Amsterdam plans to move red light district
According to Annemarie McCarthy from Lonely Planet, Tourists in the capital of Netherlands will no longer be able to take a tour of the brothel windows of Amsterdam’s famous red light district under proposed new tourism regulations.
Last April, Amsterdam’s council banned red light tours from the medieval district, also called De Wallen in an effort to tackle its overtourism problem. Now it’s going one step further with a plan to close the brothel windows of the district and move the “erotic center” away from the city center. Sex workers have been advised they can move their businesses away from the rabbit warren of laneways and alleys of Singel and De Wallen, and into a new purpose-built center — the location of which is yet to be determined.
Amsterdam’s mayor Femke Halsema said she wants to combat the “rise in human trafficking by providing a safe environment in which sex workers can run their businesses”. She has also expressed concern about the parade of “gawping tourists” in the red light district. For the rest of the text please click here, and access Lonely Travel.
Caribbean island of Montserrat joines the digital nomads community
Working remotely from a beautiful tourist place is getting more and more popular. This type of tourism is called Digital Nomads. According to Andrea Smith from Lonely Planet, the Caribbean island has declared itself open to welcome digital nomads and work-from-home professionals to call it “home” for up to 12 months. Montserrat has joined the global destinations courting professionals who can work away from their home country.
The idea of the year-long Montserrat Remote Workers Stamp is to give professionals and entrepreneurs the opportunity to experience a work-life-vacation balance, trading in a routine at-home environment for exotic black-sand beaches and rich cultural offerings. With the current travel space toggling between changing protocols and fluctuating numbers due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative will provide an opportunity to change pace and contribute to the industry’s sustainability as the island’s newest residents.
Application fees for the program are $500 (€415) for individuals and $750 (€623) for individuals accompanied by a maximum of three family members. Candidates must show proof of full-time employment, an annual income of minimum $70,000 (€58,140) and up-to-date health insurance coverage for applicants and accompanying family members. Located in the Eastern Caribbean with a total area of just 39.5 square miles, the green mountainous Montserrat possesses a great network of hiking trails and dark-sand beaches. It also has an active volcano, the spectacular Soufriere Hills Volcano. For the rest of the text, please click here and access Lonely Planet.
great news: Jordan no longer require quarantine for seven days
Jordan recently announced a great news for Traveler coming to the Country. They do not required a 7 day quarantine when entering the country.
According to Lauren Keith from Lonely Travel, the country closed its borders and international airports in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. It reopened its borders to visitors from selected countries on 5 August, emerging from one of the strictest lockdowns in the Middle East. Tourism is very important to the country as it makes up nearly 15% of Jordan’s GDP, employing about 100,000 people. The country welcomed 5.3M visitors in 2019, which was a record high.
She also reported Under the new rules, travelers have to produce proof of a valid negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of departure, and passengers above five years of age have to undergo another mandatory PCR test upon arrival in Jordan. This test is at passengers’ own expense and costs JD28 ($40), and the fee is currently collected by the airline upon checking in at the passengers’ point of departure. For further details, please click here and read the rest on Lonely Planet.
Wizz Air announces new base in Sarajevo
According to Budapest Business Journal, Wizz Air announced opening its 41st base in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, basing one Airbus A320 aircraft at Sarajevo airport starting May 2021.
Along with the establishment of the new base, Wizz Air announced nine new services to seven countries from Sarajevo starting from May. Seats on the new routes can already be booked on wizzair.com or on the airline’s mobile app.
Wizz Air’s history in Bosnia and Herzegovina dates back to May 2013 when the first departed from Tuzla to Malmö. The airline has carried almost 3 million passengers to and from Bosnia and Herzegovina in the past eight years. As part of Wizz’s expansion, the airline continues to increase its operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina by 50%. The Airbus A320 aircraft will support the operations of nine new routes to Brussels Charleroi, Copenhagen, Dortmund, Eindhoven, Gothenburg, London Luton, Memmingen, Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg (Euroairport), Paris Beauvais, totaling in more than 250,000 seats on sale from Sarajevo in 2021. For further details, please click here and continue reading on Budapest Business Journal.
Eastern Airways Launches Flights To Gibraltar
Eastern Airways, the British regional airline whose head office is at Humberside Airport near the village of Kirmington, North Lincolnshire, England has announced today that it will be launching flights to Gibraltar from Birmingham from May 28th. Flights on this route will be operated by the British carrier’s Embraer E190 jets and the price of tickets will start from £74.99 one-way.
The announcement was reported by Sumit Singh from Simple Flying, who also wrote that The flights will operate twice a week on Mondays and Fridays. Flight T3 976 leaves Birmingham at 14:25 to arrive at Gibraltar International at 18:20. On the return, flight T3 975 leaves Gibraltar at 11:40 to land in the West Midlands at 13:35. All times are local.
Additionally, there will be flights Eastern Airways flights to Gibraltar from Southampton from May. Connectivity to this area of the Iberian Peninsula hasn’t been so easy compared to many other airports in the area. However, Gibraltar is gaining the attention of airlines recently. For instance, at the end of last year, Wizz Air welcomed its first flight from London Luton to the territory.
For further details please click here and read the rest on Simple Flying.
Airbus sites gear up for the A321XLR’s Major Component Assembly phase
According to the latest announcement from Airbus, the production of components for the first A321XLR flight-test aircraft is progressing through the sites all across the world, for large and small components as well as systems,” notes Gary O’Donnell, Head of the A321XLR Programme. “In parallel, many parts are already being tested and demonstrated – on both the aircraft structure and on the systems side – to validate the functionality of all those first aircraft components.”
He added: “The production system in particular is now coming alive, with our teams receiving the design drawings from Airbus and the key risk-sharing design partners and bringing them into physical reality. This progress already is enabling Airbus’ factories across Europe and the UK to prepare their ‘pilot’ operations for the Major Component Assembly phase to begin later this year, and in turn, for the subsequent induction of the first completed Major Component Assembly’s into the final assembly line at Hamburg in the second part of the year.”
While all major sections of the A321XLR contain significant design changes versus the current A321neo/A321LR baseline aircraft, the Major Component Assembly with extensive design and manufacturing differences is the centre and aft fuselage. This is especially due to the centre and aft fuselage’s totally new integral rear centre fuel tank and associated fuel management systems – which is key to the aircraft’s eXtra Long Range performance capability, while retaining operational commonality with the baseline A321neo. The latest news were published on the Airbus web site, which you can access here.
According to Linnea Ahigren from Simple Flying, the RCT is the key to the A321XLR’s range. The latest feature will allow the jet to fly up to 8,700 km. That is an increase of 15% compared to the A321LR, which has a range of 7,400 km. While most airlines may be glad not to take new aircraft at this time, the A321XLR could be just what the industry needs as long-haul is in for a slow recovery.
American Airlines has ordered 50. Qantas intends to deploy the 36 it has on order on routes such as Melbourne to Singapore and Cairns to Tokyo. Wizz Air is set to make a go of it at the notoriously difficult long-haul low-cost segment, with 20 of the jets scheduled for delivery from 2023 onwards.
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