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how to find sustainable travel companies

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People said the pandemic made them want to travel more responsibly in the future.

Now new data indicates they’re actually doing it.

According to a report published in January by the World Travel & Tourism Council and Trip.com Group:

  • Nearly 60% of travelers have chosen more sustainable travel options in the last couple of years.
  • Nearly 70% are actively seeking sustainable travel options.

But finding companies that are serious about sustainability isn’t easy, said James Thornton, CEO of tour company Intrepid Travel.  

“You see hotels saying they’re sustainable, and then you’re using these little travel bottles for shampoos and shower gels,” he said.

It’s all just “greenwashing,” he said, referencing the term that describes companies’ efforts to appear more environmentally sound than they are.

For a company to say they’re “100% sustainable” or they’re “eco-conscious” …  doesn’t mean anything.

James Thornton

CEO, Intrepid Travel

The term has risen in popularity alongside the increase in demand for sustainable products and services.

The result is a mix of those who are truly dedicated to the cause — and those who sprinkle eco-buzzwords and photographs of seedlings, forests and other “green” imagery in their marketing materials, with no real action to back up their claims.

Finding companies that are sustainable

Be wary of these tactics, said Thornton.

“For a company to say they’re ‘100% sustainable’ or they’re ‘eco-conscious’ …  doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “I would urge travelers to be very cautious when they’re seeing these words, and to really dig in and look in a bit more detail.”

Consumer interest in sustainable travel has changed considerably in the past two decades, said Thornton. He said when he joined Intrepid travel 18 years ago, “people would look at us like we’re a bit crazy” when the company talked about sustainability.

Now, many companies are doing it, whether they are serious, or not.

Thornton said he believes the travel industry is currently divided into three categories. One third have “incredibly good intentions, and [are] working very actively on addressing the climate crisis … and they’re making good progress.”

Another third have “good intentions but [aren’t] actually taking action yet. And often … they’re not quite sure how to take action.”

The final third “is just utterly burying its head in the sand and hoping that this thing is going to go away, and the truth of the matter is — it isn’t.”

To identify companies in the first category, Thornton recommends travelers look for three critical things.  

1. A history of sustainability

To ascertain whether a company may be jumping on the eco-bandwagon, examine its history, said Thornton.

He advises looking for “a long history of association with issues of sustainability, or is this something that only just appeared?”

Intrepid Travel CEO James Thornton.

Source: Intrepid Travel

If the messaging is new for the company, that’s not a deal breaker, he said.

“But that would then encourage the customer to probably want to look in a bit more detail to see if what a company actually does has rigor behind it,” he said, “Or whether it’s something that’s just being done for marketing sake — and therefore greenwashing.”

2. Check for measurements

Next, travelers should see if the company measures its greenhouse gas emissions, said Thornton.

“The honest truth is that every travel company is ultimately contributing towards the climate crisis,” he said. “So the best thing any travel company can start to do is measure the greenhouse gas emissions it creates.”

To do this, Thornton advised travelers to check the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.

“The Glasgow Declaration website lists the organizations that have agreed to actively reduce their emissions … and actually have a climate plan that shows how they’re doing that,” he said.

Signatories must publish their climate plan, which is monitored by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, he said.

“Consumers can use this as a way to check if the company they’re booking with is serious about decarbonization,” he said, adding that more than 700 organizations are on the list.

Thornton said travelers can also check the Science Based Targets Initiative, which is a partnership between CDP, the United Nations Global Compact, World Resources Institute and the World Wide Fund for Nature.

Its website has a dashboard that details emission-reducing commitments made by more than 4,500 companies worldwide, including American Express Global Business Travel, the United Kingdom’s Reed & Mackay Travel and Australia’s Flight Centre Travel Group.

3. Look for accreditations

Finally, travelers can check for independent accreditations, said Thornton.

One of the most rigorous and impressive is the B Corp Certification, he said.

“It took Intrepid three years to become a B Corp,” he said.

Other companies with B Corp status include Seventh Generation, Ben & Jerry’s, Aesop — and Patagonia, which Thornton called “arguably the most famous B Corp in the world.”

To get it, companies are reviewed by the non-profit B Lab and a certification lasts for three years, said Thornton.

Kristen Graff, director of sales and marketing at Indonesia’s Bawah Reserve resort, agreed that B Corp is the “most widely respected” certification.

“The other one is the Global Sustainable Tourism Council,” she said. “These actually do an audit and are legit.”

Bawah Reserve, a resort in Indonesia’s Anambas Islands, is applying for B Corp certification. The resort uses solar power and desalinates drinking water on the island.

Source: Bawah Reserve

Other travel eco-certifications are less exacting, said Graff.

“Many of them are just a racket to make money,” she said.

Bawah Reserve started the process to become B Corp certified in November of 2021, said Graff. “We anticipate it will take about a year to complete,” she said.

B Corp uses a sliding scale for its certifications fees, which start at $1,000 for companies with less than $1 million in annual revenue.

“The cost is fairly minimal,” said Thornton, especially “if you’re serious about sustainability.”

He said Intrepid pays about $25,000 a year for the certification.

Other advice

Thornton also advised travelers to ask questions like:

  • Are you using renewable energy sources?
  • Is the food locally sourced?
  • Are employees from local communities?
  • Who owns the hotel?

He said there are places that are perceived to be sustainable but that are “actually owned by a casino.”

Lastly, Thornton recommends travelers look to online reviews.

“Often a little bit of research on Google … can give you a really good indication around whether a hotel or a travel experience is doing what it says it’s doing — or whether they’re actually greenwashing.”

