California Bans State Travel To Florida, 4 Other States, Because Of Laws That Discriminate Against Members Of The LGBTQ Community

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — California added five more states, including Florida, to the list of places where state-funded travel is banned because of laws that discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community, the state attorney general announced Monday.

Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta added Florida, Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia to the list that now has 17 states where state employee travel is forbidden except under limited circumstances.

“Make no mistake: We’re in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country — and the State of California is not going to support it,” Bonta said.

Lawmakers in 2016 banned non-essential travel to states with laws that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The 12 other states on the list are: Texas, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Mississippi, Tennessee.

The five states newly added to the list have introduced bills in their legislatures this year that prevent transgender women and girls from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity, block access to health care and allow the discrimination of the LGBTQ community, Bonta said.

Florida, Montana, Arkansas, and West Virginia passed laws that prevent transgender women and girls from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

North Dakota signed into law a bill allowing certain publicly-funded student organizations to restrict LGBTQ students from joining without losing funding.

Arkansas passed the first law in the nation to prohibit physicians from providing gender-affirming healthcare to transgender minors — regardless of the wishes of parents or whether a physician deems such care to be medically necessary.

These lawmakers “would rather demonize trans youth than focus on solving real issues like tackling gun violence beating back this pandemic and rebuilding our economy,” Bonta said.

The state law has exemptions for some trips, such as travel needed to enforce California law and to honor contracts signed before the states were added to the list. Travel to conferences or out-of-state training are examples of trips that can be blocked.

It’s unclear what effect California’s travel ban will have. Bonta did not have information about how many state agencies have stopped sending state employees to the states on the list or the financial impact of California’s travel ban on those states.

Royal Caribbean Not Allowing Unvaccinated Passengers Go On Third-Party Shore Excursions For At Least One Ship

Unvaccinated guests sailing on Adventure of the Seas will no longer be able to book shore excursions on their own beginning with the next sailing.

Guests booked on Adventure of the Seas received an email indicating unvaccinated passengers, including parents traveling with unvaccinated children, are required to participate in shore excursions offered by local tour operators approved by Royal Caribbean.

If your traveling party is fully vaccinated, there is no change in the shore excursion policy.

In an abundance of caution, when visiting ports other than Perfect Day at CocoCay, parties that include unvaccinated guests, including parents traveling with unvaccinated children, are required to participate in shore excursions offered by local tour operators approved by Royal Caribbean. These tours meet our health and safety requirements for unvaccinated guests.

Entirely vaccinated traveling parties may visit the port freely. All guests are subject to restrictions and requirements as defined by local authorities in the ports we visit. Additional details will be provided onboard.

Royal Caribbean will offer a discount for guests under 16 to help offset the change.

The cruise line says the decision was made "to protect you and the communities we visit."

The change comes one day after two unvaccinated children on Adventure of the Seas tested positive for Covid-19 and had to be quarantined and brought home.

Celebrity Cruises made a similar change this week for their Celebrity Edge sailings that begin this weekend as well from the United States.

Policy changes are nothing new for cruise lines as they resume operations. One constant in the months leading up to cruises restarting has been policy adjustments, reversals, and additions.

When Adventure of the Seas' sailings from The Bahamas were announced, shore excursions were initially limited to just cruise line tours. Then, the company changed policies prior to the first sailing to allow guests to go on any tour, regardless of vaccination status.

By: Matt Hochberg, https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/

Travelore Report, Monthly In Print Since 1971: Best And Worst Airlines For Traveling With Pets

Travelore Report, Monthly In Print Since 1971: Best And Worst Airlines For Traveling With Pets: Getting Their Fur Flying: Top Tips for Taking Your Pets On Holiday New research by Compare the Market shows the best places to ...

Travelore News: Hong Kong To Ban Flights From UK To Curb Virus

HONG KONG — Hong Kong says it will ban all passenger flights from the U.K. starting Thursday as it seeks to curb the spread of new variants of the coronavirus.

It said in a statement Monday that the U.K. has been classified as “extremely high risk“ because of the “recent rebound of the epidemic situation in the U.K. and the widespread delta variant virus strain there.”

Under the classification, people who have stayed in the U.K. for more than two hours will be restricted from boarding passenger flights to Hong Kong.

It is the second time that the Hong Kong government has banned flights from the U.K., following a restriction imposed last December.

The ban comes amid heightened tensions between the U.K. and China over semi-autonomous Hong Kong, which was a British colony until it was handed over to China in 1997.

Colosseum Tourists Can Go Underground To See ‘Backstage’

ROME (AP) — After 2 1/2 years of work to shore up the Colosseum’s underground passages, tourists will be able to go down and wander through part of what what had been the ancient arena’s “backstage.”

Italy’s culture minister on Friday formally announced the completion of work to shore-up and restore the underground section in the presence of the founder of Tod’s, the shoe and luxury goods maker, who has footed the bill.

During the centuries when spectators filled the Colosseum to watch spectacles replete with gladiators and wild animals, the public was forbidden from venturing below stage level. The ban lasted from 80 A.D. when the amphitheater was inaugurated, until the last show in 523.

Dozens of mobile platforms and wooden elevators were employed in ancient times to haul up to stage level vivid scenery as well performers and animals for dramatic entrances.

Colosseum director Alfonsina Russo said tourists will be able to stroll down a walkway 160 meters (530 feet) long to view some of what were originally 15 corridors that circled the underground levels.

Restoration work by teams of engineers, surveyors, construction workers, architects ad archaeologists was interrupted during part of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tod’s founder Diego Della Valle responded several years ago to an Italian government call for private sector funding for restoration projects in light of the country’s inability to come up with the cash to care for its immense art and archaeological treasures.

Della Valle also paid for a multi-million-euro (dollar) cleaning of the Colosseum, a monumental project which removed decades of soot and grime which made the arena look dull and dreary.

Last month, Culture Minister Dario Franceschini detailed a project to build a lightweight stage inside the area so visitors can admire the ancient monument from a central viewpoint. The stage will be retractable.

The original arena had a stage, but it was removed in the 1800s for archaeological exploration of the underground level. The new stage will also allow for holding cultural events that the minister said would be respectful of the Colosseum as a symbol of Italy.

A New Tour Explores Ireland’s Ancient East In Waterford

With a brand new tour offering the ‘Freedom of Waterford’, the stunning collection of museums in Ireland’s oldest city has now reopened.

The Waterford Treasures collection of five museums tells the fascinating story of a city sitting in the heart of Ireland’s Ancient East.

Founded by the Vikings in 914, Waterford was once one of the great ports of Ireland and is famous today for the esteemed Waterford Crystal factory, the fabulous Waterford Greenway, and particularly its history and culture-laden Viking Triangle.

The Viking Triangle is crowned by Reginald’s Tower, Ireland’s oldest civic building, and the Viking feel of the city is still palpable in some of its medieval streets, which encompass practically every period of architecture to have come to Waterford since the arrival of the Vikings.

Norse invaders had a significant impact not just on Waterford, but the whole of Ireland, and the country’s rich Viking history is even being introduced to a whole new audience through a newly released video game, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla / Wrath of the Druids Ireland extension.

Opportunities to learn about Waterford’s Vikings foundations, to be inspired by medieval wonders and to experience elegant Georgian architecture are all part of the highlights of the Freedom of Waterford guided walking tour.

In the company of one of the expert guides at Waterford Treasures you will unpack the 1,000-year history of Waterford all within 1,000 paces in the city centre.

Following the walking tour, your ticket lets you go on to take a deep dive into your favourite era of Ireland’s heritage, with complete access to the Viking Triangle’s Medieval Museum and Bishop’s Palace Museum, as well as the brand new Irish Museum of Time and the Irish Silver Museum.

Step back into thirteen and fifteenth-century Waterford at the Medieval Museum where you can explore the atmospheric underground Choristers’ Hall and the fifteenth-century Mayors Wine Vault. An exhibition here highlights the medieval Cloth-of-Gold Vestments and the 1373 Great Charter Roll of Waterford – viewed by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Ireland.

The Bishop’s Palace Museum is an authentic eighteenth-century grand Georgian residence built in 1743, which is also home to the oldest surviving piece of Waterford Crystal in the world. A spectacular 4D ‘Masterpieces in Glass’, taking in the story of glassmaking, is included in the Freedom of Waterford ticket.

The Irish Silver Museum offers a journey through history using beautiful, intimate and personal objects as a guide to the fascinating story of Ireland and its ostentatious past, while the Irish Museum of Time, located in a gothic-style church, houses what is beyond doubt the finest collection of Irish timepieces in the world.

