Tag: travel

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What to Know About Testing and Vaccine Necessities for Journey

What to Know About Testing and Vaccine Requirements for Travel

Celebrity Cruises, due to be the first U.S. cruise ship to resume operations on June 26 from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said it was optimistic that a solution would be found in time. Guests 16 and over must be vaccinated while children are tested at the terminal.

Carnival Cruises announced Monday that its first ship would set sail from the port of Galveston, Texas on July 3 and would only be available for vaccinated passengers. Norwegian, which will operate cruises from Miami starting in August, said it would request it by October 31st and has threatened to skip the ports of Florida if the state doesn’t allow cruise lines an exception to the law banning vaccination.

Christine Duffy, President of Carnival Cruise Line, said in a statement on June 7th that “the current CDC requirements for cruises with an unvaccinated guest base will make it very difficult to deliver the experience our guests have come to expect, especially given that it is the great number “. from families with younger children who sail with us. “

“So our alternative is to operate our ships from the US with vaccinated guests in July,” she said.

But even if you are vaccinated, you need to consider the requirements of the country where the cruise is disembarking. The Caribbean island of St. Maarten, for example, where Celebrity Cruises started sailing on June 5th, requires a negative test in addition to proof of vaccination.

This also depends on where you are going, but a good rule of thumb is to have your physical vaccination card (if you have one) and proof of a negative test if necessary.

Mr. Alexander, the travel agent, recommends bringing the original documents with you. While a number of digital health certificates – showing vaccine status and test results – are in the works, he said, they are not yet widely accepted. You should also check that your document is in the correct language. For example, the UK requires test results to be in English, Spanish or French.

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Vaccine journey offers? Russia plans packages to revive tourism business

Vaccine travel deals? Russia plans packages to revive tourism industry

Tourists walk along Red Square in front of St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow on November 6, 2020.

ALEXANDER NEMENOV | AFP | Getty Images

With Russia’s coronavirus shot Sputnik V sluggishly received among its own citizens, Russia is considering launching travel packages for Covid vaccinations for tourists.

Russian state news agency Tass quoted one of the country’s tourism industry leaders as saying that “vaccination prices” were ready, but that visas and entry requirements for foreign visitors were holding them back.

“The product is ready, but the issues of visa support and legal entry for foreigners who want to get the Russian vaccine have yet to be resolved,” Andrei Ignatyev, president of the Russian Union of Travel Industry (RUTI), told Tass.

The price of a three-week vaccination rate for foreigners will be anywhere from $ 1,500 to $ 2,500, excluding the airline’s expense, Ignatyev added.

Vaccine prices seem to have the blessing of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Speaking at the International Economic Forum (SPIEF) in St. Petersburg last week, Putin asked the government to examine the possibility of offering paid Covid vaccinations to foreign visitors to Russia.

Russia is keen to revitalize its tourism industry to end the Covid pandemic. Like other countries around the world, last March Russia introduced entry restrictions for almost all foreigners (with the exception of some workers), bringing tourism to a standstill. Since then, entry restrictions have been relaxed if visitors present negative Covid tests before traveling.

Immunization tourism could prove popular for people in countries struggling to get their own immunization programs off the ground. The Times of India reported last month that a Delhi-based travel agent was offering a 24-day package tour to Russia that included two shots of the Sputnik-V vaccine and a 21-day interval to allow sightseeing between vaccinations.

Slow domestic recording

Russia was the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine – its own Sputnik V – last August, but despite its rapid approval and rollout, domestic uptake of vaccination has been sluggish.

According to data compiled by Our World In Data, only 9% of the adult population are fully vaccinated so far, placing Russia behind Brazil, India, Turkey and Mexico in terms of vaccination progress.

Target market

In Europe, according to Our World In Data, over 23% of adults are now fully vaccinated. Russia will therefore look for potential vaccination tourists in the distance, said Ignatiev.

“The countries of Africa and Latin America have shown great interest in such a tourist product throughout the vaccination campaign in Russia, and RUTI has received such inquiries,” he added, according to Tass.

In late May, President Putin announced Russia would not make Covid vaccines compulsory for its citizens and said people should recognize the need to vaccinate for themselves. He also stressed that the vaccine was safe; According to peer-reviewed results from its late-stage clinical study published in February in the medical journal The Lancet, Sputnik V was found to be 91.6% effective in preventing the development of Covid-19.

“I would like to emphasize again and appeal to all of our citizens: think carefully, remember that the Russian vaccine – practice has already shown that millions (of people) have used it – is currently the most reliable and safest. ” “Said Putin. “In our country, all the conditions for a vaccination are in place.”

A poll published in March by the Russian electoral center Levada found that 62% of people did not want to receive the vaccine, with the greatest reluctance noted among 18-24 year olds.

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Can Journey Be Enjoyable Once more?

