{"id":23370,"date":"2026-08-10T16:17:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/?p=23370"},"modified":"2026-08-11T14:42:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T14:42:00","slug":"international-travel-news-august-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/ar\/international-travel-news-august-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"International Travel News This Week: Europe\u2019s Border Queues, Record Business Travel Spend, and a Value-Over-Volume Summer"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"23370\" class=\"elementor elementor-23370\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4938d30e e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"4938d30e\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3e632b1 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"3e632b1\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"755\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Corporate-Image.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-23372\" alt=\"International Travel News\" srcset=\"https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Corporate-Image.jpg 755w, https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Corporate-Image-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Corporate-Image-18x12.jpg 18w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 755px) 100vw, 755px\" title=\"\">\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-7162d722 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"7162d722\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Five hours. That is how long some travelers waited at European passport control this summer, four months after the new border system went live.<\/p><p>This week brought two more pieces of news worth knowing before you book anything: companies are spending more money on fewer business trips, and leisure travelers are quietly moving away from the crowded classics. Here are the international travel news for thew second weekof august.\u00a0<\/p><h2 id=\"five-hours-at-passport-control-and-no-relief-coming\">International Travel news: Five hours at passport control, and no relief coming<\/h2><div>\u00a0<\/div><p>Europe\u2019s Entry\/Exit System has been running since April. The technology works. The problem is what happens when a full aircraft lands and everyone has to be photographed and fingerprinted before they can leave the hall.<\/p><p>The airlines have run out of patience. On July 1, the main European aviation groups wrote to the European Commission asking for permission to switch the system off during the busiest hours and go back to ordinary passport checks. They called it a critical point. In their letter they described passengers missing connections, planes leaving with empty seats because travelers were still stuck at the border, and queues running out of the terminal and onto the tarmac.<\/p><p>The Commission said no.<\/p><h3 id=\"where-it-is-worst\">Where it is worst<\/h3><p>Ryanair named seven airports where the disruption has been most severe: Tenerife South, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, M\u00e1laga, Milan Bergamo, Krak\u00f3w, and Paris Beauvais. Lisbon, Berlin, and both Rome airports are close behind. Greece, France, Spain, Portugal, and Italy carry the most summer traffic, so they carry the most risk.<\/p><p>Some borders have simply given up during peaks. At the Port of Dover in late May, French officials stopped collecting biometrics altogether after the delays became unmanageable over a holiday weekend. That has become the unofficial fix at several crossings, which is why the experience is so unpredictable. The same airport can be smooth on Tuesday and chaotic on Friday.<\/p><h3 id=\"why-it-matters-beyond-the-queue\">Why it matters beyond the queue<\/h3><p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/wttc.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">World Travel &amp; Tourism Council<\/a>\u00a0warned on July 1 that if the delays continue, Europe could lose 41 million arrivals and $45.4 billion in visitor spending this year. Their survey found that roughly a third of travelers from the US, UK, Canada, and Australia would think twice about visiting Europe if it meant three hours or more at the border.<\/p><p>The Commission has promised more support for the countries struggling most. Nothing suggests the queues disappear before autumn.<\/p><h3 id=\"what-actually-helps\">What actually helps<\/h3><p>The registration itself is quick. You give a photo and four fingerprints, and it lasts three years. The problem is arithmetic: add two minutes per passenger to a terminal receiving several full flights at once, and the hall backs up.<\/p><p>A few things genuinely make a difference:<\/p><ul><li>Give yourself an extra hour on your first entry to Europe in any three-year period. If your airline says arrive three hours early, make it four.