Showing 1 - 10 of 23
Is the world ready for a no-brand hotel?
Business, Published on 24/10/2024
» When flint-eyed Clint Eastwood strode out in Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns as the "Man with No Name", audiences were spellbound. The less he said, the more his fans grew. In 2020 Empire magazine voted the "laconic anti-hero" of the Fistful of Dollars trilogy as the 33rd greatest movie character of all time. Quite a plaudit for an unnamed lead.
Do blue zones hold the key to future travel?
Business, Published on 13/08/2024
» What constitutes a perfect holiday? Clearly there are vastly divergent views on this. Pundits and peripatetics have long struggled with this conundrum, never quite finding a satisfying answer.
Flights of fancy at Cathay Pacific
Business, Published on 30/07/2024
» As Hong Kong struggles back onto the tourism charts, several misdirected official pronouncements have placed immense pressure on the national carrier Cathay Pacific to launch new routes to China and the Middle East. None of this has anything to do with profitability -- the airline announced an attributable profit of HK$9.7 million for 2023, a pittance in the scheme of things.
Is greenwashing taking travellers to the cleaners?
Business, Published on 13/03/2024
» Every hotel wants you to save the planet. The messianic messages are everywhere -- on little tent cards on the desk, proud notices on the bathroom door, and in dolorous the-end-is-nigh letters from the GM. Every hotel is saving the Yanomami Indians, Atlantic salmon and mountain gorillas.
What's bugging travellers now?
Business, Published on 02/08/2023
» 'Covid, Schmovid," people seem to be saying these days. Travellers insouciantly scamper from board meetings to trade shows to weddings to party the nights away. It is good to see cities stirring and travel bustle returning.
The joy of a permanent downgrade
Business, Published on 23/09/2022
» Leaving Hong Kong for my first trip overseas in over two years was somewhat unusual. The airport was empty. I walked towards my departure gate. It was set at the farthest node of the terminal like some secret gangrenous embarrassment.
Transformation through travel
Business, Published on 08/07/2022
» What could Venice, Mumbai, the Maldives and the Great Barrier Reef possibly have in common? Two are magnificent repositories of centuries-old cultures and bustling commerce. The other two offer a spectacle of sugar-white beaches, framed by the enticing blues of froth-fringed coral reefs.
The disappearing hotel
Business, Published on 12/05/2022
» After a full two years of idling rooms, dwindling guest numbers and shrinking services, hotels across Asia are turning on the fairy lights once again. But returning guests gratefully collapsing at the altar of five-star devotion would do well to examine the miracles of 2022 with a healthily jaundiced eye.
Hong Kong's new airline
Business, Published on 18/03/2022
» There has been a torrent of media comment about the latest Hong Kong airline wannabe, Greater Bay Airlines (GBA). Its enthusiasm is both startling -- with aviation industry revenues plummeting in a pandemic -- and understandable.
Vexed by anti-vaxxers
Business, Published on 02/06/2021
» Despite all those perky surveys -- ours included -- telling us the vast majority of people wish to travel internationally right now, do we really? And what caveats apply?