Latest news with #travelcompanies
New York Times
30-07-2025
- New York Times
In Kamchatka, Epicenter of the Russian Earthquake, Seismic Activity Is Common
The Kamchatka Peninsula is so known in Russia for its wilderness and lack of communication links that it has become a byword for 'remote.' An earthquake shook the peninsula, a remote region in Russia's Far East, on Wednesday. Little damage was reported from the quake, which arose in the Pacific Ocean about 90 miles from the peninsula's capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Unlike Turkey and Syria, countries that have been devastated by earthquakes in recent years, Kamchatka is sparsely populated — and the Soviet-era housing there typically has only one or two stories. Many houses are fortified with metal rods designed to withstand the tremors that are common in the region. The population, about 300,000, is mostly concentrated in three big towns in the south of the peninsula, including Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Moving around Kamchatka is difficult: The peninsula has just a few hundred miles of paved roads, mostly around major towns, and there are no roads to cross the swampland separating it from the mainland. Kamchatka has become a popular destination for tourism in recent years, with travel companies offering camping, helicopter rides and off-road tours for the visitors to see the volcanoes or admire the pristine forests and rivers. Several local tour guides on Wednesday morning posted videos from campsites or bungalows shaken by the earthquake. Residents are no strangers to tremors: Seismic activity in the peninsula is common. Kamchatka is home to more than 300 volcanoes, about 30 of them active, and several erupt every year. The earthquake Wednesday also affected the Kuril Islands near Kamchatka, which are also sparsely populated. Many of the people on the four islands, which are claimed by Japan, left after the fall of the Soviet Union. A tour guide in the Kuril Islands, Yelena Kotenko, posted a video of tourists running out screaming from a two-story building as tiles rained down from its roof. The tourists went up the side of a volcano while a tsunami was rising on the coast, she said.
Condé Nast Traveler
17-07-2025
- Business
- Condé Nast Traveler
US Will Begin Charging Some Tourists a $250 ‘Visa Integrity Fee'
'Raising fees on lawful international visitors amounts to a self-imposed tariff on one of our nation's largest exports: international travel spending,' Freeman said. 'These fees are not reinvested in improving the travel experience and do nothing but discourage visitation at a time when foreign travelers are already concerned about the welcome experience and high prices. As Congress begins work on FY26 appropriations, it must … ensure visitor fees are lowered, if not eliminated, wherever possible.' The new fees are being implemented just before the US is set to host major global events like the World Cup in 2026 and the Summer Olympics in 2028, which could throw a huge wrench in the plans of both potential visitors and travel companies. Here's everything travelers need to know about the new $250 fee. Who will need to pay the new visa fee? Any non-immigrant travelers from countries that are not on the US visa waiver list will need to pay the fee in order to enter the US. That means most tourists coming from Africa, Latin America, and South America, as well as select countries in Asia and the Middle East, will be subject to the new $250 levy. Travelers from visa waiver countries who are visiting the US for a reason that requires a special visa will also be required to pay the fee. The fees will apply to all student visas, work visas, and other special visas, including: F-1 and F-2 student visas; J-1 and J-2 exchange visas; H1-b and H-4 temporary work visas, and other employment and visitor categories. What's more: the $250 payment will be charged in addition to other visa fees. That means visitors will need to pay it along with any other reciprocity fees, anti-fraud fees, and 'machine-readable visa' (MRV) application fees, the amounts of which can vary by visa type. Will the fee be reimbursable? The visa integrity fee will not be waivable or reducible. According to Envoy Global, the Department of Homeland Security may potentially reimburse visitors if they fully comply with the terms of their visa by departing the US promptly when their visa authorization period ends, extending their nonimmigrant status, or changing their status to lawful permanent resident. Which countries are exempt? The fee does not apply to tourists from countries who do not need a visa to enter the US. This includes citizens of countries that are part of the US visa waiver program, as well as most travelers from Canada and Bermuda.