The Waterford Treasures museum collection is back as part of Ireland’s gradual re-opening. Following the lifting of restrictions, most galleries, museums, heritage sites and other cultural attractions opened their doors again on 10 May.

www.ireland.com

State Of Yucatán At Lowest Level Of Travel Restriction, Level 1, By U.S. Department Of State

MÉRIDA, Yucatán — Yucatán’s Tourism Minister, Michelle Fridman Hirsch, continues to spearhead a proactive campaign to not only reestablish airport and cruise port connectivity but add new routes as part of the state’s Economic and Tourism Recovery Plan.

Last week, it was announced that Yucatán has already seen the return of 100% of U.S. flights and the return of the first cruise ship to Puerto Progreso.

Fridman Hirsch is currently participating in Routes Americas 2021. The only air service development event, it provides a platform for airports and destinations to highlight cost-effective route propositions to airline decision makers as they look to rebuild their networks and reintroduce capacity back into the market. During the event, the minister met with North American airlines representatives to start conversations on possible new routes from carriers such as JetBlue, Aeroméxico, Spirit Airlines, Air Canada, Volaris, United Airlines, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, WestJet and Air Transat.

Fridman Hirsch and her team also participated in this year’s summit of the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), where they met with the entity’s leadership in an effort to start conversations on Puerto Progreso and the current offering the port and its region can offer passengers. Puerto Progreso underwent an extensive remodeling project prior to the pandemic and more local tour operators have included tours for cruise passengers. The delegation also met with representatives from Royal Caribbean Cruise Line.

Yucatán has long enjoyed a reputation as Mexico’s safest state, a position that was enhanced last week when the U.S. Department of State updated its travel warning to Mexico. The first update since placing the entire country under a Level 4 Travel Advisory (“Do No Travel”) because of Covid-19, the update moved the state to the lowest level of travel restriction, Level 1: Exercise Normal Precautions. This marks the first time a Mexican destination achieved Level 1 since the agency began issuing warnings for Mexico divided by state.

Travelore Tips: Pandemic Travel Rules In Popular European Destinations

Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions. But travelers will need patience to figure out who’s allowed into which country, how and when.

Meanwhile, the welcoming mood isn’t always mutual. U.S. borders, for example, remain largely closed to non-Americans.

Here’s a look at current entry rules in some popular European tourist destinations. One caveat: While these are the regulations as written by governments, travelers may meet hiccups as airlines or railway officials try to make sense of them.

FRANCE

If you’re vaccinated, come to France. But only if you got one of the four EU-approved vaccines: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. That works for Americans — as long as they can produce official proof of vaccination — but not for large swaths of the world like China and Russia where other vaccines are used.

France’s borders are officially reopened. Vaccinated visitors from outside Europe and a few “green” countries will still be asked for a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours, or a negative antigen test of no more than 48 hours. Unvaccinated children will be allowed in with vaccinated adults, but will have to show a negative test from age 11.

Tourists are banned from 16 countries on a red list that includes India, South Africa and Brazil.

Non-vaccinated visitors from “orange list” countries — including the U.S. and Britain — can’t come for tourism either, only for specific, imperative reasons.

ITALY

Italy is now allowing tourists from the United States, Canada and Japan to enter if they meet the prerequisites for a European Union travel certificate. Those include full vaccination, documented recovery from COVID-19 in the last six months or a negative swab test performed 48 hours before arrival in Italy.

U.S. travelers had already been allowed to enter for the past few weeks if they flew on COVID-tested flights, which require a negative swab test within 48 hours before boarding.

Alitalia and at least two U.S. airlines have been operating those flights, which also require an additional swab test for passengers at the airport where they disembark in Italy. Those passengers, under a U.S.-Italy agreement, don’t have to quarantine either in Italy or in the United States upon their return. But so far it appears very few U.S. tourists have been coming to Italy.

Demonstrating how fast things can change, Italy had been welcoming tourists from Britain with no quarantines, but as of Monday they must quarantine for five days upon arrival. That reflects growing concern in Italy about the delta variant of COVID-19 in Britain.

Tourists who are flying from or have been in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the past 14 days are banned.

GREECE

Tourism-reliant Greece started opening to American travelers back in April, and now visitors from China, Britain and more than 20 other countries are also allowed to visit for nonessential travel.

All must provide a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test and fill in a passenger locator form on their plans in Greece. This directive expires on June 14, but could be extended.

Athens long pressed for a common EU approach, but didn’t wait for one to materialize. On June 1, Greece, Germany and five other bloc members introduced a COVID certificate system for travelers, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program across the 27-nation bloc.

SPAIN

Spain kicked off its summer tourism season by welcoming vaccinated visitors from the U.S. and most countries, as well as European visitors who can prove they are not infected.

Americans and most other non-Europeans need an official vaccine certificate by a health authority. Spain accepts those who were inoculated with the four EU-approved vaccines as well two Chinese vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization — as long as visitors are fully vaccinated at least two weeks before the trip.

Arrivals from Brazil, South Africa and India are banned at the moment because of high infection rates there, and non-vaccinated Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.

But there are exemptions for countries considered at low risk, such as citizens from Britain, who can arrive without any health documents at all. EU citizens need to provide proof of vaccination, a certificate showing they recently recovered from COVID-19, or a negative antigen or PCR test taken within 48 hours of arrival.

BRITAIN

There are few, if any, American tourists in the U.K. at present. Britain has a traffic-light system for assessing countries by risk, and the U.S. along with most European nations is on the “amber” list, meaning everyone arriving has to self-isolate at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days.

People arriving from “red list” countries including India and Brazil must quarantine in a government-approved hotel.

Airlines and airport operators are pushing for European tourism destinations to be added to Britain’s short “green list” of quarantine-free destinations, and to open a U.K.-U.S. travel corridor, but the British government is being cautious amid the spread of the more contagious delta variant of the virus.

Meanwhile, anyone traveling between Britain and continental Europe, be warned: In addition to the isolation requirement for those arriving or returning to U.K. shores, rising concern about the delta variant of the virus has prompted some other countries to introduce special restrictions for those arriving from Britain.

EUROPEAN UNION

The European Union has recommended that its 27 member countries start lifting restrictions on tourists from the United States, along with a handful of other countries including North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Lebanon and Taiwan.

But the recommendation is non-binding, and national governments have authority to require test results or vaccination records and to set other entry conditions.

The EU has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus.

The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.

Several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it July 1.

It’s mainly meant for EU citizens but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too — if they can convince authorities in an EU country they’re entering that they qualify for one. And the lack of an official U.S. vaccination certification system may complicate matters.

France Adds Russia To List Of Banned Countries

France is adding Russia to its “red list” of countries from which travels are banned unless it is for urgent reasons as they are struggling with virus surges and worrisome variants.

French government spokesperson Gabriel Attal said Wednesday that Russia, Namibia and Seychelles are being added to the list of now 21 countries.

The “red list” notably includes India, South Africa and Brazil and implies that vaccinated travelers arriving in France must justify their trip, show a negative test and self-isolate for a week. Those not vaccinated must go on a quarantine for 10 days, risking a 1000-euro fine, equivalent to $1,194.

Attal also called for enhanced vigilance about the more contagious delta variant, first identified in India.

The delta variant is estimated to represent 9 to 10% overall in France, he said. But authorities are closely monitoring the situation in a region of southwestern France, the Landes, where 70% of confirmed infections are due to the delta variant, he added.

The epidemic situation in France has rapidly improved in recent weeks, with about 2,300 new daily infections reported each day, down from 35,000 in the March-April peak.

Berlin Museum Centering On Germans Expelled After WWII Opens

BERLIN (AP) — Germany has opened a museum exploring the fate of millions of Germans forced to leave eastern and central Europe at the end of World War II, along with other forced displacements of the 20th and 21st centuries — a sensitive project that has taken years to realize.

The Documentation Center for Displacement, Expulsion, Reconciliation, is opening more than 13 years after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government gave the plan the go-ahead. Housed in a late-1920s building in downtown Berlin, it features some 700 exhibits over 1,500 square meters (16,000 square feet).

“This center was discussed at length and intensively, in Germany but also with our partners in Europe,” Merkel said in an address to the opening ceremony, welcoming the presence of the Polish, Czech and Hungarian ambassadors. “The discussions about this place really were not always easy, but they were important.”

Merkel said the new center, complete with a library, “fills a gap in our coming to terms with history.” Still, making the project reality was long viewed as “an impossible balancing act,” according to the center’s director, Gundula Bavendamm.

