RAIL
NETWORK RAIL SELLS ACCESS RIGHTS ON WEST COAST MAIN LINE
Digital editor Tom Newcombe compiles the latest news from
www.buyingbusinesstravel.com
VISAS
NETWORK RAIL HAS REACHED an agreement with rail operator Great North Western Railway Company (GNWR) to sell access rights for West Coast Main Line services. GNWR will now run six
daily return services from Blackpool and Huddersfield to London.
The decision is pending Theresa May
UK ignores business travellers in Chinese visa changes
HOME SECRETARY THERESA MAY has failed to announce any fresh measures to make it easier for Chinese travellers to obtain a UK business visa. However, May did announce changes to the tourist visa process for Chinese travellers, after pressure from Beijing to simplify the system. Chinese tourists will now be able to use the same website to apply for a British and a Schengen visa, which allows travel to almost all other EU countries. Currently, Chinese visitors have to go through the application process twice. However, May didn’t make any changes for business travellers, apart from reiterating that a 24-hour ‘super priority’ visa service would be in operation from August. This will reportedly cost £600. The announcement follows comments from China’s ambassador to the UK, Liu Xiaoming, who warned Britain had fallen behind France and Germany in Beijing’s estimation, mainly because of the difficult visa system.
approval by the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR). The announcement was welcomed by the GTMC, which has supported Open Access across the rail network since the start of the year. “This is a key step
forward in the development INDIA
of Open Access and greater competition across the UK rail network,” said GTMC CEO Paul Wait. “There is great support for Open Access from the business travel community, not least because it will generate numerous benefits in terms of cost, connectivity and productivity from Open Access operators competing against incumbent franchisees. “We would urge the ORR to support this agreement and approve the sale, so that business travellers and UK Plc can start to reap the economic benefits of improved open access.”
Mumbai INDIAN MARKET GROWTH
INDIA HAS MOVED INTO the top ten of the largest business travel markets in the world, according to the GBTA. After a period of economic growth stuck below 5 per cent, along with soaring inflation, India’s total business travel spend is predicted to grow 2.1 per cent to US$24.9 billion this year. The GBTA outlook report on India expects this growth to
We need a northern powerhouse. Not one city, but a collection of cities – sufficiently close to each other that, combined, they can take on the world.
Chancellor George Osborne says Britain needs a third high-speed rail link between cities in the north of England
6 BBT JULY/AUGUST 2014
increase further in 2015, to US$28.8 billion. Over the past 15 years, India has worked its way up the rankings of major global business travel markets, from 24 in 2000 to tenth place in 2013. The study found that domestic business travel spending has dominated – comprising 90 per cent of total business travel spend in the country – driven by both the dramatic growth of the middle class, and the size and multitude of business centres throughout India.
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