I see many grim projections about the possible future of humanity, and maybe Paul Barry, CEO of Avanti Destination, is seeing the same reports because Avanti is adding destinations like there’s no tomorrow.

Avanti seems to be on a never-ending quest to cover the entire world with its network of independent travel components. With Europe, Latin America and Asia already thoroughly covered, you wouldn’t expect expansion to be part of Avanti’s agenda anymore. But Avanti is the wholesaler that never sleeps. This year the company has made several significant expansions that reveal that its quest is never-ending. Read the rest of this entry »

The Land Down Under is one of the great frontiers of travel for Americans. Because of its remoteness, it tends to be one of the last places Americans travel to. Yet, it has an irresistible draw. It has always rated high on the charts as an aspirational destination. Due to the long-haul trip required, there is usually a big gap between aspiration and pulling the trigger to really make the trip.

Today, however, long-haul flights have gotten much better, so the 15-hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney is not nearly as tough as it used to be. It’s a time to watch a few movies or do some reading and, before you know it, you’re down there where the tap water spirals down the drain in the opposite direction. You are on the other side of the world, baby! You made it. And it is worth the trip. Read the rest of this entry »

The people of South African Tourism are busy busy busy, always promoting South Africa anywhere they can. Recently they were on the road attending Africa Showcase North America, an event produced and operated by On Show Solutions of Johannesburg. It was a two-week series of gatherings with activities in four cities crisscrossing the United States: Seattle, Denver, Fort Lauderdale and Boston. Read the rest of this entry »

Collette, America’s oldest tour operator, passed another milestone in its 106-year history last week with the promotion of Jaclyn Leibl-Cote from president to CEO. She succeeds her father, Dan Sullivan Jr., who became CEO in 1990, and now will serve as executive chairman. Leibl-Cote is only the fourth person to take the top position since the company was founded in 1918 by Jack Collette. In 1918, the term “CEO” was not used; but Jack Collette was the equivalent for the time, the founder and owner. He ran the company until 1962 when he sold it to Dan Sullivan Sr., the grandfather of Jaclyn Leibl-Cote. She is the first female CEO of the company. Read the rest of this entry »

Now heading into the final quarter of the calendar year, it’s the end of the summer vacation period and the season of getting back down to business. Near the end of this quarter, Dec. 2-6, the U.S. Tour Operators Association will hold its Annual Conference and Marketplace at the JW Marriott in Los Angeles.

If you haven’t purchased your ticket yet, don’t sweat it. It’s sold out. It’s not a small conference, but it is limited in size. USTOA is the rare exception in the business world of an entity that does not seek growth.

The association limits its participation to what it sees as manageable levels. The conference gathers roughly 800 travel industry professionals for a few days of intense focus on current travel issues, as well as the pleasures and possibilities Read the rest of this entry »

Ninety years is a long, long time. Tour operators often proudly promote the fact that they have been in business for 20 years, and rightly so. That’s impressive. Keeping a tour operator in business through all the wars, stock market crashes, natural disasters and recessions of the last 20 years is a major accomplishment. Such events have taken down many along the way.

International tour operation is a business that is affected by every economic tremor and major event in the world. It’s not for anyone who wants to make an easy buck Read the rest of this entry »

There’s something very appealing about the archetypal family business. Croatia’s Katarina Line is a real family business, with a bio that is an inspiring success story.

The mom, Katica Hauptfeld, is the founder and chief. The son Daniel is director of marketing. The daughter Anamaria is director of the cruise division. Daniel’s wife helps with marketing and Anamaria’s husband helps with other projects. And, as with any family business, they all pitch in together to do whatever is required to propel the business. Read the rest of this entry »

Avanti Destinations, the Portland-based provider of independent, custom-designed vacation packages, is expanding to the South Pacific, a new region for the company.

Avanti’s South Pacific product line will debut with eight recommended vacation package templates, which are offered as recommended default programs that can be used as offered, or can be altered by clients in practically any way that does not defy the laws of physics. Australia can’t be moved closer to Los Angeles, for example. However, most requested changes within the scope of reality can be accommodated.

Avanti’s range of vacation components include 222 three- to five-star hotels in 50-some locations in Australia, New Zealand and Fiji and 280 tours or activities. Read the rest of this entry »

Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC’s Mad Money, recently said: “I know there’s a lot of hype here, and in some individual cases it is overblown, but anybody who tells you that AI is pure hype, that person is only fooling herself.”

That seems to be a reasonable middle ground somewhere between utopia and oblivion. It’s a safe generalization. It would be absurd to write off all of AI because ChatGPT doesn’t quite live up to some of the predictions.

It does seem that for this particular wave of AI, the language models, the magic carpet is descending toward Earth a bit. People are beginning to understand it better: what it is capable of, how to use it, what to beware of, and its limitations. Read the rest of this entry »

Carol Dimopoulos, the colorful CEO of Learning Journeys, recently returned from India. It was the latest of a dozen previous trips to India, but only the second to southern India. She came back super jazzed.