Controversies revolved around one central question, Bavendamm told reporters ahead of the opening: “How can the exodus and expulsion of Germans at the end of and after World War II be portrayed without raising the slightest doubt that this country is aware of its lasting responsibility for the German crimes of World War II and the murder of European Jews?”

The project centers on the millions of Germans who fled from advancing Soviet forces or were kicked out of parts of eastern and central Europe as Germany’s borders were moved westward after the war, “in the historical context” of Nazi crimes, said Bavendamm — the project’s third director.

“Without the Nazi policies of expulsion and annihilation, 14 million Germans wouldn’t have lost their homes as a result of flight and expulsion,” she added. “But that doesn’t change the fact that their expulsion by the Allies and the eastern and central European states in the aftermath of World War II was also an injustice.”

In its efforts to provide context, the exhibition explores “forced migration as a phenomenon of modern Europe,” including displacements during World War I, the arrival of Vietnamese “boat people” in West Germany in the 1970s, the fallout from the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1990s and the European migration crisis of recent years.

Exhibits include some 30 passports, including a German Jew’s passport stamped with the letter “J” in the Nazi era, a “Nansen passport” for stateless refugees from 1937 and a modern-day provisional refugee passport. There is the diary of a girl from East Prussia, a territory Germany lost at the end of the war, chronicling sexual violence.

There’s also a bicycle used by a Syrian refugee to cross the Russian-Norwegian border in 2016. And there are audio accounts by people recounting their arrival in Germany.

By GEIR MOULSON

June 2021 In Tokyo

June is the rainy season in Tokyo. It rains so frequently just before the intense summer heat and just prior to the gentle cool down of autumn that Japan is often said to have six seasons instead of four. In fact, there are more than 400 words that express rain in Japanese -- depending on when and how it rains. Harusame is the rain that falls in spring. Samidare is the rain that falls in May, Tsuyu refers to the “rainy season” in June. Konukaame is the fine mist that fills the air in spring, but the same misty rain changes its name to Kirisame when it falls in autumn. Some might find rain a deterrent, but in fact, the warm sprinkles clear the air and give us a chance to see the subtleties of the city. For example, Tokyo Station reflected in the puddles on the pavement or the hydrangea that changes hues ever so delicately, as the moist droplets kiss its petals.

Where to see hydrangea in Tokyo

While Japan is famous for its cherry blossoms, its other seasonal flowers deserve as much respect. June is the "season of Hydrangea," blooming in blue, white, fuchsia and purple. Hydrangeas are indigenous to Japan but were experimented with and improved upon by Philipp Franz von Siebold, a 19th Century German doctor and naturalist, who even named the Otaksa variety of hydrangea after his Japanese common law wife.

Hakusan Shrine in Bunkyo Ward, where the University of Tokyo is located: About 3000 hydrangeas are planted here! It is also renowned for the annual hydrangea festival, where on weekends during the celebration, there are stalls selling hydrangea potted plants. Unfortunately, the festival was canceled in 2021.

Takahata Fudoson Kongoji Temple in Hino City, western Tokyo: A smaller-than-usual Hydrangea Festival is being held here even in 2021, until June 30. Additionally, during June, hydrangeas can be found along the streets of Tokyo, where they are for sale, on display, or just in bloom and are of course best viewed in the rain.

Since 1969, when the Stonewall riots broke out in the US, LGBT movements have been swelling worldwide. In the US in 2000, President Bill Clinton declared June "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month," and in 2009 President Barack Obama declared June "LGBT Pride Month." In 2019, large-scale pride parades were held across the United States to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. At the same time, the activities of Tokyo Rainbow Pride (TRP) were also gaining more attention. In 2021, their annual event during Japan’s Golden Week holiday, April 24-May 5, was online and virtual, but additional festivities have followed. In June, the highlights of the movie "# Pride at Home 2021" and a speaking event (Japanese only) "Thinking about diverse families," are being distributed on the TRP channel. In addition, under the theme of "Equality and Inclusiveness," the "W1SH RIBBON" campaign is underway at TOKYO SKYTREE, the tallest free-standing tower in the world, and the symbol of Tokyo. The campaign aims to connect the people of the world with ribbons, regardless of gender or nationality. They are also promoting and distributing a music video produced by international photographer Leslie Kee.

Bourbon Tourism shaking Off Pandemic Slump In Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — With tourists flocking to distilleries, concerns about a pandemic hangover for Kentucky’s world-famous bourbon industry are quickly evaporating.

A $19 million tourist center that Bourbon Tourism opened just days ago in the heart of the state’s bourbon country is already overflowing — with reservations filling up quickly to learn about whiskey-making and sample its spirits, including its flagship Evan Williams whiskey.

It’s a similar story for the numerous other distilleries in the region that last spring were temporarily closed to visitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More than a year later, the businesses are facing such overwhelming demand for tours that one industry official has started encouraging people to call ahead or check tour availability online before pulling off the highway.

Starting last summer, some distilleries began allowing limited numbers of visitors in accordance with virus restrictions. With capacity limits now lifted, the attractions are gearing up for a full resurgence of guests, many from outside Kentucky.

“We saw it coming, but I don’t think we saw it coming this quick,” said Kentucky Distillers’ Association President Eric Gregory.

“We were a hot destination before COVID cooled us off considerably,” he added. “But now we’re getting back to the point where people want to get out, they want to have fun.”

Gregory predicted that bourbon tourism will quickly rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

“I think next year will be more of a normal year and if this trend continues, I think it will be another record-setting year,” he said.

Bourbon is an $8.6 billion industry in Kentucky, where 95% of the world’s supply is crafted, according to the association. About 9.3 million barrels of bourbon were aging in the state last year, or more than two barrels for every person living in Kentucky. And bourbon tourism has become a big business, driven in part by a surge in enthusiasm overseas.

Spirits companies invested huge sums into new or expanded visitors’ centers to play up the industry’s heritage and allow guests to soak in the sights and smells of bourbon making. Kentucky Bourbon Trail visitors spend, on average, between $400 to $1,200 per trip, Gregory said. More than 70% of visitors come from outside Kentucky.

To help visitors plan trips, the organization is promoting a new Bourbon Trail Passport and Field Guide, a 150-page guide to participating distilleries, with cocktail recipes and suggested itineraries.

In Bardstown, where Heaven Hill opened its tourist center, the return of travelers will spin off considerably more spending at restaurants, stores and motels, said Dixie Hibbs, a former mayor.

The picturesque town, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southeast of Louisville, is so entwined with the industry that the smell of locally crafted bourbon wafts into downtown.

“Most people will tell you that’s the smell of money,” Hibbs said.

After years of constant growth, bourbon tourism plunged during the pandemic. Visitors took about 587,000 tours last year at distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and the Kentucky Bourbon Trail Craft Tour, down 66% from 2019 when stops topped 1.7 million, according to KDA. The craft tour features smaller distilleries springing up across the Bluegrass state, while the Kentucky Bourbon Trail showcases the sector’s biggest producers.

While most distilleries have reopened for tours, some still aren’t allowing visitors into “front line” areas where bourbon is produced, Gregory said. For guests allowed into production areas, chances are they’ll be asked to wear a mask for that phase of the tour, he said.

Some distilleries remain closed to tours. That includes industry giant Jim Beam, which is overhauling its visitor experience with plans to reopen in the fall at its flagship distilling operation in Clermont, said company spokesperson Emily Bryson York.

At Maker’s Mark, both tour sizes and the number of tours will increase starting in mid-July at its distillery in Loretto, said Rob Samuels, the brand’s managing director.

For visitors unable to join a tour, Maker’s Mark and other distilleries offer tastings of their products. They can order cocktails or perhaps a meal if the distillery has a restaurant. And they can walk the distillery grounds and shop at the gift shop.

If a larger distillery is booked, visitors often can check out a smaller distillery nearby, Gregory said. Kentucky now boasts distilleries in 32 of its 120 counties, with more than a dozen others recently announced or under construction, he said.

Like his predecessors, Gov. Andy Beshear has become a fixture at events toasting the bourbon industry’s growth. At Monday’s opening of the Heaven Hill Bourbon Experience, Beshear said the visitor center gives people “one more great reason to visit Kentucky and experience the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.”

The new tourist center is three times larger than Heaven Hill’s previous Bardstown visitors’ center and is part of a $125 million investment by Heaven Hill that includes new barrel warehousing, bottling line and equipment upgrades.