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World

Chinese are angry at South Korea and Japan

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Travel restrictions launched in the wake of China’s border reopening may be affecting where people there are booking trips.

But it’s not out of spite, said several Chinese travelers who spoke to CNBC.

It’s because some countries aren’t letting them in easily, they said.

‘I think it’s unfair’

Reactions from Chinese travelers who spoke to CNBC were varied, ranging from indifference to confusion to anger.

“Of course, I think it’s unfair,” said one citizen, who asked to be called Bonnie. “But at the same time, we understand what’s going on.”

So far, more than a dozen countries have announced new rules for travelers departing from China. Last week, the European Union recommended that its members require Chinese travelers to take Covid tests before entering.

But Covid tests aren’t the problem, Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group, told “Squawk Box Asia” on Monday. It’s that “these policies are directed only towards mainland Chinese,” he said.

South African Mansoor Mohamed, who lives in China, agreed. “It is relatively easy and cheap to do a Covid test in China, so it will not affect my travel planning,” he said.

“However, I know that many patriotic Chinese colleagues and friends will avoid those countries for now because the practice of only testing passengers arriving from China is discriminatory,” he said.

Of course, China requires travelers to test negative before entering China, and has for three years.

The difference, Mohamed said, is that “every arrival [to China], including Chinese nationals … [is] subjected to the same rules.”

Where the Chinese are going

Gao Dan told CNBC she is planning to travel out of the province of Qinghai for the first time in more than two years. But she said she’s staying in China, adding that she “hasn’t looked into what other countries’ travel policies are,” according to a CNBC translation.

Others are booking trips abroad, but some not to their first-choice destinations — namely Japan and South Korea.

One traveler, named Bonnie, told CNBC her friends in China are going to Thailand rather than South Korea, even though “they wouldn’t have considered Thailand” before.

Tuul & Bruno Morandi | The Image Bank | Getty Images

“When China said they were opening the borders in January, all my friends said they’re going to Japan and Korea,” said Bonnie.

But they couldn’t get visas, she said. “So they are now going to Thailand.”   

Rein said Chinese travelers are now headed to Singapore and Thailand because “both countries are welcoming us.”

Of the top destinations Chinese nationals searched after the border reopening announcement, those are the only two that haven’t imposed new restrictions on incoming Chinese travelers.

Data shows search interest for outbound flights from mainland China rose by 83% in the 11 days after the announcement, compared with the 14 days before it, according to data from Trip.com Group.

During this period, search interest for Thailand and Singapore grew by 176% and 93%, respectively, according to the company.

Angrier at some more than others

Chinese officials called the rules from South Korea and others “excessive” and “discriminatory.”

But South Korea refutes claims of discrimination. Seung-ho Choi, a deputy director at the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, pointed out to CNBC that the country’s rules apply to “Korean nationals and non-Korean nationals coming from China. … There is no discrimination for nationality in this measure.”

“China’s Covid situation is still worsening,” he said. The number of people traveling from China to Korea who tested positive for Covid-19 went up 14 times from November to December, he said.

The Prime Minister’s Office of Japan did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment. A representative at Japan’s Embassy in Singapore told CNBC that Japan is processing Chinese travel visa requests as usual.

Citing a discrepancy in infection information from China, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters on Dec. 27: “In order to avoid a sharp increase in the influx of new cases into the country, we are focusing efforts on entry inspections and airports,” according to an article published by Nikkei Asia.

Both Japan and South Korea have taken conservative stances toward the Covid pandemic.

Japan, in particular, has been sluggish to bounce back to pre-pandemic life, with residents showing little enthusiasm when its own border fully reopened in October 2022.  

‘A political issue’

Rein told “Squawk Box Asia” that the rules are not just about tourism.

“This is a political issue,” he said, adding that he expects Japanese stocks to be affected, singling out two cosmetics names.

Read more about China’s reopening

“I would be cautious on Shiseido. I’d be cautious on Kose, because there are going to be some boycotts,” he said. Shares of Kose were lower on the Tokyo stock exchange on Tuesday, but Shiseido was higher.

Rein said animosity toward South Korea and Japan will be short-lived.

“It’ll take about three months for the anger to dissipate,” he said. “There’s going to be massive revenge travel outside to Korea to Japan — if those two countries treat Chinese properly.”

New Zealander Darren Straker, who lives and works in Shanghai, said he, too, believes the policies are politically motivated, calling them a “last sad gasp [as] the Covid geopolitical door closes.”



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World

Pack these snacks, says nutritionist

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Travelers have a host of pathogens to dodge this winter, including the “tripledemic” of infections caused by Covid-19, flu and RSV (respiratory syncytial virus).

But there are steps people can take to reduce their chances of getting sick, say health specialists at Spain’s SHA Wellness Clinic.

The key is to develop “a resilient immune system that can defend itself from attack by viruses and bacteria,” said Dr. Vicente Mera, SHA’s head of genomic medicine.

What to eat

“The most important thing is nutrition,” Mera said.

But drastic dieting isn’t necessary, he added. Rather, travelers can simply eat whole, plant-based foods, which can help decrease inflammation, he said.

Fiber in plant-based foods also helps the gut microbiome “fight pathogens that enter or are activated through the digestive tract,” he said.

Dr. Vicente Mera, Melanie Waxman and Philippa Harvey of SHA Wellness Clinic in Alicante, Spain.