<\/li><li>Do not book a tight connection through the airports named above. If your schedule allows, avoid the busiest arrival hours.<\/li><li>Head straight to immigration when you land. Coffee and duty-free come after the border, not before.<\/li><li>Check the border website of the country you are entering a couple of days before you fly. Several now let you submit your passport details in advance.<\/li><li>Read your travel insurance. Some policies treat border delays as outside anyone\u2019s control, which changes what you can claim.<\/li><li>If it looks like you will miss a flight, photograph the queue with a clock in the frame and ask staff for priority access. That photo is what supports a claim later.<\/li><\/ul><h3 id=\"one-less-thing-to-worry-about-etias-is-not-your-problem-yet\">One less thing to worry about: ETIAS is not your problem yet<\/h3><p>The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/alexledsom\/2026\/07\/30\/traveling-to-europe-etias-is-delayed-as-ees-queues-bite\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ETIAS<\/a>\u00a0travel authorization has been pushed back again, from late 2026 to 2027. The reason is the same border pressure described above.<\/p><p>When it does arrive it will cost about $23, last three years, and cover 30 European countries. Most approvals will come through in minutes.<\/p><p>For now, the useful thing to know is this:\u00a0<strong>you do not need ETIAS to travel to Europe in 2026.<\/strong>\u00a0A number of copycat websites are already charging people for an authorization that does not exist yet.<\/p><h2 id=\"business-travel-fewer-trips-bigger-budgets\">Business travel: fewer trips, bigger budgets<\/h2><div>\u00a0<\/div><p>Companies worldwide will spend a record $1.71 trillion on business travel this year, about 7% more than last year. But the number of trips is barely moving, up just over 1%.<\/p><p>That gap tells the whole story. Businesses are not traveling more. They are spending more on each trip, and being far pickier about which trips are worth taking. As the head of the Global Business Travel Association put it, companies have not stepped away from travel, they have just become more selective about it.<\/p><p>The growth is showing up in newer places. Brazil, Australia, South Korea, T\u00fcrkiye, and Japan are all rising fastest, which for most companies means longer flights and airports their people have never been through before.<\/p><h3 id=\"the-next-generation-of-business-travelers-wants-a-person-not-a-bot\">The next generation of business travelers wants a person, not a bot<\/h3><p>Younger employees are about to become the majority of business travelers. Gen Z takes roughly 65 million work trips a year in the US today, and that is expected to nearly double by 2030.<\/p><p>Research from Skift found something surprising about them. The most stressful part of a business trip is not the trip. It is the planning, made worse by confusing policies and clunky booking tools. And despite the assumptions, this group is\u00a0<em>more<\/em>\u00a0skeptical of artificial intelligence than the generation before it. They do not want a system that books for them. They want one that lays out the options, warns them when something breaks policy, and lets them make the call.<\/p><p>That is close to how we built our own booking. Your quote is generated in minutes so pricing never holds up a trip, our team checks it before it goes out, and once you confirm, a real person takes over your booking and stays with it until you travel. Fast where speed helps, human where judgment matters.<\/p><p>If you run a corporate travel program, the fix here is not a smarter tool. It is a policy your team can actually understand.<\/p><h3 id=\"your-booking-tools-are-quietly-changing-hands\">Your booking tools are quietly changing hands<\/h3><p>Four things happened in the first week of August alone. Engine bought a travel management company to build its own corporate booking tool. SAP Concur added new automation for approvals and expenses. Spotnana, founded by the man behind Concur, is now a third consumer business. Hilton rebuilt its corporate sales team because business buyers stopped buying the old way.<\/p><p>The line between corporate travel and ordinary booking is disappearing, and the companies that control distribution are buying their way across it.<\/p><h2 id=\"where-travelers-are-actually-going-this-year\">Where travelers are actually going this year<\/h2><div>\u00a0<\/div><p>Something interesting is happening in Europe. Arrivals grew about 3% last year, but spending grew almost 10%. People are not visiting in much greater numbers. They are spending considerably more when they do.<\/p><p>The head of the European Travel Commission described it as destinations finally being able to focus on value instead of volume.