Groupe ADP focusing on creating new retail experiences. Passengers are increasingly looking to enjoy a lifestyle experience when travelling, including one-off concept stores, more of a sense of place, and a broader retail and food & beverage offer.
Groupe ADP is proactively responding by positioning the commercial offer at its Paris airports as “the ultimate Parisian shopping & dining experience”. This is based on a distinct French flavour, and an ambition to be the only place in Paris combining excellence in interior design & space management, brand portfolio, quality of service, and price positioning. Leading these developments is Groupe ADP’s new Chief Retail Officer, Aude Ferrand. She was appointed to the role in October 2018, having served as head of the product offering division within the Retail and Services division of Groupe ADP since March 2017.
Solo travel for women is about freedom, in every sense of the word. For years, decades in fact, I’ve puzzled over the knee-jerk response most people have when I tell them I (mostly) travel alone.
“You’re so brave.” 10 of the best new group trips for women. Pioneering women in tourism When Intrepid launched its first Women’s Expeditions last year – to Iran, Jordan and Morocco – the tours became some of the most popular in the company’s 30-year history.
Within a few months, Intrepid expanded its four original departures to 36. This year, it is introducing four more tours – to Kenya, India, Nepal, and Turkey – where women can celebrate the female-only Gangur festival in Rajasthan, share a home-cooked meal in Cappadocia, spend time with Syrian refugees in Turkey and meet female wildlife rangers in Kenya on a trip led by East Africa’s first female overland truck driver. The tours are led by female guides and based around interacting with local women in each destination.• From £800 for an 12-day tip to Rajasthan, India, excluding flights, intrepid.com.
The Grands Magasins of Paris Are Branching Out. Airbnb Acquires HotelTonight to Expand Travel Portfolio. Mystic river: Canoeing a living entity in New Zealand. If my canoe makes a noise when I smash sideways into the rock, I don’t hear it.
The rapids drown everything. For a moment the canoe is stationary, then it fills with water and tips me out. I try to swim to the bank but make no headway against the current. Thailand’s elephants say goodbye to the circus – and a life of cruelty. We are being watched.
Waking to the call of wild gibbons, I peer out of my hammock into a clearing bathed in dawn light. The mahouts are stoking the campfire, and on the hillside opposite, four elephants – matriarch Thong Kam and three younger ones – keep a benign eye on the handful of humans temporarily sharing their forest home. Faroe Islands: closed for repairs but open about self-promotion. In parts of the Faroe Islands it rains 300 days a year, a national dish is wind-dried fermented mutton and the population of 50,000 people is outnumbered by sheep.
Transforming this archipelago between Shetland and Iceland into a mainstream tourism destination was never going to be easy. However, the Faroese pride themselves on inventiveness and practicality, qualities that have seen tourist numbers increasing 10% a year over the past five years. In part, it’s down to the work of Guðrið Hojgaard, director of the island’s tourist board, who has been selected by Politico as one of the 28 people most likely to “shape the world in 2019”. Hojgaard is behind the idea that the Faroes “will be closed from 26-28 April”, except for the 100 tourist volunteers who will be given free board and lodging in return for helping with practical projects to improve facilities for the 60,000 visitors who now choose the Faroe Islands for a holiday. Valérie Pécresse : « Il n’y a pas de sur-tourisme en Ile-de-France, il faut y aller à fond »
The Experience - The Private Suite. Hotel booking sites forced to end misleading sales tactics. Hotel booking sites will be forced to make major changes after Britain’s competition watchdog found they routinely engaged in pressure selling, misled consumers over prices and gave more prominence to hotels that paid the most commission.
The Competition and Markets Authority is clamping down on websites including Expedia, Booking.com and Hotels.com over practices that give a false impression of a hotel’s popularity, with claims such as “one room left at this price” and “booked four times in the last 24 hours”. The CMA said the pressure tactics used by six firms – which also include Trivago, ebookers and Agoda – could prevent customers finding the best deals in practices that could amount to breaches of consumer law. Andrew Tyrie, the chairman of the regulator, said: “The CMA has taken enforcement action to bring to an end misleading sales tactics, hidden charges and other practices in the online hotel booking market.
These have been wholly unacceptable. Cruise Lines Use Technology to Add the Personal Touch. Apps and Services to Help You Get Around on Your Next Trip. The first challenge you face on arriving somewhere new is usually how to get around, but the right technology can make it easier.
Dining under the stars: sunsets, bush tucker and that view at Uluru. People don’t travel to Uluru for the food.
That rock eclipses everything, with food almost an afterthought. Distance, too, has traditionally been a problem. Sourcing a variety of food, plus hospitality staff, has long been a catering problem for this remote destination. Yet, over time, a significant garden has been established, Indigenous staff have been trained and mentored, native ingredients have been embraced, and talent from overseas – attracted to this unique desert location – have transformed Uluru into a foodie destination. Dining options that incorporate the incredible landscape have also evolved. In Ethiopia, your holiday really can change lives. We arrive at sunset.
The guesthouse sits on a rising prow of rock with dizzying views of the vast gorge below. The altitude is around 3,000 metres, and after six hours’ walking, I am tired. Inside the thatched hut, two young women are tending a fire where the shiro, a kind of bean stew, is cooking. I glance out of the small window and a lammergeier, a bearded vulture, comes sailing past. Happy eco-campers: protecting wildlife in Cambodia. The path to Preak Tachan ranger station, in Botum Sakor national park, Cambodia, snakes through dense, silent forest. It crosses bubbling rivers and clearings where luminous butterflies flit around gargantuan hanging vines and tall wild grasses. It’s The Lost World, Indochina-style. I half expect a dinosaur to come crashing through the foliage.
