Author: Shawon Hannan

Scotland is becoming one of Europe’s more popular destinations, with STR Global, a company that researches the hospitality industry, having released a report that ranked three cities in Scotland as being among the top five European destinations in terms of hotel occupancy. The three Scottish cities that made it into the top five hotel occupancy locations in Europe are, Inverness (second in the list), Edinburgh (third) and Stirling (fifth). Other Scottish cities that made it into the top 20 European destinations listed by STR Global for the highest hotel occupancy, are Dundee, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St Andrews (seventeenth). The summer…

British travellers are among the most positive when visiting foreign countries, according to the results of a recent survey released by TripAdvisor, a company that offers an online travel community for collating user-generated travel information. When giving reviews, contributors from Britain have scored 4.1 out of 5 on average, which is among the most positive on the Tripadvisor site, and much higher than most European nations. South Africa has topped the list of most positive reviews on TripAdvisor, with an average score of 4.22 out of 5 posted by reviewers there, and compared with a 3.8 average score posted by…

Hollywood superstar couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, are taking their children for a waterside break at Lake Windermere in Cumbria, according to a report in the Daily Mirror newspaper. England’s largest lake, set amidst the valleys and uplands of the Lake District National Park, has long been a favourite getaway destination for British families that are not on a film star’s budget, but now they are to be joined by two of the best known and most prolific screen icons of the day. The couple and their six children, Maddox, 11, Pax, eight, Zahara, seven, Shiloh, six, and four-year-old…

Credit card services provider, MasterCard (NYSE: MA) has announced that it is partnering a summer promotion campaign to promote tourism in Egypt. The company said that it has entered into a collaboration with air carrier, Egyptair, to promote Egyptian tourism. As per the plan, financial services provider, MasterCard, and Egyptair, which is the flag carrier airline of Egypt, will jointly manage a cash-back promotion. The programme will be applicable to tourists travelling to Egypt from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The main benefit of the new project is that it will allow MasterCard cardholders to be eligible…

The government of Saudi Arabia is undertaking major initiatives to develop tourism in the country. The country, which in tourism terms has been lagging behind other nations in the GCC because of cultural and other factors that are often at odds with recreational tourism, is now looking at ways of enhancing its tourism image. In particular, the government is exploring means to make Makkah, Saudi Arabia’s most popular tourism destination, a major tourist hub. The government has also relaxed its traditionally conservative stance and is to sanction more recreational projects to attract tourists to the nation. According to prince Sultan…

With the intention of enhancing tourism, Seychelles has announced eco-friendly projects to capitalise on the nation’s rich natural wealth. For a small island nation such as Seychelles, conservation projects are not that easy to implement. However, the nation has declared more than 50 percent of its land as protected reserves, no mean feat considering its size and economic limitations. The move, according to the authorities, will preserve the nation’s natural reserves, as well as enhancing tourism that will act as the main revenue earner for the state. James Michel, president of the Seychelles Republic, has taken a personal interest in…

Network Rail, a company that operates the railway network in the UK, is launching a smartphone application to cater for the network’s emergency requirements. The application links the company’s helicopters to emergency services, and will be able to track crews dealing with incidents on the railway network. The application, which has been named ‘Where Am I?’, uses GPS to locate the incident and then translates the location into geological references. The app has been created to allow the air crew surveying the railway line to find the locations of incidents and send that information to crew members on the ground,…

Bath Tourism Plus (BTP), a marketing agency for the city of Bath in the UK, has recently released the findings of a report commissioned into Bath’s conference and events market. The report has indicated that in 2011 there were around 3,750 business events held in the city for around £24.4m in revenue, a rise of 15 percent compared to 2009. The report, which has been produced by TEAM Tourism Consulting, measures the value and characteristics of Bath’s conference and events market and draws upon data provided to the UK Events Market Trends Survey (UKEMTS) by conference venues across the city.…

The new West Coast mainline rail franchise in the UK, which has recently been granted to First Group, a Scotland based transportation company, will be signed later this week despite growing controversy over the decision. Virgin Trains, a UK-based train company and the present operator of the franchise, has been running an electronic signature campaign to press for a parliamentary discussion against the granting of the operation of the West Coast line to First Group. The campaign has collected around 100,000 signatures to date. However, transport secretary, Justine Greening, has said that the new contract will be signed soon and…

Travellers that are keen to get the best possible value for money from their travel arrangements would do well to organise their flights on a day in the middle of the week, according to the findings of a recent survey. The survey was undertaken by consumer watchdog, Which?, and according to its findings, Tuesday is the cheapest day of the week to book a flight out of the UK, while Sunday is the most expensive. Flights with budget airlines can be as much as 35 percent more expensive on a Friday than the equivalent flight leaving on Tuesday, according to…