Holiday & Travel

European river cruise specialist, VIVA Cruises, has unveiled exciting news for 2023 – including the launch of its second built ship, VIVA TWO. The company will also give a fresh new look to two of its ships, VIVA VOYAGE and VIVA GLORIA, and offer new and innovative routes next year. All 2023 itineraries can already be found and booked online. 

14th July marks the opening of Marbella's hotly anticipated new property, Hard Rock Hotel Marbella, after a full renovation. The adults-only property will offer unique experiences through its state-of-the-art facilities and services, while reflecting the immersive music environment for which Hard Rock Hotels are known.

Qatar Airways has again taken the top prize at the AirlineRatings Awards by securing the prestigious ‘Airline of the Year’ award in addition to being named ‘Best Airline in the Middle East’ and also taking home the ‘Best Business Class’ award. This is the second year running that Qatar Airways has scooped the top prize and the fourth year in a row to take home the ‘Best Business Class’ award.

The 7th edition of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Global Conference on Wine Tourism will be held in La Rioja in 2023. This new edition was presented at the Vivanco Museum of Wine Culture, with the participation of Concha Andreu, President of the Government of La Rioja; Reyes Maroto, Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism; and the Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, Zurab Pololikashvili.

Qatar Airways unveils Platinum, Gold and Silver lounges at its award-winning hub, Hamad International Airport (HIA), inviting Privilege Club loyalty members and oneworld alliance card holders to access the dedicated lounge corresponding to their frequent flyer tier status when transiting through Doha.

Strike action is suspended after a fresh pay offer from British Airways, GMB have announced.

Wide ranging talks were held with a significant move on pay and conditions from BA. A ballot on the offer will now go to members.

Almost a quarter of people in the UK (23 per cent) consider going on holiday as essential spend, with almost a third (30 per cent) saying they would reduce donations to charity to afford a holiday, new research published by Charitable Travel reveals.

Whilst 18 per cent of people considered donating to charity as ‘essential’, almost three quarters (71 per cent) blame the cost-of-living crisis as the reason for not donating more.

The first Global Youth Tourism Summit concluded by showcasing the power of tourism for youth empowerment, international solidarity and peace.

Drawing the landmark event to a close, UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili joined UNWTO Director for Europe, Alessandra Priante, in thanking the 130 young delegates for their active participation.

The newly elected President of Costa Rica, Mr. Rodrigo Chaves Robles, has chosen William Rodríguez as the country's new Tourism Minister, replacing Gustavo Alvarado as head of the department. As well as becoming Costa Rica's new Tourism Minister, Rodríguez will also be head of the Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) from now on.

Journee is set to make UK travellers' holidays one to remember as they deliver mystery trips that explore new cultures. Journee is so confident that people will love their trips they don't even tell them where they're going until the airport! 

Brand new trains that will transform and improve transport throughout Wales and the borders have been on show at Chester railway station.
Assembled by CAF at their factory in Newport, the first Class 197 train with its ‘Made in Wales’ tag was revealed to the public, offering a taste of what’s to come for customers in the next few months.

The capital city of Germany, Berlin, is set to benefit from enhanced connectivity to over 150 destinations, courtesy of the World’s Best Airline, Qatar Airways. Following the increase in services from daily flights to initially 10 and further rising to 11 weekly flights from Berlin Brandenberg Airport, German passengers can enjoy flights on the state of the art Boeing 787 aircraft, to global business cities including Mumbai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo plus leisure destinations including Bali, Maldives, Seychelles and South Africa.

Travel Counsellors, one of the UK’s leading independent travel companies continues to break all records, with nearly 60 Travel Counsellors (TCs) recording their strongest ever sales month in June. 

One TC generated the highest number of sales ever recorded for a single person in the company’s history, at £1.5 million.

Ryanair have announced its biggest ever Birmingham Winter schedule with an additional based aircraft and five new routes to exciting destinations including Billund, Grenoble, Santander, Stockholm, and Toulouse. Its Birmingham based fleet will increase to five aircraft, two of which will be new Boeing 737 8-200 “Gamechanger” planes, which offer 4% more seats, burn 16% less fuel and create 40% less noise emissions.

At least 800 flights were cancelled across the United States on Monday afternoon, according to the flight-tracking website FlightAware. This follows another chaotic travel weekend with more than 1,500 domestic flights cancelled Saturday and Sunday.

Delta (DAL) alone cancelled at least 224 flights Monday, or 7% of its operations, while United (UAL) cancelled 128 flights and American Airlines (AAL) nixed 67. CNN has reached out to the three airlines for comment on the flight cancellations.

There are high expectations set for aviation to become more sustainable, and the industry as a whole is implementing and incorporating new solutions into its day-to-day processes. A recent study has found that only one in 50 climate target goals has been met by the international aviation industry, but some regions are keeping up with them better than others.