Author: News Team
With the London Olympic Games barely 100 days away, London’s economy is expected to get a major boost from the added tourism interest in the city and surrounding areas, due to the influx of international visitors. While the summer 2000 Olympic Games held in Sydney failed to ignite the city’s economy, the 2008 Beijing Olympics were quite successful in boosting the Chinese economy. The UK government’s estimated investment in the London Games is £10 billion, mainly for the construction of venues, and the completion of important infrastructure projects and hotels and new retail outlets in East London. The investment is…
Easyjet, a UK-based airline company, is offering new services from London Gatwick Airport in the UK to Findel Airport, in Luxembourg, with flights to commence from October 29, 2012. The airline is offering a four times weekly service from London to Luxembourg, giving competition to the two airlines that are already flying the route, British Airways, another UK-based airline, and Luxair, a Luxembourg-based airline company. Luxembourg is a an important commercial centre in Europe, with a number of international companies, including Amazon, Paypal, Exxon Mobil and Skype, having their global headquarters based there, so a new connection to the city…
The European Parliament, the governing body for the European Union (EU), has voted in favour of a Passenger Name Record (PNR) agreement with the United States of America. The new agreement will allow participating countries to access the data of passengers travelling to the US, to be used in fighting international crime and terrorism. The agreement is also said to ensure the legal protection of PNR data for the individual, with data protection safeguards on storage time and use of the data, as well as administrative and judicial remedies. The new agreement replaces a provisional agreement that has been effective…
A recent survey by a travel company has revealed that travellers are willing to purchase premium travel options, for the right price, which indicates an upturn on previous survey findings. ALTOUR, a US-based international travel company with offices in the UK, France and other countries, has announced in its ALTOUR Index for April 2012 that promotions offered by luxury cruise lines, airlines, and premium resort vacations have become popular with travellers. Where luxury operators are prepared to offer acceptable pricing, value for money, and discounts, bookings are showing an unprecedented growth in demand. Travel for leisure has risen by around…
Although it is now all of forty-three years since the motion picture, Easy Rider, urged a generation to get their motors running and head out on the highway, those same American highways are still capable of providing discovery and adventure for today’s two-wheel travellers. If you have the pioneering spirit and a motorcycle license, rental companies like Eagle Rider offer a range of bikes that can be picked up from just about any US city that has a flight link from the UK. BMW’s and Honda’s are included in that selection, but it is the iconic Harley Davidson that is…
Airports and airport retailers may be missing out on avenues for revenue generation as travellers are regularly unable to locate airport retail outlets for making last-minute purchases, says a recent study on passenger behaviour, conducted in the US, UK, France and Germany. Around 23 percent of travellers surveyed in Germany, 30 percent in France, 34 percent in UK, and 35 percent in the US have reported being unable to locate shops, restaurants and other retail outlets at airports during the time they spend there. The findings are according to research conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, for NCR Corporation, a company…
Hotel prices in Ukraine are expected to fall for the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, with the introduction of Ryanair, an Ireland-based low cost airline, said the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister, Borys Kolesnikov. Ukraine is hosting the UEFA Football Championships, along with Poland, from June 8 to July 1, 2012. Ryanair intends to offer services to the Ukrainian cities of Lviv and Donetsk from its hub in France from May 2012. Fans will able to attend matches with Ryanair on a round-trip basis, removing the need to pay for hotel accommodation, and it is expected that hotel…
A biannual Hotel Price Index (HPI) from Hotels.com, a travel company and a part of Expedia group, has showed a 4 percent increase in hotel prices in 2011, compared to 2010. The latest Hotel Price Index shows that per room, per night prices in Europe in 2011 have steadily increased since the last economic downturn, to regain the prices paid in 2004. Hotel prices in France have increased by 7 percent while the Mediterranean coastal towns of Valencia, in Spain, and Viareggio, in Italy, have seen price falls. Eastern European destinations are steadily gaining more visits from travellers, and remain…
The Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa, a luxury hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland, has reopened after the completion of a re-modelling project. The hotel is part of Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, a brand from US-based hotel company, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. According to the company, the recent re-modelling of the hotel includes a new and contemporary look for public areas, refurbished guest rooms and meetings complex; as well as the opening of a new restaurant and bar. Hoyt Harper, the company global brand leader for Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, said, ‘We have spent the last few years renovating and rebuilding…
The Olympic Games 2012 will boost travel to London by 31 percent in 2012, when compared to 2011, with most travellers visiting from the US and Germany, according to recent research carried out by Amadeus IT Group, a US-based company and technology provider for the travel industry. The research, conducted in collaboration with Forward Data SL, a market research and consulting company, has cited that travel to London is likely to increase considerably during the Games duration, with a 143 percent increase on July 26, 2012, the day before the 2012 Olympic Games commence, compared to the same day in…