Source: SHA Wellness Clinic

Eating a nutrient-dense diet is the top recommendation from Melanie Waxman, an integrative nutrition specialist and eating coach at SHA Wellness Clinic.

That means eating “lots of vegetables, whole grains, fresh herbs, beans, sea vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds and fermented foods,” she said.

What to pack on a plane

Waxman said travelers should snack on alkaline foods to combat acidity that is commonly caused by air travel. She recommended these easy-to-pack foods:

  • Toasted nori snacks: “Great for travelling as they are light and easy to carry in small packs. Nori is alkaline and provides a good source of vitamin C, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, protein and minerals.”
  • Instant miso soup: “Contains all the essential amino acids … and restores beneficial probiotics to the intestines … great for flights and in hotel rooms as you only need to add boiling water to the sachet.”
  • Spirulina powder: “Packed with calcium and protein. It has a high chlorophyll content … is especially beneficial after spending hours in airplane cabins. The flavor can be strong so add it to a refreshing vegetable juice … [or take] as a capsule.”  
  • Plum balls: “A wonderful travel companion, as they are extremely alkaline, full of minerals that help increase energy, aid digestion, boost immunity and improve liver functions … the balls come in a container and are easy to pack in a cabin bag.”

A fermented plum, called umeboshi in Japanese, can be added to a cup of tea on a flight. It is a “very sour plum that has been fermented for at least three years,” said SHA Wellness Clinic’s Melanie Waxman.

Tomophotography | Moment | Getty Images

Breakfast

Waxman recommends drinking one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar mixed with a glass of water before breakfast. The vinegar is “a powerful immune booster … full of probiotics,” she said.

For breakfast, a “wonderful” choice is oatmeal topped with berries, chia seeds and flax seeds, she said.

“Oats actually help the body produce melatonin more naturally,” she said. “Oats contain amino acids, potassium, B vitamins, magnesium and complex carbs … berries pack a punch of vitamin C, and the seeds provide extra omega-3 and protein.”

Jet lag

To combat jet lag, Waxman recommends taking more vitamin C.

She recommends eating sauerkraut, both before and after flying. “Fermenting cabbage causes the vitamin C and antioxidant levels to skyrocket,” she said.

Fresh vegetable juice is also great for immunity and jet lag recovery, she said.

Getting enough sleep

Sleep and immunity are closely linked, Mera said.  

“Restful sleep strengthens nature immunity,” he said, adding that poor quality, or quantity, of sleep increases the chances of falling sick.

People who average less than six hours of sleep a night, or 40 hours per week, have “a serious risk of illness,” he said.

Exercise — but don’t overdo it

Moderate exercise strengthens the immune system, Mera said.

But “30 minutes a day is more than enough,” he said. “Prolonged intense exercise can suppress the immune system.”

To avoid suppressing the immune system, travelers shouldn’t exercise to the point of exhaustion, said Dr. Vicente Mera, head of genomic medicine at SHA Wellness Clinic.

Westend61 | Westend61 | Getty Images

Examples of beneficial exercise include running, walking, swimming and cycling, he said.

Supplements, for some

Studies indicate that certain supplements — such as vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, garlic, echinacea and green tea — may strengthen the body’s immune response, Mera said.

But, he said, they’re not necessary for everyone.

“It only compensates for nutrient deficiencies, which usually occur when nutrition is inadequate, or the immune system is very depressed,” he said.

Other recommendations

To strengthen the immune system, Waxman also suggests Epsom salt baths (“magnesium is easily absorbed through the skin”), using essential oils (“especially lavender, eucalyptus or tree tree oil”), drinking plenty of water and cutting back on alcohol, caffeine and sugar.

Mera added that relieving stress and anxiety is critical to immune health. He recommends meditation, yoga, tai chi and mindfulness to better manage emotions.

Philippa Harvey, head of SHA’s traditional Chinese medicine department, said travelers should start taking steps to strengthen their immune systems about a week before traveling.

“In TCM when someone is healthy and happy we say they have good qi, pronounced ‘chee'” she said.

She recommends eating foods that are in season, especially garlic and ginger in the autumn and winter.

She also recommends exercise and acupressure to stay healthy.

“Before we travel, a nice brisk walk in fresh air is the simplest solution,” she said.

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Business

American Airlines dropping international first class for more business class seats

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New York
CNN Business
 — 

American Airlines expanded on its plan to drop international first-class cabins and replace them with more business class seats.

The move was first disclosed last month and reiterated in a conference call with investors Thursday by Vasu Raja, the company’s chief commercial officer, who said the change is in response to customer demand.

“The first class will not exist … at American Airlines for the simple reason that our customers aren’t buying it,” he said in response to a question. American Airlines later told CNN that Raja was referring to international flights only.

“The quality of the business class seat has improved so much. And frankly, by removing [first class] we can go provide more business class seats, which is what our customers most want or are most willing to pay for,” Raja said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said American Airlines was dropping all first-class cabins. It is eliminating first-class cabins in international flights only.

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World

How much does it cost to travel full time? Here’s what one couple pays

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Ernestas Tyminas felt “stuck” in his role as a marketing manager at a newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

So he requested two months off to backpack through Asia, he said, landing in Beijing in January 2019.

“On the first day … I meet this one,” he said, gesturing to Darina Karpitskaya, sitting by his side.

The couple, speaking to CNBC via video from Dubai, said they met via the travel app Couchsurfing, which links solo travelers together. Karpitskaya, 31, and a flight attendant at the time, had been grounded in Beijing for two days because of mechanical problems with her return flight.

Though more solo travelers agreed to meet that day, Tyminas and Karpitskaya were the only two who showed up.

