"The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, in cooperation with the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project (Siyaha), has developed a new tourism law due to the need for rapid development, imposed by the global tourism industry and in response to the goals of the National Tourism Strategy.The main concepts of the new ...

According to the EU Press Room, "The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the creation by Amadeus of Spain and Sabre of the US of Moneydirect, a full function joint venture which will be active in the field of payment processing and clearing systems. Both parent companies ...

As reported by Wangui Maina, at Business Daily Africa, "The Ministry of Tourism is considering guidelines to encourage home stays to address bed shortage.The move will see home owners with extra space get registration to accommodate tourists on their premises, at a cost, and under guidelines stipulated by the ministry.Currently, ...

As stated by the EU Press Room, "The European Commission has decided to launch a formal investigation into support that would have been granted by the Sardinia Region and SOGEAAL SpA, the publicly owned company operating Alghero airport, to various air carriers, and by the Sardinia Region to SOGEAAL SpA. ...

According to the EU Press Room, "The European Commission today adopted the fifth update of the Community's list of airlines banned in the European Union; this was first drawn up in March 2006 and last amended in July. The new list replaces the previous one and can already be consulted ...

A group of tour operators has lost its High Court challenge against the Government's Air Passenger Duty (APD), a controversial £2 billion a year levy branded a “stealth tax of the skies”.Dismissing a legal challenge brought by the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) and two of its member companies - ...

"Pilgrims on the Vatican's new chartered airline have been told to leave holy water behind for security reasons.Officials at Tarbes-Lourdes airport in southern France said that bottles of water from the shrine at Lourdes could present a potential terrorist threat.The pilgrims were told they could not carry holy water in ...

A Vietnamese man is suing the country's budget airline for charging him a wheelchair service for his disabled wife to board a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi claiming the airline did not inform him of any extra fees for disabled passengers when he purchased tickets for the ...

"Investigators of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT) recently inspected tour operations related to groups of visitors at Hanoi's Van Mieu – Quoc Tu Giam (Temple of Literature). In less than two hours, they discovered nearly ten cases of violations of the Tourism Law, mainly illegal international travel operations.So ...

Yesterday, the International Herald Tribune published a very interesting article, written by Daniel Griswold, Director of the Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies, on the current US Visa Policy, that is available in full text, here.

As reported by Clive Dorman, at The Age, "A Travel law specialist has warned that government advice about travel to Indonesia may technically invalidate travel insurance for trips to the holiday island of Bali.Even though insurers continue to cover travellers to Bali, Tony Cordato, of Sydney's Cordato Partners Tourism Lawyers, ...

As stated by the US Department Of Justice, "WASHINGTON — U.K.-based British Airways Plc and South Korean-based Korean Air Lines Co. Ltd. have each agreed to plead guilty and pay separate $300 million criminal fines for their roles in conspiracies to fix the prices of passenger and cargo flights, announced ...

"China's advice to its citizens who travel abroad: No fighting, no shouting and, please, no extortion.The new guidelines for Chinese tourists, posted on the Foreign Ministry's Web site Tuesday, cover a wide range of dangerous or problem behavior to help head off trouble. Travelers are told to avoid drawing attention ...

Oberlandesgericht Wien (Vienna Court of Appeal) recently decided that tour organizers and travel agents have a duty to inform about Ramadan related restrictions in hotel services. Plaintiff had booked a package tour to Abu Dahbi including accommodation in the well reputed luxury hotel "Emirates Palace". At arrival plaintiff and his ...

According to the EU Press Room, "The European Commission has cleared under the EU Merger Regulation Travelport's proposed acquisition of sole control of Worldspan. Both companies provide electronic travel distribution services through a Global Distribution System (GDS). The Commission was initially concerned that the proposed transaction would give rise to ...

"The Vatican is to launch a low-cost charter flight service to transport pilgrims to holy sites worldwide.The inaugural flight on 27 August will go from Rome to Lourdes in France.A small Italian airline, Mistral, will provide the planes, with the interiors decorated with sacred inscriptions such as: 'I search for ...

Following the OFT's warning to the holiday and travel industry in February, the OFT has successfully taken action against 13 airlines that did not include all fixed, non-optional costs, such as taxes, in prices on their websites.As a result eleven airlines have already changed their advertisements and websites (both their ...

Citing concerns about terrorism, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that airline passengers lose their right to object to a search after they go through initial security screenings. Judge Carlos Bea wrote that requiring authorization from passengers during ongoing searches "makes little sense in a post 9/11 ...

The United States Court of Appeals upheld a lower Federal Court's ruling against American Airlines. The airline forced an elderly woman to check her bag along with necessary medical devices.The airline lost her checked items. The victim died at age 65 after flying from Los Angeles to Guyana in 1997. ...

British Airways was fined a total of £269 million for conspiring to fix the price of air fares but the airline could be forced to pay out millions more to passengers seeking compensation.The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) fined BA £121.5 million for anti-competitive behaviour, the largest penalty it has ...

By decision of 17th July 2007 German Supreme Court (BGH) has moved for another Preliminary Ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in regard to Regulation (EC) 261/2004 . Whereas the first German request for Preliminary Ruling, filed by OLG Frankfurt, aimed for clarification in regard to the scope ...

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released traffic results for the first six months of the year showing 6.3% growth in year-on-year international passenger demand, slightly higher than the 5.9% rise recorded for the year 2006. However, passenger demand growth weakened to 5.3% for the month of June, the lowest ...

According to the EU Press Room, "Today the Commission adopted a regulation to address the disruption faced by air passengers who arrive from third countries carrying duty free liquids bought abroad and who wish to transfer at an EU airport. At present, any quantity of liquid bought outside the EU ...

"The travel and tourism industry applauds the House and Senate for agreeing to the conference report accompanying H.R. 1, the Implementing the 9/11 Commission Recommendations Act of 2007. By a vote of 85 to 8, the Senate agreed to the same conference report, which combines House and Senate versions of ...

As reported by Andy Geller, at the New York Post, "A Manhattan lawyer has filed a class-action suit against some of New York's most sizzling hot spots, such as Copacabana and China Club, claiming their ladies' nights discriminate against men.Attorney Roy Den Hollander says that by offering lower - or ...

"After previous plans to revamp the tourism sector failed, stakeholders have now pinned all hope to rejuvenate this sleeping giant on Bill that has been in Parliament for two years. The Tourism Bill 2005 that has been gathering dust in the House without making it to the floor is now ...

The Hankyoreh states that "Lotte JTB, a joint travel venture between retail giant Lotte Group and Japan's largest travel agency, Japan Travel Bureau (JTB), began operations earlier this month, creating a stir in the local tourism industry.On July 18, The Korea Tourism Association denounced Lotte JTB's advance into the tourism ...

As reported by Leon Harris, at the Jerusalem Post, "The Tourism Ministry has just published the procedures for obtaining grants from the Inbound Tourism Organizers Fund. As its name suggests, this fund aims to support and expand inbound tourism into Israel in order to increase state revenues by providing ground ...

United Airlines has provided court enforceable undertakings to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACC) after concerns were raised about its airfare advertising. The ACCC became aware that United Air Lines had been advertising headline airfares on its Australian based website and in newspapers without including applicable taxes, levies and ...

According to the EU Press Room, "The European Commission has granted clearance under the EU Merger Regulation to the acquisition of sole control of a portfolio of nine European hotels, currently controlled by Hilton Hotels Corporation (Hilton) of the US by Morgan Stanley Real Estate F International Funding, L.P. (MSREF) ...