Fujikawaguchiko town official says choice to erect huge barrier is ‘regrettable’ and last resort
A huge barrier to block views of Mount Fuji will be installed at a popular photo spot by Japanese authorities exasperated by crowds of badly behaved foreign tourists.
Construction of the mesh net – 2.5 metres (8ft) high and the length of a cricket pitch at 20 metres – will begin as early as next week, an official from Fujikawaguchiko town said on Friday.
Continue reading...Passengers numbers this year predicted to hit 82.4m but airport’s future uncertain, with proposed £6bn sale in doubt
Heathrow is expecting its busiest ever summer holiday season but faces uncertainty over its long-term future as the proposed £6bn sale of the UK’s biggest airport remains in doubt.
The airport said on Wednesday that the summer getaway this year was expected to be “the busiest on record” and promised to have “robust” plans in place to keep the airport “running smoothly”, even if staff strikes held last year are repeated.
Continue reading...The Italian city’s attempt to help its sleep-deprived residents is denounced as a step too far
Milan’s leaders have been accused of waging war against ice-cream in their bid to combat “wild nightlife” in the northern Italian city.
Marco Granelli, the deputy mayor for public security, recently announced a proposal banning the sale of takeaway food after midnight in the city’s popular nightlife districts.
Continue reading...Yellow wind warnings issued while storms also brings hottest day of the year, reaching 20.9C in Suffolk
Dozens of UK flights were cancelled on Saturday as Storm Kathleen brought winds of up to 70mph and triggered the warmest day of the year so far.
About 140 flights departing and arriving at UK airports were cancelled, leaving travellers stranded in Edinburgh, Belfast, Manchester and Birmingham. The Met Office also issued a yellow weather warning for the north-west and south-west of England and parts of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Continue reading...Worksafe also charged World Travel Expeditions after Lachlan Cook, 16, died in hospital following health complications
A travel company and a Melbourne private school have been charged over the death of a student who became unwell on a school trip.
The Kilvington grammar school student, Lachlan Cook, 16, suffered diabetes complications during a trip to Vietnam in September 2019 and later died in hospital in Melbourne.
Continue reading...Passengers, who have since rejoined vessel, missed scheduled departure time from São Tomé and scrambled to reunite with ship
Eight cruise passengers had to scramble to reunite with their cruise ship after being left behind in São Tomé and Príncipe.
The passengers, including a pregnant woman and a paraplegic traveller, missed their scheduled departure time from the island of São Tomé in the Gulf of Guinea, about 250km off the coast of Gabon, after disembarking the Norwegian Dawn to take a local tour.
Continue reading...Bank holiday weekend and start of school holidays take place at same time, with high traffic volumes expected
Drivers are being warned to expect long delays over Easter as millions of getaway trips lead to soaring traffic volumes and congested motorways.
The RAC said that more than 14m journeys on some popular routes could take twice as long as normal, as the first bank holiday weekend of the spring coincides with the start of a two-week holiday for many schools.
Continue reading...Amid biting austerity and rising inflation, the al-Sisi government is off-loading assets – some to a convicted murderer with Emirati cash
As dusk fell over the verdant grounds of the Marriott Mena House hotel, the reflection of the Great Pyramid of Giza grew darker in a pool built to reflect the last of the seven wonders of the world.
A band played a smooth jazz rendition of the Eagles’ Hotel California on the grassy lawns as guests assembled for dinner, while the staff attempted to project a sense of business as usual, despite the hotel’s recent acquisition by an infamous Egyptian real estate tycoon, Hisham Talaat Moustafa, and two powerful Emirati conglomerates.
Continue reading...The Covid boom in pet ownership has led to operators offering plenty of pet-friendly accommodation. But is it really such a good idea?
Go on holiday without your best friend? For growing numbers of dog owners, it’s unthinkable.
Holiday operators have seen a big jump in guests booking accommodation that accepts dogs in recent months, and the trend is set to accelerate this year.
Continue reading...Offer comes as research shows half of families in UK have never holidayed abroad with grandparents
EasyJet’s holiday wing is offering “grans go free” places on trips to Europe, after research found half of families had never holidayed abroad with their grandparents.
Under the offer, one grandparent on the trip can travel free of charge to countries including Spain, Greece and Italy. The tour operator said it hoped the deal would encourage Britons to take a holiday with three generations of their family or more.
