Alper Aydın 
We are approaching the summer and still we don’t know much how this summer will be like in terms of travel restrictions. Thanks to the vaccination in advanced countries, it seems some travel corridors will make traveling more possible. However, the poorer countries seem to have more struggle compare to the last year. In this week’s travel news, you can read about the new opening sites, technological marketing ideas, and sustainability actions taken by the aviation sector. Moreover, you can read about the new launch of the Ukraine International Airlines flight to Chernobyl for the 35th anniversary of the disaster.
UIA Launches Flight over Chernobyl Site for the 35th Anniversary of the Disaster
For the travel-starved people, ‘flights to nowhere‘ was an option back in time during the pandemic. We have also observed some flights over scenic routes to take people. This time, Ukraine International Airlines will fly over the site of Chernobyl at an altitude of about 900 meters. The flight to Chernobyl will also have a professional guide providing information along the trip. The tickets for the Chernobyl flight are already sold out.
As you may know, the dark tourism concept became popular among the world back in time. Dark tourism covers the places related to some death and tragedy. Chernobyl, especially after the famous TV series, became a quite popular dark tourism destination in the last two years. You may have friends who have a picture on Instagram with the famous Ferris Wheel in the abandoned Pripyat amusement park.
Giant QR Code at the Sky of Shanghai that You Can Actually Scan
As you may have seen recently, lighting up the skies with drones become quite popular. This time, a video-streaming Chinese company called Bilibili used the drone show as an advertisement model. For the 1st year anniversary of their video game called Princess Connect! Re: Dive, they made a light show with drones that ends with a giant QR code on the sky that people can actually scan!
In the show, 1,500 illuminated drones firstly settled up for the game’s logo and characters. And after that, they transformed into a floating QR code that links to its homepage. The company was using QR codes for its marketing activities. Last year, during the launch of the game mentioned, they placed a giant QR code on their own office building as well.
AlUla, the World’s Largest Living Museum in Saudi Arabia
AlUla is one of the oldest cities in the Arabian Peninsula and home to Hegra. It is also Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage site. The city has historical and geographical importance that it was the crossroads of The Silk Road and The Incense Route. Thanks to the Journey Through Time plan will become the world’s largest living museum. The plan came to an agenda Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy attempt to diversify its economy away from oil and embrace the tourism, leisure, and hospitality sectors. In this way, the country wants to host other cultural and creative industries as it opens up to the world.
The plan of AlUla getting a living museum covers sustainable development that the heritage site turns into a place of education, nature, art, and leisure. The idea is to offer visitors an experience of a “journey through time”. Visitors will start their journey at AlUla Old Town in the south before moving through different districts, concluding their journey at Hegra Historical City. Each district will be shaped around its specific natural and cultural heritage. To be able to meet the expected demand of a lot of visitors, planners will build 5,000 additional rooms to the ultimate target of 9,400 by 2035. These will range from luxury hotels to eco-tourism lodges.
Trains Will Take Over Planes in Germany for Domestic Routes
In our previous travel news, we many times mentioned the sustainability concerns of the tourism sector. Especially after the pandemic, such issues become more prioritized for the sake of the eco-health of the world. According to the German Aviation Association, aviation is responsible for 2.8% of global CO2 emissions. And, the share of air transport in global warming as a whole is between 3 and 5%. That’s why Germany come up with a way to encourage more people to switch from planes to trains for domestic routes.
The German Aviation Association and rail company Deutsche Bahn came to an agreement to provide more high-speed rail connections on routes currently served by short-haul flights. Thanks to the arrangements in the schedule of the rail network, they plan to make selected rail routes take less time in overall time than short-haul flights. If the plan works successfully, around 4.3 million people per year will choose to travel by rail network instead of flights for domestic journeys.
Thanks for reading! Please don’t forget to leave your thoughts and comments. See you next week with more travel news!
