Here are the trending travel stories around the world today.
Concern that Comair’s funding crisis could signal airline’s ‘death knell’ as reputation left in tatters
Thousands of South Africans who had booked flights are left on the back foot as Comair flights equate to about 40 percent of the country’s aviation capacity.
Comair suffered a further blow to its corporate reputation after it suspended flights for British Airways and kulula.com due to a lack of funding which, analysts said yesterday, might signal the death knell for the airline with no apparent funding channels in sight.
In a brief statement on social media platforms late on Tuesday, the company said: “Comair regrets to advise its flights have been voluntarily suspended from 1 June pending securing funding to resume operations.- IOL Business Report
Travel chaos grounds passengers at Gatwick Airport
Scenes of chaos have been seen at some European airports over the last week as people have started to venture abroad, sparked by a shortage of bag handlers, security and airline staff that led to huge queues, missed flights and furious customers.
In Britain, airlines such as TUI TUIGn.DE and easyJet EZJ.L have cancelled dozens of flights a week to improve customer service and reliability on remaining routes. EasyJet has even removed some aircraft seats to cut crew sizes.- Reuters
Spain tourism almost back to pre-crisis level
Almost ten times as many tourists visited Spain in April compared to the same month last year, spending close to the amount that foreign visitors did before COVID-19, National Statistics Institute data showed on Wednesday.
Spain's tourism sector accounted for 12% of its economy before the pandemic but ground to a halt along with international travel in mid-2020. It embarked on a bumpy road to recovery in 2021 as those curbs gradually eased.
In April 6.1 million tourists visited, up from 629,000 a year earlier, spending 6.9 billion euros , also around ten times more than the previous year and just shy of the 7.1 bln euros spent in April 2019.- Reuters
Challenges ahead for post-pandemic air travel: 'We didn't expect such a high rebound so fast'
Tunisian eco-pioneers battle to save Sahara oasis life
A remote oasis in Tunisia’s desert was exhausted by decades of wasteful water use for agriculture—but now pioneers around an eco-lodge are reviving the spot with innovative projects.
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