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Tokyo (CNN) — The phone lines at Kamome, a Tokyo-based travel agency that specializes in tours for Chinese travelers, haven’t stopped buzzing for the last three days.On Sunday, China announced a ban on outbound group travel as part of its battle to stop the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus, which has killed 82 people and infected 2,700 in the country. That has caused cancellation mayhem for Kamome’s staff as more than 20,000 of the company’s Chinese package tour customers pulled the plug on all trips to Japan up to February 10.With Japan receiving approximately 9.6 million visitors from China in 2019, accounting for a third of foreign tourist expenditure in the country, speculation is growing around the ramifications the travel ban will have on Japan’s tourism industry and economy. “We are concerned about the decrease in Chinese tourists, but we cannot foresee the outcome as it depends on how long the (Chinese) policy lasts,” Japan National Tourist Organization (JNTO) spokeswoman, Shiho Himuro, told CNN.People wearing masks walk through the Ginza shopping district on January 24 in Tokyo. The city is a popular destination for Chinese tourists during the Lunar New Year holiday.Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty ImagesThis isn’t the first time staff at Kamome have dealt with cancellation mayhem. Back in 2003, the fatal severe respiratory syndrome (SARS) — which first appeared in southern China — also prompted a slate of cancellations that staff said they eventually overcame.In another area of Tokyo, there are concerns for those in Wuhan who have been directly affected by the coronavirus. “We just hope that this situation gets resolved quickly,” says a spokesperson from Hankyo Travel International, a major Tokyo travel agency. While it’s often news of diplomatic spats between China and Japan that make headlines, in recent years the growing number of Chinese visiting Japan for holidays has shifted attitudes, tastes and foreign policy. Across Tokyo, announcements in train stations and department stores also posted in Chinese. A remarkable thawing of Beijing-Tokyo relations took place in 2018 as Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held telephone talks for the first time to discuss denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. Researchers also suggest that Chinese impressions of Japan and its people are changing, with more reporting a favorable view of Japan after visiting the country.

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With Europe second only to Asia as the fastest growing regional tourist destination, cities across the continent are stepping up efforts to curb overcrowding and improve conditions for locals.

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Anti-Semitism is again on the rise, and a new traveling exhibition asks visitors to delve deep into the social developments that led to the Holocaust and the creation of its most deadly concentration camp, Auschwitz.

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Everett, Washington (CNN) — The world’s longest and largest twin-engine airliner, the Boeing 777-9X, has finally taken to the skies for its maiden flight, offering a ray of hope for the troubled US aviation company following months of grim headlines.After days of abysmal weather, airplane WH-001 took from Paine Field, home of Boeing’s wide-body factory, north of Seattle, on Saturday morning. The flight had been postponed twice earlier in the week because of poor conditions, but as the aircraft taxied past the press viewing area ahead of takeoff, a rainbow appeared — perhaps offering a positive portent.When the moment did finally arrive, WH-001 was greeted by a light eight knot tailwind, six miles visibility, and broken clouds at 3,000 feet as it rocketed down runway 34Left at 9:08 a.m. local time. As Boeing’s newest flagship quickly gathered speed, it left a torrent of spray in its wake. After a takeoff roll of just 30 seconds, the behemoth rotated gracefully into the skies. The relieved and excited crowd erupted into thunderous applause, though it was masked somewhat by the symphony of the roaring engines. Long road to certificationThe 777X-9 took off at 9:08 a.m. local time.Brandon FarrisDesigned to carry up to 425 passengers on routes of 7,600 nautical miles — a distance that would cover most long-haul routes — the 777-9X is expected to become one of Boeing’s key aircraft in the years ahead.However, uncertainties in the wake of deadly crashes that resulted in the worldwide grounding of Boeing’s 737MAX series, have cast a shadow over the manufacturer’s future.Once airborne on Saturday, the first 777X was swallowed quickly into the clouds as it headed north out of unpopulated areas and the Washington Coast on a flight path chosen for safety reasons.It climbed to an altitude of 14,000 feet and turned back east where it entered looping patterns over central Washington state, beginning the first