Author: News Team

One of London’s most iconic buildings, Admiralty Arch is to become a luxury hotel, according to reports. The landmark, bow-shaped building that incorporates a road and pedestrian access between the Mall to its southwest, and Trafalgar Square to its northeast, has been leased to an investment company for 99 years by the British government. The company, Prime Investors Capital, headed by Spanish developer, Rafael Serrano, expects to see a return on the £60m that it has paid for the building by developing it into a 100-bedroom hotel with a ballroom, a spa and high-end dining options. The Grade 1 listed…

Auckland International Airport Ltd’s (AIA.NZ) chairwoman, Joan Withers, has said that Chinese visitors to New Zealand should be encouraged to spend more. Acknowledging that the China tourism market was one of the few growth areas in New Zealand, Withers said that more avenues should be made available that would encourage Chinese tourists to spend more in the nation. She said that spending by Chinese tourists in Australia was higher than that in New Zealand, and therefore visitors need to be encouraged to spend more to bring Chinese tourist spending in the two countries on a par. Withers said, ‘Global markets…

While travellers are increasingly using mobile apps for almost all phases of their travel, rail travellers are claimed to be travelling in constant fear of losing their tickets. Dubbing British rail users, ‘a nation of pocket patting train travellers’, a new survey conducted by CrossCountry Trains, a UK based search engine for cheap train tickets, has reported that large numbers of rail travellers are still wasting man hours while patting their pockets to ensure that they are carrying their tickets during the journey. A poll of 2,000 rail users has reported that around 24 hours are wasted every year by…

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), a UK-based travel agents association, is urging the British government to consider developing a sustainable strategy for airports. The association is stressing that the government should not prioritise business traffic over leisure travel at the busiest airports in the country. ABTA expects that undue emphasis on business travel is likely to hamper outbound travel from the UK, and outbound travel accounts for 1.6 percent of the UK’s DP, or around GBP22 billion. The association is emphasising that it is important that air passengers travelling from the UK are be able to fly from…

AirPlus International Inc, a US-based company that provides a suite of business travel payment solutions, has reported that corporate travellers are becoming more and more compliant with companies’ travel policies. The company has surveyed around 300 travel buyers and found that 15 percent expect compliance rates to be less than current levels in the next two years, and 48 percent of corporate buyers are expecting improved compliance from their travellers. A recent report by the company said, ‘In spite of much discussion about pressure from travellers to book trips independently, buyers say employees are becoming more compliant, not less. No…

Centro, a UK based organisation operating bus, rail and the Midland Metro Tram transport in the West Midlands area, is launching a new visitor and transport information system. The new transportation information system, Interconnect Birmingham, is a collaboration between Centro, Marketing Birmingham, Birmingham City Council, Colmore Business District and Retail Birmingham. The system includes maps of important destinations and attractions in the Birmingham area, with information on walking, cycling, bus, tram and train routes. At the launch of the new system, the Centro chairman, Cllr John McNicholas, said, ‘Having clear directions and travel information can make a big difference to…

East Midlands Airport, operated by Manchester Airports Group, is to become a gateway to worldwide travel with the commencement of flights to Paris by Air France. The new Paris service, which will be carried out via a new code share agreement with UK-based low-cost airline, Flybe, will be twice daily and commence from the 28th of this month. Passengers will then be able to connect with Air France’s Paris hub at Charles De Gaulle Airport, and the 180 worldwide destinations that the French airline has to offer from there. This adds to other existing code share arrangements between the two…

If you’re a homeowner, you should certainly have building insurance, which protects you in the event of damage to the fabric of your home. Contents insurance is arguably essential too – especially if you couldn’t replace the contents of your home easily. Contents insurance can protect your furniture, electrical goods and appliances, clothes, etc. These types of home insurance are all the more important if you’re planning on going away for a while. Your home could be at a higher risk of burglary while you’re away, and if anything happened to your home or its contents you could be left…

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…