Travel Week in Review – March 31st, 2023

Tourist taxes, also known as hotel taxes or visitor charges, are increasingly being implemented in European cities. Manchester is the latest addition to the list of cities charging a tourist tax in the UK. The new visitor charge, set to begin on April 1, 2023, will charge visitors staying in city-center hotels or rental apartments per room for each night of stay. The nightly charge will be £1 ($1.23) per room, and it is expected to raise £3 million ($3.6 million) annually to help build local infrastructure. Read More…

Right now, many U.S. travelers have the same worry on their minds: Why are passports taking so long? If you’re hoping to renew a U.S. passport in time for an international trip this summer or receive your first-ever document, you’ll likely have a bureaucratic headache ahead of you as wait times for passports are once again on the rise. The State Department is facing “unprecedented demand” for passports, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said in a Congressional budget hearing on March 23. Read More…

Travelers are facing major disruptions across Europe due to union strikes taking place in various countries. Heathrow airport is advising passengers of potential disruption due to a strike by Unite, which represents security officers, between March 31 and April 9. The union argues that accepting the airport’s proposal of a 10% pay increase would result in a real-terms pay cut, and members are striking “due to need not greed.” Read More…

United announced its $5 million investment in carbon capture technology company Svante, who provides materials and technology as part of the value chain that has the potential to convert CO2 removed from the atmosphere and from industrial emission sources into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). This is the latest announced investment from the new UAV Sustainable Flight FundSM, a first-of-its-kind investment vehicle. Read More…

Lawmakers proposed the bill after a series of high-profile incidents onboard airplanes, including a passenger who attempted to open an emergency exit and attacked an attendant with a makeshift knife. The FAA received 2,456 reports of unruly passengers last year and proposed $8.4 million in fines, up from the $5 million proposed the previous year. Although the total number of reports was lower than in 2021, the proposed penalties increased dramatically. The new bill has been met with mixed reactions. Read More…