Business travel

This summer, the European Union should once again be accepting American travellers onto its soil, without any compelling reason. On condition that these travellers have been vaccinated beforehand.

Singapore's Pan Pacific group is moving into the heart of London's business district with a luxury hotel offering plenty of space for top-of-the-range meetings.

From 1 May, French Polynesia is introducing simplified entry requirements for travellers from the European Union and the United States who have been vaccinated or immunised against Covid-19. 

Jean Castex announced on Thursday the lifting of restrictions on travel to France from 3 May, and confirmed the tightening of controls on India and several Latin American countries, which will be subject to a "health airlock".

American private rail operator Brightline, which has been present on the Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach line since 2018, aims to include Orlando airport from 2022. And to move up to high speed with trains running at 200 km/hour.

As a logical - and global - consequence of the crisis, African airlines have been suffering for the past year. And they are impatiently awaiting the return of business travellers, perhaps thanks to the health pass, or risk seeing further bankruptcies...

Daniel Karbownik, Regional Director for West and Central Africa for the Accor Group's brands, takes stock of developments in the hotel industry on the continent in the face of the crisis, and the new offers and services that can provide a response to business travellers, such as hybrid meetings and health labels.

Qantas' international lounges are beginning to reopen. At the same time, the Australian airline has extended its partnership with Accor for the management of its lounges.

Two big names in the hotel industry have set their sights on Madrid: Mandarin Oriental, which has just taken up residence in the former Ritz, and Marriott, which is preparing to launch the JW Marriott brand on the Spanish market.

Mama Shelter will be heading to Rome, albeit with a slight delay. The lifestyle chain will finally be opening Mama Roma in July, and is now giving details of the new establishment's profile.

The Principality of Andorra would like to link Andorra-La Seu d'Urgell airport with France and Spain. Eric Bartolomé, Secretary of State for the Principality of Andorra, explains why.

The government has just made official the launch of a health pass integrated into the TousAntiCovid application. The system will be tested from April onwards on flights to Corsica and the French Overseas Departments and Territories. The European "digital green certificate" is taking shape.

Trainline has published a comparative study of rail and air travel on the domestic network. Unsurprisingly, the rail booking platform praises the merits of rail over air...

This summer, Air France will be launching a new direct flight between Paris-CDG and Denver. A first for the SkyTeam alliance on the transatlantic route.

Marseille will be linked to more than a dozen new destinations during the summer season, the most active operator being ultra low-cost carrier Ryanair.

Ile de France Mobilités, the agency responsible for managing public transport in Paris and the surrounding region, will finally be entering the 21st century in 2022 by eliminating almost all paper tickets. This will make it one of the last major public transport operators in Europe to go completely digital...

Greet, the Accor group's eco-responsible and economical brand, is adding a new hotel right next to Bordeaux Mérignac airport.

Marriott Bonvoy and Uber are teaming up to allow loyalty programme members to earn points on both food delivery and VTC journeys.

The InterContinental Barcelona, which will open at the end of summer 2021 on Montjuic Hill, will offer 273 rooms and a vast space dedicated to meetings and events.

A Mövenpick next May, a 25Hours expected at the end of the year and an SO/ planned for 2023: Accor has several exciting projects in the pipeline in Melbourne.