Covid-19

Half-half... There is in these associations a shadow of indecision, a kind of doubt, a mixed feeling. It's half goat, half cabbage, half fig, half grapes... Nothing, in any case, that is synonymous with a successful and constructive meeting. And yet, the "half and half" combination - in this case, half-present and half-distinct - has every chance of serving as a framework for...

Jean Castex made it official on Thursday: since the evening of 19 March, confinement has once again been in force in 16 French departments, in Ile-de-France and Hauts-de-France, as well as in Alpes-Maritimes, Eure and Seine-Maritime. The measure will apply for at least four weeks, "unless positive results are observed in the meantime" ....

Updated on 29 March. The European Commission wants to give EU citizens back their freedom to move freely within the EU's borders. This is a gamble that has so far been largely lost due to the various confinement and quarantine measures taken by EU members. The Commission wants to put an end to this...

We suspected it, but the Union of French Airports (UAF) has confirmed it. 2020 will have seen a collapse in traffic on a scale hitherto unknown in the history of French air transport. Last year, French airports welcomed 70.045 million passengers, a fall of 67.3% compared with 2019. The number of flights reached 898...

Hyatt has just passed the 1,000-hotel mark worldwide with the opening of Alila Napa Valley, a 68-room luxury resort surrounded by vineyards and located in the heart of the Beringer estate. The American group will continue to expand in 2021, notably through the growth of its lifestyle brands, which have been acquired...

For a few months, Japan opened its borders very slightly. A few international travellers were able to visit Japan as part of a "Business" corridor. However, the door has just been locked again in the face of an upsurge in cases of covid. Until further notice. The archipelago is in a state of emergency....

While Air France has been trialling the ICC AOKpass health certificate on its flights from Paris-CDG to Pointe-à-Pitre and Fort-de-France since 11 March, the Minister Delegate for Transport, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, sees a bright future for these solutions, which make travel more fluid through the secure, digital verification of Covid tests. "It can...

The compelling reasons requirement for travel to or from a country outside the European area, which has been in force since 31 January 2021, has just been relaxed by the French government. From now on, travel to or from seven countries will no longer be prohibited, unless it can be shown that there is an emergency of a family, medical or other nature....

Business and leisure travellers are waiting for just one thing: to board a plane again, and governments must quickly take the necessary measures to allow them to do so. This is the message sent by IATA with the publication of a survey conducted in mid-February among 4,700 travellers in 11 countries, including France....

The Rome-Milan railway line will be offering Covid-free trains from April, announced Gianfranco Battisti, Managing Director of Ferrovie dello Stato, on Monday 8 March. The head of Italy's national railway company hailed the initiative as a way of boosting travel after more than a year of fighting the pandemic. The launch...

While predictions are multiplying as to when international business travellers will be able to resume, some market players are already hard at work putting concrete options in place, and in fact speeding up the recovery timetable. This is the case in Singapore, which has been working hard since the beginning of the crisis to explore...

The Lufthansa Group is now offering to send its customers their Covid-19 test certificates via its application. All the documents required for entry will be sent at the same time to a help centre. This centralises and manages all the information currently required for travel in terms of health. [link-block prefix="Also worth reading:" post="105303"] The new...

These days, it's hard to claim to be the ideal companion for business travellers without offering them resources linked to the specific medical and regulatory context of their destination... With this in mind, SAP Concur has enhanced TripIt - the travel application it acquired ten years ago - with new resources. "From planning to landing,...

Patrick Mendes has been in charge of Accor's international sales for some time, before taking over as head of the hotel group's operations in Latin America. He is now heading up a new division which, for the first time, brings together the Sales, Distribution, Marketing and Loyalty divisions. As part of his duties, Patrick Mendes also oversees the eight regional hubs recently created by Accor...

Air France to test the ICC AOKpass digital health certificate. The announcement of a pilot phase for the Covid solution for digitising test results comes just one day after that made by French Bee and Air Caraïbes. And, like the two airlines in the Dubreuil group, this test programme will cover...

Like other countries, the United States has noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a sharp reduction in passenger travel in 2020. While Americans made 498 billion journeys - all types combined - in 2019, the year 2020 saw a total of 370 billion journeys, down...

From March, passengers travelling on Air Caraïbes and French Bee flights from Paris-Orly airport to the French Overseas Departments and Territories will be able to test the ICC AOKpass application to certify their negative covid test results for travel to Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, Reunion and Tahiti. The...

At its annual conference, In Extenso drew up a gloomy balance sheet for the French hotel industry as it prepared its accounts for 2020. Revenue per room (RevPAR), the industry's benchmark, has fallen by 55 % compared with 2019, a figure that sums up the hotels...

Coming to Canada has been difficult enough in recent months. It will get worse from 22 February. In a speech on Friday evening, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced updated entry requirements for air travellers. As of 22 February, anyone arriving from abroad will have to...

Swedish railways SJ must now immobilise 50% of their train capacity. The measure came into force on Sunday 14 February. It will apply until Monday 31 May (inclusive). It applies to all journeys of 150 km or more. This decision does not, however, affect trains whose...