L A R I S S A P R I V A T E T R A V E L
Issue 002 · From Larissa
Everything is shifting, all the time. I have redated this briefing more times than I can count this month, because the headlines change daily. So take this as today's picture, honestly drawn. If you want the latest, you know where I am.
I want to start with what I am actually seeing right now, in my own words, before any of the headline stories. Then the briefing proper, where the facts are the facts and my view is my own, kept apart so you can see both and decide for yourself.
Larissa Atkins · Larissa Private Travel
1
Opportunity
Worth knowing
How to read this briefing
Red FlagThe story that should change how you book right now. Read this first.
OpportunityThe travel stories. Something genuinely worth knowing that most people have not acted on yet.
WatchA developing situation with specific implications for your destination or booking.
TrackingA developing story Larissa is monitoring. No action recommended yet.
My ViewLarissa's own opinion, kept separate from the facts, so you can weigh both.
Here is what I am actually seeing this month, before we get to the stories.
It has been a noisy few weeks, and the lead story this time is a serious one, so I will come to it first and plainly. But I do not want the noise to be the whole message, because underneath it the picture is better than the headlines suggest. The world is open. The question has quietly shifted from where can you go to how should you get there, and that is a question I am built to answer.
The other thing I am seeing is a market split in two. The experienced travellers are booking again, properly, long-haul and complex trips, well ahead. They want the right destinations, the right hotels, the right seats, held and secure. Everyone else is holding back, waiting on last-minute deals. The best of everything is quietly being booked up now.
So once you have read the lead, my real message is about timing. If you want the big safari, Asia, South America, Australia, for October half term, Christmas, February or next Easter, now is the time to look. Booking early lets me hold the best flights and fares for you, up to about a year ahead, at no cost and no obligation to pay yet, so we can build the trip properly around held seats and the right route rather than chasing what is left.
Tell me where you are thinking of going next, and let me hold the flights while we take our time over the rest.
Larissa
Red Flag · Routing · The Middle East & Flying East
The official advice has eased. The route picture is still unsettled. That gap is what I am watching.
The Foreign Office eased its advice for the Gulf, including the UAE and Qatar, in mid-June, after the US and Iran signed a memorandum to end the conflict. That advice has not changed back: as of going to press it still does not warn against travel to the UAE or Qatar, and standard insurance positions still rest on that. But the situation on the ground has moved the other way. The ceasefire has broken down, the two sides are striking each other again, the Strait of Hormuz has gone quiet for the second time, and there has been fresh trouble in the Gulf in recent days. So right now there is a gap between the official advice and the situation on the ground, and that gap is the thing to understand. This is also the second collapse. The April ceasefire broke before this June one did.
Carriers are cautious regardless of the official advice. British Airways remains suspended to the UAE into late October and Virgin Atlantic into 2027, and European aviation regulators are still telling airlines to avoid Iranian, Iraqi and Lebanese airspace and to take care across parts of the wider Gulf. The Gulf is not in itself a summer destination for most of Larissa's clients. Where it matters is as a route east: Dubai and Doha are the hubs through which Britain reaches the Maldives, the Seychelles, Mauritius, East Africa, Asia and Australia. When the corridor through those hubs is unreliable, it is the onward connection, not the destination, that is exposed.
My View: Here is where I have landed, plainly. The official advice still says you can fly, and I am not going to argue with the Foreign Office. But the ceasefire has now collapsed twice in three months, and that tells you something worth knowing. The Middle East is not behaving like a reliable part of the map at the moment, and a route is only as good as its most unreliable point.
So for clients travelling east this summer, the first question is whether the journey needs to rely on a Gulf connection at all. Increasingly, where there is a sensible alternative, I would rather it did not. Not because the destinations are unsafe to sit in, but because the corridor through them keeps breaking, and when it breaks it is the onward connection, the next flight, the whole carefully built trip that pays for it. The Gulf is rarely the holiday. It is the route to the Maldives, the Seychelles, Mauritius, East Africa, Asia, Australia, and for most of those journeys there is more than one way through.
If you are already booked through a Gulf hub, the useful conversation is how exposed that booking is and what the options are if it moves. And cancel-for-any-reason cover earns its place every time, because that is what protects you when the official advice and the real world disagree.
None of this is panic. It is pattern recognition. Twice now the calm has not held, and I would rather plan around that than book through it and hope.
Trajectory: Ceasefire collapsed again · FCDO advice unchanged as of going to press · Second collapse in three months · Reduce reliance on the Gulf corridor where there is an alternative
Opportunity · Region · The Americas
Latin America is having its moment.
This is not about one country. The Americas carry no Gulf exposure and clean transatlantic routing, and the region as a whole is seeing its strongest period of high-end growth in years. Foreign visitor spending across Latin America is forecast up nearly eight percent in 2026, more than double the global rate, with the luxury segment now the largest part of the regional hotel pipeline.
