Virtuoso has reported improving signs of a recovery in the travel sector this year, buoyed by a strong rebound in hotel city stays, increasing traffic to Europe and growing confidence in the cruise sector.

Virtuoso Chairman and CEO, Matthew Upchurch, delivered a message of hope and opportunity to attendees at the Opening Ceremony of the 2021 Virtuoso Travel Week held in Las Vegas.

Virtuoso has promoted two longstanding executives to key leadership positions. Karyn McCarthy has been named Vice President, Member and Partner Development, and Misty Belles assumes the title of Vice President, Global Public Relations. Both are seasoned industry veterans whose expanded roles will help support Virtuoso’s ever-growing global footprint.

Virtuoso has unveiled the latest edition of its white paper focused on sustainability initiatives at Virtuoso Travel Week (VTW) 2021 in Las Vegas.

MSC Group’s new luxury cruise brand, Explora Journeys, has been accepted into Virtuoso’s exclusive portfolio of travel partners as the first cruise line in the network’s Preview program.

Hurtigruten and Virtuoso have cranked up the reach of their global partnership, to now span Australia and New Zealand.

Nordic tour specialist 50 Degrees North has partnered with award-winning photographer, David Evans, to launch a brand-new escorted photography tour of Finland and Norway.

Aurora Expeditions has reinforced its position with the luxury travel network, Virtuoso, upping its scope from a Regional Preferred Partner in Asia Pacific to a global scale.

Virgin Galactic’s first fully crewed space flight on Sunday (US time) grabbed the media spotlight in the past week, but rival commercial space tourism enterprise Blue Origin will have bragging rights of its own next week.

Virgin Galactic has been granted its full commercial launch licence for space flights by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Spencer Travel has merged its leisure retail brands – Spencer Travel Southside, Spencer Travel Eastside and Shire Travel – into one entity, now known as Spencer Travel Leisure.

New York-based luxury travel management company Valerie Wilson Travel has been acquired by Frosch International Travel, operating as an independent brand.