New Year’s resolutions for 2024 travel

December 30, 2023

12.30.23

In travel news this week: An island resort is eradicating mosquitoes, a bridge in Vietnam was designed for aesthetics instead of transportation, and people around the world are about to enjoy New Year's traditions.

By Lilit Marcus

🥂 New Year's travel resolutions

Stroke of midnight traditions for New Year's (CNN)

As we look ahead to 2024, it's a great time to plan for the year to come.

Eating marzipan piglets. Wearing red underwear. Buying a new suitcase. No matter where you are in the world, every culture has its own special way of ringing in the new year and bringing in good luck for the months to come. Many of these international traditions involve eating a special food or meal, like soba noodles in Japan or grapes in Spain.

And when it comes to making 2024 travel plans, it's not just about where to go – it's about how. In the year ahead, there are lots of ways to be a more responsible traveler as you explore the world.

You can rely on train and bus travel when possible, or seek out an airline that uses alternative fuels. You can stay at hotels that have environmental certification and incorporate sustainable elements. And thanks to Dubai airline Emirates, you can buy high-end luggage made out of recycled airplane parts.

And while you're making resolutions, our roundups of the most unfortunate airplane incidents and the worst-behaved tourists of 2023 offer plenty of hints about what not to do.

🦟 Bye bye bugs?

One upscale island resort is resolving that its visitors won't spend their trip scratching away at mosquito bites. Rather than relying on eradication programs that use chemicals, the Soneva Fushi resort in the Maldives is experimenting with special traps that attract the bugs by smelling like people.

Even better? The reduction in mosquitoes is helping native plants and flowers to thrive.

Whether your 2024 travel plans involve a Maldivian island or not, our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have rated and reviewed the best bug repellents on the market.

🇹🇷 Turkish delight

So hot right now: The Zeyrek Çinili Hamam (Murat Germen)

All over the Northern Hemisphere, the chill of winter has set in. One way to get warmer is to visualize being in a hot, steamy place – like a Turkish hamam, for example.

The famous Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, which has been serving Istanbul for nearly 500 years, recently reopened to the public. It is currently a museum and is set to restart operations as a hamam with separate men's and women's sections in March 2024.

Visitors can experience three different levels: a cold room, a dry seating area and the 50 C (122 F) steam-filled hararet, whose centerpiece is the "belly stone." In the museum, an augmented reality display showcases the hamam's original dazzling tiled appearance.

As writer Alice Barnes-Brown put it, Zeyrek Çinili Hamam is "set to be the only place in the city where you can learn something new, have an AR experience, drink a cup of coffee, get undressed in public – and still feel relaxed when you come out."

Sponsor Content by Wise Bread

Earn $200 after spending $500 with these credit cards

Earn a $200 bonus after spending $500 with these high earning rewards cards — that's like 40% cash rewards on your first $500 in spend. Plus, enjoy unlimited rewards.

👀 In case you missed it

Why would someone build a bridge that doesn't meet in the middle?
The answer has to do with romance.

You can only get to this shop by via ferrata.
It has been dubbed the world's "least convenient convenience store."

Post-divorce, she moved from Texas to Italy.
"My money goes a lot further here," Barbara Barto said.

Less than 1% of domestic flights were cancelled during the holiday season.
See how that compares to the festive period in 2022.

Did you enjoy this newsletter? Drop in and say hi!

You are receiving this newsletter because you signed up for Unlocking the World.
To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or sign up to manage your CNN account

Learn more about the CNN app | Get CNN web alerts | Sign up for a free CNN account