Can Travel Be Fun Again?

I took my first commercial flight in early May as travel restrictions were eased and my vaccination was working to its full potential to visit my daughter in Texas. I didn’t feel very insecure; it was psychologically uncomfortable, but I’ve always hated airports and planes. I did not eat or drink anything on board and my mask was firmly attached to my face.

Still, there was a sense of festive nostalgia associated with reclaiming heaven, a feeling I usually associate with returning to a university where I once studied or revisiting the summer of childhood. As we plunged through the clouds into the stratosphere of private sunshine so familiar to jet travelers, I felt the restless joy I discovered when I hugged friends for the first time after vaccination. The quarantine had given me extra time with my husband and son, days for writing, and the calming repetition patterns. But the outbreak was a relief nonetheless.

Despite the fear that comes with it, traveling is a relief. The things, places, and people I loved and will love have been out there all along, and I’m no longer chained to New York with a leg irons. In September I would like to return to London for a friend’s 50th birthday and see my seven English sponsored children. I have been out of the UK, where I have citizenship, longer than ever since I was 12.

The question of traveling is not just a question of fun. Travel is a necessary part of our training. The 19th century naturalist Alexander von Humboldt wrote: “No worldview is as dangerous as the worldview of those who have not seen the world.” Just as the limits of our bubbles easily drove many of us crazy during quarantine, it was devastating for many of us to be locked up in our own country. The success of any country depends on the curiosity of its citizens. If we lose that, we will lose our moral compass.

As much as I long to go elsewhere, I also enjoy welcoming people to these shores. It’s scary to walk through New York City’s great museums and not hear the noise of 100 languages. Travel is a one-way street, and let’s hope it will soon be bumper-to-bumper in both directions.

At the end of “Paradise Lost” Adam and Eve are banished from the Garden of Eden and John Milton makes no secret of their fear of displacement. But it doesn’t end on that sour note, as banishment from one place meant an opportunity to find another, however timidly that process was carried out:

She let fall some natural tears, but soon wiped them away;
The world was all before them where to choose
The place of rest and providence, the guide:
They walk hand in hand with wandering steps and slowly
This lonely path went through Eden.

So let’s go back to the pre-Covid options. When the virus is under control, we will get going with renewed vigor. The world is right before us. We can start with wandering steps and slowly, carefully, and insecurely. But remember. A year ago many of us feared going further than the grocery store; Now we’re getting an entire planet back to explore, albeit cautiously.

Andrew Solomon, professor of medical clinical psychology at Columbia University Medical Center, is the author of Far and Away: How Travel Can Change the World.

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United Airways Desires to Carry Again Supersonic Air Journey

United Airlines Wants to Bring Back Supersonic Air Travel

The era of supersonic commercial flights came to an end when the Concorde completed its last trip between New York and London in 2003, but the allure of ultrafast air travel never quite died out.

President Biden mused about supersonic flights when discussing his infrastructure plan in April. And on Thursday, United Airlines said it was ordering 15 jets that can travel faster than the speed of sound from Boom Supersonic, a start-up in Denver. The airline said it had an option to increase its order by up to 35 planes.

Boom, which has raised $270 million from venture capital firms and other investors, said it planned to introduce aircraft in 2025 and start flight tests in 2026. It expects the plane, which it calls the Overture, to carry passengers before the end of the decade.

But the start-up’s plans have already slipped at least once, and it will have to overcome many obstacles, including securing approval from the Federal Aviation Administration and regulators in other countries. Even established manufacturers have stumbled when introducing new or redesigned planes. Boeing’s 737 Max was grounded for nearly two years after two crashes.

The deal is United’s latest attempt to position itself as a risk taker shaking up an industry that is just getting back on its feet after a devastating pandemic. The airline announced a $20 million investment in an electric air taxi start-up, Archer, in February, and it is working on a “steady drumbeat” of more such bets, said Michael Leskinen, who heads corporate development at United.

“We are really confident in the future,” Mr. Leskinen said. “Aerospace takes a long time to innovate. And so if you don’t start setting these opportunities out now, you will have missed them.”

United and Boom would not disclose financial details, including the cost of each plane, but Mr. Leskinen said the economics should be about the same as a new Boeing 787, a wide-body plane that airlines typically use on international routes. United has committed to buying the planes if Boom manages to produce them, secure regulatory approvals and hit other targets, like meeting its sustainability requirements.

Boom also plans to make planes for Japan Airlines, an investor in the company.

What is not clear is whether Boom has solved the problems that forced British Airways and Air France to stop using the Concorde on trans-Atlantic flights — high costs, safety concerns and flagging demand.

“There was no airline interest,” Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst and consultant, said about why supersonic flights languished. “And a big part of the lack of airline interest was there were no engines that were commercially available that would allow a supersonic jet to be economically viable.”

