Author: Shawon Hannan

Qantas Airways, Australia’s national airline, has begun to accept bookings for its newly expanded network, in partnership with UAE-based Emirates Airlines. The partnership will be operating its expanded network from March 2013, and has received an interim authorisation from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The airline’s chief executive officer, Simon Hickey, said, ‘The feedback from customers since the Qantas and Emirates partnership was announced has been fantastic, so we are pleased people can start booking from today. No airline can fly everywhere but the combined Qantas and Emirates network means our customers can fly to a wide range…

Bmi Regional, a UK based airline, has launched three new routes from Birmingham Airport in the UK to continental European destinations. The airline has launched new routes between Birmingham and the three European cities of Gothenburg (Sweden), Lyon (France) and Toulouse (France). The services commence on May 13, 2013, with six flights per week for each route. Cathal O’Connell, the airline’s chief executive officer, said, ‘The launch of these routes to Gothenburg, Lyon and Toulouse is a continuation of bmi regional’s promise to serve key economic and tourism hubs across Europe. Launching our first services from Birmingham Airport is an…

East Midlands Trains, a UK-based train service, has begun offering improved mobile phone connectivity on trains to London. The company, which had previously entered into a partnership with Vodafone UK, a mobile network company, has completed the installation of special equipment on each of the 27 Meridian trains on its routes. The new special mobile phone signal booster equipment will be able to increase the mobile phone signal several times over. The installation is now complete on trains travelling to and from London St Pancras, offering improved mobile coverage to all passengers boarding at Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Market…

The historic town of Cheltenham in Gloucester has a lot going for it. It’s within a stone’s throw of the Cotswolds, has plenty of independent shops and fantastic landmarks and scenery. However, this part of the world is perhaps most famous for being home to the Cheltenham Festival, one of the biggest events on the horse racing calendar. First started back in 1860, when it was known as the National Hunt Meeting, it originally started in Market Harborough, but had moved to its current home permanently in 1911. Some of the festival’s flagship events including the Gold Cup (created in…

The prime minister of Bahamas has called for the conservation of the nation’s reefs. Prime minister, Perry Christie, has urged stakeholders to ensure that the nation’s natural wealth, including its beaches, coast, associated reef system and marine life, are not destroyed or unduly compromised in the process of developing a tourism infrastructure. His call comes as the national economy is increasingly dependent on tourism and tourist services. While addressing the opening ceremony of Caribbean Travel Marketplace last Sunday at the Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas, Christie said that the hotel and resort developers opt for prime beachfront and coastal areas of…

Travelodge, the UK based hotel chain, has released a report on the history of travel and tourism in the UK since the Second World War. The report shows that UK tourism has been resilient against most of the economic downturns and has even outperformed the country’s economy in the last five years. While the country’s GDP has increased by 8 percent from 2007 to 2011, the tourism industry has reported an increase in revenues of 12.6 percent, to around £40 billion, which is 10 percent of the country’s GDP. Travelodge chief executive officer, Grant Hearn, has recently written to Vince…

Kenya has opened a luxurious safari camp for those wishing to enjoy comfortable accommodation while experiencing nature in the wild. Last week, the nation opened the doors of a new safari camp to travellers, which has luxury as its main theme. The Olare Mara Kempinski Masai Mara offers a chance for luxury seeking safari-tourists to enjoy modern amenities while enjoying Africa’s experiences. The safari camp has 12 tents, five of which have twin beds and seven have been designed for double-occupancy. It is located within the Olare Orok Conservancy, known for its large number of lion prides. The tents are…

For the third year in a row, passenger traffic at Bristol airport in the UK is on a high, with the number of people passing through the terminal up by 2.8 percent in 2012, compared to the preceding year. A total of 5.9 million passengers used Bristol Airport in 2012, and the rising passenger traffic makes the airport the only one of the UK’s top ten airports to report continuous passenger growth every year since 2009. Robert Sinclair, the chief executive officer at Bristol Airport, said, ‘These figures are a very positive signal that the South West economy is moving…

Just Sunshine, a UK based holiday company, will be offering direct flights to Tunisia from Glasgow Airport in the UK, commencing this summer. The airline has confirmed that as part of its 2013 summer schedule, it will be offering direct flights to Tunisia for three weeks, operating out of Glasgow Airport. The airline is launching its inaugural flight on June 29, 2013, and intends to offer extended services to Tunisia from the summer of 2014. Tony Blakey, the national sales manager at Just Sunshine, said, ‘We have been working closely with the local travel trade over the course of the…

UK travellers and golf enthusiasts keen to improve their game at one of the best golf courses in Spain, will now be able to reach the golfing destinations of the Costa Brava with a new high speed train link. The newly introduced rail link between Barcelona and Figueres covers a total length of 131km, and has commenced commercial operation from January 9, this year. The entire route between Madrid, Barcelona and the French border will form a new rail transport link between Spain and rest of the Europe. The new line, which saw the Perpignan-Figueres section inaugurated in late 2010,…