Skift
08-06-2025
- Business
- Skift
Travel Tech M&A Ramps Up: 40+ Deals in 3 Months
Economic uncertainty leads to lower valuations, and that means it can be a good time to buy for companies that have the means. Analysts were right: 2025 is shaping up to be a busy year for travel tech M&A. In the past three months alone, Skift has tracked more than 40 deals — many driven by companies flush with recent funding or looking to consolidate in a changing market. Skift has tracked more than 40 travel tech deals in the past three months alone. Much of the activity comes from tech companies with fresh funding from the past couple of years, which they secured in part to grow via M&A. Many large companies and investment firms are scooping up travel tech companies as well. Multiple late-stage startups — established businesses with a proven track record — raised big amounts last year as they seek to modernize the travel industry. But for younger startups, funding has been tight: So far this year, Skift has tracked fewer than 60 startup funding rounds, and only two were over $100 million. That's pacing much lower than last year when we tracked more than 200 fundings, with more than a dozen over $100 million. As investors have told Skift, economic uncertainty leads to lower valuations, and that means it can be a good time to buy for companies that have the means. Between startups running out of money and independent owners looking for an exit, there should still be plenty of opportunity. Below are details about more than 40 M&A deals involving travel tech from the past three months. The selling price for most of the deals was undisclosed. That often — but not always — means the deals were small. Boeing Selling Aviation Software for $10.55 Billion Private equity firm Thoma Bravo in April said it plans to purchase Boeing's aviation software business in an all-cash transaction of $10.55 billion, expected to close by the end of the year. The deal includes the software for airline operations, flight planning, and lease management: Jeppesen, ForeFlight, AerData, and OzRunways assets. Boeing is keeping a piece of fleet management software. The software business employs 3,900 people, including those who will remain with Boeing and those who work for the assets being sold. Amadeus Makes Two Acquisitions Amadeus, the distribution tech company, has made two acquisitions so far this year. The Madrid-based company acquired ForwardKeys, a travel data analytics firm, in the first quarter of the year. Amadeus paid $17.4 million (€15.3 million) for the company, which had about 100 employees, according to a document filed with the Spanish government. And at the end of April, Amadeus announced that it acquired Hermes, a tech product meant to streamline traveler screening at international borders. Amadeus bought the tech from Netherlands-based software company WCC Group. Amadeus made two acquisitions in 2024: Vision-Box for $347.7 million to expand its biometrics services for airports, and Voxel for $123.2 million to strengthen its payment tech services. Sabre Sold Its Hospitality Unit Sabre in April said it plans to sell its hotel tech business for $1.1 billion in cash to the private equity arm of San Francisco-based TPG. The deal is expected to close in the coming months. Sabre CEO Kurt Ekert had put a lot of effort into building the hotel tech unit since he started his role in 2023, but a top priority is reducing over $5 billion in debt. About 1,000 employees are moving with the sale, reducing Texas-based Sabre's headcount to about 5,500. Ekert talked more about the decision in an interview with Skift. JetBlue Ventures Sold to Private Equity The airline JetBlue in May said it sold its venture capital arm, JetBlue Ventures, to the private equity firm Sky Leasing as part of a focus on profitability. Amy Burr, CEO of JetBlue Ventures, spoke with Skift about what's next. JetBlue Ventures has invested in 55 early stage startups and made more 40 follow-on investments since it was founded in 2016. Eight of those companies have either been acquired or gone public, and a handful have gone out of business. JetBlue was the sole investor in JetBlue Ventures, and the investments always came from the airline's balance sheet, Burr said. That means the airline still has a stake in all the startups it has invested in so far, and the plan for now is to maintain that. JetBlue Ventures' total equity investments were valued at $89 million at the end of the first quarter this year, according to a public filing. American Express Acquires Center for Expense Management American Express in April acquired Center, a startup platform for expense management. American Express said it will integrate Center's tech with its corporate card program for commercial customers. The Center team joined American Express, the company said. The credit card company's expense management services historically have come through third-party platforms, including Concur and Emburse. Washington-based Center said its platform is meant to give businesses real-time visibility into employee spending, as well as automate accounting tasks and streamline expense submission processes. Lighthouse and Duetto Complete Their First Post-Funding Deals Lighthouse and Duetto both made their first acquisitions since getting fresh capital in recent months. Lighthouse, the London-based tech platform meant to help hotels drive revenue, raised $370 million last November. It acquired The Hotels Network in April, a Barcelona-based tech company focused on marketing and distribution for hotels. The deal added a new offering for Lighthouse and more than 20,000 hotel clients. (See Skift's story.) Duetto, the San Francisco-based hotel revenue management platform, last June was acquired by private equity firm GrowthCurve Capital for an undisclosed sum. The company in April acquired UK-based hotel data analytics firm HotStats. Lyft Acquires Freenow to Enter Europe Rideshare app Lyft in April said it plans to acquire taxi reservation app Freenow from BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for $197 million. The deal is expected to close in the coming months. San Francisco-based Lyft operates in the U.S. and Canada. It reported that it reached an all-time high of 44 million annual riders in 2024. Germany-based Freenow operates in 150 cities across Ireland, the UK, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, and Austria. Lyft said the combined company will have more than 50 million annual riders. Bolt Makes Its First Acquisition Bolt, the rideshare app, in March acquired Viggo to expand services into Denmark. Estonia-based Bolt operates in more than 50 countries. Besides rideshare and airport pickup, Bolt offers car rentals, delivery, and e-bike and scooter rentals. Viggo operates a fleet of more than 300 electric vehicles and has 450,000 users in Copenhagen and Aarhus. Bolt already had e-bike rental operations in Copenhagen. Hotelbeds Acquires Civitfun, Its First Deal Post-IPO HBX Group, the owner of hotel wholesaler Hotelbeds, said in May that it acquired hotel tech company Civitfun. The company bought Civitfun for $3.4 million (€3 million) 'plus a deferred consideration contingent on the achievement of future EBITDA levels,' according to a filing with the UK government. Spain-based HBX Group negotiates discounted rates for 250,000 hotels — including 100,000 that it has direct contracts with — and then marks them up for more than 60,000 travel sellers. Spain-based Civitfun primarily offers digital check-in and check-out tech for hotels and vacation rentals, as well as products for hotel and guest communications, upselling, and company said it had 3,500 clients. HBX Group said its hotel partners now have access to the Civitfun tech, and the company plans to strengthen that tech. Spain-based HBX Group went public in February at a valuation of $3.3 billion (€2.84 billion) deal. Former CNBC Host Acquires Dylan Ratigan, the former CNBC and MSNBC host and serial entrepreneur, in March acquired hotel-booking site and became the new CEO. Ratigan said he was attracted to for the domain name, and the potential to expand its hotel business, as well as to branch out into travel-adjacent verticals, such as restaurants and event tickets. In 2022, HotelPlanner and were slated to merge with a shell company and go public in a SPAC deal valued at $688 million. But the three companies called off the marriage without explanation in February 2022. Mondee Acquired Out of Bankruptcy Mondee, a booking platform for travel agents, in April said that it had been acquired and exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Mondee co-founder and Chairman Prasad Gundumogula acquired a majority stake in the company as a co-owner of the buyer, a company called Tabhi. Other Tabhi owners include affiliates of TCW Asset Management Company, Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Mondee had been a public company before it was delisted from Nasdaq in December. SITA Acquires Airport Design Company CCM SITA, the airline-owned tech provider for much of the air travel industry, in March said it acquired airport design company CCM. Switzerland-based SITA provides tech for passenger processing, baggage handling, and airport operations, and more. Milan-based CCM said it has designed more than 300 airports worldwide. SITA says the deal is meant to combine tech and interior design as more airports prioritize self-service, biometrics, mobile apps, and IT spending. SITA says it is working to improve the passenger journey process ahead of an expected two-fold increase in air traffic by 2040. Juniper Travel Technology Adds Another Company Juniper Travel Technology acquired RezMagic, a Florida-based event management software company that focuses on the cruise industry. Juniper Travel Technology is a business unit of Juniper Group, which is an operating portfolio of Vela Software, one of the six divisions of Toronto-based Constellation Software. Juniper Group owns more than 30 companies, including around a dozen in travel. The company plans to buy as many as a dozen travel tech companies this year, said Jaime Sastre, CEO of Juniper Group, in an interview with Skift in January. Tripadvisor completed its $430 million merger with parent company Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings, a deal announced last December. Amex GBT and CWT extended the deadline for their merger to close from March 21 to Dec. 31, been an ongoing U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit to block the deal, which was first announced in March 2024. CWT's value was reduced from $570 million to $540 million. Tech firm Prosus in May completed its acquisition of Despegar, Latin America's largest online travel company, for $1.7 billion. The deal was announced in December. Other Acquisitions
