Resurrection
[ BARCELONA, FLORENCE, ROME, VENICE ]
Crowded cities
moving to limit
tourism growth
See CITIES on Page 36
case for VR.”
The industry is taking note and beginning
to test VR programs. For example, Meyer’s
company has worked with several destina-
tions to create VR content, and Ascape, an-
other VR company, is also working with
travel brands, providing virtual tours of des-
tinations for companies like JetBlue.
VR is in the early stages of making its way
into the agency space, as well. Ascape recently partnered with Thomas Cook, curat-
By Jamie Biesiada
Gordon Meyer, director of virtual reality
(VR) company YouVisit, will tell you that
travel is the ideal space for the technology to
make an impact because it provides a visual
medium to showcase destinations and experiences that is far more vivid and experiential
than flat, two-dimensional media.
“The pairing of travel and VR just makes
so much sense,” he said. “It’s a perfect-use
Travel is ‘perfect’ for marketing with VR
ing a collection of VR tours for the agency,
and Virtuoso has begun a limited beta test,
placing high-end headsets in some member
agencies.
“It’s an evolution of marketing platforms,”
said Tony Corneto, Virtuoso’s director of
user experience. “You started with books,
and then you moved to photographs, and
then you moved to video, and then you’re
now moving to VR. It has the potential,
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See VR on Page 34
By Michelle Baran
As some of Europe’s most popular
tourist destinations grapple with
congestion, pollution and skyrocketing property prices driven by hotels and vacation rentals, residents
are demanding that local officials
do more to protect their interests
from the impacts of tourism.
Consequently, the travel industry is increasingly under pressure to become a part
of the solution or risk being ostracized.
A prime example is the city of Barcelona,
which in November slapped Airbnb and
HomeAway with fines for operating improperly licensed units. In doing so, it became the
latest municipality in Europe to send a message to the travel industry: Tourism is not an
inexhaustible resource that can grow unfettered without repercussions.
“The mayor of Barcelona is doing what
she’s elected to do, which is to look after the
concerns of people in the city,” said James
Thornton, managing director of Intrepid
Group.
Ada Colau has reportedly cracked down
on tourism since she became mayor of Barcelona in 2015, most recently moving to put
a hold on licenses for all new hospitality
The TWA Flight Center at New York’s JFK, an architectural icon that
signaled the dawn of the Jet Age, was shut down in 2001. Now it is
slated to soar again as a high-end airport hotel, designed to become
a destination in its own right.
BY DANNY KING AND JOHANNA JAINCHILL
PAGE 14
‘The mayor of Barcelona is
doing what she’s elected to do,
which is to look after the con-
cerns of people in the city.’
Arnie Weissmann
Mexico and Australia take different approaches to
appeal to the American source market. 10
IN OTHER NEWS
Emirates’ Newark-Athens route to test Trump on Open Skies treaties 6
Richard Turen
Ideas about destinations and vacations for
clients seeking something different. 33
THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY’S TRUSTED VOICE
WWW.TRAVELWEEKLY.COM JANUARY 30, 2017
IN THE HOT SEAT EXCLUSIVELY ON TRAVELWEEKLY.COM MARK PESTRONK
The ETOA’s Nick Greenfield describes meetings with cities that want to cap tourism. 4
www.travelweekly.com/tw-gatherings
Slideshow: Readers Choice Awards winners.
www.travelweekly.com/2016-rca-slides
Here is my list of the most common steps
involved in the typical sale of an agency. 7