After one day together, they planned to meet again in Asia one month later.

A monthlong second date

Karpitskaya returned to Asia, and the couple’s second date was a “crazy one-month adventure” to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, said Tyminas, 29.

It was in the Philippines, he said, that he decided he wasn’t going back to his old life.  

“We were … laying on the beach under the stars,” he said. “We were kind of starting to dream about this lifestyle.”

After returning to Colorado, Tyminas quit his job, sold his belongings and moved to Europe, he said.

Karpitskaya wasn’t quite there yet, saying, “At first it sounded like: Oh my God, you’re quitting your job. You’re moving from America. Maybe it’s too soon. But at the same time, when I came back from that trip I felt like I’m living a life that I’m not enjoying.”

A dog in tow

Tyminas flew from Denver to Paris with his dog — an 82-pound Borzoi, once known as the “Russian Wolfhound,” named Cosmo, who is over 6 feet tall on his hind legs.   

“They gave me three rows of seats, and the dog was just laying on the floor,” he said.

From there, the couple traveled often — to places like Italy and Iceland — but not yet full time, they said.

Ernestas Tyminas and Darina Karpitskaya have taken his dog, Cosmo, to 26 of the more than 40 countries that they have visited together, said Tyminas. Cosmo is a great networking tool, added Karpitskaya: “We meet a lot of people walking the dog.”

Source: Dream Team Travels

Then Karpitskaya got what she called her “dream job” — a position with Emirates airline. She moved to Dubai, but the couple continued to meet and travel together.

Then Covid hit, and Karpitskaya accepted four months of unpaid leave from her job.

“We said: We have four months — we can go explore whatever is open,” said Tyminas.

The trio — including Cosmo, who traveled in a huge bed in the back of their SUV — traveled first to Croatia, then slowly across much of Europe, including many former Soviet states, said Karpitskaya.

She never returned to her job, and couple have been traveling ever since, she said.

What it costs to travel the world

In the beginning, they spent between $1,000 and $2,000 a month — all from savings — by staying in cheap accommodations, cooking at home and seeking out free activities, said Tyminas.

As money started to dry up, Tyminas took several online jobs, which netted between $2,000 and $3,000 a month, which wasn’t far from his salary of $3,300 in Colorado, he said.

Tyminas said the couple stayed longer in Romania because “we saw how the people are nice … how they how much they have to offer. Sometimes you Google and you’re like: ‘There’s nothing to do here,’ and then you get there and [realize] that’s only because nobody travels here.”

Source: Dream Team Travels

But the work was cumbersome, and it “felt like I still had a job,” he said.

So the couple decided to open a marketing and graphic design company, despite the fact that “we didn’t know a lot,” said Tyminas.

They reached out to thousands of people, they said, often working late into the night. Potential customers would ask, “Can you design book covers?” “Can you promote music?” Tyminas said his response was always the same, “Of course I can.”

In reality, he was learning on the job, he said, relying on YouTube, Google and online research. But clients were very happy, he said.  

“They paid me half of what they would pay other marketing agencies and the results, they said, were better than they had before,” said Tyminas.

In the first month, the couple made $6,000, he said. Now, sometimes they earn several thousand dollars in a day working with real estate companies and music labels, he added.

“We write blogs for people — we do everything,” said Tyminas. Plus “we don’t have to report to anybody. We’re our own bosses.”

In the past six months, the couple said they spent an average of $4,000 a month. More than half goes to accommodations, which vary by location — from $3,100 per month in Dubai to $1,500 in Lisbon, Portugal, they said. They limit stays in expensive locations, like Switzerland, to no more than a week, they said.

One way to save money is booking monthlong stays on Airbnb, which cuts down average nightly rates and reduces service and cleaning fees, said Tyminas. But even when they bounced from place to place to visit Europe’s Christmas markets last year, they still ended up paying about $2,500 that month, he said.

Karpitskaya said she doesn’t want these costs to scare people because they spent far less in the beginning. At the time, they spent about 80-100% of their income, but now Tyminas said “we spend about 30% and … save the rest.”

The couple told CNBC they still travel modestly — no five-star hotels — and they still cook most meals at home. But they spend more on activities that they film for their YouTube channel Dream Team Travels — another “completely self-taught” venture, they said.

Hiccups on the road

A life of constant travel isn’t all fun and games, they said.

They encounter dirty Airbnbs and hosts who cancel reservations at the last minute. They’ve also had their camera equipment and clothing stolen twice — once in Mexico, and more recently in France — plus an attempted theft of their belongings from their car in Barcelona, while they were sitting in it.

They have also thought about settling down when they find a place they really love, such as the beaches of Portugal or the French Riviera, said Tyminas.   

“But then … we drive somewhere else and we’re like this place is also just as good,” he said.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, quickly occupying the Kherson region where Karpitskaya’s parents live, Tyminas emailed CNBC to say that they’d stopped traveling for the time being.     

Tyminas and Karpitskaya (pictured here in Abu Dhabi) stopped traveling at the outset of the Russian-Ukraine war. Karpitskaya’s family is now out of Ukraine, except her brother, who “has signed up to be in the military to defend his country,” said Tyminas.

Source: Dream Team Travels

“The first few weeks we didn’t even leave our apartment,” he said. “We spent a lot of time arranging transportation for civilians as well as many dogs from shelters to be taken out of dangerous regions for adoption in Europe.”

By the summer, they had resumed traveling, but were still helping to evacuate Karpitskaya’s family.