Two decades later, some start-up companies, including Boom and Spike Aerospace, are pushing ahead with new designs and plans.

Today in Business

Updated 

June 2, 2021, 4:35 p.m. ET

Boom, which is working with Rolls-Royce, the British jet engine maker, said its plane would be more efficient than the Concorde; United estimates it will be 75 percent more efficient. Boom’s planes will not be as noisy as the Concorde because their engines will create a sonic boom only when flying over water “when there’s no one to hear it,” said Boom’s chief executive, Blake Scholl, who previously worked at Amazon and Groupon.

In recent years, many people have also grown increasingly concerned about air travel’s contribution to climate change. Supersonic jets are expected to use more fuel than regular jets per passenger per mile, according to experts.

Mr. Scholl said the engines on Boom’s planes would rely entirely on sustainable aviation fuel, which can be made from waste, plants and other organic matter. Experts say such fuel could reduce emissions, but its supply is limited, it is expensive and its use does not eliminate greenhouse gas emissions.

United said it was too early to know how much it would charge for the flights, which it would run out of its hubs in Newark and San Francisco to start. But another big question mark about the plane is how many people will be willing to spend the thousands of dollars that each ticket on a supersonic flight is likely to cost.

United has long focused on business travelers, including by adding flights to Israel, China and other destinations popular with executives and by offering more business class seats on its planes. Mr. Leskinen called the idea of supersonic travel a “really powerful tool for business.”

“You can have a business meeting and still be home to have dinner with your family,” he said.

But corporate and international travel is expected to rebound slowly from the pandemic, and some experts say it might not recover fully for years because companies have realized that they can be effective without as many in-person meetings.

“The key to the success of supersonic transportation is the overlooked, underappreciated corporate travel manager, who is probably relegated to one of the worst offices in his or her company — and his primary task is to minimize corporate spending on business travel,” said Mr. Harteveldt.

If flights save a third of the travel time but also cost a third more, travel managers may end up saying, “I don’t know if we can justify that,” he said.

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U.S. air journey reaches pandemic excessive as peak season kicks off

U.S. air travel reaches pandemic high as peak season kicks off

Travelers wait in line at a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening checkpoint at Orlando International Airport on the Friday before Memorial Day. As more and more people have received the COVID-19 vaccine, American Automobile Association (AAA) is predicting more than 37 million Americans will travel more than 50 miles this Memorial Day weekend, many for the first time since the pandemic began.

Paul Hennessy | LightRocket | Getty Images

Air traveler volumes hit the highest levels since before the coronavirus pandemic began during Memorial Day weekend, the latest sign of recovery for the sector.

The Transportation Security Administration screened an average of 1.78 million people from Friday through Monday, hitting a peak of 1.96 million on Friday. Those volumes are more than six times higher than a year ago, but still 22% below Memorial Day weekend in 2019.

The surge in travelers is pushing up the price of vacations, including airfare, hotel rates and car rental prices. Domestic leisure fares are near 2019 levels, airline executives have said.

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It is not vaccine passport, however extra journey CLEAR post-pandemic

It's not vaccine passport, but more travel CLEAR post-pandemic

CLEAR, a New York City-based company that specializes in biometric security that originally started pumping travelers through growing airport lines in the post-9/11 period, now sees a huge opportunity with the country covered by the Covid -19 pandemic is excluded.

CLEAR recently released a product called Health Pass that links Covid-19 health information to biometric identifiers such as face, eyes and fingerprints.

Since its launch, Health Pass has made significant strides, especially in stadiums that host sporting events and need to quickly check the status of many people. In February, 100 vaccinated health care workers were able to participate in the Super Bowl by checking their status on the Health Pass. A third of the NBA teams use the app to enforce their Covid protocols for fans. People who attend NHL hockey games in Arizona also use the Health Pass.

The post-pandemic innovation pushed CLEAR to 19th place on this year’s CNBC Disruptor 50 list.

“What we determined in March 2020 was that there will be a new card in your wallet that contains a vaccination card or test results,” CLEAR co-founder and CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker said on CNBC’s TechCheck on Wednesday. “So it has always been part of our mission to connect you to your health insights related to Covid.

More coverage of the 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50

As more people get vaccinated and concerts, sporting events and large gatherings reopen, it is becoming more and more likely that customers will need to digitally submit their Covid vaccination or testing status in order to be approved.

“September 11th changed the way people thought about securing their building or stadium,” Seidman-Becker said last month in a virtual town hall for members of the CNBC Technology Executive Council. “It has raised awareness of security and, in particular, internal security.”

No “vaccination pass”

The CEO of CLEAR emphasized that the company’s technology should not be tied to the idea of ​​a vaccination card. “We’re not talking about a vaccination record. We’re talking about giving people control and access to their health information about what happened before,” she said on CNBC on Wednesday. “So many trends accelerated in 2020 and we see this as a major … ongoing trend … people should have access and control over their information.”

