The Hawai’i Tourism Authority (HTA) is funding a $6 million Maui Emergency Marketing Campaign to accelerate the island’s tourism industry recovery. Made possible through statewide support, Maui’s visitor totals remain 21 percent below pre-pandemic levels nearly two years following the devastating wildfires that claimed homes, forests, schools, and lives.
Several partners will support the campaign, including the Hawai’i Visitors and Convention Bureau (HVCB), Governor Josh Green, the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism Director James Kunane Tokioka and many others. (Travel Pulse)
The Mastercard Economic Institute examined aggregated and anonymized transaction data from Mastercard and found that “the travel industry ranks among the sectors most susceptible to fraud attacks.” Mastercard’s data shows that fraud reports jump by 18 percent at popular destinations during peak summer travel and by more than 28 percent at cold-weather destinations during the winter travel season.
Among the destinations where tourists report higher levels of travel-related fraud are Cancun, Mexico; Hanoi, Vietnam; Dhaka, Bangladesh; and Bangkok, according to the report. As for the destinations that tend to have the lowest rates of travel fraud, they include San Francisco, Dublin, Seoul, Budapest, and Edinburgh. (Travel + Leisure)
Hilton expects to open three luxury and lifestyle properties a week this year, on average. This puts it on track to have a substantially larger share of luxury and lifestyle rooms than its peers, partly to make its loyalty program more attractive to travelers.
The hotel giant reached a milestone in June with its 1,000th luxury and lifestyle hotel opening globally. (Skift)
United announced that this fall will mark its busiest flight schedule of the year from Chicago with expanded service to popular, warm-weather destinations in the United States and around the world. In October, the airline is scheduled to fly up to 592 flights a day from its hometown hub of O’Hare, more than at any other time this year, surpassing the summer’s schedule. The airline will also add 50 additional flights this November from Chicago, with expanded service to warm-weather destinations like Phoenix, Austin and Orlando. In addition, United will fly 10% more seats to Florida compared to the same time last year. (Travel Daily News)