“Just a week ago we were able to finally get Darina’s parents out of Ukraine,” said Tyminas, adding that they are currently in his family’s home in Lithuania. “We also did a trip to Romania to pick up Darina’s sister and her five-month-old baby from the border and took her to live in Germany.”

The couple are now in Malaysia, they said, and plan to explore Southeast Asia for the next two months.   

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Business

How to find a hidden spy camera in hotel rooms and rental homes

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Nearly 60% of Americans said they were worried about hidden cameras in Airbnb homes in 2019.

And 11% of vacation home renters said they had discovered a hidden camera during a stay, according to a survey by the real estate investment company IPX1031.

Spy cameras are not a new problem. In South Korea, more than 30,000 cases of filming with hidden cameras were reported to the police between 2013 and 2018, according to the New York-based non-profit organization Human Rights Watch.

The number of hidden spy camera reports has proliferated because of the increasing accessibility and inexpensiveness of such cameras, combined with the public’s growing ability to detect them, said Kenneth Bombace, CEO of intelligence firm Global Threat Solutions.

Experts share simple methods to locate hidden spy cameras in hotel rooms and rental properties.

1. Conduct a physical search

A light switch with a hidden camera (middle) on display at a spy camera shop in South Korea on March 22, 2019.

Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images

Almost all covert cameras are concealed in household devices, such as lights, thermostats, and plugged clock radios, Bombace said.

“Look and see if anything looks like it’s out of the ordinary, and then inspect it closer,” he said.

Most spy cameras are connected to an electrical source or an electronic device, Bombace added.

He said the first thing he does in a bedroom is unplug the clock radios and put them in a drawer.

Michael O’Rourke, CEO of security consulting firm Advanced Operational Concepts, also said he does exactly that.

Even well-hidden cameras will have a small amount of reflective glass from the lens, Bombace said.

“If you use flashlights and shine them on something you think could possibly hide the camera, you will see a reflection in there, which is a pretty good way of detecting if there’s a camera,” he said.

A painting installed with a hidden camera on display at a spy camera shop on March 22, 2019. Even when a camera is hidden in another device like a thermostat or an outlet, there will be some glass in there that is reflective because there will be a lens, Bombace said.

Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images

But O’Rourke said care is needed to accurately locate hidden lenses.

“A lot of people will try to do amateur lens detection, which can work,” O’Rourke said. “However, if you don’t have a good search methodology — if you go too fast, if you’re impatient — you can miss quite a bit.”

2. Look at the Wi-Fi network

A hidden camera must be connected to a local Wi-Fi network in order to be viewed remotely, Bombace said.

Hidden cameras must be connected to a local Wi-Fi network to be viewed remotely, said Global Threat Solutions CEO Kenneth Bombace.

Hispanolistic | E+ | Getty Images

Wi-Fi scanning apps like Fing can identify devices on the network that are cameras, he said.

Those who hide cameras might use a separate Wi-Fi network to stream live video footage, but Wi-Fi scanning apps can also detect how many networks are in a residence, Bombace said.

But Kody Kinzie, a security researcher at data security and analytics firm Varonis, warned that a network scanner may not catch everything.

“The next thing you can do is look for devices that are broadcasting their own network name,” he said.

He recommended using apps like WiGLE to find devices that are “broadcasting some sort of Bluetooth and Wi-Fi network name,” Kinzie added.

3. Buy a spy camera detector

If all else fails, spy camera detectors can scan for radio frequencies connected to hidden cameras. These can be easily bought online from websites like Amazon or AliExpress.

But O’Rourke noted this method works only if the hidden camera is transmitting data.

“So many of them now have SD cards that just store data to be retrieved after someone leaves,” O’Rourke said. “And so these are much more difficult to detect.”

Bombace added that while it is possible to buy a radio frequency scanner, the cheaper ones are probably not that good.

“Like anything else, you get what you pay for — if it’s $30, it’s probably not that good,” Bombace said. “Better ones are going to cost hundreds or even over $1,000.”

What to do if you find a camera

After locating a camera, immediately disconnect it without damaging it because the camera’s firmware may contain identifying information, such as login credentials and the Wi-Fi network it was connected to, Kinzie said.

Disconnect hidden cameras but don’t damage them, said Varonis security researcher Kody Kinzie.

Krisanapong Detraphiphat | Moment | Getty Images

O’Rourke said hidden cameras found in hotel rooms should be reported to the front desk. He advised then moving to another hotel instead of requesting another room.

“Once you find a camera in a room, I wouldn’t trust any other room in that entire hotel,” he said.

Bombace also recommended reporting hidden cameras to the police, even if it is just for documentation purposes, in case litigation or criminal charges should follow.

“You could also provide [the report] to Airbnb so they can prevent this person from ever doing this again,” he said.

But ultimately, Bombace said, he would not avoid renting a home over fears of spy cameras.

“I would just take common sense steps to protect yourself. And realize you’re not in your own home,” he said.

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World

Travelers can now go to Japan but domestic tourists remain its focus

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After more than two years of closed border policies, Japan is set to welcome back international travelers this week.

Come June 10, foreign tourists traveling via packaged tours can enter Japan.

However, the government’s priority still lies in boosting domestic tourism numbers, said Tadashi Shimura, president of Japan Association of Travel Agents.

Even before the pandemic, domestic tourism contributed far more to Japan’s overall gross domestic product than foreign tourism, according to JATA.

Tourism numbers

Overall tourism contributed 28 trillion yen ($211 billion) to Japan’s economy in 2019, with nearly 80% — or 22 trillion yen — coming from domestic tourists, according to a report by the Japan Tourism Agency.

