Holiday & Travel

Birmingham Airport has welcomed back the British Airways tailfin as BA CityFlyer launches services to Belfast City.

The schedule provides ten flights a week up to the new year, increasing to 16-weekly in early January.

The remaining seven destinations on the UK red list - Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Panama, Peru and Venezuela - will be removed from Monday.

Passengers returning to England from these destinations will no longer be required to enter hotel quarantine. However, the government confirmed the red list and quarantine hotel policy “remains in place”.

Following a multi-million-dollar transformation, Sandals Resorts International (SRI) has unveiled plans for its completely reimagined all-inclusive resort in Nassau, Bahamas, the all-new Sandals Royal Bahamian.

Designed to celebrate the easy-going spirit of the Bahamas with locally inspired experiences and a thoughtful, modern approach to luxury, the company will reopen their award-winning hotel, spa and private island on January 27th.

The recently re-branded The QHotels Collection have announced the formation of a new Spa Academy which will see the creation of new positions across the group and training and qualifications for existing Spa, Beauty & Wellbeing practitioners.

Sarah Abercrombie is the inspiration behind this initiative.

Respected Caribbean hotelier Nicola Madden-Greig has been named the new president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).

The award-winning Jamaican businesswoman was elevated to the position during CHTA’s Annual General Meeting last week.

Summer may be over but the demand for a Staycation remains strong, with 44% of families from the Midlands saying they are taking a short break this October half term, as revealed in the autumn segment of the 2021 Travelodge Holiday Index.

A survey of 2,000 British families to discover their October school holiday travel plans was conducted by OnePoll on behalf of the UK’s leading budget hotel group, which operates over 578 hotels across the UK.

Jamaica’s Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says the island nation has welcomed a total of 1,285,368 visitors since the reopening of the country’s borders in June 2020, with estimated earnings of US$1.7 billion.

He said that the figures, up to September 2021, comprise approximately 1,276,987 stopover visitors and 8,381 cruise passengers.

Qatar Airways Holidays has launched extensive travel packages for the inaugural FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 welcoming global football fans to enjoy the finest Qatari hospitality and follow their favourite team in person. The region’s showpiece tournament will take place from 30 November to 18 December, 2021.

New research from national tourism agency VisitBritain demonstrates the increasing importance of football in driving inbound tourism to the UK and in boosting visitor spending. Its ‘Football Tourism in the UK’ report published today shows that overseas visitors who went to a football match spent £1.4 billion across the UK in total during their trip in 2019, up 84% on the £742 million spent in 2011 when the research was last conducted.

With the 2023 Luxury Yacht Cruise Collection second edition brochure release, Emerald Cruises has unveiled the details of its new destination – the Seychelles – on board the recently announced Emerald Sakara, joining Emerald Azzurra in 2023. This is the first time that details of Emerald Sakara’s inaugural season and itineraries have been revealed.

Emerald Sakara’s maiden voyage will be the 11-day Tropical Charms of the Seychelles itinerary, taking guests on a round-trip from Victoria, Mahé Island, the capital of the Seychelles.

The U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday travellers will be able to fly to the States if they’ve received shots of vaccines approved or recognized for emergency use by the World Health Organization or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. It did not say whether that included people who had received a mixed-dose regimen of approved vaccines.

As Caribbean tourism destinations continue their journey towards some semblance of normality, preliminary data from member countries of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) reveal that the region outperformed the rest of the world in the first half of 2021.

During this period, international tourist arrivals to the Caribbean reached 6.6 million, representing a 12.0 per cent decline when compared to the same period last year.

The relaxation of travel restrictions means that golfers looking to enjoy a round under the winter sun can now head overseas much more easily. Both Spain and Portugal are popular destinations with golfers thanks to their easy access from the UK, pristine courses and inviting weather with both Iberian nations looking forward to an influx of golfers over the next couple of months.

As the United States prepares to welcome European visitors once again this November, the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism is taking its marketing messages to Italy.

“Italy is one of a select group of international markets in which the Territory will strategically focus its marketing activities in the coming weeks and months,” said USVI Commissioner of Tourism Joseph Boschulte, who added that the Department has also identified Canada and Scandinavia as key markets for the USVI.

“One destination does not make an itinerary,” said U.S. Virgin Islands Commissioner of Tourism Joseph Boschulte as he highlighted the importance of greater collaboration among Caribbean destinations and cruise line partners to ensure the safe and successful return of cruises to the region.

Jamaican authorities said that the country is “eagerly preparing” for the resumption of cruise calls by Royal Caribbean International beginning in November, as well as more than 110 planned cruise ship visits from October through April 2022 by Carnival Cruise Line.

According to a press release, Royal Caribbean intends to resume cruises with limited operations as of November, following over a year and a half hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.