Heaven Hill Brands President Max L. Shapira summed up the industry’s relief in seeing tourists return.

“We are extremely pleased to be welcoming fans and visitors back to bourbon country to see, taste and learn about America’s Native Spirit in a new way,” he said.

By BRUCE SCHREINER

Brazil’s COVID-19 Death Toll Tops 500,000

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil said Saturday that more than 500,000 people in the country are confirmed to have died from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

The nation of 210 million people has been reporting an average of more than 2,000 daily deaths in recent days. Brazil’s reported death toll is second only to that of the U.S., where the number of lives lost has topped 600,000.

Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga confirmed that the official death toll had passed 500,000.

“I am working tirelessly to vaccinate all Brazilians in the shortest time possible and change this scenario that has plagued us for over a year,” Queiroga tweeted.

Brazil is registering more than 70,000 confirmed coronavirus infections every day. Just 11.4% of the population has been fully vaccinated, according to the government.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has downplayed the coronavirus while trying to keep the economy humming. He dismissed the scourge early on as “a little flu” and has scorned masks.

Travelore Consumer Alert: Cruise Giant Carnival Says Customers Affected By Breach

Carnival Corp. said Thursday that a data breach in March might have exposed personal information about customers and employees on Carnival Cruise Line, Holland America Line and Princess Cruises.

In a letter to customers, the company indicated that outsiders might have gained access to Social Security numbers, passport numbers, dates of birth, addresses and health information of people.

The company declined to say how many people’s information was exposed.

The breach comes after Carnival was hit twice last year by ransomware attacks.

Carnival spokesman Roger Frizzell said the company detected the latest intrusion to some of its information-technology systems on March 19 and shut down access and hired a cybersecurity company to investigate. He said Carnival is making changes to improve security of its information systems.

Frizzell said the company has notified the affected people and set up a call center to answer their questions.

The Miami-headquartered company disclosed in a securities filing in April that hackers broke into its systems in August of last year and again in December.

The attackers encrypted part of one cruise line’s IT systems and gained access to personal information about customers and employees. Carnival said there was no indication that personal information exposed in those attacks was misused. The company did not indicate whether it paid a ransom.

Carnival’s shares fell 3% on Thursday.

French Tourism Seeks New Boost With Disneyland Reopening

PARIS (AP) — France’s tourism sector is taking a further step toward normality with the reopening of Disneyland Paris, two weeks after the country reopened its borders to vaccinated visitors from across the world.

Europe’s most frequented theme park in Marne-la-Vallee, east of the French capital, opened its doors on Thursday after nearly eight months of closure.

A crowd of smiling visitors was welcomed by Disney characters dancing to the sound of joyful music.

“Amazing,” said Debbie Tater. The Delaware resident travelled from the United States to visit her family, including her daughter and two granddaughters, who live in France and whom she hadn’t seen for a year and a half.

“Happiest place on earth,” she said, with tears in her eyes.

“We couldn’t miss the reopening,” said Elodie Piedfort, from Haute-Loire region in central France. “Because I’m a nurse it’s been a very difficult year and being here, together with my son, is great. And the reopening, moving on is great as well.”

Visitors must wear masks inside the park and other measures are in place, including a cap on visitor numbers to ensure distancing.

Pauline Baudouin, a Disney fan from Angouleme in western France, said: “We were missing the magic, because it was already a complicated period and we needed to recharge our batteries in this magical world.”

Prime Minister Jean Castex said Wednesday that France is returning to “a form of normal life again,” as he announced that people won’t have to wear masks outdoors any more, except in crowded places.

The government confirmed children can remove masks in school playgrounds — yet they remain compulsory in class for those aged 6 and above.

The 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew will be lifted on Sunday.

On Thursday, Health Minister Olivier Veran said night clubs will be able to reopen in July under strict regulations — a first since the France’s initial lockdown in March last year, The French tourist industry hopes to rebound over the summer as the country welcomes foreign visitors again — on condition they have received one of the four EU-approved vaccines. Travelers are banned from 16 countries, including India, South Africa and Brazil, that are wrestling with virus surges and worrisome variants.

France started gradually reopening its economy last month. Monuments and museums, including major sites like the Louvre and Versailles, are open, as well as hotels, cafes and restaurants.

Tourists will still have to wait for the Eiffel Tower, set to reopen on July 16 after major renovation work.

The government said the easing of restrictions is due to a drop in daily infections and to a vaccination campaign that has seen more than 59% of France’s adult population receive at least one shot. The country opened this week vaccination to those aged 12 to 18.

Portugal Opens To American Travelers With Negative COVID Tests As Of June 15th

The Portuguese Government has announced that Portugal will welcome all vaccinated travelers from the United States on June 15, according to Visit Alentejo. And, direct flights are resuming on TAP Portugal, United, Azores Airlines and Delta from US gateway cities, too.

American visitors will just need to produce a negative COVID test performed at least 72 hours before arrival. Clear COVID-19 restrictions are still in place around Portugal.

As to where Americans will want to go in Portugal, the Alentejo looks to be the perfect post-COVID destination. It is set in the south of Portugal, between the River Tejo and the Algarve mountains. To the east it borders Spain and to the west - the Atlantic Ocean. It is a vast rural region, lightly populated, making up about a third of Portugal. The beauty of the landscape and the quality of its cycling, hiking, wines and historic traditions, combined with the wonders of its food and music, make it the type of place Americans will seek out.

For the latest information on travel requirements please visit www.visitportugal.com and https://www.visitalentejo.pt/en.

‘Freedom Day’ For England Pushed Back 4 Weeks To July 19

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed Monday that the next planned relaxation of coronavirus restrictions in England will be delayed by four weeks, until July 19, a decision he said will save thousands of lives as the government speeds up its vaccination drive.

In a press briefing, Johnson voiced his confidence that the new date for the lifting of restrictions on social contact will be the final one as the vaccination drive is accelerated to counter the delta variant that scientists reckon is between 40% and 80% more transmissible than the previous dominant strain in the U.K.

“I think it is sensible to wait just a little longer,” he said. “Now is the time to ease off the accelerator, because by being cautious now we have the chance in the next four weeks to save many thousands of lives by vaccinating millions more people.”

He said that by July 19, two-thirds of the adult population will have been double-vaccinated, including everyone over the age of 50, and that everyone over the age of 18 will have been offered a jab, earlier than the previous target of the month’s end. The gap between the two doses for over 40s is also being reduced to eight weeks from 12 to provide the maximum protection against the variant sooner.

New analysis Monday from Public Health England showed that two doses of the main vaccines in the U.K.’s rollout are highly effective against hospitalization from the delta variant, which was first identified in India. It said the Pfizer vaccine is 96% effective against hospitalization after 2 doses while the AstraZeneca jab is 92% effective.

“It’s unmistakably clear the vaccines are working and the sheer scale of the vaccine rollout has made our position incomparably better than in previous waves,” Johnson said.

Under the government’s plan for coming out of lockdown, all restrictions on social contact were set to be lifted next Monday. Many businesses, particularly those in hospitality and entertainment, voiced their disappointment about the delay to what had been dubbed by the British media as “Freedom Day.” Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been particularly upset at the prospect of a delay and has said he will reopen his theaters regardless, a move that would risk him being arrested.

A delay is particularly bitter pill for nightclubs, as they have not been allowed to reopen since March 2020.

It will also likely impact how many fans are allowed into the Wimbledon tennis tournament and the European Championship soccer matches at Wembley Stadium, which will host the tournament’s semi-finals and final. However, actual numbers may be higher at certain events as Johnson said the government will carry on with its test program to allow more fans into stadiums.

The Confederation of British Industry said the delay is “regrettable” but “understandable” and urged the government to provide more support to those businesses affected.

“But we must acknowledge the pain felt by businesses in hospitality, leisure and live events,” said the CBI’s director-general Tony Danker. “At best they’re operating with reduced capacity hitting revenues, and at worst, some aren’t open at all.”

When Johnson first outlined the government’s four-stage plan for lifting the lockdown in England in February, he set June 21 as the earliest date by which restrictions on people gathering would be lifted. However, he stressed at the time that the timetable was not carved in stone and that all the steps would be driven by “data not dates” and would seek to be “irreversible.”

Though daily infections have increased threefold over the past few weeks they are still way down from the nearly 70,000 daily cases recorded in January. On Monday, the British government reported 7,742 new confirmed cases, one of the highest daily numbers since the end of February. The delta variant accounts for around 90% of all new infections. The number of peopled being hospitalized with the virus has edged up over recent days.