of many test flights on the arduous road to certification and eventually passenger service over the next 18 months. The road to this moment has been difficult to say the least. And the obstacles Mother Nature threw in front of its path for the first flight could easily be seen as a metaphor for Boeing and the entire program.The day before, with cloud ceilings down to 2,000 feet, pelting rain, and winds gusting up to 29 knots, over 10,000 disappointed employees, journalists, and VIPs shivered for nearly five hours while the enormous 777-9X sat tantalizingly just off the runway, waiting for clearance to takeoff. Appalling conditionsIt wasn’t meant to be. At 1:30 p.m. Friday with conditions not improving and the flight window closing, her first sortie was scrubbed. It’s almost tradition that Boeing first flights occur in abysmal conditions, but this is the first time in memory that a flight had to be canceled due to elements.In normal times, a first flight of a new airliner is a cause for celebration. Events like these happen maybe twice a decade. But for Boeing, these are anything but normal times. Following two fatal crashes of the 737MAX, the continued grounding of Boeing’s most important aircraft — which is reportedly responsible for 40% of the company’s profit — has prompted one of the 104-year-old airframer’s biggest ever crises.The effects have been felt across the global aerospace industry and the broader US economy. It’s been estimated that the MAX grounding may cost a third to a half a point loss in the US economy’s GDP short-term. With MAX production now at a standstill, plus Boeing’s revelation earlier this week that it doesn’t expect the US Federal Aviation Administration to re-certify the MAX as safe to operate until June or July of this year, the timing was hardly optimum for a new Boeing aircraft model to take to the skies.. Though there is continued speculation of a new Boeing airplane to replace the 757/767 as a middle of the market airliner or the 737MAX with the future small airliner, Boeing has no entirely new models announced beyond the 777X. Bringing an entirely new aircraft to market takes at least five-to-seven years.Boeing finalized designs for the 777-9X, which has folding wings and is expected to be the world’s largest twin-engine jet when it begins service in 2020. The 777X, a program launched back in November 2013, is the successor to the most successful wide-body airliner ever built: the 777, which first entered service nearly 25 years ago. The 777X is chock full of superlatives. At 251 feet long, the 777-9 variant is the longest commercial airliner ever built. With a fuselage stretch of 9.4 feet over its predecessor 777-300ER, the 777-9 is able to accommodate up to three additional rows of economy seats 10 abreast, for a total of up to 426 passengers in a typical two class configuration. All that and an increased range of 7,285 nautical miles — 220 miles more than the airplane it replaces. Record breakerWith the A380 and 747-8 Intercontinental ending their runs, the 777-9 stands alone as the largest airliner by passenger capacity being built in the world. Its main competition, Airbus’ A350-1000, is proportioned more like the smaller 777-300ER. To lift the maximum takeoff weight of this 775,000 pound beast into the air, Boeing has built a new carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer wing with a wingspan of just over 233 feet, with raked wingtips. Each wing is the largest single composite structure in the world. To fit on the same gates, taxiways and runways as the current 777-300ERs, Boeing has designed distinctive 11-foot folding wingtips that deploy just before take-off and retract upon landing. Though this is common on Navy fighter aircraft built for landing on an aircraft carrier, folding wingtips on an airliner are a commercial first. Under the wings are the largest, most powerful engines ever mounted on a commercial airliner: General Electric GE9X.These develop an incredible 105,000 pounds of thrust apiece while reducing fuel burn by 10% from their predecessor GE90 engineThe engines’ diameter are as wide as a 737 fuselage.In spite of or because of their cutting-edge design and immense power demands, design flaws in the compressor of the engines have been a significant contributing factor to delaying the first flight of the 777X from 2018 to early 2019 and then to January 2020. That said, this isn’t an unusually lengthy gestation in the recent history of new airliner programs.In an era of flight shaming and airlines’ increased emphasis on eco-friendliness and efficiency, the 777X is claimed by Boeing to deliver a net efficiency gain of 13% on a cost per seat basis compared to the 365-seat 777-300ER with a 29% reduction in emissions. Indeed Boeing says its newest flagship is 22% more efficient than the world’s largest airliner, the A380. “The operating ecomomics of previous generation 777s, which could carry nearly as many people as the 777X with just two engines were already considerably better