● Travel and tourism’s cultural sector had to recover from “a devastating 2020” that saw museum visitorship drop a precipitous 77 percent … and 2021 posed its own set of challenges: while vaccination programs were rolled out and travel restrictions were eased, COVID-19 and its variants persisted, claiming more lives than in 2020. “But compared to the pandemic’s first year, museums globally stayed open for more days in 2021, paving the way for a recovery that’s been cautious at best,” Jing Culture & Commerce said in a recent article, which also cited The Art Newspaper and its latest ranking of the world’s most popular institutions. Read complete article here.
● New from TravelAbility (www.travelability.net) is Accessible Journeys, a quarterly consumer magazine, produced by TravelAbility and Melange Magazines. Travelability is also producer of the upcoming Emerging Markets Summit being held June 5-7, 2022 at the Hilton Orlando, near the Orlando Convention Center and the U.S. Travel Association’s IPW, which is being staged June 4-8, 2022. Learn more about the publication and the trade show here: www.travelability.net.
● From CNN: “Ralf Teckentrup, Condor’s CEO, said in a statement that the colorful stripes are the airline’s ‘new trademark.’ Accordingly, it’s not just Condor’s exterior that’s been reimagined. Condor’s logo on its social media account is now emblazoned with stripes, while boarding passes and inflight items like blankets are being reimagined. Condor promises crew uniforms will also ‘shine in the new design,’ with more details and photos to come.”
● Travel Alberta has appointed KBC PR & Marketing as UK in-market representative. Effective April 1, 2022, UK-based KBC assumed responsibility for Travel Alberta’s travel trade sales and marketing activities in the UK, with a brief to build awareness of the province’s tourism experiences. “We are excited to work with KBC to inspire UK visitors to experience Alberta,” said Tannis Gaffney, chief marketing officer with Travel Alberta, adding, “The UK is key to Alberta’s tourism recovery strategy as travel roadblocks are removed and the world competes for pent-up demand.” The agency adds travel trade representation for Alberta to its client portfolio which also includes the Utah Office of Tourism, the Great American West, Explore Georgia, the Florida Keys & Key West, Destination British Columbia and the U.S. Travel Association. Click here for complete article.
● The operator of Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport—JFKIAT—has launched a Selfie Station, an experiential pop-up activation conceived in collaboration with Harlem and Brooklyn-based entrepreneurs. The venture features original brands Project 96, Bag Shop NYC, and Against Medical Advice, and their unique perspective of New York while incorporating elements of their own brand identities. But you should get there right away, as The Selfie Station, which is located at Gate B27, will be there through April 29. Bag Shop NYC, also featured in the Selfie Station, is a reusable bag brand whose designs are inspired by iconic New York City imagery. More information here.
● Pre-Summer Splurge of Hiring at TUI: In what is, perhaps, a sure sign that the pandemic-shattered travel and tourism economy is on its way to recovery, the TUI Group—it is Europe’s largest tour operator—has said that it is planning to recruit 1,500 people across Europe, including 1,000 resort jobs in holiday destinations. Sybille Reiß, a member of TUI’s executive board, said of the move: “TUI has continued to invest in the digitalization of its own processes and products during the pandemic. “We expect summer 2022 bookings to return close to normalized summer 2019 levels and are now expanding our teams in the areas of digitalization and destinations to continue writing our success story after two years of the pandemic. After all, it is our colleagues who make us one of the leading tourism companies in the world.” Among the many articles on the subject is this from Travel Gossip.
● USA Holidays for Brits Could Come from Someone’s Kitchen: The UKs largest independent travel agent Hays Travel, which has more than 450 branches and sends thousands of Brits on their holidays to the USA, plans to increase the number of its those who are part of its homeworking division by 25 percent next year—after it increased its size by the same number over the past year. In fact, as reported in Travel Weekly UK, the homeworking division has enjoyed growth of 64 percent since 2019, when it had 269 homeworkers. It now has 442 agents. One reason for the increase in the division’s numbers was the acquisition last year of Explorer Travel and its 70 or so homeworkers. Click here for the complete article.