<\/p><p>The map is shifting too. The fastest growth is not in the places you would expect:<\/p><ul><li><strong>Finland, Norway, and Poland<\/strong>\u00a0all grew arrivals by 12% or more.<\/li><li><strong>France<\/strong>\u00a0had a strong year, up 8%.<\/li><li><strong>Italy<\/strong>\u00a0grew barely 1%.<\/li><\/ul><p>That last figure is worth sitting with. Italy is not getting more visitors, it is getting more crowded in the same few places. If you are trying to talk someone out of Rome in August, the numbers make the argument for you.<\/p><p>Looking ahead, long-haul travel to Europe is expected to rise about 9% this year, with the biggest jump coming from China.<\/p><h3 id=\"palaces-are-back-in-fashion-and-versailles-raised-its-prices\">Palaces are back in fashion, and Versailles raised its prices<\/h3><p>The Washington Post spent this weekend on Versailles, the Catherine Palace, and other royal retreats worth the detour. The palace circuit is one of the few European itineraries that satisfies both a first-time visitor and someone on their fifth trip.<\/p><p>If Versailles is on the list, the pricing changed in January. A full-estate ticket now costs \u20ac35 in high season, which runs April through October, and \u20ac25 the rest of the year. It is also the only ticket that includes the Palace itself, on a fixed time slot you have to arrive for within thirty minutes.<\/p><p>The move most people miss: book a late-afternoon slot. Entry is discounted after 4 p.m. in high season, and you walk the State Apartments as the tour buses are pulling out. Spend the morning in the Gardens, which open at 8 a.m.<\/p><h3 id=\"parents-are-booking-trips-while-the-kids-are-at-camp\">Parents are booking trips while the kids are at camp<\/h3><p>Business Insider profiled a couple who took a European cruise while their children were away at summer camp. It is a small story pointing at a real trend. Adults-only sailings have gone from a novelty to a strategy, with Virgin Voyages built entirely around the idea and Carnival adding more of them, including in the Mediterranean.<\/p><p>Camp weeks are an obvious and underused reason to travel. The dates are fixed, the motivation is high, and the product is expanding to meet it.<\/p><h2 id=\"the-new-flights-worth-planning-around\">The new flights worth planning around<\/h2><div>\u00a0<\/div><p>A few things worth knowing if you are mapping out the rest of the year:<\/p><ul><li>Condor started flying Chicago to Frankfurt nonstop on August 2.<\/li><li>Delta returns to Tokyo Narita in 2027, after seven years away.<\/li><li>Washington\u2019s Reagan National announced an $800 million expansion, and United confirmed a new terminal at Dulles.<\/li><li>American changed its upgrade policy. Eligible upgrades now clear into premium economy rather than business class.<\/li><\/ul><p>The bigger story is how many new transatlantic routes launched this year. Alaska now flies Seattle to London, Rome, and Reykjav\u00edk. JetBlue added Boston to Barcelona and Milan. Delta opened New York to Malta, Porto, and Sardinia. United launched Newark to Split and Santiago de Compostela. Aer Lingus, British Airways, and ITA all added US cities.<\/p><p>There is a practical reason to care. Flying Boston to Barcelona nonstop instead of connecting through a European hub saves four hours and one trip through passport control.<\/p><h2 id=\"what-to-do-about-all-of-this\">What to do about all of this<\/h2><div>\u00a0<\/div><p><strong>If you are planning a leisure trip:<\/strong><\/p><ol type=\"1\"><li>Add an hour to your arrival plan if this is your first trip to Europe in three years.<\/li><li>Look again at any itinerary connecting through Palma, Alicante, M\u00e1laga, Milan Bergamo, Krak\u00f3w, Lisbon, or Rome. Widen the connection or change it.<\/li><li>Ignore anyone selling you an ETIAS authorization. It does not exist yet.<\/li><li>Consider Northern or Central Europe instead of the Mediterranean in peak months. The crowd math is very different.<\/li><li>Book Versailles late in the afternoon, not mid-morning.<\/li><\/ol><p><strong>If you manage business travel:<\/strong><\/p><ol type=\"1\"><li>Use the spending figures to open the per-trip cost conversation before budget season.<\/li><li>Rewrite your travel policy so people can actually read it. That solves more than a new tool will.<\/li><li>Check which of your suppliers just changed owners. Several did in one week.<\/li><\/ol><p><strong>Either way:<\/strong><\/p><ol type=\"1\"><li>Choose nonstops over connections where you can. Every connection avoided in Europe is one less border queue.<\/li><li>Build a spare day into any trip where a delay would cost you a meeting, a sailing, or a booking you cannot refund.<\/li><\/ol><h2 id=\"common-questions\">Common questions<\/h2><div>\u00a0<\/div><p><strong>Do I need ETIAS to travel to Europe in 2026?<\/strong>\u00a0No.\u00a0It has been delayed to 2027. When it launches it will cost about $23 and last three years.