than those of the A380,” said airline analyst Seth Kaplan.”Considering the 777X will be even more efficient, there’s long-term hope for this airplane program even though the market reception hasn’t been great so far.” Economics, engineering, and efficiency aside, the 777X is being designed to improve the passenger flying experience and not just in the premium cabin section of the plane. Borrowing from its pioneering stablemate, the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing’s newest 777X has larger windows and a wider cabin translating to wider seats (especially in economy). Economic uncertaintiesThe flight was a much-needed success for Boeing.Brandon FarrisA lower cabin altitude of 5,000 feet versus the typical airliner’s 8,000 feet reduces the effects of fatigue and jet lag. The 777X also has higher levels of humidity to abate dehydration, cleaner air, less cabin noise, and smoother ride technology. So how and when can passengers expect to find themselves sitting aboard a new 777-9? Even with the increased scrutiny and testing for certification, Boeing projects a service entry in late 2021 with Lufthansa. Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and ANA round out the customer list. Boeing has 308 firm orders and 300 options of these $440-million aircraft (at list prices, though discounts can reduce cost by half).But the stability of these orders is uncertain with Gulf carriers and Lufthansa reportedly re-negotiating and lowering order their commitments, partially due to economic weakness.Though the 777-300ER is immensely successful in the Americas, North American orders are yet to emerge. As the replacement cycle for A380s and 777 Classics accelerates, Boeing expects the 777X order book to bulge by the middle of the decade. But many industry analysts question whether this jumbo twin is now simply too large for the market as smaller Airbus A350s and Boeing 787s have attracted far more orders partially due to the rise of hub by-passing nonstop point-to-point service. Will the 777X succeed in the market, especially with the specter of the 737 MAX hanging out there? Industry leader Henry Harteveld, founder of Atmosphere Research, says there’s uncertainty.”The 777X is an intelligent derivative of the 777, but I’m not sure if the 777X will be raging success for Boeing as orders remain tepid, in part due to the delay of the GE engines, because the smaller 787 Dreamliner is such a good aircraft, and because the MAX has severely damaged Boeing’s reputation,” Harteveld says.”The 777X is the younger kid whose older siblings are overachievers. “I think the 777X will have a slow burn as an aircraft where its success may come over time, once the 777X has proven itself as a reliable aircraft that meets or beats Boeing’s performance specifications, and once Boeing has regained airlines’ trust as a manufacturer.”Safe landingThe airplane touched down after nearly four hours in the air.Chris SloanFirst flights are very rare and special, so for just a few hours, the business of aviation and Boeing’s travails slipped into the background so everyone could just soak in the moment. In an email to the Boeing worldwide team, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stan Deal wrote: “I am incredibly proud of all our teammates who meticulously designed, assembled and supported the 777X. This day is ours to celebrate, and proof that if we work together we can achieve big things that make a difference in the world.”The first flight was originally intended to last nearly four hours, but for reasons not immediately clear, it was cut short. As the aircraft descended, its landing lights penetrated the 700-foot cloud deck and the crowd gasped with anticipation. At precisely, 2:00 p.m. local time, the 777-9X kissed the rain soaked runway 15Right at Seattle’s Boeing Field, after three hours and 51 minutes aloft. The airplane’s pilots describe the debut flight as “emotional.”Chris SloanThe scale of the airplane was apparent as it rolled out past, with the wingtips automatically retracting to their 90-degree locked state at 60 mph just as intended.In keeping with the current climate, this first flight event was more low key than previous similar events, but the crowd was no less appreciative. Boeing employees needed a morale boost and they got it. The enormous jetliner pulled up to an enthusiastic crowd of employees and customers.The two pilots Van G. Chaney and Craig Bomben alighted to thunderous applause, cheers, and embracing hugs from their families and co-workers. Addressing reporters, they could barely contain their enthusiasm. “It was so much fun,” said Chaney, the pilot-in-command and 777/777X chief test pilot. “The moment we rotated and saw the chase plane go by, it was very emotional.” VP of Flight Operations Bomden added: “To see all the excitement of the employees on the side of the runway who made it happen and the outstanding performance of the plane, it made us extremely proud. We’re going to be very proud of this airplane in service.”

