Just a Drop raises record £18,500 at this year’s WTM An estimated £18,500 was raised for international water aid charity Just a Drop at this year’s World Travel Market, the highest sum since it was founded in 1998. The charity ran a popular Use Water, Give Water initiative from its stand, which featured a giant tap. Visitors were encouraged to buy a reusable water bottle, donated by H2Wow. Free water refills were available from water stations at the ExCeL centre in London.
“Airlines can do a bit of disruption because they own the customer’s eyeball”
Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs spells out the budget carrier’s intentions at the Travolution Summit
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Airports to benefit from £15bn road improvements The government has revealed plans to spend £15 billion increasing capacity and improving Britain’s roads, including improvements to connections around Heathrow and Gatwick and Dover and Southampton ports. Saga Group’s Louis Myers said: “This proposal is going to be good for travellers of all ages. The planned improvements will also be a huge benefit to airport expansion plans, allowing people to travel with greater ease to their UK departure and arrival airport.”
Vbrata targets Maranhao experts with training course Brazilian tourist board Vbrata is looking to turn agents and operators in the UK into ‘experts’ in the country’s northeastern state of Maranhao. The tourist board has created online training at
brazilot.com. Prizes include an iPad Air and places on a 2015 fam trip to Brazil. Agents must take the training before December 15.
Costa Concordia captain gives evidence for first time Francesco Schettino, captain of Costa Concordia, which sank with the loss of 32 lives in January 2012, gave evidence in court for the first time on Tuesday. He said his reasoning for steering the ship to Giglio was to “salute” the island and “kill three bird with one stone”: impress the head waiter and ship’s captain and provide a spectacle for passengers. The trial continues, with a verdict expected early next year.
BA packages rail tickets from regional stations Agents in Wales and the southwest will be able to book train tickets in a package with British Airways flights thanks to a partnership between the airline, Heathrow Express and First Great Western. Rail tickets from 11 stations to Paddington, where customers will get the Heathrow Express, will be bookable from December 5. The 11 stations are Bath, Bristol Parkway, Bristol Temple Meads, Cardiff, Exeter, Oxford, Par, Penzance, Plymouth, St Austell and Swansea.
Lowcost Travel plans for growth at
Agadir conference The Moroccan National Tourist Office (MNTO) hosted Lowcost Travel Group’s 2014 annual sales conference in Agadir. The conference was held at the
five-star Atlantic Palace Resort last month and was attended by 50 agents. The focus of the event was Strategy for Growth and the company’s plans for delivering 60% more sales in 2015. A gala dinner wrapped up the event and attendants also enjoyed a tour of Agadir. An MNTO representative said the conference was an opportunity to showcase the region as a fast-growing beach destination and marked “a new beginning leading into positioning Agadir as a premium destination in the minds of Lowcost’s travel agents.”
Attraction World staff take redundancy as Tui sales fall Attraction World has moved to protect its business from the impact of Thomson’s in-house ticketing operation with a voluntary redundancy programme. Seven staff have opted for
voluntary redundancy following a consultation that ended this week. They are from the IT, affinity marketing, call centre and product divisions. The business employs 69 people. Group sales and
provider of attraction tickets for Tui Travel agents. Previously, Attraction World was the sole third-party tickets supplier. Seaman said: “We budgeted for
“We need
to reduce our costs because of this but the business is growing”
BA and First Great Western staff promote new package
8 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 4 December 2014
marketing director Tony Seaman said staff were being dealt with sensitively. He stressed the reorganisation was as a result of the expected decline in business from Thomson agents. It comes at a time of record sales for Attraction World, with profits predicted to rise in 2015. Thomson Tickets was set up in September and is now the main
a drop-off in business and that has started. We need to reduce our costs because of this. It is a natural realignment of the business; the business is growing.” Trade bookings
are up more than 30% year-on- year for 2015, but Seaman said by the end of 2015 the mix of trade and
direct business could change from a 60:40 mix
to a 50:50 split. The company reported sales in
excess of £60 million for the year ending October 31, with profits up more than 20%. Next year it plans trade and consumer websites in Germany, with Scandinavia and South America to follow.
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