• Tourism industry news

Travel Weekly, 10 August 2018: Fresh warning over fake holiday sickness claims
A fresh warning has been issued to solicitors over false holiday sickness claims. Law firm regulator the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has reminded them of their responsibilities when handling holiday illness claims. The SRA currently has 18 cases under investigation involving solicitors and false holiday sickness claims. Holiday sickness claims in Britain had increased by 500%, Abta found last year, dwarfing those made by visitors from other European countries to the same hotels. LINK

Travel Weekly, 10 August 2018: Heat hit late bookings, ‘cautious’ TUI confirms
The prolonged heatwave in Europe has made TUI “cautious” about its forecast for the fourth quarter to September and full-year financial results. But TUI chief executive Fritz Joussen dismissed concerns about the impact of a no-deal Brexit despite confirming the group has made plans to handle the fall-out if the UK exits the EU next March without a deal. TUI reported “a very good nine months” in third-quarter results released on Thursday, maintaining its forecast of 10% growth in underlying profit over the financial year despite a fall in profits in the UK in the three months to June. LINK

Travel Weekly, 6 August 2018: Brexit could put ‘25,000 travel industry jobs at risk’
The impact of Brexit on the outbound travel sector could put 25,000 jobs at risk and see a hike in holiday prices of almost a third, a new report warns today. The threat of job cuts comes as British companies face having to pay into overseas state social insurance schemes, so escalating staff costs. LINK

  • Airlines

TTG, 10 August 2018: Ryanair strikes impact UK departures

The UK looks to have escaped the bulk of the effects of the Ryanair pilots’ strike, the biggest in the airline’s history. Pilots based on continental Europe have acted over pay and working conditions on one of the busiest days of the year, with the bulk of cancellations affecting Germany, Belgium and Sweden. The walk out is lasting 24 hours and has caused major disruption in these countries, but has had knock-on effects where crews based on continental Europe were due to operate flights to the UK. Stansted airport saw 14 inbound and outbound flights cancelled on Friday. Most were to Germany, but two were to Gothenburg and one to Dublin. “In the scheme of things, it’s not been too bad, there has been no effects on other parts of the first wave of flights,” said an airport spokesperson. LINK

 

TTG, 9 August 2018: EasyJet launches three new ex-UK winter destinations
EasyJet is launching three new destinations form the UK to Aqaba, Jordan; Rovaniemi, Finland, and Warsaw, Poland for the winter. The Aqaba weekly flight launches on November 10 out of Gatwick, which will also see the launch of four weekly flights to Warsaw on October 31 when twice-weekly flights to Rovaniemi in Lapland will also launch. The Finnish route is expected to prove popular with families, as the town is known as the home town of Santa Claus. The launch is part of the airline’s growth across its European network which will see it launch an additional destination and 21 new routes. LINK

Travel Weekly, 9 August 2018: EasyJet to operate from Gatwick to ‘Santa’s home town’ in Finland

EasyJet is to run winter flights from Gatwick to Rovaniemi in Finland – official hometown of Santa Claus. The twice-weekly service to the gateway to Lapland starts on October 31 on Wednesdays and Saturdays to allow for short breaks. The budget airline expects to carry more than 13,000 passengers in the first winter of operation. LINK

 

  • Travellers and travel agents

Travel Bulletin, 6 August 2018: Discover Egypt unveils 2018/19 Nile cruises onboard new M/S Tulip
Discover Egypt is introducing a new ship to its fleet, the M/S Tulip with weekly departures starting in September from £897 per person, including direct flights to Luxor. The seven-night cruises start and end in Luxor and visit many of Egypt’s top ancient sights including the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, the Temples of Karnak and Luxor, the High Dam at Aswan and the Unfinished Obelisk. There is also an optional excursion to Abu Simbel costing £85 by coach or £255 to fly. LINK

Travel Weekly, 8 August 2018: EasyJet Holidays feels the Love Island effect

EasyJet Holidays is the latest operator to claim a surge in bookings to Majorca on the back of the popularity of reality show Love Island. Bookings to the Balearic island setting for ITV2’s most viewed show ever soared by 20% compared with the period before it was aired. The operator also reported an 18% jump in searches on its website the for Majorcan holidays. LINK

 

  • Competitors

Travel and Tour, 3 August 2018: Malta tourism rises 17.4 percent in 2018 tourism season
The number of inbound visitors to Malta for the first six months of 2018 has been increased about 1.16 million. It is an increase of 17.4 percent over the same period in 2017, Malta’s National Statistics Office (NSO). The total tourist expenditure was estimated at 841 million euros (976 million U.S. dollars), 11.6 percent higher than the same period of 2017. Tourists spent an average of 723 euros per person during their visit, a decrease of 5.0 percent when compared to 2017. The total inbound visitors for June were estimated at 265,823, an increase of 14.5 percent year on year. The inbound tourists from EU member states amounted to 215,429 in June, up by 11.6 percent on year. LINK

Travel Weekly, 8 July 2018: Brits flock back to Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt

British holidaymakers are flocking back to destinations that until recently were feared by many to be at risk of unrest or terrorism. The big winners are Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt, although the two Arab countries have yet to recover their full potential, according to the latest findings from ForwardKeys and Gfk, which predicts future travel patterns by analysing booking transactions by travel agents. Turkey, with the biggest market share of the three, is showing a 66.4% growth in UK leisure bookings on last year; Egypt is ahead 50.9%, and Tunisia – with a 0.7% share – is ahead 901.0%. The latest study – carried out for a joint presentation with HSBC Global Research – shows that overall UK leisure travel is ahead 4.9% this summer. Holiday bookings to more traditional safe destinations, Spain and Portugal, have fallen back 2.5% and 0.2% respectively, according to the combined ForwardKeys and GfK data, although visitor numbers have been kept high in recent years as a result of the threats to other destinations. LINK

Travel Weekly, 7 August 2018: Greece takes Instagram hashtag crown
Greece achieved the most mentions on Instagram at the start of the summer, securing more than 1.4 million hashtags in the three months to July. Croatia closely followed with over 759,000 Instagram mentions and a substantial 270% increase over the first quarter of the year, according to new social media research by Tui. The island of Hvar off the coast of the eastern Mediterranean country featured in last night’s new series of Made in Chelsea and the island of Vis was the location for new film Mamma Mia 2. Cyprus scored third place with more than 249,000 mentions on Instagram, up 77% on the first three months of 2018. LINK

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