Many blame the Conservative government for the spike, saying it acted too slowly to impose the strictest quarantine requirements on everyone arriving from India, which has endured a catastrophic resurgence of the virus.

Despite the government having faced criticism for that decision, it has won plaudits for the speedy and coherent rollout of vaccines. As of Monday, around 62% of the British population had received one shot, while about 45% had got two jabs.

The rapid rollout of vaccines and a strict months-long lockdown helped drive down the number of virus-related deaths in the U.K. in recent months. Despite that, the country has recorded nearly 128,000 virus-related deaths, more than any other nation in Europe.

But infections are now going the wrong way, upending the government’s plans as well as those of many businesses.

“The reality is we have marched the troops up the hill,” said Howard Panter, joint CEO and creative director at theater operator Trafalgar Entertainment.

By PAN PYLAS

Vaccinated Visitors Can Take Off Masks At Disney World Starting June 15th.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Walt Disney World in Florida is making it easier to see smiles again, but guests still can’t hug the characters.

Starting Tuesday, face masks will be optional for visitors to the theme park resort who are vaccinated, though Disney workers won’t require proof of vaccination, the company said on its website.

Visitors who aren’t fully vaccinated still will need to wear face masks indoors and on all rides and attractions. All visitors, whether vaccinated or not, will still be required to wear face coverings on buses, monorails and Disney Skyliner, the resort’s aerial gondola, according to the latest guidelines.

The decision on masks is Disney World’s latest tweak to the virus-related safety rules it created when the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March 2020. Disney World closed for two months last year at the start of the outbreak and reopened last summer with strict safety guidelines that involved masking, social distancing and crowd limits.

Last month, Disney officials started allowing visitors to go without masks outdoors. Disney officials said they expect to ease up on physical distancing guidelines in the near future.

“It’s important to remember that some experiences and entertainment may still be operating with limited capacity or may remain temporarily unavailable,” the company said on its website. “We’re not quite ready to bring back everything yet, but we are optimistic and look forward to the day when Disney pals and princesses are able to hug once again.”

US Will Revisit Trump-Era Decision For Alaska Rainforest

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — The federal government announced plans Friday to “repeal or replace” a decision by the Trump administration last fall to lift restrictions on logging and road building in a southeast Alaska rainforest that provides habitat for wolves, bears and salmon.

Conservationists cheered the announcement as a positive step. Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy criticized it and vowed to use “every tool available to push back.”

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s plans were announced on a federal regulatory site with little detail. They were described as consistent with a January executive order from President Joe Biden that called for reviewing agency actions during the Trump administration that could be at odds with Biden’s environmental priorities. The U.S. Forest Service falls under the Agriculture Department.

The Tongass National Forest is the country’s largest national forest. In a statement, Matt Herrick, an Agriculture Department spokesperson, said the Trump administration decision “did not align with the overwhelming majority of public opinion across the country and among Alaskans.”

“Future decisions about the role of the Tongass National Forest should continue to reflect the best interests of Alaskans and the country as a whole,” Herrick said.

The statement did not outline the next steps the Agriculture Department would take to repeal or replace the Trump administration decision.

The Agriculture Department last October decided to exempt the Tongass from the so-called roadless rule, which prohibited road construction and timber harvests with limited exceptions. The roadless rule, dating to 2001, has long been the subject of litigation.

In 2018, Alaska under then-Gov. Bill Walker, an independent, asked the federal government to consider an exemption. Dunleavy supported the request, as have members of Alaska’s Republican congressional delegation.

U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska’s senior senator, said the Trump administration, through the Forest Service and Agriculture Department, “put considerable work and effort into the final rule and now the Biden administration is literally throwing it all away.”

“We need to end this ‘yo-yo effect’ as the lives of Alaskans who live and work in the Tongass are upended every time we have a new President. This has to end,” she said in a statement.

U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan called the decision “misguided,” and U.S. Rep Don Young said it was “yet another nail in the coffin for economic opportunity” in southeast Alaska. The region, heavily reliant on tourism, was hard-hit by the pandemic last year.

The congressional delegation, in a statement, said the exemption is needed “to restore balance in federal management on the Tongass.” Sullivan has said the roadless rule is a hindrance to activities such as mineral development, building energy projects and connecting communities.

The Biden administration earlier this month suspended oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, following a January lease sale that drew a tepid response. A law passed by Congress in 2017 called for two lease sales to be held.

But U.S. government attorneys also have defended a decision made during the Trump administration to approve a major oil project on Alaska’s North Slope that Alaska political leaders have supported.

The Agriculture Department in its decision about the Tongass National Forest last fall concluded that a policy change for the forest could be made “without major adverse impacts to the recreation, tourism and fishing industries, while providing benefits to the timber and mining industries, increasing opportunities for community infrastructure, and eliminating unnecessary regulations.”

More than 9 million of the Tongass’ roughly 16.7 million acres are considered roadless areas, according to a federal environmental review last year. The majority of the Tongass is in a natural condition, and the forest is one of the largest relatively intact temperate rainforests in the world, the review said.

Meredith Trainor, executive director of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, said those who supported keeping the roadless rule provisions in place for the Tongass “heartily encourage the administration to put this thing to bed by repealing the Trump rule once and for all.”

Josh Hicks, senior campaign manager with The Wilderness Society, in a statement said forests are “highly effective at sequestering carbon and, if left standing, are one of the strongest natural solutions to combating the climate crisis.”

Travel Rebound: 2 Million People Go Through US Airports

DALLAS (AP) — The airline industry’s recovery from the pandemic passed a milestone as more than 2 million people streamed through U.S. airport security checkpoints on Friday for the first time since early March 2020.

The Transportation Security Administration announced Saturday that 2.03 million travelers were screened at airport checkpoints on Friday. It was the first time in 15 months that the number of security screenings has surpassed 2 million in a single day.

Airline bookings have been picking up since around February, as more Americans were vaccinated against COVID-19 and – at least within the United States – travel restrictions such as mandatory quarantines began to ease.

The recovery is not complete. Friday’s crowds were only 74% of the volume compared to the same day in 2019. However, the 2.03 million figure was 1.5 million more travelers than the same day last year, according to the TSA.

The 2-million mark represents quite a turnaround for the travel industry, which was hammered by the pandemic. There were days in April 2020 when fewer than 100,000 people boarded planes in the U.S., and the CEO of Boeing predicted that at least one major U.S. airline would go bankrupt.

Most of the airlines are still losing money. Southwest eked out a narrow first-quarter profit thanks to its share of $64 billion in federal pandemic relief to the industry, and others are expected to follow suit later this year.

The fear of large-scale furloughs has lifted. United Airlines, which lost $7 billion and threatened to furlough 13,000 workers last fall, told employees this week that their jobs are secure even when the federal money runs out in October.

That’s because airlines like United are upbeat about salvaging the peak summer vacation season. International travel and business trips are still deeply depressed, but domestic leisure travel is roughly back to pre-pandemic levels, airline officials say.

The airlines are recalling employees from voluntary leave and planning to hire small numbers of pilots and other workers later this year.

Hotel operators say they too have seen bookings improve as vaccination rates rise.

Mike Gathright, a senior vice president at Hilton, said the company’s hotels were 93% full over the Memorial Day weekend. He said the company is “very optimistic” about leisure travel over the summer and a pickup in business travel this fall.

“The vaccine distribution, the relaxed travel restrictions, consumer confidence — all of that is driving occupancy and improvement in our business,” Gathright said.

Prior to the pandemic, TSA screened on average 2 million to 2.5 million travelers per day. The lowest screening volume during the pandemic was on April 13, 2020, when just 87,534 individuals were screened at airport security checkpoints.

By the middle of last month, TSA’s average daily volume for screenings was approximately 65% of pre-pandemic levels.

As the summer travel season approaches, TSA is advising passengers to arrive at the airport with sufficient time to accommodate increased screening time as traveler volumes are expected to approach and in some cases exceed pre-pandemic levels at certain airports.

By DAVID KOENIG

Europe Tells Tourists: Welcome Back!

PARIS (AP) — Europe is opening up to Americans and other visitors after more than a year of COVID-induced restrictions, in hope of luring back tourists — and their dollars — to the continent’s trattorias, vistas and cultural treasures. But travelers will need patience to figure out who’s allowed into which country, how and when.

As the European Union’s doors reopen one by one to the outside world for the first time since March 2020, tourists will discover a patchwork of systems instead of a single border-free leisure zone, because national governments have resisted surrendering control over their frontiers amid the pandemic. And post-Brexit Britain is going its own way altogether.