US officials have said they are largely relying on people to be honest about their vaccination status, and retailers and hotel chains have said they have no intention of looking for evidence of vaccine. However, some retailers like Walmart have partnered with CLEAR to offer the Health Pass.

Investment groups involved in the NFL and restaurant mogul Danny Meyer recently participated in a venture capital round for the company, and the Shake Shack founder’s Union Square Hospitality Group has used the technology to bring back indoor dining.

“We offer it to employers, but we also offer it to consumers free of charge so that they can link their health insights to their CLEAR Health Pass,” said Seidman-Becker. “We partnered with Walmart, but we also partnered with the NBA to help people get back into stadiums or reopen offices.”

“Frankly, this is a pervasive problem that makes experiences safer and easier,” she added.

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Atlas Obscura, a Journey Website Centered on the Bizarre and Obscure, Digs Deeper

Atlas Obscura, a Travel Site Focused on the Weird and Obscure, Digs Deeper

When the pandemic hit last spring, Atlas Obscura had just received a $20 million investment from a group of investors led by Airbnb. Atlas Obscura, at the time, was focused on building the “experience” side of its business — guided tours and classes — which it expected to snap into the giant home rental platform. (The New York Times is also an investor in Atlas Obscura.) But Airbnb gave up on the initiative as it scrambled to weather the crisis. And like the rest of travel media, Atlas Obscura has spent a year mostly catering to the fantasies of homebound travelers. That led, the company says, to record traffic and advertising revenue, as well as a new business in online classes.

Now, the travel media and the travel industry are bracing — and hoping — for a surge of tourism. Though few in the travel media have taken on re-editing of their product like Atlas Obscura, they’re also trying to adapt to a changed political situation, seeking to find nonwhite writers who live in the places they write about, or to have more diverse American writers tell the stories of destinations. Jacqueline Gifford, the editor in chief of Travel and Leisure, said the travel media was trying to ask itself, “Who gets to tell travel stories, why they’re telling them, and what’s the way we can be more representative of this country, of the world we’re living in today?”

Today in Business

Updated 

May 28, 2021, 12:54 p.m. ET

But there are also built-in limits to how much you can revolutionize travel writing, said Rafat Ali, the founder of the travel business site Skift.

“It’s always going to be outsiders looking in,” he said.

The challenge for editors and writers across media is how to make journalism inclusive as well as riveting and provocative, rather than just a corporate media exercise in box-checking. (One top newspaper editor described that genre to me last week as “D.E.I. dutiful,” referring to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.)

It shouldn’t be that hard. Complicated, surprising stories are often the best ones, as illustrated by the superb “Reckoning With a Reckoning” issue that Adrienne Green, the features editor at New York magazine, put together last week. It sought, as the magazine’s editor in chief, David Haskell, wrote in an email, “to clarify stakes and also complicate them, to tell morality tales but avoid easy morals.”

Atlas Obscura, which also publishes magaziney features like the disturbing story of how a Black woman’s remains wound up on display at a Philadelphia museum and the secret queer history of Colonial Williamsburg, is another good example of how a publisher can meet the moment by deepening its content with an inquiry into, in particular, the violence Americans often choose to forget.

Indeed, Mr. Patel told me he’s not sure “decolonizing” was the right word for the project. “Decolonization suggests removal, and that’s not what we’re doing,” he said Wednesday morning, as we began our tour of unusual New York sites on the edge of the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. “Adding this kind of perspective to travel and travel writing makes it less boring.”

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With theme parks set to rebound, journey advisors share journey suggestions

With theme parks set to rebound, travel advisors share trip tips

Social-Media-Persönlichkeiten Dixie D’Amelio und Noah Beck im Disney California Adventure Park im Disneyland Resort am 2. Mai 2021 in Anaheim, Kalifornien.

Handout | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

Die Covid-Pandemie machte die letzten 14 Monate zu einer buchstäblichen Achterbahnfahrt für Themenparks und ihre Fans.

Die Parks wurden im letzten Frühjahr geschlossen oder gar nicht geöffnet, und obwohl einige bis zum Sommer wieder geöffnet wurden, waren es strenge Kapazitätsgrenzen und strenge Gesundheits- und Sicherheitsmaßnahmen, die einige Kunden abschreckten und den Spaßfaktor für andere definitiv beeinträchtigten.

Hier sehen Sie, wie sich die Dinge für diesen Teil des Reise- und Tourismussektors im Jahr 2021 entwickeln und wie potenzielle Besucher einen Themenparkurlaub im Verlauf der Pandemie optimal nutzen können.

