Tag: pandemic

Vacation Housing Markets Trending Higher with Buyers Amid Pandemic

by  on  in Vacation
Based on new data from Zillow, impacts from the coronavirus pandemic have rippled out to traditional U.S. vacation destinations, which are seeing increased interest from homebuyers as shifting priorities and preferences transform where and how people want to live.

Page views on Zillow of for-sale listings are up nearly 50% from a year ago in metro areas typically considered vacation destinations, defined as metros with at least 65,000 people and five times more vacation homes than the U.S. as a whole. That’s compared to a 37% increase in page views nationally.  Vacation metros seeing an uptick in demand include places

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Haunted house attractions in the pandemic: What you’ll see in 2020

by  on  in Tourism Spot

(CNN) — It feels like 2020 has provided more than enough scares. But for people still seeking an extra jolt of fear and adrenalin, it’s the time of year for those shocking haunted house attractions.

While the Covid-19 pandemic has curtailed a lot of long-distance travel, especially by plane, these Halloween-themed attractions around the world usually draw a more local crowd. So they shouldn’t be hurt by people making more short-haul trips this year.

They do face other hurdles, though.

In the carefree nights of 2019, the big questions on these attractions were: Which ones are the best? How

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Tour de France 2020: Grappling with staging the world’s toughest bike race in a pandemic

by  on  in Tour
Watched on television by millions across the world, the annual race is deeply embedded in French culture as it weaves its way across stunning countryside and vertiginous mountains, as well as through picturesque towns and cities before concluding on Paris’ Champs-Elysées.
The Tour is normally held during July, but the global pandemic put paid to that idea, hence the August 29 start. The pandemic and a recent spike in new infections in France has also left organizers with a real logistical challenge in how best to stage the 23-day race.
Adding to organizers’ worries, the Alpes-Maritimes region —
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European vacation? Not in 2020 as pandemic turns summer tourism into lean season

by  on  in Vacation

BRUGES, Belgium — Bruges mayor Dirk De fauw first realized something was desperately wrong with European tourism when on a brisk March morning he crossed the Burg square in front of the Gothic city hall and there was nothing but silence.

“There are always people. Always,” De fauw said. That morning?

“Nothing. Nobody is on that large square” at the heart of one of Europe’s most picturesque cities, he said.

Six months later, as Europe’s meanest tourist summer season in history is starting to draw to a close, COVID-19 is yet to loosen its suffocating grip on the continent.

If

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Travel Reopenings Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

by  on  in Tourism Spot

Covid-19 has upended daily life in much of the world for so long that the idea of traveling to another country or state seems like the stuff of dreams. But in the last week or so, as the idea of opening up to travelers has gained traction, some countries are taking concrete steps. Yesterday, Australia announced a three-stage plan to reopen the economy, which includes a focus on tourism. And some countries are forming regional alliances designed to minimize the risk of the virus, including an Australia-New Zealand travel “bubble,” and, in Europe, a travel “corridor” shared by Estonia, Latvia

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