Day Headlines in Travel News: 2025-02-03

  • Eyewear Brands Help Drive Growth in the Travel Retail Sector (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 17:00:54)
    As travel and tourism continue to expand, so do the retail channels that cater to travel environments like airports, cruise terminals, and other duty-free zones.
  • ‘FIBO meets Riyadh’ pop-up bridges the gap between hospitality and fitness industries (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 15:19:30)
    Event highlights opportunities for hotels to transform gyms and wellness facilities into profit-driving powerhouses
  • Haute Retreats Expands Luxury Villa Portfolio in the French Riviera and Mallorca (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 15:11:01)
    Haute Retreats, the award-winning leader in luxury villa rentals, has announced an exciting expansion into two of Europe’s most coveted summer destinations—the French Riviera and Mallorca. This latest addition enhances the company’s exclusive collection, offering travelers an unparalleled selection of high-end private villas that redefine luxury vacationing.
  • Why Costa Rica is a Paradise for Watersports Enthusiasts (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 12:35:40)
    Costa Rica is a haven for those who enjoy water sports. It offers both calm relaxation and exciting activity. The nation offers amazing beaches from the Pacific to the Caribbean that perfectly combine leisure with action. Kayaking on calm rivers or surfing amazing waves lets one appreciate Costa Rica’s aquatic surroundings. Water sports aficionados love this Central American jewel because of its perfect weather and great marine life.
  • Visito unveils AI phone call agent for hotels (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:48:17)
    Visito, a leading conversational AI platform for independent hotels, today announced the launch of Visito Voice, an AI-powered voice assistant designed to handle incoming guest phone calls with natural, real-time interactions.Visito Voice enables hotels to automate phone-based guest support, resolving over 50% of incoming calls while ensuring a seamless hand-off to staff when needed. Available 24/7 in more than 50 languages, the AI assistant eliminates hold times, understands conversational speech, and integrates directly with leading property management systems.
  • RYANAIR OPENS 7 NEW LONDON ROUTES FOR SUMMER 2025 (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:46:52)
    Ryanair, the UK’s No.1 low fares airline, have announced its London Summer 2025 schedule with 206 routes, including 7 new routes from Stansted to Bodrum, Clermont-Ferrand, Dalaman, Münster, Lübeck, Linz & Reggio Calabria, as well as extra frequencies on 30 other London routes to Gdansk, Ibiza, Malaga, Milan, Rome, Turin, and Valencia. To support this traffic growth, Ryanair will base 1 new B737 in London Stansted for S25 – an additional $100m investment in London – bringing Ryanair’s total London-based fleet to 56 aircraft (an investment of $5.6bn) and creating 30 new highly paid jobs for pilots, cabin crew and engineers.
  • easyJet partners with SignLive to help deaf and hard of hearing customers (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:44:49)
    easyJet has partnered with interpreting service SignLive enabling deaf and hard of hearing customers to communicate using British Sign Language (BSL).The new free-to-use service will help remove barriers to communication for deaf and hard of hearing customers by offering the option of easily connecting via video with a certified BSL interpreter, who can provide two-way translation, and enabling a real-time conversation with easyJet’s dedicated Assistance Team.
  • Air Canada Named One of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People 2025 (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:39:26)
    Air Canada has been recognized for the second consecutive year as one of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People 2025 by Mediacorp. This respected award reflects the company’s commitment to creating opportunities for young people to flourish and establish themselves as the leaders of tomorrow.Air Canada has been recognized for the second consecutive year as one of Canada’s Top Employers for Young People 2025 by Mediacorp. (CNW Group/Air Canada)Air Canada offers paid internship programs in a variety of disciplines with numerous professional development opportunities, including access to a range of online learning videos.
  • QANTAS MARKS NEW ERA FOR THE AIRLINE WITH UNIFORM REDESIGN SET FOR THE RUNWAY (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:35:03)
    Qantas is embarking on a major uniform redesign for the first time in over a decade as the national carrier ramps up its historic fleet renewal program, continues to invest in customers and prepares to conquer the final frontier of aviation with the launch of Project Sunrise. As the airline cements its path to an ambitious future ahead, it will begin to overhaul one of the most visual representations of the brand – the Qantas uniform – by searching for a new Australian designer to take it into the next era.
  • South African Airways (SAA) has added two aircraft to its fleet in the last two weeks (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:33:46)
    South African Airways (SAA) has added two aircraft to its fleet in the last two weeks, successfully growing its fleet size to 20 aircraft.“This is a remarkable achievement considering that just over three years ago, the airline emerged from business rescue with just six aircraft. Since 2021, the team at SAA has worked strategically and consistently to grow the fleet and route network sustainably. These additional aircraft will enable SAA to continue fulfilling our promise to add seat capacity in both the domestic and regional market and thereby contributing to the affordability of passenger air travel, ” says Professor John Lamola, interim CEO at SAA.
  • EcoPulse results suggest a bright future for hybrid-electric aviation (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:30:54)
    On a chilly day in mid-December, key stakeholders gathered together at a Daher hangar in Tarbes, in southwest France, to bid adieu to the EcoPulse demonstrator during a livestream wrap-up.A distributed hybrid-propulsion aircraft demonstrator, EcoPulse was designed and developed jointly by Airbus, Daher and Safran. Leaders from all three companies were on stage to share their perspectives on the programme, including Airbus’ own Jean-Baptiste Manchette, Head of Propulsion of Tomorrow.
  • Lufthansa extends A380 service to Bangkok (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:28:13)
    Lufthansa, Germany’s flagship carrier and largest airline, is pleased to announce the extension of its Airbus A380 service from Bangkok to Munich for the peak Songkran holiday season. In response to growing demand during this key travel period, Lufthansa will operate its flagship aircraft on this route, offering passengers a luxurious and comfortable flying experience between the two major cities.
  • Lufthansa Group strengthens wet lease partnership with airBaltic (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:26:32)
    Lufthansa Group has signed an agreement to receive a convertible share representing a 10 per cent stake of the Latvian state airline airBaltic which will be issued at a subscription price of 14 million euros. Additionally, Lufthansa Group will receive a seat in the airBaltic Supervisory Board
  • Sho Shibuya designs loungewear for Lufthansa Allegris First Class (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:22:47)
    Lufthansa starts an exclusive partnership with Sho Shibuya. The artist will be designing unique loungewear for the airline’s new Allegris First Class.The Japanese artist Sho Shibuya became world-famous with his works, which change in impressive color gradients from dawn to sunset. The contemporary artist has created a unique design for Lufthansa, inspired by the view of the sky that can only be experienced high above the clouds from an airplane. However, his art is not just for viewing but can be felt and experienced up close.
  • Emirates teams up with the NBA to lead youth clinic in Paris (Breaking Travel News 2025-02-03 07:18:56)
    Emirates, the Official Airline Partner of the NBA, offered youth in Paris last week an unforgettable experience with NBA Legend Joakim Noah. Showing 15 kids from a local organisation, Sport dans la Ville, in Paris the fundamentals of the game, Noah gave up-close and personal lessons around passing, shooting, rebounding and offered positive reinforcement and encouragement throughout the session.