Despite a rise in Covid cases in 2021, tourism spending from those living in Japan still managed to bring in 9.2 trillion yen that year, JTA said.

Nevertheless, boosting international arrivals to Japan is still vital, especially for the heavily hit hospitality, transportation and travel sectors, said Shimura.

Japan welcomed about 32 million foreign visitors in 2019 and had been on track to achieve its goal of 40 million in 2022, said Ejaz Ahmed, a research analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, during a webinar on June 1.

However, the pandemic caused arrival numbers to plummet rapidly, and there were only 250,000 foreign visitors in 2021, government data previously showed.

The loss of international travelers cost Japan “about 10 trillion yen over the past two years,” said Shimura, as spending from international students and long-term foreign residents brought in an average of 4.3 million yen per person per year, he said, citing a report by Nomura Research Institute.

Travel agencies in Japan are gearing up for the return of tourists with packaged tours to famous destinations across the country.

All Japan Tours has six tour packages, including the “Golden Route Japan Tour” which takes participants on an eight-day tour around Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto for $2,698.

What are the rules? 

The daily cap on the number of visitor arrivals — which includes Japanese nationals and returning foreign residents — doubled from 10,000 to 20,000 on June 1, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization.

Local reports indicate the government may increase the limit to 30,000 people in July.

Still, Shimura said, those limits are too low, as the country used to welcome “140,000 [visitors] per day.”

Countries are classified into three categories — blue, red and yellow — and travelers may be subjected to additional restrictions depending on where they are coming from, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. 

Travelers from 98 countries and regions — including the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and China — fall under the “blue” category and are not required to test or quarantine on arrival or be vaccinated to enter.

Travelers from any of the 99 countries in the “yellow” category are also exempted from testing and quarantining upon arrival if they have had three doses of an accepted Covid-19 vaccination. The category includes countries such as India, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

Those coming from “red” countries, such as Fiji, Pakistan and Sierra Leone, must test on arrival and quarantine for a period of three to seven days.

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World

Australia welcomes back tourists with toy koalas, Tim Tams

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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — International tourists and business travelers began arriving in Australia with few restrictions on Monday, bringing together families in tearful reunions after separations of two years or longer forced by some of the most draconian pandemic measures of any democracy in the world.

Australia closed its borders to tourists in March 2020 in a bid to reduce the local spread of COVID-19, but on Monday removed its final travel restrictions for fully vaccinated passengers.

Tearful British tourist Sue Witton hugged her adult son Simon Witton when he greeted her at Melbourne’s airport.

“Seven hundred and twenty-four (days) apart and he’s my only son, and I’m alone, so this means the world to me,” she told reporters.

Travelers were greeted at Sydney’s airport by jubilant well-wishers waving toy koalas and favorite Australian foods including Tim Tams chocolate cookies and jars of Vegemite spread.

Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan was on hand to welcome the first arrivals on a Qantas flight from Los Angeles which landed at 6:20 a.m. local time.

“I think there’ll be a very strong rebound in our tourism market. Our wonderful experiences haven’t gone away,” Tehan said.

Danielle Vogl, who lives in Canberra, and her Florida-based partner Eric Lochner have been separated since October 2019 by the travel restrictions.

She said she burst into tears when she heard about the lifting of the restrictions, which will allow them to reunite in April, and telephoned him with the news.

“I actually woke him up to tell him, because I thought it was big enough news to do that,” Vogl told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

“He couldn’t believe it. … He was like ‘Are you sure, is this true?’ and I’m like ‘Yes, it’s happening. This is over now: we can be together again,’” she added.

Lochner was not eligible for an exemption from the travel ban because the couple weren’t married or living together.

“It’s been a very long and very cruel process for us,” Vogl said.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said all travelers’ vaccination status would be checked before they arrived to avoid a repeat of Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic’s visa debacle.

Djokovic was issued with a visa through an automated process before he left Spain to compete in the Australian Open in January but was deported after he arrived in Melbourne because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison said she expected tourist numbers would take two years to rebound to pre-pandemic levels.

“This is a really great start,” Harrison said. “This is what the industry had been asking us for, you know, just give us our international guests back and we will take it from there.”

Qantas on Monday was bringing in passengers from eight overseas destinations including Vancouver, Singapore, London and New Delhi.

The Sydney-based airline’s chief executive Alan Joyce said bookings have been strong since the federal government announced two weeks ago that the country was relaxing restrictions.

“It has been a tough two years for everybody in the tourism industry, but today is really one of the big steps on the way back to a full recovery so we are very excited,” Joyce said.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 1.2 million people had visas to enter Australia with 56 international flights due to touch down in the first 24 hours of the border reopening.

Australia on Monday reported 17,736 new COVID-19 infections and 34 deaths. Australia’s death toll since the pandemic began is 4,929.

Australia imposed some of the world’s toughest travel restrictions on its citizens and permanent residents in March 2020 to prevent them from bringing COVID-19 home.

Travelers had to apply for an exemption from the travel ban, but tourism wasn’t an accepted reason. International students and skilled migrants were prioritized when the border restrictions were relaxed in November in response to an increasing vaccination rate among the Australian population. Tourists from New Zealand, Japan and South Korea were also allowed in early.

Australian states and territories also have their own COVID-19 rules. The strictest are in Western Australia state, which covers a third of the island continent.

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Health

Is it safe to travel if I’m vaccinated and recovered from Covid

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Millions of people are now vaccinated, boosted and newly recovered from Covid-19 infections caused by the omicron variant.