Vor der Pandemie lief es für den Sektor gut. Die Top 20 der nordamerikanischen Themenparks zogen 2019 159.108.000 Besucher an, 1% mehr als im Vorjahr. Dies geht aus dem TEA / AECOM-Themenindex und dem Museumsindex 2019 hervor.

Um noch mehr Besucher anzulocken, haben die Parkbetreiber ihre Gewinne in vielbeschworene neue Attraktionen mit großem Budget wie den Jurassic World Velocicoaster auf den Abenteuerinseln des Universal Orlando Resorts in Florida und den Avengers Campus mit Marvel-Thema im Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim zurückgeführt .

Mehr von Personal Finance:
Wie war der Besuch eines Themenparks inmitten der Pandemie?
Wie Reisende von den Kämpfen in der Hotelbranche profitieren könnten
Was Sie erwartet, wenn Live-Musik-Events wieder auf die Bühne kommen

Die Leute haben nicht vergessen, dass diese Debüts in Vorbereitung waren.

“Viele Familien entscheiden sich in diesem Jahr für den Besuch von Themenparks”, sagte Trish Smith, eine in Kansas City, Missouri, ansässige Reiseberaterin, die dem InteleTravel-Netzwerk von Agenten zu Hause angeschlossen ist. “Ich hatte zu diesem Zeitpunkt in diesem Jahr tatsächlich mehr Buchungen als 2019.

“Es kommen so viele neue Attraktionen, dass viele Leute sagen: ‘Ja, das möchte ich nicht verpassen, und ich möchte der Erste sein'”, fügte sie hinzu.

Die Nachfrage ist besonders in Kalifornien aufgestaut, wo die Parks erst im April wiedereröffnet wurden.

Tatsächlich sagte Michael Erstad, Senior Analyst, Verbraucher des Forschungsunternehmens M Science, dass Themenparks bereits im nächsten Jahr zu früheren Besucherzahlen zurückkehren könnten. “Ich denke auf jeden Fall, dass es eine Möglichkeit ist”, sagte er. “Es wird alles davon abhängen, wie sich die Dinge für den Rest des Jahres mit dem Virus entwickeln.

“Ich würde nicht zählen [a rebound] aus.”

Cardify, ein Unternehmen für Erkenntnisse zu Verbraucherdaten, hat nicht überraschend festgestellt, dass in den Themenparks im vergangenen Jahr ein starker Rückgang der Verbraucherausgaben zu verzeichnen war, sich jedoch bis zum letzten Sommer durch die Wiedereröffnung mit Kapazitätsbeschränkungen “etwas erholen” konnte. Jetzt, da Städte und Bundesstaaten die Pandemiebeschränkungen lockern, sehen die Parks, was Cardify als “Silberstreifen” für Parkbetreiber bezeichnet – einen neuen “starken Anstieg” der Ausgaben.

Cardify fand auch in einer Umfrage unter 1.044 Verbrauchern heraus, dass 72% begeistert sind, nach der Pandemie in Vergnügungsparks zurückzukehren, mehr als in Kinos (68%) oder Bars und Clubs (67%). Nur persönliche Konzerte (79%) und Sportveranstaltungen (74%) werden mit Spannung erwartet.

Themenparks “sind an einem viel besseren Ort” im Vergleich zu Kinos, Kreuzfahrten, Flugreisen, Hotels und anderen Unterhaltungsmöglichkeiten, sagte Erstad von M Science.

Wie in Skigebieten, in Themenparks “ist ein Großteil der Erfahrung im Freien”, sagte er, und daher weniger riskant in Bezug auf die Exposition. “Sie stehen zwar für Fahrten an, aber im letzten Jahr wurden Verbesserungen vorgenommen, um die Kaufentscheidungen für Lebensmittel und Getränke zu verbessern, sodass Sie viele Dinge elektronisch erledigen.”

Also, wohin gehen Nervenkitzel suchende?

Es gibt im Wesentlichen zwei Themenparkmärkte in den USA, obwohl es einige Überschneidungen zwischen ihnen gibt. Große Zielparks – wie Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando Resort und SeaWorld Orlando, die in Zentralflorida zusammengefasst sind – ziehen sowohl inländische als auch internationale Besucher für längere Ferien an, während Regionalparks, die manchmal kleiner und weniger thematisch sind, eher eine Autofahrt anziehen. in, Tagesausflügler demografisch aus nahe gelegenen Gebieten.

Beispiele für die letztere Art von Park wären die 27 Themen- und Wasserparkimmobilien, die in Nordamerika von der in Grand Prairie, Texas, ansässigen Six Flags Entertainment Corp. betrieben werden. Einige kleinere, aber hoch thematisierte Parks wie Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, überspannen die Linie zwischen den beiden Kategorien.

