Travel News — week of 18 September 2026

Carefully selected travel news, interpreted for the individual traveller. Checked 18 September 2026.

What this briefing covers. This is a weekly read on the ten destinations Great Wide Open writes about — Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain and the USA. It is not a global bulletin. A quiet week here tells you nothing about anywhere else: if you’re travelling to another country, please keep checking the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) advice and your own providers for developments that may affect your plans.

What matters this week

A large typhoon is forecast to reach Tokyo on Monday, a public holiday at the end of a three-day weekend, and two days after the Asian Games open near Nagoya. Britain’s air traffic control failure now has an independent review, though nothing has changed for passengers claiming money back. The story going round that America’s ESTA fee rises on 1 October is a year out of date. Australia is capping second-year backpacker visas. And southern Japan’s severed Shinkansen line reopened this morning.

At a glance

Development	Who it affects	Action
Typhoon Dujuan forecast to approach Tokyo on Monday 21 September	Anyone in or flying to eastern Japan, 20–22 September	Watch the JMA forecast daily; keep a spare day
Kyushu Shinkansen through-service restored this morning	Rail travellers in southern Japan	Re-check any leg booked before today
Independent review ordered into the 8 September UK air traffic failure	Anyone flying from a UK airport	Claim out-of-pocket expenses, not fixed compensation
US ESTA fee is $40.27 — and has been since January	Visa Waiver travellers to the USA	Budget $40.27; apply only on the official CBP site
Australia to cap second-year working holiday visas at 45,000 by ballot	UK backpackers hoping for a second year	Don’t assume an extension; watch Home Affairs

Weather and natural events

Japan: a large typhoon is due to reach Tokyo on the holiday Monday.
Typhoon Dujuan, the season’s twenty-fifth named storm, was near the Ogasawara Islands and moving north-west at 3am on Friday 18 September, central pressure 980 hectopascals, gusting to 40 metres per second. Forecasters expect it to clear the Ogasawaras over the weekend, then turn north and east to make its closest approach to the Kanto region — Tokyo and the prefectures around it — on Monday 21 September. Rain reaches Kanto and Tohoku from Saturday, with more than 30mm an hour possible on the coast on Sunday, and Japanese forecasters are flagging the possibility of warning-level rain in Tokyo on Monday. The timing sharpens it: Monday is Respect for the Aged Day, the end of a three-day weekend in Silver Week, when domestic trains and flights are already full. A track four days out is a forecast, not a fact — it may weaken or slide east — so check the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) each morning rather than planning around today’s map.

Flights and getting there

The UK air traffic failure has a review now — but your compensation position has not moved.
The Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, told the Commons on 11 September that the 8 September failure at National Air Traffic Services (NATS) was avoidable, and ordered the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to hold an independent review, with an update due in six months. NATS was told to report within a week; we could not find that report published. Newspaper reports link the fault to a flight plan filed for a military aircraft, but NATS has not confirmed it and the Ministry of Defence disputes it, so the cause is still unknown. For passengers nothing has changed: the CAA’s position is that the outage likely counts as an extraordinary circumstance, so claim meals, hotel and rebooking costs rather than the fixed cash compensation.

Japan: the Kyushu Shinkansen is whole again.
JR Kyushu restarted the Kumamoto–Shin-Minamata section at about 6.10 this morning, restoring through service between Hakata and Kagoshima-Chūō for the first time since the magnitude 7.1 Kumamoto earthquake of 28 July. Speed restrictions near the fault add up to eight minutes, and a few Sakura and Mizuho services south of Kumamoto are cancelled under the revised timetable, so re-check anything booked before today. On the local lines, the Kagoshima Main Line between Uto and Yatsushiro and the Hisatsu Orange Railway stay closed until around mid-October.

Borders and entry rules

The United States: the ESTA fee story going round is a year out of date.
You may have read that the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) fee rises to $40 on 1 October. It does not. The rise already happened: US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has charged the inflation-adjusted $40.27 since 1 January 2026, and we can find no notice setting a new amount for the year beginning 1 October. The separate $250 “visa integrity fee” applies to visa applicants, not to Visa Waiver travellers using ESTA. Budget $40.27, and apply only on the official CBP site — the copycat sites charge a premium for nothing.

Australia: second-year backpacker visas are to be capped and balloted.
The Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, announced on 17 September that a second year on a Working Holiday Maker visa will be capped at 45,000 places allocated by ballot, with the third year restricted to 5,000. Around 57,000 backpackers took a second year last year, so that is a real cut. How it lands on British passport holders we cannot yet tell you: the ballot as described is tied to schemes carrying an 88-day regional work requirement, and the UK scheme, under the free trade agreement, has none. No start date has been announced, and the Department of Home Affairs had published nothing on it when we checked. If you are hoping for a second year, do not assume it.

Dates for the diary

19 September (Japan): the Asian Games open in Aichi and run to 4 October — full hotels and crowded trains around Nagoya, and road closures near the stadium on the opening evening.
19 September (India): the India Meteorological Department (IMD) expects the south-west monsoon to begin withdrawing from western Rajasthan. Heavy-rain alerts have moved east and south — West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha and the Andhra and Telangana coast — while Delhi, Agra and Jaipur dry out for the autumn season.
30 September (Italy): a four-hour national air traffic control strike, 13:00 to 17:00, still listed as going ahead when we checked today.
Southern Spain: the National Travel Health Network and Centre (NaTHNaC) reported on 11 September that Spain had recorded 104 locally acquired West Nile virus cases this year, across five areas; Andalusian health authorities have municipalities on alert. There is no vaccine — use repellent at dawn and dusk.
South Korea: UK visitors remain exempt from the Korea Electronic Travel Authorisation (K-ETA) until 31 December 2026, but must still complete the digital e-Arrival Card.
Europe: the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) still has no announced start date. Nothing to apply for yet.

Before you travel

This briefing is a weekly selection covering only our ten destinations, not a global or emergency service. For anything time-sensitive — or for any country we don’t cover — check the FCDO advice for your destination and your airline or operator directly. Rules and disruption can change between editions.