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(CNN) — From a hyper-connected, personalized cabin of the future to rotating airplane seats that make enduring economy that much easier, this year’s Crystal Cabin Awards shortlist is chockablock with the aircraft innovations you didn’t know you needed.Of course, depending on your personal feelings about the trend towards in-air connectivity and high-tech personalization, some may be concepts you’d rather not see become reality.Still, the designers behind these innovative ideas reckon they could transform the airplane interior experience for the better — and now they’ve got the seal of approval from one of the aviation industry’s most prestigious awards.Over 100 entries have been whittled down to a comprehensive shortlist — with categories including “In-flight Entertainment and Connectivity” and “Visionary Concepts” due to be announced at this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, Germany in March 2020.Exciting ideasEngineering company Heinkel Group designed a concept called “Flex Lounge”, providing flexible configuration for seat rows in economy cabins.Courtesy Crystal Cabin AwardThe question of how to sleep in a budget airplane cabin is only becoming more ubiquitous as super long-haul flights like Qantas’ hop between London and Sydney, dubbed Project Sunrise, start to take off.The Crystal Cabin shortlist offers up a couple of compelling concepts designed to tackle discomfort in long-haul economy.Engineering company Heinkel Group presents its “Flex Lounge” proposal, which suggests a flexible configuration for seat rows in economy cabins. Post take-off, flight attendants can rearrange the rows so that passengers traveling together can face one another, allowing for a more intimate, casual experience for families, groups of friends or co-workers traveling together.Meanwhile, Adient Aerospace noticed the popularity of the airplane bulkhead seat and took that as its jumping off point for their “Space For All” design. In Adient’s vision, the three seats at the front of the airplane include an extending mechanism that expands out from the lower bulkhead wall, transforming the space into a sofa-style flat bed for families to share.Collins Aerospace’s Zero G Attendant Seat — designed to make air travel more comfortable for air crew — is one of the Crystal Cabin Award nominees.Courtesy Crystal Cabin AwardSome of the nominated airplane seat concepts are designed for aircraft that are still in their development stages. The Flying-V airplane, for example, is a fuel-efficient aircraft currently in development at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, in partnership with KLM. Delft has submitted a design for collapsible, flexible seats that turn into flat beds in a bunk-bed style design, for maximum space efficiency.Meanwhile, Ciara Crawford’s ROW1 seat envisages an airplane seat where the wheelchair gets fitted seamlessly into the row, allowing for a more accessible airplane experience.It’s not just passengers whose needs are being considered, however; Collins Aerospace has proposed its Zero G Attendant Seat — pitched as a high comfort seat for cabin crew. The seat stows and folds down for take off and landing, but can also be moved into more comfortable, reclined positions for off-duty flight attendants, who’re ready to unwind on a long-haul flight.Connected cabinsAirbus’ vision for a next gen airplane cabin is one of the nominees.Courtesy Crystal Cabin AwardAirbus’ next generation cabin concept, “Airspace Cabin Vision 2030,” offering more flexible sleeping and seating configurations, as well as a “digitally enabled environment” — the Airspace Connected Experience — is also shortlisted.This includes airplane seats with optional pre-programmed recline preferences as well as overhead luggage cabins lighting up green or red, depending on whether they’re full. Airbus reckons this is what passengers want from their inflight experience — with Ingo Wuggetzer, VP marketing at Airbus, telling CNN Travel back in October 2019, that “what you experience on ground, you continue to experience on board of an aircraft.”A high-tech cabin divider is another