This week LATTE communicated from afar with Steve Sammut, President and CEO of Rocky Mountaineer.

The global cruise crisis surrounding the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t waivered the confidence of clients of CLIA’s 2019 Cruise Consultant of the Year, Robyn Sinfield of Home Travel Company.

Inspiring Journeys has developed six new domestic trips in its Australia and New Zealand portfolio. The new journeys are inspired from customer research that shows 59% of people seek cultural experiences, 46% want to connect with locals, 37% want a food and wine experience, 38% dream of bush and nature walks and 27% want to immerse themselves in museums and art galleries.

Qantas has announced a three-year, three-pronged strategy aimed at accelerating the airline’s recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. The plan will see the Qantas Group let go of at least 6,000 staff across Qantas and Jetstar and the immediate retirement of Qantas’ remaining six Boeing 747-400 workhorses, while the reintroduction of its Airbus A380 double-deck fleet (12) is uncertain.

Aussies and Kiwis will be permitted to travel to Fiji under Phase 2 of the island nation’s COVID-Safe Economic Recovery plan announced by Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

Switzerland will lift almost all measures that were introduced to limit the spread of the coronavirus pandemic from Monday 22 June. A ban remains in place on large-scale events up until the end of August 2020.

The shutdown of Australia’s cruise industry due to the coronavirus pandemic has cost the country $500 million so far, a figure that is projected to be around one-third of the total economic loss if the local cruise ban continues into mid-September.

Fiji Airways will implement a new ‘Travel Ready’ program to ensure passenger health and safety is safeguarded through all aspects of air travel once it returns to international operation.

The European Commission has debuted a new web platform to support a safe relaunch of travelling and tourism across Europe. ‘Reopen EU’ features real-time information on borders and available transport options and tourism services in member states.

Ultra-luxury resort collection, Aman, has revealed the phased reopening of its collection of resorts globally, many of which have already reopened doors.

A proposed timeline for the restart of domestic tourism and hospitality industries in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic disruptions has been well received, according to an update by the Tourism Restart Taskforce.

Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas has begun offering private island buy out retreats at some of its resorts, offering the ultimate in privacy for events, special occasions and peace of mind.