(Interessanterweise verfügt Disneyland über ein globales Zielparkprofil, fungiert jedoch effektiv als Regionalpark und zieht die meisten Besucher aus dem lokalen südkalifornischen Markt an. Der Park, der derzeit nur Kaliforniern vorbehalten ist, wird jedoch am 15. Juni für alle Besucher wieder vollständig geöffnet.)

Keine konkreten Pläne; du musst jetzt ein wenig flexibel sein.

Trish Smith

Mit InteleTravel verbundener Reiseberater

Die Konsumausgaben in den Parks von Orlando erholen sich seit Monaten vom Absturz des letzten Jahres. Besucher außerhalb des Bundesstaates öffnen ihre Brieftaschen mehr als Einwohner Floridas, erklärte Erstad.

“Ich denke, es ist ein gesundes Zeichen für Disney und die auf Reiseziele ausgerichteten Betreiber sowie für die allgemeine Attraktivität der Verbraucher für Themenparks im Allgemeinen in diesem Sommer.” [and] ein Hinweis auf Verbraucher, die diese Art von suchen [mostly outdoor] Unterhaltung “, sagte er.

Florida gehört zu den am wenigsten restriktiven Staaten, wenn es um die Regulierung von Pandemien geht, und die Disney-, Universal- und SeaWorld-Parks in der Region Orlando sind seit letztem Juli geöffnet. Vorübergehende zwischenstaatliche Reisebeschränkungen und Quarantäneanforderungen drosselten die Fernnachfrage für einige Monate, wurden jedoch schließlich zum Jahresende gelockert.

Während das Interesse an Disneys Orlando-Parks groß ist, werden “Roadtrips in der Nähe von zu Hause in diesem Sommer für regionale Themenparks wie sehr beliebt sein [Cedar Fair’s] Kings Dominion [and] Cedar Point, Six Flags, Sesame Place, Busch Gardens und Dollywood “, sagte Carolyn Moody, InteleTravel-Beraterin in Durham, North Carolina.

Die Jury ist sich noch nicht sicher, wie es den Regionalparks ergehen wird, da es an einigen Orten aus klimabezogenen und geschäftlichen Gründen an echten Daten mangelt, sagte Erstad.

Cedar Fair Entertainment Co. beispielsweise hat vier seiner elf Themenparks in den USA und Kanada für den größten Teil des Jahres 2020 vollständig offline geschaltet, selbst in Ländern, in denen eine begrenzte Eröffnung mit eingeschränkter Kapazität möglich war, und die Betriebssaison im Übrigen verkürzt. Im Jahr 2020 waren es nur 487 Betriebstage, verglichen mit 2.224 im Jahr 2019.

“Cedar Fair hat einen eher konservativen Ansatz gewählt. Sie waren die ersten, die bekannt gaben, dass sie die Inhaber von 2020-Pässen bis 20201 ehren würden, und haben sich bewusst für einen vorsichtigeren Ansatz entschieden”, sagte Erstad. “Es ist etwas zu früh, um sich einige Ihrer kälteren Wetterparks anzusehen, obwohl wir in den geöffneten Parks eine ziemlich gute Nachfrage gesehen haben.”

In diesem Jahr plant die in Sandusky, Ohio, ansässige Cedar Fair, alle US-Parks – wie Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Point, Kalifornien, und Carowinds in Charlotte, North Carolina – bis zum Memorial Day zu eröffnen, obwohl Kanadas Wunderland außerhalb von Toronto, Ontario, bleibt geschlossen. Das Unternehmen plant, die ursprünglich für 2020 geplanten Attraktionen zu eröffnen und in diesem Jahr weitere 100 Millionen US-Dollar für neue Upgrades auszugeben, sagte Präsident und CEO Richard A. Zimmerman in einer Erklärung vom 5. Mai in Erwartung einer “starken aufgestauten Verbrauchernachfrage nach mehr Nähe” Unterhaltung zu Hause im Freien, insbesondere in der zweiten Jahreshälfte. “

“Wir sind mit den bisherigen Frühindikatoren zufrieden und unsere operative Strategie für 2021 konzentriert sich auf die Maximierung der Leistung in unserer saisonal gewichteten zweiten Jahreshälfte”, fügte er hinzu. “Mit unseren Parkeröffnungen gleich um die Ecke sehen wir wieder einen Anstieg der Verkäufe von Saisonkarten.”

Erstad wies unterdessen auf Six Flags Great Adventure & Safari in Jackson, New Jersey, als einen Regionalpark hin, der zu Beginn der Pandemie eröffnet wurde und “im letzten Sommer sehr gut” lief.

“Das war nur auf die Tatsache zurückzuführen, dass sie die Safari-Attraktion haben, bei der Sie mit Ihrer Familie in Ihrem Auto sitzen und sozial von anderen entfernt sein können”, bemerkte er.

