News and questions (without answers) from the week ending January 25, 2026

The head­line of the week is a famil­i­ar one: “Thou­sands of tour­ists stranded”. 

As unex­pec­ted extreme weath­er grounds flights and halts itin­er­ar­ies, the fra­gil­ity of the glob­al travel net­work is exposed yet again. 

But while the industry focuses on ‘resi­li­ence’ through infra­struc­ture spend­ing — such as the mil­lions pledged for North Queens­land — a quieter fund­ing crisis is unfolding.

News and questions (without answers) from the week ending January 18, 2026

The nar­rat­ive of “green travel” has often relied on the prom­ise of addi­tion: more effi­cient planes, more sus­tain­able fuels, more trees planted. But this week, the con­ver­sa­tion shif­ted to sub­trac­tion; the remov­al of busi­ness class.

But as space tour­ism gears up, are we head­ing for a future in which the masses are squeezed into eco­nomy to save the plan­et, while the ultra-elite plan to leave it?

News and questions (without answers) from the week ending January 11, 2026

If 2025 was the year of the ‘rebound’, 2026 is shap­ing up to be the year of the ‘reck­on­ing’. As head­lines declare this the ‘Year of Tour­ism’ driv­en by mega-events and busi­ness travel, the oper­a­tion­al real­ity on the ground is far more complex.

From Hawaii’s legis­lat­ive stut­ter-steps on cli­mate taxes to the stark warn­ing for snorkel­ers in Bali, the fric­tion between growth and gov­ernance is intensifying.