Category Archives: Travel

Japan urges Australians to head off the beaten track as record numbers flood tourist hotspots

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About 807,800 Australians visited Japan between January and November last year, nearly 200,000 more than the previous record in 2019

Japan’s tourism board has urged holidaymakers to swap Tokyo and Kyoto for towns in Tohoku and Kanazawa as Australian tourists flood Japan’s cities in record numbers.

About 807,800 Australians visited Japan between January and November last year, nearly 200,000 more than the previous record in 2019, according to provisional estimates from the Japan National Tourism Organisation (JNTO).

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Laos bans sale and consumption of vodka and whisky brand following suspected mass methanol poisoning

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Ban comes after two Australian teenagers, two Danish citizens, an American and a Briton became ill, and later died, after drinking in Vang Vieng

Lao authorities have banned the sale and consumption of a brand of whisky and vodka after the death of six tourists from a suspected mass methanol poisoning this month.

According to Smartraveller, the Australian government’s travel advice website, the drinks Tiger vodka and Tiger whisky have been prohibited by the Laos government due to “concerns about these products being a health risk”.

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Wales may introduce visitor levy for people staying overnight

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Proposal would give councils option to charge 75p-£1.25 a night to help alleviate pressure on local services

People who stay in Wales overnight, including children, are set to be charged a visitor levy under a scheme that could raise up to £33m a year to be ploughed back into tourism and culture.

All visitors would be charged 75p a night to stay in campsites and hostels and £1.25 for all other accommodation including hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets.

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Millions of tourists in UK could be asked to pay local visitor levy

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Councils, politicians and campaigners hope a ‘tourist tax’ would raise money to fund services in areas affected by high visitor numbers

Millions of tourists to the UK could soon be asked to pay a local visitor levy as cash-strapped councils try to raise money to fund services.

Nearly half of Scotland’s local councils are considering a mandatory levy on overnight stays, known as a tourist tax, to help cope with a surge in visitors that has overwhelmed places such as Skye, the Callanish stones on Lewis and Orkney’s neolithic sites.

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Arthur Frommer, budget travel guide innovator, dies aged 95

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Europe on 5 Dollars a Day author revolutionized leisure travel and built one of best-known names in travel industry

Arthur Frommer, whose Europe on 5 Dollars a Day guidebooks revolutionized leisure travel by convincing average Americans to take budget vacations abroad, has died. He was 95.

Frommer died from complications of pneumonia, his daughter Pauline Frommer said Monday.

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Minister pledges better protection for UK airline passengers

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Louise Haigh says she hopes to ensure a repeat of the air traffic control failure of August 2023 never happens again

Airline passengers will benefit from tougher enforcement of consumer protection laws following an inquiry into the August 2023 air traffic control meltdown, transport secretary Louise Haigh has said.

She said she wants to ensure “all passengers feel confident when they fly”.

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New Zealand airport causes stir with sign capping goodbye cuddles to 3 minutes

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Dunedin airport boss says the move is designed to keep traffic flowing in drop-off zones and enable ‘others to have hugs’

Hugging your loved ones goodbye could land you in trouble at a New Zealand airport should your embrace linger too long.

The international airport in Dunedin, a city in the South Island, has introduced a three minute cap on cuddles, as part of a broader effort to improve safety and keep traffic flowing at its drop-off zone.

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Controversial Sydney airport slot system faces government crackdown

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Carriers that cancel flights to block competition could face civil penalties in move against Qantas-Virgin duopoly

Airlines that strategically cancel flights to block competition at Sydney airport could face civil penalties as the Albanese government moves to crack down on the Qantas-Virgin duopoly.

A new bill, to be introduced on Wednesday, will focus on Sydney airport’s controversial slot allocation system, which restricts the airport to 80 takeoffs and landings per hour – known as slots. An overnight curfew to minimise noise further limits flight numbers.