Meanwhile, the welcoming mood isn’t always mutual. U.S. borders, for example, remain largely closed to non-Americans.

Here’s a look at current entry rules in some popular European tourist destinations. One caveat: While these are the regulations as written by governments, travelers may meet hiccups as airlines or railway officials try to make sense of them.

FRANCE

If you’re vaccinated, come to France. But only if you got one of the four EU-approved vaccines: Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson. That works for Americans — as long as they can produce official proof of vaccination — but not for large swaths of the world like China and Russia where other vaccines are used.

France’s borders officially reopened Wednesday. Vaccinated visitors from outside Europe and a few “green” countries will still be asked for a negative PCR test no older than 72 hours, or a negative antigen test of no more than 48 hours. Unvaccinated children will be allowed in with vaccinated adults, but will have to show a negative test from age 11.

Tourists are banned from 16 countries wrestling with virus surges and worrisome variants that are on a red list that includes India, South Africa and Brazil.

Non-vaccinated visitors from “orange list” countries — including the U.S. and Britain — can’t come for tourism either, only for specific, imperative reasons.

ITALY

Americans — the second-biggest group of foreign tourists to Italy — have been welcome since mid-May. However, they need to self-isolate upon arrival for 10 days unless they arrive on so-called “COVID-tested flights.” That means passengers are tested before and after the flight and must fill out documents about their whereabouts to facilitate contact tracing if required.

“COVID-tested” flights from the U.S. started in December and have also been operating since May from Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

Italy also started allowing tourists from Britain and Israel last month, meaning they no longer need an “essential” reason to visit and don’t have to self-isolate, providing they present proof of a negative COVID test taken no more than 48 hours prior to arrival.

The same rules apply to travelers from EU countries and those on “COVID-tested” flights from the U.S., Canada, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.

GREECE

Tourism-reliant Greece started opening to American travelers back in April, and now visitors from China, Britain and 20 other countries are also allowed to visit for nonessential travel.

All must provide a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test and fill in a passenger locator form on their plans in Greece. This directive expires on June 14, but could be extended.

Athens long pressed for a common EU approach, but didn’t wait for one to materialize. On June 1, Greece, Germany and five other bloc members introduced a COVID certificate system for travelers, weeks ahead of the July 1 rollout of the program across the 27-nation bloc.

SPAIN

Spain kicked off its summer tourism season Monday by welcoming vaccinated visitors from the U.S. and most countries, as well as European visitors who can prove they are not infected.

Americans and most other non-Europeans need an official vaccine certificate by a health authority. Spain accepts those who were inoculated with the four EU-approved vaccines as well two Chinese vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization — as long as visitors are fully vaccinated at least two weeks before the trip.

Arrivals from Brazil, South Africa and India are banned at the moment because of high infection rates there, and non-vaccinated Americans and many other non-EU nationalities cannot come to Spain for tourism for now.

But there are exemptions for countries considered at low risk, such as citizens from Britain, who can arrive without any health documents at all. EU citizens need to provide proof of vaccination, a certificate showing they recently recovered from COVID-19, or a negative antigen or PCR test taken within 48 hours of arrival.

BRITAIN

There are few, if any, American tourists in the U.K. at present. Britain has a traffic-light system for assessing countries by risk, and the U.S. along with most European nations is on the “amber” list, meaning everyone arriving has to self-isolate at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days.

U.K. and U.S. airlines and airport operators are pushing for a travel corridor to allow tourism to resume, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to raise the issue when he meets President Joe Biden at a G-7 summit in England this week.

Meanwhile, anyone traveling between Britain and continental Europe, be warned: In addition to the isolation requirement for those arriving or returning to U.K. shores, rising concern about the delta variant of the virus has prompted some other countries to introduce special restrictions for those arriving from Britain.

EUROPEAN UNION

The 27-nation EU has no unified COVID tourism or border policy, but has been working for months on a joint digital travel certificate for those vaccinated, freshly tested, or recently recovered from the virus. EU lawmakers endorsed the plan Wednesday.

The free certificates, which will contain a QR code with advanced security features, will allow people to move between European countries without having to quarantine or undergo extra coronavirus tests upon arrival.

Several EU countries have already begun using the system, including Spain, Germany, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Poland. The rest are expected to start using it July 1.

It’s mainly meant for EU citizens but Americans and others can obtain the certificate too — if they can convince authorities in an EU country they’re entering that they qualify for one. And the lack of an official U.S. vaccination certification system may complicate matters.

State Of Yucatán Continues To Recover Its Air And Maritime Connectivity

MÉRIDA, Yucatán — Yucatán’s Tourism Minister, Michelle Fridman Hirsch, announced this week that the Economic and Tourism Recovery Plan of the State of Yucatán — specifically, the reestablishment airport and cruise port connectivity — has been proactive, showing concrete results with the return of 100% of U.S. flights and now the return of more cruise ships.

“Connectivity is one of the fundamental pillars of the tourist recovery of Yucatán and, therefore, hand in hand with the airlines, cruise ships, [airports operator] ASUR and our naval port, we are working hard to recover the routes we had before the pandemic and, of course, expand the offer and thus be able to reach new and better markets, increasing the number of visitors to Yucatán,” said Fridman Hirsch.

This past Saturday, June 5, saw one of most important air hubs in the world, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), connected with Mérida International Airport (MID) with the arrival of American Airlines Flight 3925, carrying 62 passengers.

American’s weekly service, a 2-hour, 40-minute flight aboard a 76-seat Embraer 175 aircraft, will operate every Saturday with an arrival time in Mérida of 1:39 p.m. and departure for Dallas at 2:25 p.m. until August 14 of this year, giving a total of 11 roundtrip flights.

American Airlines’ Director of Operations for Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Ecuador, José María Giraldo, said “American Airlines is proud to start these new routes to Dallas-Fort Worth, our main connection center, which will allow Yucatecans to connect with more than 180 destinations in the United States and 57 destinations around the world.”

Continuing with the reopening of Yucatán state, Carnival Cruise Line announced that on July 26 one of its ships will arrive at Puerto Progreso as part of the restart of operations in the North American and Caribbean region after a 16-month freeze on activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The cruise company confirmed that the Yucatecan port is one of the destinations included in its first itineraries.

It is expected that most of the passengers traveling on cruise ships under this new modality will be vaccinated and those who are not, due to age or for other reasons, will be guaranteed their safety during the crossing and the visit to the ports of call.

Governor Vila Dosal previously communicated that a large number of national and international companies, including airlines, shipping firms and receptive operators, have adopted the Certificate of Good Sanitary Practices Yucatán, as a measure to prevent and control contagions by Covid-19. This will contribute to a safe arrival of passengers, which aids the economic development of local communities while guaranteeing the health security of the population.

France Reopens Borders To American Tourists, Others

PARIS (AP) — After “a very bad year,” Paris tour operator Marc Vernhet sees a ray of light with the promised return of tourists from the United States and elsewhere who are welcome in France as of Wednesday if they have been vaccinated against the coronavirus.

His agency, 2CVParisTour.com, is starting to get bookings again from Americans for its sightseeing tours conducted in quirky, bug-eyed Citroen cars. June is still very lean, but July is looking better, Vernhet said as France took the first steps toward rebuilding its position as a top destination for foreign tourists.

Before the pandemic, Vernhet ran three or four tours of the capital per day. The work dried up when France locked down, and he’s only doing around three tours per week now, nearly exclusively for French visitors. Vernhet hailed the reopening of France’s borders for vaccinated tourists as “excellent news” but said it is going to take a few more weeks for business to pick up and that “I’m not expecting to work correctly before mid-July.”

“We’ve been waiting for this for months and months,” he said.

To be allowed in for tourism, Americans and other visitors from most countries outside of Europe will need to show that they have been fully inoculated against the coronavirus with vaccines approved by the European Union’s medicines agency.

France’s acceptance of only the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) vaccines means tourism isn’t immediately coming back from the lucrative markets of China and Russia, which use vaccines not approved by the European Medicines Agency.

Without one of the those four vaccines, most non-EU visitors will still need to prove that they have a compelling reason to visit France and must quarantine on arrival.

But European visitors and those from a handful of low-risk countries are being welcomed back with open arms, even if they are not vaccinated. These so-called “green” countries include Japan, South Korea and Singapore, Australia and New Zealand, Lebanon and Israel. All EU countries as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland are also “green.” Vaccinated tourists from these countries can waltz right in; the unvaccinated need a recent negative test.

