Holiday & Travel

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.

With modern design and a spirit of celebration, Four Seasons Hotel New Orleans helps guests plan the nuptials of their dreams, elevating Southern wedding traditions such as a second line complete with jazz band and custom parasols. 

Couples will discover a level of service never-before seen in New Orleans with an attitude that is warm and gracious, but also lively and fun.

As tennis fans around the world eagerly anticipate the start of Wimbledon fortnight, followers of a sister sport are gearing up for their major tournament across the Atlantic.

The Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba is the birthplace of beach tennis and far from the leafy environs of SW19, it will attracts hundreds of professional and amateur players and spectators as it hosts the Aruba Open Beach Championships from November 13-20.

The Bahamas Tourist Office will host dozens of boaters in caravans, across the Gulf Stream and into the beautiful Bahamian waters, in a series of exciting Boating Flings over the next six weeks. This summer series includes four Boating Flings, three of which will head to Bimini June 23-26; July 21-24 and July 28-31.

As the destination’s tourism sector continues its strong recovery, Jamaica has welcome the inaugural weekly flight from Providenciales, Turks & Caicos (PLS), into Ian Fleming International Airport (OCJ) in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, by Inter Caribbean Airways. The new route marks the first time a carrier is offering scheduled commercial air service into the airport since the completion of its renovation in 2011.

Qatar Airways Group celebrates its milestone 25th Anniversary year of operation with its strongest financial performance reflected in its published annual report for 2021/22, 200 per cent above its highest annual historical profit. In the most difficult period ever in the global airline industry, the airline credits its positive results to its agility and successful strategy which continued to focus on customer needs and evolving market opportunities, as well as efficiency and the commitment of its worldwide employees.

Newmarket Holidays, the Escorted Tours, Cruise and Events specialist, has released its Escorted Tours and Holidays Collection for 2022-2024 and put all its 2023 products on sale. An additional eight new programmes have also been added, including Madrid, Porto & the Douro Valley; Salzburg & the Austrian Tyrol; and Costa Rica – Wildlife, Rainforest & Caribbean Beach.

St Basils, an organisation that works with young homeless people in Birmingham, has gained Modeshift Star accreditation for its efforts to encourage active travel.

Councillor Liz Clements, Cabinet Member for Transport, presented the team with the bronze level award.

Tourism leaders from across Asia and the Pacific have placed building resilience and embracing innovation at the heart of the sector’s restart and sustainable future. The 34th Joint Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for East Asia and the Pacific and the UNWTO Commission for South Asia (34th CAP-CSA), was held as destinations across the region begin welcoming back international tourists.

Hamad International Airport (HIA) has been ranked and named the “Best Airport in the World” for the second year in a row by the prestigious SKYTRAX World Airport Awards 2022 at the global event Passenger Terminal Expo in Paris, France. The airport has also retained its title as the “Best Airport in the Middle East” for the eighth year in a row.

Wales’ Bluestone National Park Resort has cut the amount of wasted single-use plastic bottles by 25,000 a year, it was revealed on World Refill day. Guests have been urged to use reusable bottles and cups at the resort as part of efforts to reduce waste and the use of single-use disposable plastic bottles and cups after it stopped selling them.