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Stranded cruise ship finally leaves Belfast for round-the-world voyage

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Villa Vie Odyssey passengers spent four months stuck in Northern Ireland while their vessel underwent repairs

The luxury cruise liner stranded in Belfast for four months has finally set sail after three days marooned in Belfast Lough.

By 8pm the Marine Traffic website showed the Villa Vie Odyssey skirting the Isle of Man, apparently on its original course to Brest in France. Six hours after raising anchor, the company issued a statement confirming the ship was on the way to France at the start of what it described as “an extraordinary journey”. There was no explanation for the delay.

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Stranded luxury cruise ship still stuck off coast of Northern Ireland

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Villa Vie Odyssey set sail on three-and-a-half-year voyage on Monday after repairs but departure delayed again

The luxury cruise liner stranded in Belfast for four months remains anchored off the coast of Northern Ireland after two failed attempts to finally set sail on a round-the-world voyage.

The Villa Vie Odyssey was originally due to embark on a “perpetual” three-and-a-half-year trip on 30 May but was marooned after requiring repairs, leaving passengers stranded in Belfast over summer.

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‘Perpetual’ cruise to leave Belfast after passengers wait four months in port

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Travellers finally board Villa Vie Odyssey for three-and-a-half-year global circumnavigation

More than 100 passengers are due to finally leave Belfast on Monday on a three-year round-the-world “perpetual” cruise after being marooned unexpectedly in the city for four months.

They were supposed to have set sail from the legendary Harland and Wolff dockyards in Belfast, best known as the home of the Titanic, on 30 May.

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Indonesia puts moratorium on new Bali hotels amid overtourism fears

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Concern has been growing in the popular tourist destination about the strain that visitors place on the local infrastructure, environment and culture

Indonesia will suspend the construction of new hotels in some areas of Bali, amid fears about overdevelopment of one of its most famous tourist destinations.

Tourism has rebounded in Bali after the Covid pandemic, but there is growing concern about the strain visitors are placing on local infrastructure, the environment, and culture.

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New Zealand to nearly triple tourist tax for international visitors

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Australian tourists will be exempt from the NZ$100 levy which critics say will deter travellers

New Zealand will nearly triple entry fees for tourists, the government has said, spurring criticism from the key tourism sector that the higher levy will deter visitors.

The government said in a statement on Tuesday it would increase the international visitor and conservation and tourism fees starting on 1 October to NZ$100 ($61.85) from NZ$35 to “ensure visitors contribute to public services and high-quality experiences while visiting New Zealand.”

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Thrush hour: study suggests birdsong can ease commuter stress

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Research for South Western Railway finds passengers who listened to natural soundscapes reported 35% reduction in stress levels

At the end of summer even adults suffer that “back to school” feeling as they resume stressful commutes on packed trains. But instead of listening to a podcast or music, opting for a nature soundtrack of birdsong or waterfalls could be the key to a “zen” commute, according to a study.

The research, undertaken by South Western Railway (SWR) on one of its trains and analysed by Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, measured the impact of listening to nature soundscapes on passengers’ stress levels and relaxation.

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Border Force staff at Heathrow to take strike action for most of September

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Union says forced changes to working hours and practices have most harmed those with caring responsibilities

Hundreds of Border Force officers at Heathrow will take industrial action for 23 days from the end of the month over a long-running dispute about changes to their terms of employment.

About 650 members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union will go on strike from 31 August to 3 September at which point a period of work to rule – where no overtime is undertaken and no extra work is done beyond what is contractually required – will begin and continue until 22 September.

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Tuesday briefing: How Copenhagen is helping tourists go green

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In today’s newsletter: As visitors overwhelm Venice, Barcelona and other famous cities, a model rewarding travellers for being more responsible could inspire other municipalities

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Good morning. Today we’re taking a little trip to Copenhagen to explore a new pilot initiative designed to reward tourists for “climate-friendly actions”. The CopenPay scheme has been designed to encourage visitors to act a bit more responsibly and think about their impact on the environment during trips to the Danish capital.