contender.Courtesy Crystal Cabin AwardAdditionally, the Airbus Cabin Vision 2030 envisages flexible seating and sleeping configurations in the cabin.German company AERQ also proposes using technology in an innovative way, allowing the cabin class dividers to double up as an OLED information screen, while Moment’s “Flymingo Next” concept is designed to help crew members do their jobs efficiently.Moment’s design incorporates integrated cabin hardware that allows air crew to check seat occupancy, baggage locker use and synthesize onboard procedures.Eco-conscious designs PriestmanGoode submitted a meal tray called Zero that’s made out of edible, biodegradable and/or commercially compostable materials.Courtesy Crystal Cabin AwardAs airlines face increasingly tough scrutiny over their commitment to sustainability, some of the Crystal Cabin nominees seek to tackle the eco-question. PriestmanGoode submitted a meal tray called Zero, aiming to reduce the amount of weight and plastic waste created through meal service on flights.Instead of disposable material, Zero is composed of either edible, biodegradable and/or commercially compostable materials. On a similar theme, Diehl Aviation proposes a “Greywater Reuse Unit” which uses water from handwashing in the basin to flush the toilet — the company suggests this will save 550 tonnes of CO2 per year for a single Boeing 787 aircraft.Stay tuned to see which designs are crowned as winners on March 31.

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Tenerife, Spain (CNN) — Pristine beaches frame the Canary Islands in multicolored sand as the Spanish archipelago sweeps seaward from Africa’s Atlantic coast. Those sunny beaches draw a year-round crowd seeking warm escapes at all-inclusive hotels, which have earned the Canaries a reputation for mass-market tourism.Look past ranks of seaside resorts, though, and you’ll find a wild, otherworldly landscape that’s tailor made for travel adventures. “It’s got a lot more to offer than lying on the beach,” says Tavienne Kelly of Britain’s KE Adventure Travel, whose hiking and cycling trips to the Canary Islands include waterside strolls and high-altitude treks. Men ride their horses at the Enramada beach during a celebration on Tenerife.Desiree Martin/AFP/Getty Images”The islands are really diverse,” Kelly tells CNN Travel. “They’ve got amazing sunrises, laurel forests, fantastic coastal trails and volcanoes. The adventure side of things is definitely growing.” Those adventurous possibilities are spread across an arc of eight main islands whose landscapes range from forest-clad mountains to bare volcanic rock. Dominating the island of Tenerife, the active Teide volcano juts from a skirt of clouds and mist, with a profile that dives more than 12,000 feet from the summit to the nearby coastline. On the desert isles of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, trade winds keep paragliders and kite boarders aloft, while a maze of trails winds through prehistoric forest on La Gomera. For travelers ready to venture beyond resorts, the Canary Islands offer a lifetime of active adventures — here’s where to start. Hike an explosive landscapeGeothermal energy powers barbecues at the Timanfaya National Park at Lanzarote.Getty ImagesThese islands were forged in fiery geologic activity millions of years ago, and traces of that volcanic past are seared into the scenery.Visitors can drive into the park’s Montañas del Fuego, or Mountains of Fire, a lava landscape created by a series of eruptions in the 18th century.Free, guided hikes within the park showcase a culture adapted to life amid the lava, where islanders once used camels to harvest grapes planted directly into jet-black, volcanic soil.But the alpine highlight of the Canary Islands is Tenerife’s majestic Teide volcano, which at 12,198 feet is Spain’s highest mountain. With limited numbers of hikers allowed to approach the summit each day, would-be trekkers make reservations months in advance. If you don’t score one of the coveted spots, you can still experience the wind-whipped landscape of arid rocks and lava flows by climbing nearby Pico Viejo, a caldera that tops out at 10,285 feet. The