like the new variant of Covid-19 and slower vaccine distribution. But there’s a lot we can know about travel in the new year. Here are some predictions:
1. Get Ready for Prices to Zigzag
Airlines will respond to increases in demand for seats with higher prices much faster than they can get more flights into schedules. There’s tons of pent-up demand, and when it spills out into bookings, prices in some markets will surge.
Hotels in prime destinations will seem maddeningly expensive. Downtown luxury business hotels will stay especially cheap, since their core business travelers won’t be coming back in droves yet.
2. Health Records Become a Standard Part of Flying
Expect health records to become mandatory for international air travel, just like passports. That means vaccination records or recent test results. There are already several competing standards for technology—you’ll have your paperwork on your phone or loaded into your airline reservation….Covid-19 vaccination might be required for many years to come.
3. The Frequent-Flier Free-For-All
There will be a mad scramble for top-level frequent-flier status in the second half of 2021. Expect airlines to offer expensive ways to purchase your status if you don’t requalify.…The catch is now you do have to requalify this year for status in 2022. …Year 2022, which may be the year they really plan to travel a lot more.
4. The Mask Mandate Arrives
Bet on the Biden administration imposing a federal air-travel mask mandate. On masks, federal fines and penalties likely would force more compliance.
5. Recovery Starts Closer to Home
Domestic travel will be where airlines see some recovery this year. International travel will remain deeply depressed.
Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/what-to-expect-from-travel-in-2021-if-anything-11609941849?st=v2fb3h23wbkkw1m&mod=sbacq