Der Park in der Nähe von New York City und Philadelphia hat am 30. Mai seine Safari für Fahrer mit Vorbehalt wiedereröffnet und am 3. Juli seinen Teil des Themenparks mit einer Kapazität von 25% wiedereröffnet. Die gute Resonanz deutet auf eine große “aufgestaute Nachfrage” hin. “Sagte Erstad.

Parks wie die von Cedar Fair, die letztes Jahr überhaupt nicht geöffnet waren, werden möglicherweise erste Besucherzahlen verzeichnen, aber “Ich weiß nicht, dass die Nachfrage so stark steigen wird wie bei Disney und einigen anderen größeren Parks.” erlebt haben “, sagte Summer Hull, Direktor für Reiseinhalte auf der Website The Points Guy.

“Aber ich denke, dass für einige der Leute, die normalerweise gerne an diese Orte gehen, dies der Sommer sein kann, in dem sie zu ihnen zurückkehren”, fügte sie hinzu.

Tipps und Drehpunkte zum Themenpark

Welche Tipps haben Reiseberater, wenn Sie sich für einen Themenpark entschieden haben?

Moody, ein Disney-Spezialist, sagte, dass Familien, die in diesem Jahr Themenparks in Betracht ziehen, einen Reiseberater konsultieren sollten, “der Kunden über die neuesten CDC-Vorschriften auf dem Laufenden halten, Fragen beantworten, die besten Angebote finden, alles von Anfang bis Ende buchen und Single sein kann Ansprechpartner während Ihrer Reise. “

Sie empfiehlt außerdem, Reisen so früh wie möglich zu buchen, Parks früh oder spät am Tag zu besuchen, um Menschenmassen zu vermeiden, Tickets zu kaufen und auch die erforderlichen Eintrittsreservierungen vorzunehmen.

Smith betonte auch diesen letzten Punkt. Während Universal Orlando nie Reservierungen benötigte und Six Flags sie diesen Monat landesweit in seinen Parks verschrottete, brauchen Besucher der Walt Disney World Parks sie immer noch – ebenso wie jeder, der einen der neu eröffneten Themenparks in Kalifornien besucht.

“Selbst wenn Sie das Ticket kaufen, ist es nicht garantiert, dass Sie in den Park gelangen, in den Sie gehen möchten, da dieser Park möglicherweise mit Reservierungen ausgebucht ist”, sagte sie.

Befolgen Sie im Park die noch geltenden Regeln zur Maskierung und sozialen Distanzierung – die Situation ist fließend und kann sich schnell ändern -, aber machen Sie sich keine Sorgen. Seit der Wiedereröffnung wurden keine Berichte darüber veröffentlicht, dass Parks in der Umgebung von Orlando zu Covid-Hotspots werden.

“Die Themenparks haben großartige Arbeit geleistet, um die Sicherheit der Menschen zu gewährleisten”, sagte Smith. “Selbst wenn mehr Menschen geimpft werden, berücksichtigen sie immer noch die Sicherheit. Ich glaube also nicht, dass es in Fällen oder so etwas zu einem starken Anstieg kommen wird.”

The Points Guy’s Hull war seit seiner Wiedereröffnung dreimal in Walt Disney World und sagte: “Es war eine tolle Zeit.”

“Es ist größtenteils im Freien und sie haben großartige Arbeit geleistet, damit es sich lustig und gleichzeitig sicher in Ihrer eigenen kleinen ‘Disney-Blase’ anfühlt”, sagte sie.

Seien Sie auch offen für Veränderungen. “Das ist das Größte”, sagte Smith. “Sie haben keine konkreten Pläne. Sie müssen jetzt ein wenig flexibel sein.”

Hull stimmte zu und sagte, dass Gäste des Themenparks, die ihre Hausaufgaben machen, diesen Sommer eine tolle Zeit haben werden. “Aber diejenigen, die davon ausgehen, dass es sich nur um ein normales Geschäft handelt, werden einige Überraschungen erwarten”, sagte sie und stellte fest, dass viele Teile größerer Zielparks – von Hotels über Restaurants bis hin zu Fahrgeschäften – immer noch nicht online sind oder nicht über normale Kapazitäten verfügen.

“Sie müssen einige Dinge auf eine Art und Weise anordnen, die Sie vorher vielleicht nicht hatten, und trotzdem mit gemäßigten Erwartungen an Dinge rund um das Essen, das Housekeeping und andere Elemente, die immer noch eine Art Pandemie-Ära sind und nicht wieder normal geworden sind noch.”

(Offenlegung: CNBC und Universal Parks & Resorts sind beide Tochterunternehmen von NBCUniversal, die der Muttergesellschaft Comcast gehören.)

Categories
Health

U.S. Covid instances lowest in a 12 months as Memorial Day journey picks up

U.S. Covid cases lowest in a year as Memorial Day travel picks up

A crowd of travelers check in for their flights at LAX on Friday, May 28, 2021.