views from Pico Viejo are just as impressive, and the smaller mountain is often less crowded than Teide, where a cable car shuttles visitors to a viewing station just over 500 feet below the volcano’s summit.Harness the wind and wavesThese paragliders are taking in the views in Playa de la Canteria. Getty ImagesSome of the earliest trans-Atlantic voyagers, including Christopher Columbus, made the Canary Islands a stopover on their way across the sea. That’s because the archipelago is a strategic place to catch a ride on the northeasterly trade winds, dependable breezes that buffet the islands’ north coasts.The windiest islands are Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, which have become pilgrimage places for adventure sports driven by ocean swells and incoming breezes.On Lanzarote, paragliders and hang gliders launch from the towering Famara cliff, winding towards the coast with views of turquoise bays and powdery beaches.Tracing slender wakes just off Famara beach are dozens of kite-surfers from the nearby Caleta de Famara surf camp, where everyone from beginning to expert kite-surfers can brush up their skills. And on neighboring Fuerteventura, waves along the northern coast draw a laid-back crowd of surfers from around the world. Fuerteventura’s most famed ride is La Derecha de Lobos, a right-breaking wave that’s the longest in the Canary Islands. But this island’s complex coast is pocked by coves and headlands, allowing experienced surfers to pick the perfect spot for each day’s swell. Explore a prehistoric forestSpot these laurel trees covered in moss in Garajonay National Park, Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain.Getty ImagesGlossy leaves and moss-furred trunks form green tunnels through the Canary Islands’ laurel forest, a subtropical ecosystem of evergreen broadleaf trees that thrive in the moist sea air. Found only in the Macaronesian Islands of the Atlantic — comprising the Canaries, the Azores, Cape Verde and Madeira — this laurel forest is more than an enchanted-looking woodland. It’s also the last-remaining example of an ecosystem that was widespread in Europe between 15 and 40 million years ago before disappearing because of glaciation.Peer into another galaxy Stargazers regularly have nighttime viewing parties in Teide National Park.Turismo de Islas CanariasThe islands of La Palma, Fuerteventura and Tenerife are designated Starlight Reserves, with night-sky clarity ideal for viewing. (Even professional star-watchers prize a trip to the Canary Islands, and Tenerife is home to Europe’s largest solar telescope.) On Tenerife, stargazing tours ascend the flanks of Teide volcano for the best possible views, offering visitors the chance to use high-powered telescopes that can reach beyond our galaxy. And while the tiny island of El Hierro isn’t designated a Starlight Reserve, it’s still a magnificent place to watch the skies.Head to the remote Orchilla Lighthouse to catch a natural show: It’s the westernmost point in Spain, so visitors can watch the sunset linger later than anywhere else in the country. How to visit the Canary IslandsRuled by Spain since the 15th century, the Canary Islands are geographically closer to Africa than Europe. (The Moroccan coast is just 52 nautical miles from the island of Fuerteventura.) When visiting the Canary Islands from the United States, most itineraries make a stopover in mainland Europe. With the exception of tiny La Graciosa, which joined the archipelago in 2018, each of the Canary Islands has an airport. The majority of international travelers touch down at airports on the islands of Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote. You’re not limited to a single island, however, as a network of ferries and affordable, inter-island flights make it easy to hop along the archipelago. Jen Rose Smith is a freelance writer and award-winning guidebook author whose work explores travel, adventure and food. With a home base in Vermont, her recent adventures include cycling around Peru’s highest mountain and eating her way through Istanbul. Read more of Jen’s work at jenrosesmith.com.

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