Continue reading...Access to Incan site in Peruvian Andes restored after dispute over new electronic rail ticketing system
Peruvian authorities have reopened the train route to Machu Picchu, after an agreement was struck to end more than a week of protests that had blocked access to the famed Incan site and stranded tourists.
PeruRail said in a statement a partial service had restarted on Wednesday and that a regular service would return on Thursday from the city of Cusco to Aguas Calientes, a town near the archaeological site.
Continue reading...Train services suspended due to safety concerns as people demonstrate against Peru’s consolidation of ticket sales
Protesters in Peru are blocking access to Machu Picchu, leaving some tourists stranded amid local anger over a new ticketing system halting rail transport to one of South America’s most popular heritage sites.
Train services to the ancient ruins high up in the Andes have been suspended since Saturday due to safety concerns over demonstrators blocking the railway line. Travel links were still not reopened on Monday, two tour operators told Reuters.
Continue reading...New EU entry-exit system could lead to gridlocked roads if scheme goes ahead as planned, MPs hear
Tourists heading to Europe could face waits of up to 14 hours at border controls under a scheme to be launched in October, MPs have been told.
The Port of Dover and the surrounding area could face significant disruption when the EU entry/exit system is introduced unless measures are taken to prevent delays, parliament’s European scrutiny committee has heard.
Continue reading...Damage to buildings and flying debris expected as country set to be battered by wind and rain
Storm Isha is set to batter “everybody” in the UK with wind and rain during a “rare” weather cycle, forecasters say.
Winds of up to 80mph will swoop in later on Sunday, potentially causing power cuts and loss of mobile phone signal, while roads and bridges are likely to be shut and transport services could face delays and cancellations in some areas.
Continue reading...Carrier says such sites only account for ‘small fraction’ of its bookings but move has affected load factor
Ryanair has said that it has seen a drop in the number of tickets it has been able to sell after a number of major online booking websites stripped the budget carrier’s flights from their listings.
Europe’s largest airline said that in early December “most” of the larger online travel agent sites – including Booking.com, Kiwi and Kayak – “suddenly removed Ryanair’s flights from sale on their websites”.
Continue reading...Video shows airline staff and other passengers holding a man down after disturbance on flight on Sunday
Federal police are investigating after Qantas cabin crew were forced to pin down a disruptive passenger on a flight from Bali on Sunday.
Video shows Qantas staff and other passengers holding the man down after a disturbance on a flight from Bali to Melbourne.
Continue reading...Piedmont town near French border is now best budget ski resort in Europe for adults, figures show
The ski resorts of Bulgaria have long been seen as the best option for British skiers hoping to hit the slopes on a budget. Borovets and Bansko might not have the glitz of Verbier, the after-ski buzz of St Anton, or the picturesque villages of the Trois Vallées, but as the solid, wallet-friendly option, Bulgaria has been unbeatable for more than a decade.
All that has changed, however, with the Bulgarian resorts this year being eclipsed by an unlikely budget rival: Bardonecchia in Italy. The Piedmont town, 96km from Turin and a few minutes’ drive from the border with France, is now the best value ski resort in Europe for adults, according to research.
Continue reading...Travel website apologises to partners left out of pocket, but those told they do not qualify for compensation say it adds insult to injury
Travel website Booking.com has apologised and offered some hotel operators cash compensation for leaving hotels and partners out of pocket for months, but those who have been left out of the payment say it adds insult to injury.
In an email sent out to hotel operators this week, the Booking.com chief executive, Glenn Fogel, apologised for “the impact that our finance and payment systems maintenance and the resulting delay in payments may have had on you and your business”.
Continue reading...As the website boasts about increased revenue, some partners say they have not been paid for months
Travel website Booking.com has left many hotel operators and other partners across the globe thousands of dollars out of pocket for months on end, blaming the lack of payment on a “technical issue”.
The issue is widespread in Thailand, Indonesia and Europe among hoteliers who are venting their frustrations in Facebook groups as rumours swirl about the cause of the failure to pay.
Continue reading...Airport will share 164 cancellations between airlines until Sunday as it seeks to avoid diversions
Thousands of passengers flying to and from Gatwick this week will have their flights cancelled after the airport announced a cap on movements because of a shortage of staff in air traffic control.
Gatwick imposed an immediate cap on Monday of 800 flights taking off or landing a day.
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