The tourism industry has been one of the main reasons behind the recovery of the Greek economy. Since 2013, the number of foreign visitors has increased each year, with Germany being the largest source for inbound travelers. In spite of this centrality of the tourism industry to Greek economy, it is taxed heavily. Now in addition, a new “sleeping tax” for overnight stays is expected to further rise to the costs of travelers. Business intelligence provided by Grant Thornton has pegged the expected revenues from this new tax at around 160 million euros. While Greece has experienced a rise in tourism revenues, this is not something that can be taken for granted in the wake of the recovery in numbers at former giants Egypt and Turkey. Both these countries saw a dip due to security threats but are now bouncing back handsomely.

Source:https://www.tourism-review.com/high-taxes-threaten-greek-tourism-news10495

Uploaded Date: 12 March 2018

While Africa unfortunately suffers from a lot of negative publicity, there is much good news for the continent to be proud of and start pulling in the numbers in terms of inbound tourism. Far from the famines, poverty, epidemics and violence, there is an Africa south of the Sahara that is the fastest-growing region in wellness tourism. As per business intelligence provided by the Global Wellness Institute, there has been a ninety percent rise in tourist number in the span of just a single year. This is a far cry from 2007 when a mere fourteen sub-Saharan countries had even a single spa. The progress has been especially stark in Gabon and Gambia. Aman Resorts for example has tied up with the government of Gabon to develop wellness tourism. Gambia’s Bijilo Beach is home to the Coco Ocean Resort and Spa. The likes of Kenya, Namibia, Senegal, Ghana, Seychelles, Mauritius and Tanzania have also made steady progress.

Source:https://www.tourism-review.com/travel-tourism-magazine-wellness-tourism-developing-fast-in-africa-article2680

Uploaded Date:03 March 2018

Mexico’s first ever Sustainable Tourism Development Zone (ZDTS) will be set up between the areas of Tulum and Puerto Morelos. The main aim is to ensure the equitable use of the available resources, while continuing to grow in generation of tourism jobs. This decision was taken after a high-level meeting conducted at Quintana Roo. The complete cooperation of the respective municipal presidents has been guaranteed. The services of FONATUR (National Fund for Tourism Promotion) will be enlisted for maintenance of the designated areas. The model of sustainable tourism will then be promoted to the rest of the country, once it works well in this ZDTS. The Ecological Ordinance Program and the Urban Development Policy will both work hand-in-hand to ensure the successful implementation of this vision.

Source:https://www.tourism-review.com/sustainable-tourism-in-mexico-creates-a-new-zone-news10496

Uploaded Date:03 March 2018

A study has been conducted to gauge the major trends taking over the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) segment in 2018. The first thing that organizers need to take care of is increased security measures, in the wake of heightened safety threats. Contingency plans must be evaluated, ready and tested before the actual event. Paris for example lost substantial tourism revenue following the attacks in 2015, but has recovered most of it due to seriousness is security being shown. As per business research carried out by the MPI (Meeting Professionals International), more than three-fifths of respondents are seeking an increase in attendance among virtual visitors. Thus, a curated experience needs to be provided for high-level visitors involving virtual reality and artificial intelligence. An analyst at IBTM has confirmed that companies in the fintech, IT, pharma and automotive sectors are now being targeted to participate in such events. London, Berlin and Barcelona have emerged as the most sought-after destinations for MICE travel in Europe followed by the likes of Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, Prague, Madrid and Munich.

Source:https://www.tourism-review.com/mice-tourism-trends-include-security-technology-experience-news10464

Uploaded Date:01 March 2018

Blockchain has emerged into popular parlance thanks to its association with Bitcoin which was launched in 2009 using this P2P network. However, blockchain has other advantages, notably in the travel and tourism sector. Best part is that all information is tightly encrypted. Business intelligence shared by Amadeus shows that each year, more than two billion Euros are spent by airlines on lost baggage recovery. This amount can be saved by using blockchain to track luggage and verify identifications. The entire process will be even stronger with the correct alignment between blockchain and biometrics. While blockchain cannot replace the human interaction, it makes the entire process more transparent.

Source:https://www.tourism-review.com/tourism-industry-discussing-the-blockchain-news10454

Uploaded Date:01 March 2018

An e-visa initiative has worked wonders for the inbound tourism industry in Brazil. To cite some latest figures, there were four-hundred thousand foreign visitors to the country during the Carnival alone, as per business intelligence provided by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism. This figure in addition to the 10.7 million domestic travelers has ensured a healthy tourism sector. The national tourist board Embratur, puts a large part of the credit for this growth in foreign numbers to the e-visa policy. The target from US outbound authorities is to double the number of American travelers. Another country of focus is China which is Brazil’s largest trade partner, but the exchange of international travelers is miniscule by comparison between the two countries.

Source:https://www.tourism-review.com/brazil-reports-positive-numbers-thanks-to-e-visa-news10482

Uploaded Date:01 March 2018

At first glance, tourism and big data do not seem to be highly likely matches. Yet, on closer scrutiny, it emerges that the tourism industry leverages data in a big way to come to solutions using Natural Language Processing (NLP). All forms of NLP depend on two broad models. One is linguistic, which is based on grammar. The other is Probabilistic, which depends on the enormous data warehousing operations conducted these days by various players in the tourism industry. Content derived from user experience gets analyzed at various levels of the entire tourism supply chain. Needless to say, 2016 saw a seventh consecutive year of growth for the tourism industry.

Source:https://www.tourism-review.com/tourism-industry-relies-more-on-the-big-data-news10492

Uploaded Date:27 February 2018