Author: News Team

British candidates are still figuring strongly as Tourism Australia’s ‘Best Jobs in the World’ competition enters its next phase. 23 applicants from the UK have already excelled themselves to battle to the second stage of the competition against 350,000 other initial applicants from 196 countries. Now they are in a pool of just 150 applicants from 35 countries for the six dream jobs that await the lucky winners. These are, wildlife caretaker in South Australia, chief funster in New South Wales, park ranger in Queensland, taste master in Western Australia, outback adventurer in Northern Territory and lifestyle photographer in Melbourne,…

Ryanair, the Ireland-based low cost airline, has announced that it is increasing the number of seats that can be reserved on its flights. Following the airline’s success in initially offering six rows of seats per flight that passengers can pay to reserve, and in a move that narrows the margins between the services offered by budget airlines and full-service airlines still further, Ryanair has added rows 32 and 33 to its premium reserved seat service. With eight rows now available to book, 45 passengers per flight will be able to select their preferred seats. Dependant on the length of flight,…

Eurostar, a high-speed railway service that connects London with Paris and Brussels, will not be receiving the new trains that it has on order by the expected delivery date. The trains are in the process of being manufactured by German engineering group Siemans, but delays in the process mean that the first delivery of 10 Velaro trains will not now be met before the end of 2014 as originally promised. Instead, delivery is more likely to be some time during the first few months of 2015. In a statement reported by the Financial Times, Eurostar said, ‘We are still expecting…

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), a UK-based airline owner and the parent of British Airways, has promised that its purchase of Spain-based budget airline Vueling will not impact on services currently operated by its other Spanish airline, Iberia. Suggestions that the Vueling takeover could result in more of Iberia’s loss-making short-haul routes being axed have been scotched by IAG. It was also considered possible that Vueling could be viewed as the prime carrier between Spain and Gatwick in the UK, with British Airways abandoning its own services on the routes to leave the field open to its new sister company,…

A small coastal town in the county of Dorset, UK, is preparing for a tourism bonanza after being the TV drama setting for the fictional town of Broadchurch, and the murder mystery that unravelled there over the show’s eight weekly episodes. Desperate to experience all things Broadchurch now that the series finale has been broadcast on Monday evening, many of the hit show’s estimated seven million fans are keen to witness the macabre landmarks at first hand by visiting the town of West Bay, Broadchurch’s real-life alter ego. The TV show’s plot centred around the murder of a young boy,…

Eurostar, a high-speed railway service that connects London with the cities of Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel, has announced that it has won a sustainability award for its on-board catering. The company has received Sustainable Restaurant Association accreditation as a One-Star Sustainability Champion. The award has been made for Eurostar’s commitment to sourcing local ingredients that have been produced in a sustainable manner, and for pursuing a socially and environmentally responsible approach. Eurostar is the first transport operator to receive the award, and it follows the company’s decision to partner with the Sustainable Restaurant Association (SRA) in 2010.…

Expedia, an Internet-based travel website company with its head office in Bellevue, Washington USA, and operating nearly 30 localised sites in other countries including the UK, is preparing to sell package holidays. While speaking at the recent World Tourism Forum in Lucerne, Switzerland, the company’s senior vice president for global market management, Cyril Ranque, said, ‘There is a huge opportunity in offering packages to customers. We do dynamic packages, selling the old way: select a flight, select a hotel, select transfers, activities and you’re set. But there is much more potential in filtering the needs of the consumer – by…

The growing popularity of Vietnam as a destination for British travellers has been underlined by the announcement that Vietnam Airlines will be increasing its flights from Gatwick for the summer season. The expansion to the air carrier’s schedule will see an additional weekly service to Ho Chi Minh city, taking the number of weekly flights to that destination to three, while it will maintain its flights to Hanoi at the present two per week. British travellers’ burgeoning fascination with Vietnam is likely to be further strengthened over the coming months as a number of Anglo-Vietnamese events are scheduled to take…

The EU has released the details of a survey on water quality around Europe, revealing that the quality of water at some of the continent’s leading tourist destinations is falling short of the required standards. The findings raise concerns over health issues for the millions of travellers that visit the worst affected destinations each year, with 6,311 European towns and cities being cited for providing water that does not meet the EU’s environmental standards. Among them are Pisa in Italy, Ayia Napa in Cyprus and Balaton in Hungary. Even a number of Europe’s foremost capital cities and most popular destinations…

A new study suggests that UK holidaymakers will be big beneficiaries of a cost cutting war at European destinations this summer. The Post Office Holiday Costs Barometer suggests that the popular destinations of the Spanish mainland and Portugal’s Algarve have seen local prices cut by 20 percent and 15 percent respectively. The benefits to UK travellers are still apparent, despite the pound being worth almost 5 percent less than it was a year ago. When compiling its list, the Post Office study took into account the cost of 10 items that holidaymakers are likely to purchase locally. These were a…