In return for small environmental actions – like cycling to attractions or fishing litter out of the canals – visitors have been rewarded with small gifts such as free ice-cream and museum tours.

Climate crisis | Hot weather inflamed by carbon pollution killed nearly 50,000 people in Europe last year, with the continent warming at a much faster rate than other parts of the world, research has found. Heat-related mortality was highest in Greece, with 393 deaths per million people.

Ukraine | Ukrainian forces have captured 1,000 sq km (386 square miles) of Russia’s bordering Kursk region, Kyiv’s top commander has claimed, as Vladimir Putin vowed a “worthy response” to the attack. 121,000 people have fled the region since the incursion began.

UK news | A shop security guard has described how he overpowered a knifeman as he stabbed an 11-year-old girl and her mother, 34, in a “horrific” and apparently random attack in London’s busy Leicester Square in front of shocked workers and tourists.

UK news | A “series of errors and misjudgments” in Valdo Calocane’s mental health care led to him being discharged, despite repeatedly not taking medication and showing signs of aggression, months before he killed three people in Nottingham, a report says. The Care Quality Commission warned of “systemic issues with community mental health care”.

Technology | Labour MPs have begun quitting X in alarm over the platform’s direction, with one saying Elon Musk had turned it into “a megaphone for foreign adversaries and far-right fringe groups”. Meanwhile, Donald Trump gave a rambling interview to Musk on the platform that was marred with technical issues initially preventing many users from watching the conversation.

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Labor ignored Bonza’s plea for help, as questions linger over what transport officials knew and when

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Exclusive: Documents reveal what transport minister Catherine King was advised to say in public as budget Australian airline headed for collapse

The Albanese government turned down a plea from budget airline Bonza for financial assistance 10 days before it entered voluntary administration and ultimately collapsed, and new documents have questioned what transport department officials knew and when.

Documents obtained by Guardian Australia through freedom of information laws reveal the transport department prepared a brief on Bonza’s financial assistance request for the transport minister, Catherine King, on 20 April. Ten days later the airline’s planes were repossessed and thousands of passengers stranded across the country.

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Japan cracks down on use of rideable electric suitcases amid tourist boom

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Use of the motorised luggage which is popular in parts of Asia, require safety equipment and a driver’s licence, according to Japanese law

As record numbers of tourists flock to Japan to take advantage of the weakness of the Japanese yen, some are running into trouble with authorities thanks to the growing popularity of motorised, rideable suitcases.

Two major Japanese airports have already asked travellers not to ride motorised suitcases within their facilities, according to Kyodo news agency, while police are urging domestic retailers to warn customers of the strict laws concerning their use.

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Extreme heat poses ‘real risk’ to Spain’s mass tourism industry

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Public health adviser says higher temperatures caused by climate crisis pose danger for visitors not used to them

The climate emergency poses a “real risk” to Spain’s traditional mass tourist model as rising temperatures and more frequent heatwaves hit the country’s most popular coastal destinations, a senior public health adviser has warned.

Héctor Tejero, the head of health and climate change at Spain’s health ministry, said the increasingly apparent physical impacts of the climate emergency had already led the ministry to begin talks with the British embassy on how best to educate “vulnerable” tourists about coping with the heat.

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Flights hit at Frankfurt and Oslo airports as climate protests continue

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Service at Germany’s busiest airport gradually resuming as ‘oil kills’ protests spread from Europe to North America

Climate activists have disrupted flights at Frankfurt and Oslo airports on the second day of coordinated “oil kills” protests across Europe and North America.

Demanding an end to fossil fuels by 2030, supporters of Letzte Generation (Last Generation) briefly suspended flights at Frankfurt airport on Thursday morning. The activists said they had cut a wire fence, entered on bicycles and skateboards and glued themselves to the tarmac.

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