Allen J. Schaben | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

The U.S. has reported the lowest number of Covid-19 cases in more than a year, as the nation’s airports over Memorial Day weekend experienced the largest number of travelers since the pandemic began.

The 11,976 new cases reported on May 29 were the lowest since March 23, 2020, when 11,238 new cases were reported, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The seven-day average of 21,007 is the lowest since March 31 of last year, when it was 19,363.

Friday also saw the TSA report the highest number of travelers since the pandemic began, with more than 1.9 million people taking to the skies for the long weekend. At the same point last year, the TSA counted just 327,000 passengers at its checkpoints.

The World Health Organization officially declared Covid-19 a global pandemic on March 11, 2020. The U.S. reported 1,147 Covid cases that day. The pandemic would go on to infect more than 33 million people in the U.S. and kill nearly 600,000 people.

Within a week of the WHO declaration, daily TSA travel numbers dropped from 1.7 million to 620,000. By March 25, the number was at 203,000. Since March 11, 2021, the daily number of fliers has remained above 1 million.

More than 60% of U.S. adults have at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, while 40.5% of adults are fully vaccinated, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. President Biden announced earlier this month that his administration is aiming to increase the number of adults with at least one dose to 70% by July 4. He also said he wants 160 million American adults fully vaccinated by the same date.

“If we succeed in this effort,” Biden said during his announcement, “then Americans will have taken a serious step toward a return to normal.”

The CDC recently said fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in most settings, though masks are still required on airplanes, buses, trains and public transportation. Cities across the country are lifting restrictions on indoor dining and gatherings as cases fall and vaccinations increase.

White House chief medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has repeatedly said that he wants to see daily case numbers drop below 10,000 before a broad relaxation of safety measures takes place.

Categories
Business

How Memorial Day Weekend Journey in U.S. Could Be Completely different

How Memorial Day Weekend Travel in U.S. May Be Different

Memorial Day weekend is underway in the US, and it looks decidedly different for travelers than it was a year ago.

More than half of all adults in the United States are now fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A federal mandate stipulates that travelers on airplanes or public transport must wear masks, although most airlines at the time asked passengers to wear them. And this year, far, far more people are likely to be leaving for vacation than they were in 2020.

Darby LaJoye, the acting administrator of the Transportation Security Administration, said the number of travelers at U.S. airports rose steadily in the spring, reaching nearly 1.9 million last Sunday, almost eight times the figure as of May 17, the comparable Sunday in 2020.

That number is likely to be exceeded over the holiday weekend, the latest high point in recent waves of returning travelers. The agency predicts airports will likely see two million passengers a day. Mr LaJoye said the increasing number of passengers could lead to longer waiting times at security checkpoints.

AAA, the group of car owners, predicted earlier this month that a total of more than 37 million people would cover 50 miles or more from Thursday to Monday – a 60 percent increase from a year earlier but still 9 percent below 2019. A big one Majority will travel by car.

“We will continue to see a very steady increase as we approach the summer travel season,” said LaJoye. “As vaccinations continue to rise and confidence continues to grow, the country’s planes, trains, buses and roads will be busy.”

To control the spread of the virus, the TSA has built acrylic barriers, installed new machines to allow some passengers to scan their own documents, and adjusted the rules to allow passengers to have up to 12 ounces of hand sanitizer in their carry-on bags.

A year ago there was no approved coronavirus vaccine in the United States, mask requirements were left to local officials and individual airlines, and air traffic was sparse.

Now people 12 and older can be vaccinated, and those who choose to travel have a sense of security of their own that even the most daring travelers haven’t had in the past year. (Still, travel and many other activities can be complicated for younger children and their families).

“Thanks to vaccines, tens of millions of Americans can go back to something normal and visit friends and family,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, at a press conference this week.

This year’s holiday falls at a time when parts of the world like the United States and the European Union may gradually reopen their borders and resume tourism. However, the virus continues to devastate other areas, particularly India, South America and Southeast Asia, where vaccine supplies are scarce and worrisome variants of the virus have been discovered.

Coincidentally, the average number of new cases reported in the U.S. is about the same as it was on Memorial Day last year, about 23,000 a day, although tests were far less frequent than the pandemic initially emerged. In any event, the number had fallen from a recent high in mid-April.

Last year, reports of revelers ignoring mask and social distancing rules over the holiday weekend were legion. Within weeks of some states reopening, virus cases began to surge to record levels. Jumps in virus cases have been observed after other holiday weekends, noted Dr. Walensky this week.

According to Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, an epidemiologist at Columbia University, is likely to see many viral outbreaks in the US look different after vacation after vaccinating many people. She said she was concerned about “micro-epidemics” in vulnerable areas.

“We could potentially focus these surges in specific communities where there are low vaccination rates and low masking rates,” said Dr. El-Sadr.