10 of the best ethical holidays: readers’ travel tips. Tread lightly in Ladakh, India I was amazed to discover that it is possible to enjoy the extreme beauty of Ladakh while treading lightly and investing locally. Plastic-free co-operative shops that would be the envy of Brighton and Bristol abound in the capital, Leh. At shops like Dzomsa on Old Fort Road you can fill up your water bottles, scoop bulk fruit, nuts and herbal teas into paper bags and pick up unpackaged, locally made soap and knitted goods – the sun-dried Ladakhi apricots are wonderful. We trekked for eight days through Markha Valley.
Solar-powered homestays, run by women, provide cosy accommodation and delicious home-cooked meals. La Revue de Presse Tourisme & Digital n° 110. Luxury Brands Are Making Unconventional Partnerships the Next Big Thing. 10 of the best sustainable hotels in south-east Asia. The Yard Hostel, Bangkok, Thailand Yes, some of the structures are made form recycled shipping containers. And yes, recycled paper is used as insulation to keep the buildings cool. Inverter air conditioners and LED lights save energy and refillable glass water bottles for guests eliminate the need for plastic, while composted waste keeps the garden green – and the mojitos minty. How TripAdvisor changed travel – podcast. Rough Guides launches tailormade trips as part of major overhaul.
After almost 40 years of helping backpackers travel on a budget, Rough Guides has launched a bespoke holiday service aimed at “time-poor” adventurous older travellers who no longer want to rough it. The move is the start of a transformation of the publisher’s entire business model from guidebook seller to online travel company. “In five to ten years we don’t want to be seen as a guidebook publisher: we want to be seen as a dynamic tech company that provides tailormade trips,” said CEO René Frey. The decision follows a survey that found that the majority of Rough Guides readers are 40-60, or older.
Frey said those readers are “astonishingly loyal” but that selling guidebooks to an ageing readership was unsustainable. Wheelchair-accessible tour in Kamakura aims to revolutionize tourism for people with disabilities. Thaïlande. Laissez la baie de Maya tranquille ! La baie de Maya, dans la province de Krabi, devrait fermer définitivement. Une décision qui vise à préserver l’écosystème de cette plage assaillie par le tourisme de masse, mais constitue toutefois un coup dur pour le secteur touristique, alors que la saison démarre. Le bras de fer entre écologistes et professionnels du tourisme se durcit à propos du sort de la baie de Maya, dans la province de Krabi, relève à sa une The Nation.
“Le 28 septembre, le département des parcs nationaux a ordonné la fermeture définitive de la baie afin de donner plus de temps aux récifs coralliens détruits pour se reconstituer”, précise le journal anglophone. Les quatre mois de fermeture décidés en avril dernier n’ont pas été suffisants “pour la réhabilitation de l’écosystème fragile de ce site populaire”. “Destination touristique parmi les plus visitées du monde, la baie de Maya a été rendue populaire par le film La Plage”, indique The Nation.
Jin Jiang acquiert 50,21% de Radisson AB. Jin Jiang International Holdings Co, Ltd, incluant SINO-CEE Fund, a annoncé que le consortium avait conclu des ententes avec Radisson Hospitality Inc. et HNA Sweden Hospitality Management AB, une filiale de HNA Tourism Group Co, Ltd, pour l'acquisition de parts dans Radisson Hospitality AB. Le prix d'achat en vertu de ces accords est de 35,00 SEK (3,42€) par action.
En août 2018, Jin Jiang a accepté d'acheter 100% de Radisson Holdings et 51,5 % des actions en circulation de Radisson Hospitality AB. La réalisation de l'acquisition était assujettie à l'obtention des approbations réglementaires et à d'autres conditions de clôture habituelles. Ces conditions sont maintenant remplies.
Beware firms trying to take a cut of your flight delay claim … you can do it for free. When Martin Bennett’s British Airways flight to the US was cancelled he decided to apply for compensation due under EU law. Before he could contact the airline, he received an unsolicited email from Expedia, the travel agent which booked his flight. Nine Hotel Openings to Look Out For in the Coming Year. NoMad Las Vegas A hotel within a hotel, the NoMad Las Vegas, which is scheduled to open on Nov. 14, is situated in the recently opened Park MGM and has Art Deco- inspired interiors designed by Jacques Garcia.
Swap stops: Barter Week offers 'free' stays in exchange for skills. Budget-conscious travellers who embrace the sharing economy as a source of affordable trips will appreciate an new initiative launching in November offering “free” accommodation around the world. Vietnam’s first ethical elephant tours launch. The chefs who are closing for dinner to pursue a healthier life. Shrinking the world: why we can't resist model villages. How TripAdvisor changed travel. Barcelona Airbnb host 'manages rentals worth £33,000 a day' Paris on Foot: 35 Miles, 6 Days and One Blistered Toe. Premier Inn unveils no-frills hotel brand with pod-style rooms.
Air France fait décoller 10 start-up. 20 affordable skiing holidays with a difference. Japan’s first 'dispersed' hotel opens in Kyoto. Go it alone: solo trips on the rise as travellers opt for ‘me time’
It’s Hip to Be Cheap as Hotels Democratize Design. Seven Chef-Led Food Tours That Explore Cuisine and Culture at the Same Time.
Idée très intéressante. L’offre s’adresse à un un segment de la population ciblé, et l’idée de faire découvrir un pays et sa culture par l’intermédiaire de la gastronomie est très attractif je trouve. On s’attend à vivre une expérience plutôt luxueuse, qui allie gastronomie et découverte d’un territoire spécifique, on a l’impression que l’expérience proposée est intime, on peut aussi se demander quelles conséquences il y aura sur le territoire qui attirerai des touristes plutôt aisés. – syyd
The age of envy: how to be happy when everyone else's life looks perfect. Great Article SS. In Vienna, Affordable Luxury Comes at a Price.