Holiday & Travel

Despite daunting challenges presented over the past 18 months by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Caribbean tourism and hospitality industry recorded many significant successes, and data points to an encouraging outlook ahead.

Speaking during the opening plenary session at the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) held last week, Acting CEO & Director General of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) Vanessa Ledesma presented insights on the performance and outlook of the Caribbean tourism industry.

Autumn is the perfect time to experience Blenheim Palace's vibrant views and red-tinted golden hues – and there is so much more for visitors to enjoy in a packed programme of events. There are new exhibitions full of art, history, wildlife and of course, the recent reopening of Sir Winston Churchill's birth room.

The British Airways tail fin will be returning to Birmingham Airport to operate flights between Belfast and Birmingham.   The flights will operate twice daily, increasing to three times a day on a Thursday and Friday.

The flights will be operated using an Embraer 190 with capacity of 98 seats.  Customers can book on BA.com from today with travel between 31 October 2021 and 26 March 2022.

The U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) invited thousands to “Reconnect with Paradise” over the Labor Day weekend at JAY-Z’s “Made in America” music festival, which attracted about 100,000 patrons to Philadelphia’s historic Benjamin Franklin Parkway, widely regarded as the city’s cultural and artistic mecca.

The USVI Department of Tourism, including its Division of Festivals, kept the Territory “top of mind” among prospective mainland travelers by showcasing its musical and cultural attributes through a lively activation held in close proximity to the main stage, which featured top stars ranging from Megan Thee Stallion to Justin Bieber.

Heathrow Airport has criticised Border Force after passengers faced unacceptable queuing times. Images on social media showed packed queues at the west London airport on Friday night, with travellers complaining of waits of several hours.

A Heathrow spokesman apologised for the delays, but blamed Border Force for not providing enough staff at immigration. The Home Office, which has responsibility for Border Force, said the wait times were unacceptable.

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has called upon the UK government to finally bring an end to the travel traffic light system.

The call comes after the latest update which saw just seven countries added to the green list, with Thailand, a popular winter sun destination for holiday starved Brits, and Montenegro, added to the red list. Turkey, widely expected to be able to welcome British visitors, stayed in no-go red, seriously damaging its travel sector.

To provide guests with greater flexibility, river cruise line Emerald Cruises has opened early access bookings for its 2023 European river cruise season ahead of schedule. The announcement will be welcome news for guests, providing them with greater opportunity to book preferred itineraries, as well as access to a wider range of sailing dates and spacious suite options, before the itineraries go on general sale. 

Emerald Cruises is rewarding those planning ahead with significant early booking discounts and added-value extras. Guests booking before 30 September 2021 will save up to £1,400 per couple on cruises along popular rivers including the Rhine, Main and Danube, and the rivers of France. 

Part of The Midcounties Co-operative, Your Co-op Travel is predicting an increase in demand for last-minute sunshine getaways and autumn adventures as the choice of green list travel destinations expands and testing becomes more accessible via its offering for West Midlands-based customers and members, through a partnership with Your Co-op Pharmacy.

The Covid-19 tests are being offered to customers of the independent travel company’s 76 Your Co-op Travel and Carrick Travel high street travel agencies, including 19 in the West Midlands, from just £21. Holidaymakers who book online at cooptravel.co.uk, or via Your Co-op Travel’s call centre, will also have access to the tests at the discounted price.

Alaska Airlines is honoured to support the critical humanitarian airlift mission and the U.S. military as it coordinates the evacuation of individuals and families from Afghanistan. Alaska will operate military charter flights to provide transportation within the U. S. and stands ready to provide additional support to the Department of Defence in their mission.

The company wrote in a press release: “We are proud to support our military service members and grateful to all our employees who have served our country around the world, many of whom have reached out to offer their assistance during this time of need.

The U.S. Virgin Islands is ready to get down to business at the Caribbean Hotel & Resort Investment Summit (CHRIS) taking place at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Florida this week.

Leading the Territory's delegation are the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism and the U.S. Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority (USVIEDA), which are partnering to ensure that the interests of both public and private sector stakeholders are promoted and communicated to would-be investors.

The Bank Holiday weekend is set to see Brits on the move, making the most of the good weather and extra day off work. However a national campaign by Community Rail Networks tourism arm Scenic Rail Britain  is encouraging people to leave the car at home and take the train.

Accounting for 55% of the 2020 carbon dioxide emissions, cars top the list of UK domestic transport emissions. Rail travel produces some of the lowest greenhouse gas emissions, a dramatically decreased level of 3%. 

Due to popular demand, luxury river cruise line Scenic (www.scenic.co.uk) has released a selection of European river cruise itineraries available to book for 2023 ahead of schedule.

This early access provides greater flexibility for guests – allowing more availability on preferred itineraries, suite category and sailing day before the full collection is released. New bookings will also benefit from generous launch savings and early booking discounts.

The return of international cruise lines to Colombia is a reality. On Tuesday August 24th, the first cruise docked at the Port of Cartagena, after more than a year and a half without shipping companies arriving in Colombia. 

This means the cruise season 2021-2022 officially begins in the country! So far, 26 cruise lines are projected to arrive in Cartagena and seven in Santa Marta, both cities located in the Greater Caribbean region of the country. This represents a recovery of 57% of the calls the country had for the 2019-2020 season.

Jamaica will prohibit residents from leaving their homes for seven days spread over three weekends to contain an upsurge in coronavirus infections and shield its healthcare system, Prime Minister Andrew Holness said. The Caribbean nation has been battling a third wave of infections, with the presence of the highly contagious Delta variant confirmed on the island.

"Our case numbers are unacceptably high and rising, and the rate of hospitalization is beyond - and I want to stress this - beyond the capacity of our health system, to cope," Holness recently told a virtual news conference.

With so many of us planning trips closer to home, online motorhome insurance price comparison specialist The Insurers has crunched its data to pinpoint where ‘staycationers’ will be setting off from this summer – and the research reveals that footloose retirees are most likely to be hitting the UK’s roads this year. 

The results, taken over a 12-month period up to May 2021, show that retirees accounted for a whopping 57 per cent of all quotes processed by The Insurers, followed by HGV drivers and builders, respectively.  

Leading UK travel agency, Barrhead Travel, is set to host its first hybrid cruise event this weekend from Friday August 27 to Monday August 30. The travel group held virtual events during pandemic to continue to “inspire and inform” their customers.

Following positive feedback from virtual event attendees, the Glasgow-based travel agency is easing back to face-to-face events with a hybrid concept for its flagship summer cruise event. Pre-pandemic, the agency hosted annual exhibitions in its Glasgow city-centre superstore, which would welcome between 300 and 500 customers throughout the course of each event. During lockdown, the travel group invited customers to join them for a virtual exhibition, bringing inspiration and expertise to living rooms across the country.