They have what some outside the medical community have labeled “super immunity.” And many are ready to see the world again.

Though the term carries an air of invincibility, medical experts disagree about the level and length of protection it confers.

CNBC Travel asked four leading medical authorities to weigh in.

‘You’re very well protected’

Risks of severe illness for vaccinated and recovered people are “low and … unlikely to get lower,” said Dale Fisher, group chief of medicine at Singapore’s National University Health System.

For these people, travel risks are now more about inconvenience than health, he said. Immunized travelers can still get sick during their trips, he said, or have their trips canceled upon testing positive for a pre-flight test.

For the vast majority of people, it’ll just be a very minor illness, if it’s symptomatic at all.

Prof. Dale Fisher

Professor/Senior Consultant, Infectious Disease, National University Hospital

Fisher said traveling isn’t the Covid risk that it once was, because of how prevalent the omicron variant is today, he said.

“There’s nothing magical about travel; you’re not more likely to get [Covid] because you travel unless you’re going from a very low endemic area to a very high endemic area,” he said. But “there’s not many low endemic areas left in the world.”

Some argue that vaccinations plus recovery provide more protection, Fisher said. However, he added, “you’re very well protected after two doses” of a vaccine, too.

“You’re at risk of getting Covid, wherever you go, for the rest of your life,” he said. “But really, for the vast majority of people, it’ll just be a very minor illness, if it’s symptomatic at all.”

‘This virus is very wily’

People shouldn’t let their guards down just yet, said Dr. Patrice Harris, former president of the American Medical Association and CEO of the at-home medical testing company eMed.

“We are seeing hospitalizations reduced, but listen, we are still seeing 2,400 deaths per day in this country,” she said during an interview with CNBC Travel last week. “We are not at the end of this pandemic yet.”

That doesn’t mean she discourages travel — Harris said she’s planning two trips to Europe this year. But she does recommend that people rely on “tried-and-true evidence-based practices,” such as vaccines, testing, masks, ventilation and social distancing.

Dr. Patrice Harris was the president of the American Medical Association from 2020 to 2021.

Source: eMed

Harris said people who are immunocompromised, or around others who are, should exercise more caution. Even though she’s vaccinated and boosted, she’s still careful for the sake of her 87-year-old father, she said.

“This virus is very wily, and at every turn of it has fooled us,” she said.

There is always the threat of another variant emerging, plus the risk of developing so-called “long Covid,” even after mild infections, she said.

“We sometimes think: ‘Oh, I’ll get Covid, I’m young, I’m healthy, I’m boosted, so I’ll get over it quickly,'” she said. “But … not everyone will.”  

‘You should travel’

People who are generally healthy, have had three doses of a vaccine and recovered from omicron should feel secure to travel, said Stefanos Kales, a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Unless you really have some serious condition or some serious concern, and you want to travel, absolutely you should travel,” he said. “You should feel quite comfortable because what else, you know, is going to protect you better?”

“Let’s face it … it just really looks like [Covid] is not going to go away ever completely,” he said. “We have other coronaviruses, some of them are cold viruses and … as bothersome as colds are we haven’t found the magic bullet for those or a vaccine. But in general, we live our lives despite them.”

Kales believes it is time to “move on” from the pandemic.

“I think it’s time to … treat this as if we would have treated the flu or a cold,” he said.  

Stay ‘humble’

Professor Cyrille Cohen, head of the immunotherapy laboratory at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, said it’s too early to say that vaccinated and recovered people are fully protected.

Like Harris, he’s concerned about the threat of new variants, he said.

He said until the situation stabilizes, “I do believe that we still need to feel humble and cautious.”

Travelers could be infected with a new variant — one that hasn’t been detected yet. “That’s how it started for a lot of people back in 2020,” he said.

We still need to feel humble and cautious.

Professor Cyrille Cohen

head of the immunotherapy, Bar-Ilan University

People with so-called “super immunity” may experience less severe disease, he said. “But it is so dependent on the type of variant” that may emerge.  

“It’s always a race … between your immune system and pathogens,” he said. “At the end of the day, you want to be person winning that race.”

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World

Australia, New Zealand, Bali, Malaysia, Philippines reopen for travel

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Another day — another border reopens.      

In the past two weeks, a slew of countries announced plans to reopen or relax border restrictions. This includes places that have maintained some of the strictest pandemic-related border controls in the world. 

The announcements come on the heels of a record-setting period of global infections. According to the World Health Organization, Covid-19 cases peaked worldwide in late January, with more than 4 million cases registered in a single day. 

However, many countries are signaling that they can’t economically afford — or are no longer willing — to stay closed.

The pervasiveness of the omicron variant, which started spreading in countries — both open and closed — late last year, caused people to question the utility of locked border policies.

In addition, more than half (54%) of the world’s population is now vaccinated, according to Our World in Data. Medical treatments can successfully thwart and treat severe infections. And, many experts are now “cautiously optimistic” — as top American medical advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated — that a new phase of the pandemic may be within reach.

Australia

Arguably the biggest announcement of the past week came Monday, when Australia declared plans to reopen to vaccinated travelers from Feb. 21.

The news signaled the end to “Fortress Australia,” a moniker applied to the country’s controversial closed border policy that locked out foreigners and citizens alike.

Visitors to Australia must be vaccinated, a requirement underscored by the country’s much discussed ouster of tennis player Novak Djokovic in January.