<\/p><p><strong>How long are border waits right now?<\/strong>\u00a0It varies enormously. Most crossings are fine. At the worst airports during peak hours, airlines reported waits of up to five hours this summer. Plan an extra hour on your first entry in any three-year period.<\/p><p><strong>Which airports are worst?<\/strong>\u00a0Tenerife South, Palma de Mallorca, Alicante, M\u00e1laga, Milan Bergamo, Krak\u00f3w, and Paris Beauvais have been the most disrupted. Lisbon, Berlin, and both Rome airports have also had recurring problems.<\/p><p><strong>Will the system be suspended?<\/strong>\u00a0No.\u00a0Airlines asked and the European Commission declined. Individual borders have paused biometric collection temporarily during peaks, but there is no general suspension.<\/p><p><strong>Does it apply everywhere in Europe?<\/strong>\u00a0It covers 29 countries and applies to non-EU nationals on short stays.<\/p><h2 id=\"traveling-this-season-you-do-not-have-to-do-the-airport-alone.\">\u00a0<\/h2><h2 id=\"traveling-this-season-you-do-not-have-to-do-the-airport-alone.\">Traveling this season? You do not have to do the airport alone.<\/h2><p>Everyone subject to the new border system goes through the same registration. Nobody is exempt, and no service changes that.<\/p><p>What changes is everything around it. Which lane you are pointed toward. Whether someone is carrying your bags while you wait. Whether a person on the ground is watching your connection. Whether a delay at passport control becomes a missed flight or just a longer walk to the car.<\/p><p>That is what\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/ar\/\">Royal Airport Concierge<\/a>\u00a0does. Our airport Meet and Greet service puts a greeter at the aircraft door, handles your luggage, walks you through expedited immigration and customs lanes where they are available, and hands you to your driver or lounge. On departures it runs from the curb to priority check-in to the lounge. On connections it is gate to gate, with your bags re-checked for you, which is the service that matters most in a summer when people are missing flights while standing at the border.<\/p><p>Available at over 500 airports worldwide, with support around the clock and more than 50,000 travelers looked after each year.<\/p><p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/ar\/book-service\/\">Request a quote for your next arrival, departure, or connection<\/a><\/strong><\/p><p>Book at least 48 hours ahead where you can. Tell us your airport, your flight, and your timing, and we will confirm what is available on the ground.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five hours. That is how long some travelers waited at European passport control this summer, four months after the new border system went live. This week brought two more pieces of news worth knowing before you book anything: companies are spending more money on fewer business trips, and leisure travelers are quietly moving away from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n\n        <div class=\"jm-meta-line text-sm text-muted-foreground mt-3\">\n            <div class=\"jm-meta-left\">\n                <div class=\"item\">\n                    \n        <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"h-4 w-4\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\">\n            <path d=\"M8 2v4\"><\/path>\n            <path d=\"M16 2v4\"><\/path>\n            <rect width=\"18\" height=\"18\" x=\"3\" y=\"4\" rx=\"2\"><\/rect>\n            <path d=\"M3 10h18\"><\/path>\n        <\/svg>\n    \n                    <span>\u0623\u063a\u0633\u0637\u0633 10, 2026<\/span>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"item\">\n                    \n        <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"h-4 w-4\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\">\n            <circle cx=\"12\" cy=\"12\" r=\"10\"><\/circle>\n            <polyline points=\"12 6 12 12 16 14\"><\/polyline>\n        <\/svg>\n    \n                    <span>11 min read<\/span>\n                <\/div>\n                <div class=\"item jm-meta-arrow\">\n                    \n        <a href=\"https:\/\/royalairportconcierge.com\/ar\/international-travel-news-august-2026\/\" class=\"jm-arrow-link\" aria-label=\"Leer m\u00e1s\">\n            <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"h-4 w-4 text-yellow-500\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\" stroke=\"currentColor\" stroke-width=\"2\" stroke-linecap=\"round\" stroke-linejoin=\"round\">\n                <path d=\"M5 12h14\"><\/path>\n                <path d=\"M13 5l7 7-7 7\"><\/path>\n            <\/svg>\n        <\/a>\n    \n                <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    ","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":23372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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