“They were happy to see foreign guests,” she said. “They believe the guest is God, you know. That’s their motto.”

Carol’s group in India received even more attention than they might have otherwise because foreign travelers are still somewhat rare in post-lockdown Southern India.

For the average traveler who just wants to take a two-week vacation sometime during the year, there are all sorts of messes she can stumble into. We are now in a world of constant change, and to travel well requires the guidance of a full-time professional—one that can keep on top of the changes as they affect travel and inform clients about the many things that could ruin their vacations. Read the rest of this entry »

A standard dodge for politicians who are asked to account for some comment is that the statement was “quoted out of context.” In most cases, it’s just a way to avoid being held accountable for one’s statements, but sometimes it’s a valid complaint. A recent article on travel was a masterpiece of out-of-context quoting.

Most people who see this article have probably seen an article in the New Yorker called “The Case Against Travel” by Agnes Callard. Such a provocative title was sure to capture the attention of Read the rest of this entry »

Few events have generated as much hype and controversy as the introduction of ChatGPT last October. When its developer, Open AI, provided open access to the generative AI program, the site set a record for the fastest growing user base in history. It grew to 100 million users in two months. At the same time, it generated a tsunami of wild speculation and panic.

It would be bad enough that artificial intelligence is predicted by some to take over the jobs of travel professionals and virtually everyone else. But since the arrival of ChatGPT, many of the pioneer developers of artificial intelligence have issued ominous warnings that AI may lead to Read the rest of this entry »

Celestyal Cruises has a long pedigree. Its parent company, Louis PLC, was the first travel agency in Cyprus in 1935. The vintage operator of Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean cruises is now embarked on a major relaunch of the brand and the product.

In March Celestyal introduced a new ship, the Journey, which represents the new course it is charting for its redefined future. In September the Journey will replace the Crystal, which will be retired.

Read the rest of this entry »

Wildlife reserves in Africa that offer safaris to incoming visitors are not mere tourism concessions. They are, without exception in my experience, ultimately about conservation and about saving the great charismatic wildlife of Africa from extinction.

The Eastern Cape province in South Africa used to be one of the richest wildlife zones in Africa in terms of diversity, according to Joe Cloete, CEO of Shamwari Private Game Reserve in Eastern Cape, South Africa.

“Then man arrived in 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s, Read the rest of this entry »

At Africa’s Travel Indaba, the trade show held in Durban May 9-11, South African Tourism presented a seminar called USA Market Access Workshop. It was targeted at African tourism businesses looking for insights on how to penetrate the vast North American travel market. But the market intelligence presented could be equally valuable to American travel advisors looking for insights on how to tap into the potential American market for travel to Africa. Read the rest of this entry »

I would love to be a fly on the wall at a corporate board meeting of United Airlines when they are discussing redesigning the floor plan of their planes. I imagine there has to be a lot of number crunching. United thinks in terms of big numbers. It’s the world’s third largest airline, after American and Delta. It operates 4,500 flights per day. Roughly speaking, that’s something like 1.6 million flights a year. Those aren’t all 747s, but just for the sake of very rough approximate calculations, let’s use those numbers. With 1.6 million flights, we can approximate and still get some idea of the mass of the operation. Read the rest of this entry »

While in Cape Town, I had the good fortune of attending the currently featured exhibit at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Africa Art, and was blown away. It was something the Cape Town wind had almost accomplished on its own, but the museum finished the job.

My experience last week with a failed trip to South Africa on United Airlines convinced me that South Africa needs its national carrier and should find a way to maintain it no matter what the cost. There’s no way to put a number value on what that airline brought to the country.

I was booked on a United Airlines flight from Newark at 9:15 p.m. that was supposed to land in Johannesburg at 5:45 p.m. the next day, after 14 hours and 40 minutes in the air. Many people won’t take a flight that long, and for good reason. Sitting in an airplane for 15 hours is not many people’s idea of fun. It can be fun, but it has to be tiring. It was particularly trying last Thursday, and the flight never left the ground. Read the rest of this entry »

Browsing through the headlines on Saturday morning, I saw that a woman in Phoenix attacked a TSA employee for taking her apple juice. Elsewhere that day, a brawl broke out on a flight from Australia, leading to a forced landing, and four passengers arrested. That’s just from a quick browse through the top headlines on Saturday, a random day. It seems like it’s a pretty common thing now to hear about disruptions, fights, brawls, temper tantrums breaking out on planes and at tourist sites and all over. Because some aspects of travel do put pressure on people, a certain amount of that stress erupts on flights, in airports, and so forth. Read the rest of this entry »

“The wind is in from Africa, last night I couldn’t sleep.”

–from Carey by Joni Mitchell

It’s almost time for Indaba. South Africa’s Travel Indaba will take place this year May 9-11 at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa. The return of Indaba every May reminds me of all the reasons I love South Africa and am constantly trying to get my American friends to go there and experience it. Read the rest of this entry »