James D. Morgan | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

The economic toll of Australia’s insular border policy was highlighted in January, when soon after backpackers were granted permission to enter, Prime Minister Scott Morrison pledged to refund some $350 in visa fees to those who moved swiftly. As it turned out, the about-face toward “working holiday maker” visa holders was part of an effort to reduce severe labor shortages.

Darryl Newby, co-founder of the Melbourne-based travel company Welcome to Travel, said the pandemic “not only affected the travel sector but every single industry” in Australia.

Pressure mounted when Covid infections skyrocketed in December, leaving an open question as to the purpose of keeping vaccinated and tested travelers locked out.

“Negative sentiment,” which began showing up in market research, may have been another factor, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. The article quoted Tourism Australia Managing Director Phillipa Harrison as saying the country went from being “envied” to “ridiculed” over its border policies, with some fearing lasting damage to Australia’s touristic appeal.

The state of Western Australia, home to Perth, is not reopening to either foreigners or Australian tourists yet. It scrapped plans to reopen amid a rise in Covid cases in January.

Percent of peak*: 38%

 *Reuters’ rolling 7-day daily case average compared with the country’s all-time highest infection rate.

New Zealand

Another so-called “fortress” announced plans to welcome back vaccinated international visitors.

Unlike Australia, New Zealand last week outlined a five-step phased reopening plan that won’t allow international travelers to enter until July, at the earliest. Vaccinated travelers must also self-isolate for 10 days upon arrival.

With some exceptions, the plan first welcomes citizens and residents to enter later this month, if they are traveling from Australia. Citizens and residents coming from other places, plus eligible workers, can enter in mid-March, followed by some visa holders and students in mid-April.

Vaccinated travelers from Australia and those from countries who don’t need visas — including people from Canada, the United States, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Israel, Chile, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates — can enter from July. Others will be allowed to visit starting in October.

Percent of peak: At peak and rising

Philippines

After closing its borders in March of 2020, the Philippines announced plans to reopen today to vaccinated travelers from more than 150 countries and territories.  

The country suspended its color-coded country classification program in favor of opening to vaccinated travelers who test negative via a PCR test. Facility-based quarantines were also replaced with a requirement to self-monitor for seven days.

Travelers to the Philippines must have valid return tickets and travel insurance with medical coverage of at least $35,000.

Rouelle Umali | Xinhua News Agency | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

Covid cases in the Philippines peaked last month with more than 300,000 daily cases at one point. Cases dropped as quickly as they rose, with 3,543 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours as of Feb. 10, according to the WHO.

Despite the surge, the Philippines’ Department of Tourism indicated the decision to reopen was related to economic hardship and, possibly, to match the policies of other Southeast Asian countries.

“The Department sees this as a welcome development that will contribute significantly to job restoration … and in the reopening of businesses that have earlier shut down during the pandemic,” said Tourism Secretary Berna Romulo-Puyat in an article on the department’s website. “We are confident that we will be able to keep pace with our ASEAN neighbors who have already made similar strides to reopen to foreign tourists.”

Percent of peak: 19% and falling

Bali 

Despite rising infections, Bali, Indonesia, opened to vaccinated international travelers last week.

“It is known that currently the positivity rate is already above the WHO standard of 5% … the number of people who are checked and tested on a daily basis has also increased significantly,” according to a news release published on Jan. 31 on the country’s Coordinating Ministry for Maritime and Investment Affairs office.

A woman meditates sitting in a bale in Bali, Indonesia.

Ted Levine | The Image Bank | Getty Images

Yet the decision to reopen to international travelers — which has been postponed in the past — was made to “re-invigorate Bali’s economy,” according to the website. 

Travelers face a five-day quarantine requirement, though they can isolate in one of 66 hotels, that include many of the island’s well-known luxurious resorts like The Mulia Resort and Villa and The St. Regis Bali Resort.

Bali, however, isn’t reopening to foreign tourists for the first time. It opened last October to travelers from 19 countries. Yet few people turned up due, in part, to a lack of international flights and the island’s stringent entrance requirements.   

Percent of peak (Indonesia): 68% and rising

Malaysia

Malaysia’s National Recovery Council on Tuesday recommended that the country reopen to international travelers as early as March 1, according to Reuters.

Travelers are not expected to have to quarantine on arrival, similar to tourism policies enacted by Thailand and Singapore.

Nearly 98% of Malaysia’s adult population is vaccinated, according to the country’s Ministry of Health, with more than two-thirds using vaccines produced by Pfizer or AstraZeneca, and one third on the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine.

Malaysia may be on its way towards an omicron-induced case peak. A steep uptick in daily cases began two weeks ago and has yet to decline.

Percent of peak: 41% and rising

Relaxing travel restrictions

Countries that are already open to international travelers are moving to further relax entrance requirements.

Though Europe is the regional leader in new Covid cases according to the WHO, countries such as Greece, France, Portugal, Sweden and Norway have announced plans to drop incoming test requirements for vaccinated travelers — though some apply only to E.U. residents.

Last week, the islands of Puerto Rico and Aruba enacted similar measures.

Other places are moving in the opposite direction. After shuttering bars and banning some incoming flights in late January, Hong Kong this week instituted new restrictions, including limiting public gatherings to two people. The restrictions are causing city-wide food shortages, inflated prices and a rising public anger, according to The Guardian.  

China also reinstituted strict measures ahead of the Winter Olympic Games, with lockdowns affecting some 20 million people in January, according to The Associated Press.   

Though both relaxed border restrictions, the Philippines and Bali also announced heightened local restrictions this year.

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