“Treat yourself, reserve now,” France’s tourism minister, Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne, said in a video message Wednesday.

“We want to hear Dutch, German, English, Italian, Spanish being spoken everywhere in the country,” he said. “We miss it. We miss you.”

As well as reopening to tourists, France from Wednesday also allowed restaurants and cafes to resume indoor service and for people to work out in gyms, its latest reopening steps as vaccinations make headway after 110,000 COVID-related deaths.

For 16 countries deemed high-risk, because they are battling coronavirus surges and worrisome variants, France remains off-limits as a tourist destination, even for would-be travelers who are vaccinated.

These so-called “red” countries include India and some of its neighbors, Brazil and some of its neighbors, as well as Chili, Bahrain, South Africa and Turkey.

Would-be tourists from so-called “orange” countries — which includes most of the rest of the world outside Europe, including the United States and Britain — still need a recent negative PCR or antigen test as well as proof of vaccination.

If unvaccinated, or inoculated with jabs not approved in Europe, would-be visitors from orange countries are not allowed to enter France unless they have a compelling professional or other reason. Sightseeing isn’t one of them.

Fifteen months after he last took American tourists on one of his Paris walking tours, guide and blogger Richard Nahem now has two bookings for July.

“People definitely want to come back,” said the former New Yorker, who’s been living in the capital since 2005.

To The Beach! Spain Opens Borders To Tourists, Cruise Ships

PALMA DE MALLORCA, Spain (AP) — Spain jump-started its summer tourism season on Monday by welcoming vaccinated visitors from most countries as well as European tourists who can prove they are not infected with coronavirus. It also reopened its ports to cruise ships.

The move opened borders for the first tourists from the United States and other countries outside of the European Union since those travelers were banned in March last year, when the pandemic hit global travel.

Matthew Eisenberg, a 22-year-old student, excitedly stepped out of Madrid airport, ready to enjoy the Spanish capital along with two more American friends.

“We came to Spain the first day we could, because we are very excited to travel here,” Eisenberg said, showing a certificate for the two Moderna vaccine jabs he received in February and March.

But Spain is still banning nonessential travelers from Brazil, India and South Africa, where virus variants have been been a major source of concern.

Visitors need proof they were fully vaccinated at least 14 days before the trip or that they overcame a COVID-19 infection in the past six months. The certificates can be in Spanish, English, French or German — or their equivalent translations in Spanish, the government order said.

The vaccines accepted are those approved by Europe’s drug regulator — Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson — as well as two Chinese vaccines authorized by the World Health Organization, Sinopharm and Sinovac.

The same documents will be valid for visitors from the European Union until the bloc fully rolls out its “Digital Green Certificate” as expected on July 1. Spain on Monday joined seven other EU countries already implementing the scheme.

Alfredo González, an official in charge of digital health and innovation at Spain’s Health Ministry, said the certificate is not a passport but a document that eases mobility across Europe.

“Without the certificate, travel will be possible, but the entry in every country will be slower and controls such as quarantines could apply,” said González, adding that all airports had established fast-track channels with technology able to confirm the digital certificates issued by other EU countries.

Beginning Monday, non-vaccinated travelers from the EU’s 27 countries could also enter Spain with the negative results of recent coronavirus antigen tests, which are cheaper and faster than PCR tests.

The Spanish government hopes to welcome 14.5 million to 15.5 million visitors between July and September. That’s about 40% of the tourists in the same period of 2019 but twice as many as last summer, when only EU visitors could enter Spain.

Tourism is a major industry that in 2019 accounted for over 12% of Spain’s GDP.

In a setback, many British tourists who love Southern Europe’s beaches aren’t expected in large numbers yet because they must quarantine upon their return to the U.K.

Still, Manchester resident Randolph Sweeting said his holiday on the Spanish island of Mallorca was worth the mandatory self-isolation when he gets home.

“I was here twice last year and when I went home I had to quarantine on my own for two weeks. So it’s not a problem for me, I’ve done it before,” the 68-year-old said at the Palma de Mallorca airport.

Belén Sanmartín, director of the Melià Calvià Beach Hotel in Mallorca, said that the U.K. government’s decision to keep Spain in its list of higher-risk territories was hard to understand in the Balearic Islands, where the infection rate is lower than in Britain.

“It has been a big disappointment, because we were ready to receive visitors from the British market,” Sanmartín said, adding that bookings in her hotel were slowly picking up, thanks to Spanish mainlanders and German and French tourists.

In another move to boost tourism, Spanish ports opened to cruise ships on Monday, nearly 15 months after they were banned.

After peaking in late January at nearly 900 new cases per 100,000 residents in 14 days, Spain’s coronavirus contagion indicator has dropped to 115 per 100,000. Still, its descent has slowed down in the past days as new infections spread among unvaccinated groups.

Spain has counted over 80,000 COVID-19 deaths in the pandemic.

By FRANCISCO UBILLA and ALICIA LEÓN
___
Alicia León and Aritz Parra contributed to this report from Madrid.

American Museum of Natural History - New Halls Of Gems And Minerals Opening June 12

One of the most popular and beloved spaces in New York City’s museums will return to public view, completely redesigned and reinstalled, with the opening of the Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals at the American Museum of Natural History on Saturday, June 12, 2021. A sparkling showcase for the Museum’s world-renowned collection and an engaging guide to current scientific knowledge about our dynamic planet, the 11,000-square-foot Halls are among the first major new cultural facilities to welcome the public as New York reopens.

Reservations to visit the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals are included in a General Admission ticket and are available now at ticketing.amnh.org.

Telling the fascinating story of how minerals in their vast diversity formed on Earth, and how humans have used them throughout the millennia for personal adornment, tools, and technology, the Halls’ exhibits include:

a gallery of dazzling gems, including the legendary 563-carat Star of India sapphire, gem crystals like the 632-carat Patricia Emerald, and the Organdie necklace designed by Michelle Ong for Carnet with 110 carats of diamonds, fabulous new specimens, many never before exhibited, including a pair of towering, sparkling amethyst geodes that are among the world’s largest on display, a slice of a 35-million-year-old metasequoia (a petrified dawn redwood from the Cascade Mountains), the 9-pound almandine Subway Garnet discovered under Manhattan’s 35th Street in 1885, and the Tarugo, a 3-foot-tall cranberry-red elbaite tourmaline that is one of the most fantastic mineral crystal clusters ever found, interactive displays illustrating the science of mineralogy, including a dynamic periodic table of chemical elements that demonstrates how they “make minerals” and a temporary exhibition space, the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery, opening with Beautiful Creatures, an unprecedented display of exquisite historic and contemporary jewelry inspired by animals.

“New Yorkers and visitors have long embraced these Halls as one of the City’s treasures,” said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. “Now, with this complete redesign made possible by Allison and Roberto Mignone, the Halls are more spectacular than ever and an even greater resource for learning about the processes that shape our changing planet and make it so endlessly fascinating. With their opening, we not only mark a signal moment in the resurgence of New York City and the renewal of its cultural life, but also, we hope, accelerate its pace.”

The Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals are named in honor of Allison and Roberto Mignone, longtime Museum supporters and volunteers. Roberto Mignone is a Museum Trustee and Allison Mignone is vice chair of the Museum’s Campaign.

“When you enter the Halls, you truly feel as if you’ve walked into the world’s jewelry box,” said Allison Mignone. “Currently, my favorite spot is standing in front of the 10-ton rock from the Sterling Mine in New Jersey. Although it may look unassuming in daylight, when it is washed in ultraviolet light, the rock’s brilliance comes alive with fluorescence of red and green. It is simply breathtaking and has to be experienced in person. These Halls, and others in the Museum, take science off the page of textbooks and into the real-life experience of countless families and students. Now more than ever, equal access to education is paramount. We look forward to the time when large numbers of students and school groups and their teachers can visit. Halls like these are crucial and tangible tools that communicate the incredible variety of minerals on Earth and how they relate to our lives.”

Organized by Curator George E. Harlow of the Museum’s Division of Physical Sciences, the exhibits in the redesigned Halls are arranged to show the geological conditions and processes by which minerals form: igneous, pegmatitic, metamorphic, hydrothermal, and weathering. As part of this construct, the Halls introduce a concept that has developed over the past 15 years: mineral evolution.
Recognizing that there were no minerals at all for hundreds of millions of years after the Big Bang, the concept explains how our planet today came to host more than 5,500 mineral species. The process
began with supernovae infusing the universe with more and heavier elements, which could combine into minerals. The formation of planets enabled the differentiation of these minerals, mostly in the form of molten rocks heading to the surface. On Earth, as new mineral-forming environments arose—with the accumulation of liquid water, for example, or the introduction of free oxygen into the atmosphere by the first photosynthetic organisms—minerals diversified in color, texture, and chemical composition. Organisms contain, produce, and use minerals, and new minerals have formed because of life. (See release on science in the Halls).

