Emirates weighs up fare cuts following falls in fuel prices Emirates is considering cutting fares following recent falls in oil prices. The airline is reported to be looking at whether to cut the fuel surcharge, which is worked into the air fares, with new prices likely in April. Qatar Airways has said it will reduce its fuel surcharge.
Speculation mounts that Queen will name Britannia Speculation over the choice of godmother for P&O Cruises’ Britannia is mounting, with comments on social media suggesting the Queen will name the ship in Southampton. The online diary for Buckingham Palace states the Queen and
“Tourism was worth an estimated £127bn GVA to the economy last year and supported 3.1m jobs”
Tourism minister Helen Grant says ‘the government gets tourism’
MORE IN TRAVEL WEEKLY BUSINESS: BACK PAGE
the Duke of Edinburgh will be in Hampshire on March 10, the day of the naming. A P&O Cruises spokeswoman said: “We have not yet announced Britannia’s godmother, but as soon as we do, Travel Weekly’s readers will be among the first to know.”
BA and easyJet refocus operations at Gatwick EasyJet and British Airways will operate out of separate terminals at Gatwick from next year. EasyJet will consolidate its operations at Gatwick’s North Terminal, and no longer fly from the South Terminal, from November 2016. BA, meanwhile, will relocate to the South Terminal.
8 •
travelweekly.co.uk — 29 January 2015
SPAA calls for meeting over shift in responsibility for APD Scottish agents have given a cautious welcome to the intention to devolve responsibility for Air Passenger Duty to the Scottish government at Holyrood. The Scottish Passenger Agents’ Association is calling for an urgent meeting with Scotland’s transport minister to discuss the implications.
Thomson names B787 ‘Neil’ after photo contest Thomson Airways’ sixth Boeing
787 Dreamliner has been named Neil following an online photo competition. A photo by Instagram user Neil Langstone from Birmingham was voted favourite in a shortlist by Thomson and First Choice’s Facebook community. He wins a Mauritius holiday.
Luxury specialist The Travel Concept signs up to AMS Homeworking luxury travel business The Travel Concept in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, has become the latest member of Advantage Managed Services (AMS). Owners Tracy Felstead (pictured, left) and Bianca Wassell joined AMS to help the business expand.
Victorious firms have been proudly parading their Travel Weekly Globe Travel Awards. Pictured are staff at Amadeus’s
Gatwick UK head office with their Globe for Best Technology Provider. And in Scotland, Travel 2 celebrated winning Best Long-Haul Multi-destination Operator by posting a video on YouTube. You can view it at
bit.ly/T2globes On Twitter, triple winner Attraction
World tweeted: “A million times, thank you! We are extremely honoured to be waking up as the winner of three #TWGlobes awards!” ❯ Globes 2015 in full, starts page 46
Getabed credits contractors with increase in bookings Accommodation-only provider Getabed has reported a strong start to the year on the back of a 20% increase in business from the UK in 2014. For Spain, Getabed said bookings in January were up year on year by 141% for Majorca, 154% for the Costa del Sol and 250% for Costa Blanca. For the US, it
reported increases this month of 58% for New Orleans and 17% for Chicago. UK managing director Tony Quinn attributed the trade-only supplier’s growth to contracting its own product. It now has contractors based in 11 markets, with a 12th due to be appointed in Bangkok.
“The business was going one
way and we realised we needed to invest more in our product and get control of our stock so we didn’t have so much third-party
accommodation,” said Quinn. “In the bed-bank market, everyone does the same; we had to do something different to add value.” He said 18% of total sales were
“We take agents to destinations
now through Getabed contracts, a proportion he expects to grow, adding: “We’ve achieved that in two-and-a- half years and it’s increasing all the time.”
Quinn claimed
and contract the properties they can sell”
Getabed chose which properties to contract based on its clients’
requirements. “We take our biggest
customers (agents) out
to destinations and contract the properties that they tell us they can sell. We work with them to match their needs and their customers’ needs,” he said, adding that the firm had worked with a considerable number of new agents in 2014 that it had not worked with in 2013.
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