The growth is broad, not concentrated. Mexico, Panama, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru and Ecuador are all rising, with new luxury openings spread across the region, from Four Seasons in Cartagena to landmark restorations in Lima and a wave of arrivals along Mexico's coasts. Part of the draw is the same logic drawing people back to the Gulf hubs: travellers are increasingly choosing destinations seen as stable and far from conflict, and the Americas sit squarely in that category. For a UK traveller the routing is clean, though the currency note later in this briefing applies, as much of the high-end market here is priced in US dollars. One practical health note worth a moment: there is a measles surge across the Americas this year, heaviest in Mexico and Guatemala, so it is worth checking your MMR is up to date before you travel, a small thing easily sorted in advance.
My View: This is one of the great parts of the world to travel right now, and I mean the whole of it, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, Guatemala, Belize. I was recently in Costa Rica and it was one of the most phenomenal places I have ever been. The one honest caveat is the currency, it is priced in dollars and the rate is not in our favour this year, so it costs a little more. And because these places are popular and busy, booking ahead gives you far more choice of where you actually stay. The earlier you look, the more of the region is open to you. Tell me where you are thinking and let me hold it.
Trajectory: Positive · Region-wide growth · Clean routing · Stability the draw
Watch · Aviation · Your Summer Flights
Fewer flights, fuller planes. Book early.
Separate from the Gulf question, the shape of summer flying is worth knowing. Even before this latest escalation, airlines were running fewer flights, fuller, with jet fuel tight and schedules being consolidated rather than expanded. The renewed Gulf trouble only reinforces that caution. For getting on a plane this summer, the disruption shows up not as chaos but as fewer flights, running fuller, with less slack in the system if something moves.
In the UK, airlines can now hand back and consolidate flights without losing their airport slots, which removes the penalty that used to force them to fly near-empty aircraft. So schedules quietly tighten rather than collapse. The contraction has been visible at Europe's largest carrier, with Lufthansa cancelling tens of thousands of flights across the summer and retiring fuel-hungry aircraft early, the cuts falling heaviest on short-haul while fuel is protected for the full, profitable long-haul routes.
Your protections are unchanged. If a flight is cancelled the airline must still refund or rebook you whatever the cause. Force majeure removes their obligation to pay cash compensation, but not their obligation to get you there or give you your money back. A cancellation given with long notice may fall outside compensation rules entirely.
My View: What this means for getting on a plane this summer is simple. I expect consolidation, not cancellation. Fewer flights, running fuller. So if you are connecting onto a long-haul service that runs only a few times a week, protect that connection and do not leave it to a tight margin, and families, book your seats together now, because fuller flights fill fast. This is also hitting the front of the plane, business and first are filling earlier than usual on the routes that matter, so book early this summer, not late. The seat you assume will be there in August may not be, and what is left will cost more.
Trajectory: Fewer flights, running fuller · Consolidation through peak summer · Protect tight connections
Watch · Borders · Owners of a Home in Europe
Your European days are now counted, to the day.
The EU's Entry/Exit System has been fully operational across all 29 Schengen countries since April, recording every entry and exit for non-EU nationals by fingerprint and facial scan, and calculating your 90-days-in-180 allowance automatically across the whole area. No country has dropped it. A few have paused it briefly and locally when queues spiked, but that is a six-hour stopgap, not an exemption, and the flexibility to do even that expires in September. Owning property confers no extra right to stay, and an overstay is now recorded on exit even when no officer intervenes. An overstay can lead to fines, removal, and future entry restrictions across Schengen, with the entry ban typically running three to five years.
Peak waits have been running two to three and a half hours at the busiest borders, with the industry projecting up to six hours at the height of summer, and the border agency itself expects the disruption to take a year or two to settle. The grey zone that manual passport stamping once left behind is gone: the allowance counts across the entire area, so a weekend in Paris comes off the same limit as the villa. Greece briefly waved British travellers through, then scrapped that exemption in late May, so no nationality is now exempt. A second layer is coming. ETIAS, a pre-travel authorisation that British and other visa-exempt passport holders will need before boarding, is expected late in 2026.
My View: This matters most to those of you with a home in France, Italy, Spain or Portugal who have always treated the ninety days as a soft line. It is not soft any more. The system counts to the day and it does not forgive. So stop planning your departure for day eighty-nine or ninety. Leave a real buffer, because the one thing you cannot control is your flight, and with airlines thinning their schedules this summer a flight can be moved later than the one you booked. That is how a careful traveller becomes an accidental overstayer facing a ban from their own house. If you own property in Europe and you are not completely certain where you stand against your allowance this year, have that conversation with me before you next travel, not after.
Trajectory: Tightening · No country has dropped it · Pause clause expires September · ETIAS late 2026
Watch · Health · East Africa
Ebola: a watch item, not a closed story.
