• Tourism industry

 

Travel Weekly, 7 September 2018: Hackers steal bank data from almost 400,000 BA customers
A massive online breach at British Airways left hundreds of thousands of customers with their bank data stolen. The airline confirmed last night that 380,000 payment card details were “compromised” in the August peak. BA is urgently investigating the customer data theft from the ba.com website and the airline’s mobile app. LINK

TTG, 5 September 2018: Thomas Cook confirms ‘high level of E. coli’ at Hurghada hotel
Thomas Cook has confirmed there was a “high level of e-coli” at the Hurghada hotel where two British tourists died last month. Cook commissioned independent tests of the food, water and air conditioning at the Steigenberger Aqua Magic hotel following the deaths of John and Susan Cooper on August 21. The couple fell fatally ill at the Red Sea resort hotel but the Egyptian authorities have so far said they died of natural causes. LINK

TTG, 5 September 2018: Spanish stranglehold on UK broken by resurgent eastern Med
The number of UK tourists visiting Spain in the key summer month of July declined more than 5% this year as the destination saw its first fall in overall visitors for nine years. In a further sign of holidaymakers moving back to the eastern Med, Turkey’s total international arrivals in July went up by 11.7% to reach 5.7 million. Spain welcomed 9.98 million international tourists in July, down by 4.9% on the same month in 2017. The UK remained its top market with 2.2 million arrivals, despite the 5.6% year-on-year decline. Meanwhile, Turkey’s UK arrivals rose 27.6% to 355,000 in July – up from 278,000 in July 2017. In the year to August, the number of British visitors to Turkey has increased 37% to 1.2 million. Spain remains the top destination for major UK operators, including Tui and Thomas Cook, but an increase in hotel costs has eaten into their margins. This has led to more demand for other destinations like Turkey, Greece and Croatia where margins are higher. LINK

Travel Weekly, 30 August 2018: UK heatwave fuels domestic holiday demand for 2019

Strong domestic holiday demand is being driven by heightened expectations of warm UK weather after this summer’s heatwave, tourism chiefs say. Last week, VisitBritain predicted a bumper bank holiday August, with 7.3 million people expected to take a UK break as the hottest summer since the 1970s draws to a close. Official 2018 numbers are not yet available, but regional tourism bodies and businesses are reporting record numbers. Pete Waters, executive director of Visit East Anglia, said the weather had had a “huge impact”, complemented by the weak pound and chaos at air and ferry ports. LINK

 

  • Airlines

 

Travel Weekly, 7 September 2018: Norwegian’s August carryings boosted by high long-haul demand

Norwegian saw passenger numbers rise by 10% in August to more than 3.6 million. High demand for low-cost long-haul flights helped boost the carrier’s performance over the same month last year. The airline achieved a 94% load factor on long-haul services flown by Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 89.6% across the rest of the network. This was achieved despite capacity growing by a third year-on-year. LINK
TTG, 6 September 2018: Jet2.com increases flights to Bulgaria

Jet2.com is to add more flights from the UK to its new destination of Bourgas in Bulgaria for summer 2019. The carrier and tour operator Jet2holidays will offer up to 14 flights to Bourgas from its nine UK bases after adding an extra flight from both Leeds Bradford and Manchester. The airline will increase Leeds Bradford flights to Bourgas to two per week, while the Manchester route will operate three times per week. Both extra flights will run on Saturdays from July 6, 2019. LINK

Travel Mole, 5 September 2018: Budget flights to Florida to launch this winter

Icelandic airline WOW air is to launch seasonal flights from the UK to Florida in December with one-way fares starting from under £130. The inaugural flight to Orlando International Airport will depart on December 18 from London Gatwick and Edinburgh. There will be three flights a week, but all of them will operate via Reykjavik, giving a total journey time from London and Edinburgh of just under 14 hours, including the stopover in Reykjavik. The flying time for direct flights from the UK is normally nine hours, or nine hours and 30 minutes. LINK

Travel Weekly, 4 September 2018: BA introduces new Club Europe menus
New menus with improved recipes are being introduced as part of a multi-million-pound investment by British Airways in its Club Europe short-haul business class offering. Passengers will have a choice of two hot options and one cold from September 12 on the airline’s longer European flights to destinations such as Faro. Menus on flights to and from Heathrow will also be changed twice a month, rather than monthly. However, flights to and from Gatwick will continue with monthly menus. LINK

 

  • Travellers and travel agents

Travel Weekly, 7 September 2018: New Jet2 TV adverts target families and couples
A new national advertising push by Jet2.com and Jet2holidays breaks on TV today (Friday). The campaign extends the sister companies’ ‘Hold My Hand’ concept to target more holidaymakers and showcase more areas of the Jet2holidays experience. Three new adverts will be for Jet2holidays and two for Jet2.com, accompanied by the track, ‘Hold My Hand’ by Jess Glynne. The adverts will be supported by radio, digital, out of home, and social media campaigns as well as two online competitions, offering consumers the chance to win a holiday to one of the hotels in Gran Canaria featured in the new advert. The new family-targeted advert will premiere during Coronation Street tonight and targeting couples during the X Factor and Vanity Fair over the weekend. LINK

Travel Weekly, 6 September 2018: Jet2 summer bookings exceed capacity hike
Jet2 and Jet2holidays have seen bookings exceed a 25% hike in summer capacity. Meanwhile, winter bookings were described as being “satisfactory”. The trading update came from parent company Dart Group at its annual meeting.Executive chairman Philip Meeson said: “The positive start to the financial year as reported in our preliminary results statement of 12 July 2018 has continued, with leisure travel bookings growing slightly ahead of our 25% summer 2018 seat capacity increase and winter bookings satisfactory at this stage.” LINK

 

  • Competitors

 

Travel Bulletin, 7 September 2018: Discover the European Capital of Culture on the new Valletta Trail

The Malta Tourism Authority’s latest addition to its series of themed trails showcases the culture and history of the island’s capital, heralded as the European Capital of Culture 2018 and widely regarded as one of the world’s most concentrated historic areas. During a short city break, travellers can explore the ancient streets of this UNESCO World Heritage Site along with its 16th century architecture, museums, restored fortresses and opera house. Must visit locations highlighted on the trail include St. John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta’s Waterfront, Grand Harbour, Upper Barrakka Gardens and Manoel Theatre. LINK

Travel Weekly, 3 September 2018: Holiday rental app introduced by Balearics government
An app designed to enable tourists to check if holiday rental properties are legal has been created by the Balearic Islands government. The Holiday Rental Check Mallorca app is part of an initiative to regulate tourism rentals, to protect those travelling to the islands and to promote a sustainable tourism model that does not impact negatively on the destination. The app is available in four languages – English, Catalan, Spanish and German – and allows tourists to search for rental homes while checking whether properties are compliant with rental laws. LINK

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