The Folo by Travel Weekly

Last summer, Folo host Rebecca Tobin got the opportunity to cruise Mitsui Ocean Cruises, a line that’s based in Japan and created for and curated for and sold to Japanese travelers – but is also now marketing to North Americans. On this episode, Anthony Kaufman, a cruise veteran who is now Mitsui’s head of commercial strategies, talks about how to take a cruise experience devoted...

Every year at this time of year we delve into our Preview issue: Every reporter on staff looks at his or her beat and, talks to their sources, reads at the tea leaves and tells our readers what to expect for the year ahead. In this episode, we’ll look at what we think 2026 has in store for hotels, cruise, tours and river cruising. Host Rebecca Tobin's guests are senior editors Christina Jels...

Every year at this time of year we delve into our Preview issue: Every reporter on staff looks at their beat, talks to their sources, reads at the tea leaves and tells our readers what to expect for the year ahead.  And because we do love to talk, host Rebecca Tobin split this episode into two. Our first Preview episode will focus on a chat with retail editor Jamie Biesiada about travel advis...

In this episode, news editor Johanna Jainchill talks about how we review and select the stories in our annual Year in Review report, which looks at the biggest and most impactful stories of the year. And then she and host Rebecca Tobin talk about what made 2025 so unique, from "choppy" markets to how people booked travel, to Las Vegas' occupancy woes, to Southwest's business-model changes, to crui...

This week our subject is Route 66, that famous highway that's practically synonymous with the term "Americana." The road was opened in 1926, which means that of next year it’s been inspiring people in song, movie, decor and travel for 100 years. And tours editor Brinley Hineman discovered that tour companies and destinations will be celebrating the centennial with new programs and itinerarie...

It’s the holiday season, but it's also time for advisors and consumers alike to start thinking of travel plans for the year ahead. And to stoke interest in destinations from the Dolomites to Dominica, Power List agency Chase Travel for a second year is doing a list of inspirational travel destinations, called "26 Trips to Take in 2026."  On this episode host Rebecca Tobin talks with Kar...

Our annual Travel Industry Survey of travel agency business is live, and we're taking an in-depth look at some of the results with editor in chief Arnie Weissmann and news editor Johanna Jainchill. In this episode we delve into survey data: Advisors’ use of AI – how they use it and what they’re concerned about; which travel categories are growing; advisors’ use of social me...

We're focusing on an emerging branch of artificial intelligence called agentic AI – that is, an AI tool that can, essentially, act like a booking agent, all the way up to making a reservation on the traveler’s behalf. It acts like an agent – but is it a threat to human travel advisors? And what does agentic AI mean for the OTA model, supplier customer service and travelers themse...

  Your travel advisor’s expert in-destination source: Their DMC This week we’re talking about destination management companies, or DMCs, which are companies embedded in specific locations that give travel planners an ultra-boost when it comes to planning a vacation there. Insider knowledge, special tours, recommendations, an expert shoulder to lean on – that’s what a D...

    It’s time for an update on Hawaii travel. On this episode, our contributing editor for Hawaii, Christine Hitt, talks about overall stats, Maui updates, a falloff in travel from Canada and Japan -- plus our favorite island destinations and the changes at the Hawaii Tourism Authority.  This episode was recorded Oct. 16 and has been edited for length and clarity.  Episod...

This week we’re talking about a story that came to be after unveiling of Regent Seven Seas Cruises’ upcoming Skyview Regent Suite. It's a veritable mansion-at-sea with a private gym, sauna, bar and dining room that seats 12. And what's more surprising than the price? The fact that it was booked within one minute on 10 of 13 itineraries. Or perhaps that's not a surprise. Advisors tell u...

Travel Weekly is proud to produce contributions from some very well-respected columnists -- people who really know the business. We have travel advisors and our own reporting staff, of course, but we also have a legal advisor, and many readers will know his name: Mark Pestronk.  Mark, a Washington-based travel lawyer, has been writing a Legal Briefs column, and before that, a column by a diff...