The picture needs care rather than alarm. The major outbreak remains concentrated in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the Bundibugyo strain has caused well over a thousand cases and there is no vaccine or specific treatment. Uganda has seen only limited cases, imported and contained in Kampala, with no new cases reported since early June. There was one contained imported case in France and an earlier evacuation to Germany, with the risk inside Europe very low. The mainstream safari circuits in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have not been at the centre of this outbreak. But it remains a watch item rather than a closed story.
Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have no outbreak, though they introduced health screening for arrivals from affected countries as a precaution, and that screening may stay in place for a while yet. The one thing still worth understanding, even as the picture eases, is the onward-travel point most people miss: earlier in the outbreak, some travellers who had visited affected countries faced extra health checks or entry questions elsewhere, in Asia for example, even when they were perfectly well. As Uganda quietens that risk recedes, but if you are combining a safari with onward travel it is still worth checking the entry rules for your next stop, not just your destination. The situation remains one to watch rather than one to fear.
My View: My view has moved with the facts, carefully. A few weeks ago the picture in Uganda was worrying enough that I was steering people away from it. It has quietened there since, which is reassuring, but I would not call this over, and I would not want anyone to read it as casual. It is a serious outbreak in eastern DRC and it deserves respect. What I can say plainly is that the safari circuit my clients actually travel, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, has not been at the centre of it, and the operators I work with there are long-established and running normally. A safari in that region remains one of the great trips on earth. I would keep watching, I would check the onward entry rules if you are combining countries, and I would plan it properly with you rather than have you cancel something that is, on the facts, sound.
Trajectory: Major outbreak concentrated in eastern DRC · Limited, contained cases in Uganda, none since early June · Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda not at the centre · Watch, not closed
Tracking · Currency · UK Travellers
Where your pound goes furthest this summer.
A small thing worth knowing, in your favour one way and against you the other. The pound is having two very different years at once. Against the euro it is strong, close to its best in a year, so the eurozone, Spain, France, Italy and Portugal, is better value right now than it has been in a while. Against the US dollar it is soft, so dollar-priced trips, much of the Americas included, cost a little more than they did.
My View: I will leave the economics to those of you who do this for a living, and I know that is a good few of you. Here is the small irony. For much of this year the smart money went west, away from the trouble in the east. Then you look at the exchange rate, and the soft dollar has quietly made that clever trip the dearer one. So if you are heading to Europe, your pound goes further this summer than last. If you are heading somewhere priced in dollars, it does not. Worth knowing when you plan, not worth losing sleep over.
Tracking · Strong against the euro, soft against the dollar · Awareness, no action
Western Europe & the Med
Caution
Border queues building, Lisbon especially, with strikes and heat through summer. The 90-day clock is now automated for home owners.
Eastern Med & the Gulf
Unreliable
The ceasefire has collapsed again and the Strait of Hormuz is quiet once more, yet the Foreign Office advice still says safe as of going to press. Second collapse in three months. Where it matters is as a route east. Larissa is routing clients around the region where she can.
East Africa
Watch
Ebola outbreak concentrated in eastern DRC, limited contained cases in Uganda with none since early June. Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda not at the centre of it and open, with screening only. A watch item, not a closed story. Check official advice before booking.
The Americas & Latin America
Clear
No Gulf exposure and clean transatlantic routing, with broad high-end growth across Mexico, Central America and South America. The soft pound makes dollar-priced trips dearer this year.
UK borders, inbound
Tightening
New checks affecting clients' international guests. Worth flagging to anyone hosting visitors.
Visa and borders, in one line. The Entry/Exit System is live across the Schengen Area now, and ETIAS, the pre-travel authorisation for visa-exempt travellers including British passport holders, is expected in the final quarter of 2026. Together they mean more pre-travel admin from this autumn. Build it into your planning time.
New Safari Openings: Why the Lodge Is Only Half the Story
After all of that, a happier note to end on. The safari world is stirring in a way I have not seen in years. Auberge has moved into safari, bringing together a collection of camps and lodges across Tanzania, some of them already welcoming guests, which is an exciting arrival at the very top of the market. And in Botswana, Singita, whose corner of the Okavango Delta I know first-hand and rate as highly as anywhere I have been, opens Singita Elela there in December. The location is extraordinary and the price sits where you would expect for something that rare, which is to say at the very top.
The lodge, though, is only ever half the story. What turns a beautiful camp into a great trip is the routing, the timing, the guiding and how the whole thing is built around you, which is exactly the part worth getting right before you fall for the photographs. I am looking into both of these properly, and there is a wider wave of high-end openings across Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, Kenya and South Africa worth understanding. I will have more for you on all of it next issue. For now, take it as a reminder that while the headlines have been heavy, the world is still quietly opening up, and some of what is coming is genuinely special.
Larissa
The headlines have moved on. The stories have not. My job is to watch the gap between the two.
Stay informed. Travel well.
Larissa Atkins · Larissa Private Travel
Virtuoso · Forbes Travel Guide · ATOL 7514 · IATA 91-200056
+44 7785 280090 · larissaprivatetravel.com
Intelligence correct at time of issue. Situation evolving.