“When I started at the Museum, there were probably 2,500 minerals described—and now there are more than 5,500 minerals,” said George E. Harlow. “The enhanced Halls present up-to-date science, which has progressed significantly. I look forward to seeing visitors delight in remarkable gems and mineral specimens from across the globe and our own backyard, like those in the Minerals of New York City display featuring specimens from all five boroughs.”

Hall Highlights

The redesigned Halls feature more than 5,000 specimens sourced from 98 countries. In addition to those already mentioned, highlights include:

the Singing Stone, a massive block of vibrant blue azurite and green malachite from Arizona, first exhibited at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, a wall-sized panel of fluorescent rock that glows in shades of orange and green, sourced from Sterling Hill in New Jersey, The Butterfly of Peace, 240 colored diamonds arranged in a symmetrical pattern of similar cuts and colors, A nearly 600-pound specimen of topaz from Minas Gerais, Brazil, one of the largest single crystals of topaz in any museum in the world, an ancient block of orbicular granite featuring unusual ball-shaped, concentric clusters of crystals, sourced from one of Earth’s oldest enduring landmasses, the 2.7-billion-year-old Yilgarn Craton in Western Australia, a spectacular specimen of yellow fluorite retrieved from the Moscona Mine in the Asturias region of northwest Spain, which grew after hot water dissolved layers of limestone, and later deposited cubic crystals coated with glistening pyrite in the empty space, An iridescent block of labradorite from Madagascar made up of large crystals of feldspar that display vibrant colors with changes in viewing angle, a slab of amphibolite rock containing huge almandine garnet crystals that formed more than a billion years ago, sourced from Gore Mountain in upstate New York, a 1.8-billion-year-old assemblage of dravite tourmaline crystals, one of the oldest pieces in the Hall, which formed in present-day Western Australia in solid metamorphic rock, a massive 5-foot beryl crystal section, sourced from the Bumpus Quarry in Albany, Maine, And weighing almost half a ton and showcasing hundreds of swordlike crystals, one of the largest stibnite specimens on public display, from southeastern China.

Beautiful Creatures Inaugural Temporary Exhibition

Inaugurating the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery, the first temporary exhibition space to be built in any of the Museum’s permanent halls, the American Museum of Natural History will present Beautiful Creatures. Featuring some of the world’s most spectacular jewelry pieces inspired by animal forms and curated by jewelry historian Marion Fasel, the special exhibition will be on view through September 19, 2021.

“Beautiful Creatures is devoted to animal-themed jewelry designs created over the last 150 years,” said Marion Fasel. “The timeframe dovetails with the founding of the American Museum of Natural History in New York in 1869. The institution, and others like it around the world, actively contributed to the public’s exposure to and subsequent fascination with the study and science of nature, particularly the animal kingdom, which, in all its remarkable diversity, has promised never to lose its allure for jewelry designers.”

Beautiful Creatures features imaginative designs by the world’s great jewelry houses and artisans—from Cartier’s iconic panthers to Suzanne Belperron’s butterflies. The sparkling pieces on view range in date from the mid-19th century to the present, and displays are arranged into categories of animals observed in the air, water, and on land.

Exhibition Design

The Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals are designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates with Davis Brody Bond as architects, together with the American Museum of Natural History’s award-winning Exhibition Department under the direction of Lauri Halderman, vice president for exhibition.

The three main divisions of the layout are the Gem Hall, the Mineral Hall, and the Melissa and Keith Meister Gallery for temporary exhibitions.

The Gem Hall includes a display of nearly 2,500 objects from the Museum’s world-class collection. These include precious stones, carvings, and stunning jewelry from around the world that were fashioned from naturally beautiful minerals. In addition to the Star of India sapphire and the Patricia Emerald, specimens on view will include the DeLong Star Ruby, a 100.3-carat ruby from Myanmar; the Brazilian Princess topaz, a 221-facet, 9.5-pound pale blue topaz that once was the largest cut gem in the world; and a carving of the Buddhist deity Guan Yin in lavender jadeite jade, fashioned in China during the late Qing Dynasty.

The Mineral Hall comprises four sections. Mineral Forming Environments is a set of cases in the center of the Hall dedicated to the environments and processes by which minerals form: igneous, pegmatitic, metamorphic, hydrothermal, and weathering. At the four corners, Mineral Fundamentals displays explore the overarching concepts of mineral sciences, from the evolution and diversification of minerals to their properties to how they have been used by humans from prehistory to the present day. Systematic Classification, a display running along the west wall, contains 659 specimens that represent the chemical classification system that scientists use to organize Earth’s more than 5,500 mineral species, as well as an interactive feature in which visitors can explore forming minerals from the elements on the periodic table. Finally, Minerals & Light, a room off the east wall, explores the optical properties of minerals—their interaction with light.

A state-of-the-art lighting system throughout the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals uses cool and warm full-spectrum LEDs and sophisticated lighting controls to reveal the rich texture, color, and reflectivity of the diverse objects on display. Additionally, short- and long-wave ultraviolet sources are utilized to reveal spectacular colors in fluorescent minerals. Visitors will experience the incredible depth and character of the striking minerals and gems on display in a calibrated, dramatic lighting environment.

Earth and Planetary Sciences at the Museum

The Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals are a striking complement to the David S. and Ruth L. Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth and the Hayden Planetarium in the Rose Center for Earth and Space, and the Arthur Ross Hall of Meteorites. The Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth illustrates the evolution and inner workings of our dynamic planet with outstanding geological specimens and interactive exhibits on climate change, while the Hayden Planetarium educates visitors about the latest space science through immersive presentations such as the Museum’s new Space Show Worlds Beyond Earth. The Ross Hall of Meteorites—which is immediately adjacent to the Mignone Halls—explores the origins of our solar system through holdings from the Museum’s world-class collection of meteorites, which contain some of the same minerals found on Earth.

This public-facing work is overseen by curators in the Museum’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, who conduct research in the fields of mineralogy, petrology, geochemistry, ocean science, and cosmochemistry. The department’s researchers study topics that include the origin of rubies in Southeast Asia; using corals to reveal how our oceans have changed over time; and the mineral and chemical origins of solar systems, especially the transformation of interstellar minerals into the building blocks of asteroids, comets, and meteorites. The collections of the department, which include minerals, gems, and meteorites, hold more than 120,000 specimens.

The Mignone Halls as an Educational Resource

The Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals were designed as a vital educational resource for school and camp groups, educators, and students of all ages to learn about the mineral sciences of our dynamic planet. The reimagined Halls were developed to support New York State and national science education standards, which recognize the interdisciplinary nature of evidence-based science. The scientific disciplines manifested through the Halls’ exhibits include Earth science (with content about how minerals form), chemistry (including an interactive periodic table), physics (with a gallery focused on the interaction between light and minerals), biology (including the role of life in the evolution and abundance of Earth’s minerals), and more.

These Halls play a key role in the Museum’s Masters of Art in Teaching program, which prepares highly qualified Earth science teachers for grades 7-12 in high-needs schools in New York City and throughout the State. Participants in the program utilize the Halls throughout their instruction and tap into them as a tangible teaching tool for their own classes upon graduation. Since the MAT program launched in 2012, 124 MAT teachers have graduated from the program and teach thousands of students each year.

American Museum of Natural History 150th Anniversary Projects

The Halls have undergone renovation as part of the physical and programmatic initiatives undertaken in conjunction with the 150th anniversary celebration of the Museum, which was founded in 1869.

These projects will culminate in the opening of the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation, a major new facility, designed by Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang. The spectacular, 230,000-square-foot facility will add exhibition galleries, state-of-the-art classrooms, an immersive theater, and a redesigned library, revealing more of the Museum’s scientific collections and linking 10 Museum buildings to improve visitor flow throughout the campus. The section of the Museum that houses the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals had long been a cul-de-sac, which could be entered and exited only from the south end. In the future, the Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals will be linked to the new Gilder Center, allowing visitors to circulate with greater ease and less congestion.

The Museum is also working on updating, restoring, and conserving the Northwest Coast Hall to enrich the interpretation of the gallery’s exhibits.