Author: News Team
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…
Eurostar International Ltd, the company that operates high-speed passenger trains between London and the European mainland, via the Channel Tunnel, has released a video to provide prospective passengers with a first glimpse of the new trains that will be carrying them from 2014. The new Valaro e320 trains are being built as part of a £700m investment in Eurostar’s fleet that will also see an extensive refurbishment of existing trains. The video shows one of the new trains taking shape in the factory, currently in the form of an impressive, polished metal carcass. Designed by Italian design studio, Pininfarina, the…
Travel company, TripAdvisor, has announced that it has rated the top wine getaways in Europe. According to the company, Italy and France are the most popular wine destinations in Europe, and the travel firm has rated and awarded the top nations as part of the 2012 Travellers’ Choice Wine Destinations awards. The company said that Italy takes the top region in wine destinations, with Tuscany coming out as the number one Travellers’ Choice Wine Destination for Europe. Aquitaine in France was awarded second place under the rankings. The recent list compiled by Tripadvisor shows that France was dominating the overall…
Manchester Airport Group (MAG), a UK based holding company that owns Manchester, East Midlands and Bournemouth Airports in the UK, will be making an official bid to acquire London Stansted Airport in the UK. The company is interested in acquiring the airport in partnership with an Australian investment company, Industry Funds Management. London Stansted Airport, which is being sold by its owner, BAA Ltd, the owner and operator of six British airports including London Heathrow, is assessed to be worth around £1 billion. MAG said that it would partner with an infrastructure specialist to try to buy Stansted. Charlie Cornish,…
Qatar Airways, a Qatar based airline company, will be putting its initial Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft in to service on flights between London Heathrow and Doha from December 2012. The airline chief executive officer, Akbar Al Baker, commenting on the announcement, also said that he is in favour of an additional runway at London Heathrow airport. He said, ‘Heathrow is bursting at the seams and has already reached a critical point. Already heading towards a double dip recession, the UK cannot afford to lose out on the huge benefits a third runway would bring to the economy in south east…
London cabs have been voted the best taxis in the world, according to an annual global taxi survey conducted by Hotels.com, a US-based travel company and a part of the Expedia group, Around 11 percent of global travellers who voted in the survey favoured London’s black cabs as the best in the world, followed by those in New York (6.4 percent), Tokyo (5.6 percent), Shanghai (4.8 percent) and Bangkok (4.3 percent). Travellers voted for the cabs in seven categories, and London cabs took the lead in five of those categories; friendliness, knowledge of the area, cleanliness, safety and quality of…
Eurostar International, a UK-based high-speed rail service between the UK and mainland Europe, has reported a good performance for its third financial quarter of 2012, riding high on the recent 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. While passenger numbers remained flat year-on-year at 2.6 million during the third quarter of 2012, the London Games affected travel patterns. Passenger numbers for the Olympic and Paralympic periods have gone up by 4 percent, although the number of leisure travellers visiting London in July 2012 had been lower than the preceding year. The company has reported a drop in sales revenues of 5 percent…
London Gatwick Airport in the UK, has reported that it is considering the construction of a new runway, and is presently weighing up the advantages of doing so over other airport expansion options. The airport is considering construction of the new runway, while acknowledging a legal agreement with West Sussex County Council, which prevents any new runway being constructed at the site before 2019. The airport is preparing a report, which will be submitted to the Independent Commission on Aviation Connectivity, chaired by Sir Howard Davies. Stewart Wingate, the chief executive of Gatwick Airport, said, ‘Over the last three years…