In this episode we’re headed to Chile, the home of this year's Adventure Travel Trade Association World Summit. Our adventurous editor in chief Arnie Weissmann attended the show as a guest speaker and participant on its adventure tours, and it seemed like a good opportunity for us to talk about Patagonia, penguins and pumas.  On this episode we tackle how the ATTA describes "adventure"...

South Africa based contributor Dorine Reinstein has written often about conservation efforts and tackled overcrowding on safari tours. A video this summer that appeared to show safari trucks crowding and blocking the wildebeest migration in the Serengeti raised new questions for us about guest expectations; guide pressure points and the power balance between guests and guides; and how the travel t...

Our latest cover story is titled the 25 years that changed travel. We’re looking back at the first quarter century and the biggest events that had an outsized impact on the business, from mega-events that changed the world to milestone product launches and those business decisions that portended major shifts to come. In this episode, host Rebecca Tobin, editor in chief Arnie Weissmann and ne...

On this episode we’re going to tuck in to a portion of the flying experience that you might be surprised to hear about: food. The aviation catering business is enormous, as our airlines editor Robert Silk determined when he walked the floor of a show devoted only to inflight eating and drinking. In this episode, host Rebecca Tobin, Silk and Joe Leader, the CEO of the International Flight Ser...

This week we're doubling down on Las Vegas – specifically to its hotel occupancy numbers, which were surprisingly weak this summer. Our hotels editor Christina Jelski has been talking with Las Vegas tourism authorities about two new campaigns designed to drive interest: a splashy marketing campaign touting “fabulous Las Vegas” as well as a more targeted effort to lure travelers w...

The Folo by Travel Weekly is back with all-new episodes this fall. In this episode, host Rebecca Tobin talks to the Travel Weekly reporting team to get the lowdown on their top, favorite or most fun stories from the past two months, as well as what they’re focused on with coverage this fall. Among the topics: short-term bookings, inbound visitors to the U.S., celebrity (and Celebrity) sailin...

This year, it's all about travel brands making their entry into Europe river cruising. We’ve been surprised this year by the number of established names moving in to the Rhine, Danube and beyond: Celebrity Cruises, Trafalgar and National Geographic-Lindblad Expeditions among them.  With Lisa Fitzgerald, a river-cruise expert advisor and founder of Fitzgerald Travel, and river cruise edi...

Travel Weekly’s annual Power List is a massive undertaking to identify and rank the biggest sellers of travel. And when we say big, we mean big: The minimum for inclusion this year was agencies that sold at least $125 million in travel in 2024. But among the 70 travel agencies that made the cut, which ones grew the most? In this episode we look at Departure Lounge, which moved almost 10 plac...

The last two episodes have covered news topics like economic uncertainty and the troubles at Newark, so this week we’re going in a different direction: Literary tourism. That is, tours and travel based on a favorite book or character. Think Bath for Jane Austen or Prince Edward Island for L.M. Montgomery. London, Paris and New York .... any place a book club can dream up, there's probably a...

We’re returning to a subject that continues to evolve: Cruise lines’ private islands and destinations. Even after this episode was recorded, Carnival opened its long-awaited Celebration Key and Norwegian Cruise Line announced big plans for Great Stirrup Cay. Royal Caribbean Group has often been at the forefront of these discussions, with its Perfect Day projects, a planned destination...

Travel advisors are often encouraged to seek out the more stable, and more lucrative, luxury market. But one question you might not have asked yourself is: What if you can’t speak the language? There’s definitely a right way to communicate with luxury-market clientele, both obvious and subtle. On this episode host Rebecca Tobin and senior editor Jamie Beisiada talk with travel experts...

Despite what we’re hearing about close-to-home travel, Americans are still headed to Europe in large numbers and to tourism hot spots like Venice, Barcelona, Greece and Lisbon. Many of these places have also been the sites of protests over tourism – in Barcelona, for example, protesters were again using water guns to spray visitors in an attempt to make their concerns known. Travel adv...

The opening of Universal Orlando Resort's Epic Universe park earlier this year has created new opportunities for theme-park lovers for the first time in nearly 25 years. What's so special about the new Epic theme park? In this episode, retail editor Jamie Biesiada walks host Rebecca Tobin through innovations in ride technology, the queues and other Epic details - favorite or most surprising rides?...