Travel Wires
India’s new Pakyong Airport, more than 1400m up in the Himalayas and described as a “breathtaking piece of engineering on the roof of the world”, cost more than $100 million to build.
Thailand, you’re the tops
With more than 20 million overseas guests last year, Bangkok remains the world’s most visited city, according to Mastercard’s annual index. London is second (19.8m), Paris third (17.4m) with Dubai, Singapore and New York rounding out a top six that hasn’t changed since 2016. The only move in this year’s top 10: Seoul slips from seventh to 10th, now behind Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Istanbul. New to the top 20 are Pattaya, Palma de Mallorca, Mecca, Phuket and Antalya; out are Prague, Vienna, Shanghai, Amsterdam and Rome. Pattaya and Phuket reflect a rise in Thailand’s visitor numbers (see below). One of Travel Wires’ favourite towns, Antalya is on Turkey’s southern shore, gateway to great beaches and sleepy villages on the sunsoaked Turquoise Coast. Travellers made a record 1.32 billion overseas trips last year, according to the UN’s World Tourism Organisation. That’s up nearly 7 per cent on 2016, the biggest year-on-year rise since 2010. While Asia has many emerging destinations, the world’s second smallest continent — Europe — welcomed 51 per cent of all overseas travellers. Europe provides six of the 10 most visited countries: France 1, Spain 2, Italy 5, UK 7, Turkey 8 and Germany 9. At 10, Thailand is the big mover. Overseas arrivals have increased 122 per cent from 15.9m to 35.4m since 2010.
Keep the riff-raff out of airport lounges
Patrick Smith, a US pilot and author of passengers’ handbook Cockpit Confidential, believes airport lounges are in crisis. “I’ve always thought the lounge was supposed to be an exclusive place where premium-class passengers could escape the noise and bustle of the terminal. This is increasingly not the case,” he writes, citing overcrowding and noisy babies, children and waiters. Smith would restrict access to First and Business Class passengers; one guest per passenger; no children under 4. Presumably Smith, whose favourite lounge is Emirates in Dubai, didn’t apply the same rules on his planes.
Best bird’s-eye view in the world
India’s new Pakyong Airport is described as “a breathtaking piece of engineering on the roof of the world”. More than 1400m up in the Himalayas, the airport will serve a remote area of Sikkim state and offers one of the most dramatic runway approaches on the planet (think landing in Queenstown on steroids). Costing more than $100 million, the 1.7km runway is enclosed by deep valleys and the terminal can accommodate up to 100 passengers. It’s hoped it will boost tourism in the region bordered by Bhutan and Nepal.