Travelstart, the South African-based Online Travel Agency (OTA) with offices throughout Africa and subsidiaries in the Middle East and Turkey, today announced a US$40 million funding from Amadeus Capital Partners, the global technology investor. With the new funding comes a strategic partnership with Africa’s largest mobile telecommunications provider MTN [JSE: MTN] which has a subscriber base of more than 230 million. The funding will be used for Travelstart’s expansion and to solidify the company’s position as the biggest OTA player on that continent.

Finding the perfect holiday for you and your family can be challenging, especially when you don’t know where to look in the first place! Thankfully you will never be short of online operators keen to share with you all the latest holiday offers and packages, but the real challenge is filtering through the myriad of holidays out there and finding what’s right for you.

With 22 Boeing Dreamliner planes on order and a host of new destinations on the horizon, the future looks bright for Spanish-owned carrier Air Europa. Here Breaking Travel News editor Chris O’Toole sits down with UK director Colin Stewart to discuss the latest developments at the carrier, the opportunities afforded by the falling price of oil, and the changing political situation in the Caribbean.

For generations Cuba has been a tantalising prospect for American travellers, always just out of reach across the Straits of Florida. Now, with restrictions on travel beginning to lift, the rapidly growing flows of tourists to the capital Havana risk destroying what makes the city so vibrant. Here Breaking Travel News editor Chris O’Toole visits to find a city on the cusp of resurrection.

Although classed as a relatively young nation, America has a rich and diverse history and, unsurprisingly, cultural and heritage tourism is fast becoming a lucrative sector within the country’s tourist industry. Every year an increasing number of visitors are flocking to key historical sites to enjoy the myths and stories that have shaped and defined American culture. This boom in popularity is due in part to the efforts of the Part-ners in Tourism, an organization that devised effective and innovative methods to improve the growth of her-itage tourism throughout the US.

There is something really invigorating about spending a day on the slopes skiing or snowboarding and there is nothing better than staying in a luxury ski chalet, so you know you have somewhere to go to curl up in front of an open fire at the end of a long day on the runs. Luxury chalets come in all shapes and sizes, from chalets that sleep more than 40 people through to more intimate chalets that are ideal for couples. Before you begin shopping around for the ideal chalet, you will need to set out a budget as some of the world’s most luxurious chalets can go for £100,000 per week, while others for just a couple of thousand.