Author: Shawon Hannan
In these times of enforced austerity, holidaymakers will obviously be looking at ways to trim their budgets, and according to the findings of a new survey it is their generosity when tipping that has seen one of the biggest cutbacks. The survey, which was undertaken by International Currency Exchange (ICE), a currency exchange operator, has revealed that 40 percent of British travellers have reduced their tipping levels when travelling abroad, and that 45 percent do not think to allow for tipping when planning their holiday budget. Having carried out a similar survey 12 months ago, the company can confirm a…
Not everyone considers the miserable deluge that was the British summer of 2012 to be a bad thing; it helped Jet2 holidays to achieve healthy passenger figures, as holidaymakers seized the opportunity to fly off to the sun. The low-cost operator, which has its headquarters at Leeds Bradford Airport in the UK, almost doubled its passenger throughput for this summer season, thanks in no small part to the unseasonable washout. In the six months ending September this year, Jet2 transported 312,000 passengers, which was a 97 percent increase on the 158,000 that flew with the airline during the same period…
EasyJet, the budget airline with its headquarters at Luton Airport in the UK, has launched a new website specifically aimed at users in the USA. The website has been launched to cater to the growing demand for the airline’s services from US-based travellers. In addition to a US-dedicated home page, American users that visit the site will find that they can now make advance bookings with the airline in US dollars. The marketing director for easyJet, Peter Duffy, is reported as saying, ‘More than 90,000 US customers visit easyJet.com every week and this number continues to grow. The USA now…
US officials are to pilot high-speed trains on the Amtrak line as a forerunner to introducing them in the US. Trains that connect Chicago and St. Louis will be tested at speeds of up to 110mph. The speed is a 30mph increase compared to the current top speed. While some sections of the population feel that the trains would herald significant economic and social changes in the region, some analysts are sceptical that the project would be profitable. They even doubt that the opening of a faster train service would provide serious competition to air and automobile travel, or that…
Tourism-sector heads in Scotland have said that the nation’s vast array of wind turbines is detrimental to the promotion of tourism. The comments come as plans are afoot to build turbines at Minnygap in Dumfriesshire, and they contradict the recent comments made by Scotland’s first minister, Alex Salmond, who said that wind farms ‘enhance our appeal as a country.’ There are already as many 2,700 turbines in Scotland, and councils receive seven applications a day to open new turbines. VisitScotland recently said that plans to erect turbines on a site north of Dumfries could have a ‘detrimental effect’ on tourism.…
For the second consecutive day, fog has brought delays to the arrival and departure schedules of a number of British airports. The poor visibility has caused further delays to schedules that have already been hit by the effects of a general strike in France. At Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, in excess of 120 inbound and outbound flights were cancelled, while many more have suffered delays of various durations. Two other airports that serve the capital, London City airport and Stansted, have also suffered disruption to their schedules, while Newcastle in the northeast of England has also cancelled flights. Easyjet…
The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) has registered its opposition to plans to bring forward to 2013 the ban on ‘above cost’ credit and debit card charges. The ban on credit card charges is to be imposed by the British government, in response to growing consumer anger over their use by a range of retail industries, including the travel industry. It was recently proposed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ consultation that the ban be brought forward to next year. In its response, ABTA has argued that its members, agents and operators in the travel industry will…
A Scottish mountain peak has been declared accessible to wheelchair users, providing a major boost to the outdoor aspirations of disabled travellers. The mountain in question is Schiehallion in Perthshire, and despite rising to 3,547 feet, qualifying it as one of Scotland’s Munros (Scottish mountains that are over 3,000 feet high), it has paths that can be used by wheelchair users all the way to its peak, from the Braes of Foss car park. The FieldFare Trust, an organisation that seeks to improve access to the countryside for travellers that are disabled, has endorsed the mountain’s wheelchair friendly status. Fieldfare…
Sports tourism has emerged as a major contributor to Britain’s economy after it was revealed that 900,000 football fans visited the UK last year. According to figures released by VisitBritain, the British tourism authority, visiting football fans spent a total of £706m, or £785 each during their trips. Football tourists are particularly lucrative to the economy as their average spend is £200 more than non-sporting visitors from overseas. According to 40 percent of foreign fans surveyed, going to a game was the main reason for their visit, and while the overall visitor figure will have been boosted by Wembley Stadium…
The growing antagonism of passengers towards Air Passenger Duty (APD) has been highlighted by the findings of a recent survey. The duty, which is levied on all flights from a United Kingdom airport on any aircraft that has an authorised take-off weight of more than ten tonnes, or more than twenty seats for passengers, has been the subject of dramatic increases in recent times, and has subsequently drawn much criticism. The new survey, which was carried out by ComRes for UK airports, canvassed the opinions of 2,000 people. An overwhelming 82 percent of those questioned stated that they wanted to…