What we learned about global travel this week

news7g11/27/2021

3 4 minutes read

The Philippines announced that it will soon reopen to tourists

(CNN) – Countries around the world have imposed travel restrictions after the discovery of a new variant of Covid-19 in South Africa, more than 2.3 million Americans traveled by air over Thanksgiving, and in the Asia-Pacific, New Zealand and the Philippines unveiled new reopening plans.

Here are some of the biggest travel developments this week:

A new variant has triggered the ban on flying

A new positive Covid-19 variant has been detected, began a series of tours closed on November 26 such as the United States, the European Union and other major destinations move to block guests from seven South African countries, including South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

At the start of the week, the outlook on most continents was pretty good, as dozens of African countries, including Benin in the east and Ethiopia in the west, moved into lower risk categories across the globe. List of US travel advice.

So far, there have been only a handful of cases of infection with the new strain of bacteria called Omicron, but the World Health Organization says it is cause for concern and experts warn it can spread quickly. .

Europe continues with its winter

The opening of the Austrian resort of Ischgl has been delayed to December 3 because of the national lockdown.

Jan Hetfleisch / Getty Images

Austria and Slovakia have fallen into a nationwide embargo and already have Demonstration in Croatia, the Netherlands and Belgium on the new Covid restrictions – but in Europe ski resort, had (cautiously) prepared for winter.

Christmas markets start to open in Italy and elsewhere, despite rising Covid numbers, while EU recommends nine months limit about the value of vaccines for travel. UK meanwhile is set to its deposit expansion vaccinations that it will allow entry.

US travel disruption continues its record year

There have been more reports of disruptive passengers in 2021 than in the more than 30 years of recording such incidents. Flight attendants have had enough.

After the November 20 panic at the Atlanta airport when a Passenger’s gun accidentally fired, this week, the Federal Aviation Administration announced that a traveler on a Southwest Airlines flight in April fined $40,823 after he allegedly brought his own alcohol on board, sexually assaulted a flight attendant, then smoked marijuana in the restroom.

Covid cases are on the rise again in the US, with 595,255 new cases reported in the past week, but those traveling over Thanksgiving still booked pandemic record, with more than 2.3 million people present on November 24 – the busiest day at US security checkpoints since March 2020.

Philippines and New Zealand reveal reopening plans

Vaccinated foreign tourists will be allowed to visit the Philippines quarantine-free from December 1, as long as they have been in the “green list” countries for at least 14 days prior.

List of Eligible countries including the US, UK, Germany, Japan and Australia, and travelers will also need to provide a negative PCR test done within 72 hours of departure.

New Zealand reveals a little more about The long-awaited reopening plan for 2022. The border will first open to New Zealand citizens and residents traveling from neighboring Australia on January 16, before expanding to include New Zealanders from the rest of the world. world on February 13. Fully vaccinated travelers from all other countries, except those deemed “high risk”, will be able to visit from April 30.

Egypt reopens its ancient Avenue of the Sphinxes

The more than 3,000-year-old road, connecting two Egyptian temple complexes, was first discovered in the late 1940s and has undergone decades of excavation and restoration efforts.

The site has undergone decades of excavation and restoration efforts and today hundreds of sphinxes and traditional sheep heads line its path.

The Department of Tourism and Antiquities describes the site as “the largest open museum in the world.” According to Reuters, Egypt will lose about 9 billion USD in tourism revenue in 2020, so there will be high hopes for this new project.

A restaurant group is organizing family trips home for its employees

Hong Kong’s group of black sheep restaurants are shoot out $650,000 to send 250 employees of the airline back home to meet family abroad.

In addition to money for flights and the many, many Covid tests, workers will also receive an extra week of unpaid leave to help them through the hotel quarantine in Hong Kong, which the company is also working on. pay. The city’s notoriously strict entry restrictions mean returning residents are required to spend two or three weeks in designated hotels.

Black Sheep restaurants will also provide nightly meals for their employees to their quarantined hotels. To qualify for this impressive employee privilege, they need to complete a year of service at the company upon return.

A holiday love story

When Dina Honor hosted her first Thanksgiving dinner at her New York home in 1997, a British guy on vacation – Richard Steggall – spoil the meal with her friends. A month later, she flew to England to spend Christmas with him and now they have been married for 20 years.

The cutest ‘birth event’ you’ll see this year

Scientists say the event is a positive sign that the reef can regenerate despite ecological threats.

Australia’s Great Barrier Reef was “born” annual spawning corals. Scientists working beneath the waves say they witnessed the event, in which corals simultaneously released sperm and eggs en masse, on the night of November 23 off the coast of Cairns, Queensland .

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CNN’s Celine Alkhaldi, Ghazi Balkiz, Chris Dwyer, Tamara Hardingham-Gill, Jack Guy, Marnie Hunter, Caitlin McGee, David McKenzie, Sandee LaMotte, Pete Muntean, Francesca Street, Gregory Wallace and Lizzy Yee contributed to this report.

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