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A majority of travel buyers and suppliers alike expect higher levels of business travel in 2023 compared with 2022, according to a Global Business Travel Association survey of 637 travel industry professionals conducted earlier this month. More than three-quarters of travel managers and buyers, which represented 39 percent of total survey respondents, said their company would have more business travel this year than last year. Twenty-two percent of total buyer respondents indicated that increase would be "a lot more," according to GBTA. Only 7 percent of buyer respondents said travel volumes in 2023 would decrease year over year, and 15 percent said travel levels would remain the same. Among suppliers, which made up 37 percent of survey respondents, 86 percent said they expected their corporate customers' spending to be higher this year, with 26 percent saying the spending would be much higher. Nine percent said corporate business travel spending will be flat this yea

February 1, 2023 — 4.25pm February 1, 2023 — 4.25pm Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size The success of Virgin Australia’s sharemarket listing will ultimately come down to the strength of post-COVID revenge travel, the affordability of airfares and the amount of cash people have for discretionary spending once higher interest rates really bite. The airlines have been in financial clover over the past six to nine months as airfares have soared and demand was strong as people make up for lost trips during the pandemic. And this revenge travel looks set to continue for the rest of the financial year. We have already been given the heads-up by Qantas that it will report a record-breaking half-year to December 2022. Rex has this week been crowing about its profitability and the new entrant Bonza lifted off on Wednesday. Virgin Australia chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka. Credit: Dan Peled Virgin, which has begun the countdown to its publ

Across the country, everyone is feeling the pinch of inflation. Eggs have become a hot commodity and that fancy coffee costs about $1 more than it did last year. For travelers, domestic flights are up 52% in cost for 2023, according to travel site KAYAK . And yet, the post-pandemic travel bug is still driving what looks to be another adventurous year for Americans. In the same survey, KAYAK found that searches for domestic travel have risen 25% as people plan their new year adventures. It’s true that those bucket-list destinations might have to move to a back burner for many travelers due to financial considerations. That doesn’t mean they need to sit at home, though. More people are turning to smaller cities, national parks, and other destinations they’ve never considered as they plan their next adventure. Utilizing chain hotels with reward programs is one way travelers can save money, as is choosing cabins or condos with kitchens. Every fourth grader in America (and their fam

Editor's Note — Sign up for Unlocking the World, CNN Travel's weekly newsletter. Get news about destinations opening, inspiration for future adventures, plus the latest in aviation, food and drink, where to stay and other travel developments. (CNN) — More than 1,000 Monday flights have been canceled in the United States as winter weather moves through the middle of the country. Most of the cancellations so far are affecting Dallas Love Field and Dallas-Fort Worth International airports in Texas. As of about 5:30 p.m. ET, just over 1,000 flights within, into or out of the US had been canceled Monday, according to flight tracking site FlightAware, with more than 4,100 delays. About half of those cancellations are Southwest Airlines flights. The Dallas-based airline, which had an operations meltdown over the holidays , had canceled about 12% of its Monday schedule -- about 480 flights, according to FlightAware. Southwest Airlines did not immediately respond to a request

Media Note Office of the Spokesperson January 30, 2023 Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs Dr. Karen Donfried will travel to Italy, Vatican City, and Poland January 30 to February 3 to emphasize the United States’ commitment to our European Allies and partners, democracy, and transatlantic security as well as our continued support for Ukraine. After arriving in Italy, Assistant Secretary Donfried will travel to the Vatican to meet with Holy See Foreign Minister-equivalent Archbishop Paul Gallagher.  In Rome, the Assistant Secretary will have a series of meetings with senior Italian officials and civil society to discuss transatlantic issues and our shared commitment to Ukraine.  In Naples, she will meet with local leaders and visit U.S. forces at NAVEUR/NAVAF/Sixth Fleet Headquarters. Assistant Secretary Donfried will then travel to Warsaw to participate in the U.S.-Poland Strategic Dialogue at the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on February 2. 

The Turkish government has advised its citizens to prevent visiting Europe, citing anti-Muslim and anti-Turkish activities as the reasons for the travel advisory. According to the travel warning, Europe shouldn’t be a travel destination for Turkish citizens as “possible Islamophobic, xenophobic and racist attacks” may occur, indicating recent incidents that happened in Denmark and Sweden,  SchengenVisaInfo.com  reports. Turkey has been angered by Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist that set the Quran on Fire in Sweden and Denmark earlier this month, while another far-right activist desecrated the sacred book as a provocative act in the Netherlands. The Mediterranean country also advised its citizens in foreign countries to stay away from areas where protests might escalate. Meanwhile, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan denounced Paludan’s act and said it was an insult to everyone, especially the Muslim community. Erdogan also warned Sweden not to expect support regarding its

Fears about consumers curbing their holiday gift spending in 2022 proved largely unfounded. According to Adobe, American shoppers shelled out a record-breaking $211.7 billion for online purchases between November 1 and December 31, a 2.5% increase from 2021. However, some of the increase is attributable to higher prices due to inflation. Total U.S. holiday spend — in-store and ecommerce — rose by 5.3%, not adjusted for inflation, to $936.3 billion during November and December, according to the National Retail Federation. The trade group had forecast an increase of 6% to 8% over 2021 or $942.6 to $960.4 billion. Salesforce reported that online sales in November and December were flat globally at $1.14 trillion, caused mainly by weak spending in Europe and Australia. Mastercard Spending Pulse reported that for November 1 through December 24, 2022, U.S. in-store sales grew 6.8% over 2021, while ecommerce sales increased 10.6%. Ecommerce comprised 21.6% of total retail sales for the 20

The country has dropped restrictions on overseas journeys for its citizens, but once-popular destinations are still waiting for the flood of vacationers to arrive. When the first Chinese tourists landed at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok this month, they were greeted like celebrities with welcome banners, flowers, gifts, and a scrum of reporters and photographers. It was the moment that hotels, airlines, tour operators and government officials had long been waiting for — the reopening of China’s borders after nearly three years of pandemic restrictions that effectively cut the world off from Chinese travelers, once the largest source of global tourism revenue. “It is very exciting to visit warm beautiful places again,” said Hua Liu, 34, a graphic designer from Shanghai, who was among the first visitors to Thailand, where she took a two-week beach vacation late this month, as part of a Lunar New Year trip. “I will make up for the lost time,” she said in a telephone