International tourists are coming back to the U.S. ... slowly

May 30, 2023
Americans are traveling domestically again, but the tourism industry is waiting for foreign visitors to come back in pre-pandemic force.
While domestic tourism is roaring back, international tourism to the States has been partially hampered by visa wait times.
Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

Hot travel destinations this holiday weekend? Cities

May 26, 2023
AAA projects a 7% increase in Americans traveling 50 miles or more from home this Memorial Day weekend compared to last year.
Above, visitors near the Las Vegas Strip in August 2020. While the pandemic gutted Vegas' local economy, tourism has roared back.
Ethan Miller/Getty Images

In an ever-brighter world, tourists travel north for truly dark skies

Jan 2, 2023
As light pollution affects more of the globe, astrotourism is taking off in remote spots where skies are dark and stars shine bright.
Landscape photographer Travis Novitsky frames up a photograph of the Spirit Tree, known as "Manido Gizhigans" in Ojibwe, on Nov. 30, 2022.
Ben Hovland

At a historic Buffalo, NY, inn, fair wages mean there's no such thing as a labor shortage

Nov 1, 2022
Joseph Lettieri, co-owner and operator of InnBuffalo off Elmwood, almost sold the hotel in 2020. Now, it's the busiest it's ever been.
InnBuffalo Off Elmwood co-owner Joseph Lettieri said business is the busiest it's ever been.
Courtesy Ellen Carlstrom

Salem's complicated journey from witch trials to witch tourism

Oct 27, 2022
In the 1690s, women were hanged in Salem, Massachusetts on suspicion of witchcraft. Now, it's a witchy Mecca for tourists.
Hundreds of thousands of people descend on Salem during the Halloween season.
Sarah Leeson

Wyoming hopes recreational trail improvements will spur tourism

Sep 20, 2022
Updating old cattle trails, logging roads and wildlife migration trails could provide a crucial boost to local economies, some say.
Ryan Grove of Sublette Trails Association fixes an old trail in the Wind River Range in northwest Wyoming.
Caitlin Tan/Wyoming Public Media

Unprecedented toxic algal bloom kills thousands of fish across the San Francisco Bay

Sep 16, 2022
Preventing the next disastrous red tide in the Bay Area could cost billions of dollars.
Hundreds of dead fish are seen floating in the waters of Lake Merritt, connected to the San Francisco Bay by an estuary, on Aug. 30.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Should Russians be allowed to vacation in Europe while the Kremlin wages war on Ukraine?

Sep 6, 2022
The EU is to make it tougher for Russians to holiday in Europe as a sanction against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. But why not a total ban?
Finland is among the five European Union member countries pushing for a blanket ban on travel visas for Russian citizens. Above, travelers at Finland's Helsinki Airport in August.
Alessandro Rampazzo/AFP via Getty Images

Farm tourism puts vacationers to work — and they love it

Sep 5, 2022
On a Minnesota egg farm, visitors embrace a more intimate agritourism experience — in which they sleep and even work on the farm.
This small outbuilding at the Locally Laid Egg Farm in Wrenshall, Minnesota, is one-third chicken coop, two-thirds vacation rental — separated only by panes of glass.
Dan Kraker

How much tax-funded tourist promotion money does a popular destination need?

Aug 18, 2022
In the tourist hot spot of the Texas Big Bend, some raise concerns about taxes used to promote even more tourism.
Some locals in the Big Bend area would like to see the hotel occupancy tax go toward housing assistance or building new roads. Above, the entrance to the Terlingua Ghost Town in the Big Bend region.
Hannah Gentiles