Over 4,000 flights were cancelled around the world on Sunday, more than half of them U.S. flights, adding to the toll of holiday week travel disruptions due to adverse weather and the surge in coronavirus cases caused by the Omicron variant. The flights cancelled by 8 pm GMT on Sunday included over 2,400 entering, departing from or within the United States, according to tracking website FlightAware.com. Globally, more than 11,200 flights were delayed. FILE PHOTO: Passengers are seen at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. December 20, 2021. REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage Among the airlines with most cancellations were SkyWest and SouthWest, with 510 and 419 cancellations respectively, FlightAware showed. The Christmas and New Year holidays are t...
Read MoreTag: Omicron
Several countries across the globe have restarted imposing international travel restrictions and measures to guard against Omicron, a new variant of the COVID-19. However, Twitter influencers and Redditors are of the opinion that travel ban may actually harm many industries, especially the travel and tourism industry, according to the Social Media Analytics Platform of GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company. FILE PHOTO: Travellers check a departures list at the ticketing level of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport before the Thanksgiving holiday in Seattle, Washington, U.S. November 24, 2021. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson/File Photo GlobalData’s Social Media Analytics Platform identifies and tracks the emerging trends, pain areas, new fields of innovation among discussions of T...
Read MoreTravel and tourism industry around the world is seeing Omicron as a bolt from the blue. When after two years of turbulence, things finally looked getting better the emergence of new COVID strain and subsequent travel restrictions by governments one after the another has spelled nothing short of disaster. More so because, it has come right before the year-end vacations. FILE PHOTO: People wearing protective masks walk on a street, following new cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Shanghai, China, November 24, 2021. REUTERS/Aly Song That is the reason that industry is requesting governments to be cautious but not get into panic mode. It is against this knee jerk reaction from countries of closing borders again. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has also...
Read MoreStruggling Filipino artist Alberto Nunez was looking for a change in fortunes this week, until news broke of a new COVID-19 variant, which scuppered government plans to loosen restrictions and dashed his hopes for a long-awaited boost in business. Artists paint customized designs on t-shirts at a shop in Boracay Island, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Aklan province, Philippines, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez The Philippines on Sunday backed out of a planned reopening to foreign tourists after 21 months of border restrictions, citing uncertainty over the risks posed by the new Omicron COVID-19 variant that has triggered global concern. Nunez had sold paintings to tourists on the island of Boracay for over 17 years, typically earning $600 a week befo...
Read MoreThe docking of the Europa passenger liner in Cape Town on Tuesday was meant to be a ribbon-cutting celebration marking the official start of the cruise ship season in South Africa's top tourist hub, the first since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But international travel curbs on southern Africa, where the new Omicron coronavirus variant was first identified, have blown expectations of a bumper tourist season out of the water. Gulls are seen as the Europa passenger liner arrives to South African waters, as the new coronavirus variant Omicron spreads, in Cape Town, South Africa, November 30, 2021. REUTERS/Shelley Christians The multi-storey, white luxury liner is the first to dock at Cape Town since South Africa imposed a total ban on all cruise ships entering local ports in March 2020...
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