NEWS ROUND-UP Liverpool releases terminal designs


Detailed designs for Liverpool’s new £5 billion cruise terminal have been made public. It will be built across two floors, with the baggage hall on the ground floor and the passenger lounge, cafe and check-in area on the first floor. Equivalent to the size of two football pitches, the terminal


will be served by an off-site multi-storey car park. More than 500 jobs are expected to be created as a result of the build. Outline planning permission was granted for the scheme


in April, with work scheduled to start in early 2019. An opening date has not yet been disclosed. Following the development, large cruise ships with up to


3,600 passengers will be able to embark and disembark. The current terminal has hosted 23 ships this year,


including Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, Disney Magic and CMV’s Magellan.


NEWS IN BRIEF


Private equity funds to buy Travelport for $4.4 billion


Travelport is being taken over in a $4.4 billion deal by two private equity funds. The all-cash acquisition by Siris Capital Group and Evergreen Coast Capital is expected to be completed by next spring.


Virgin pilots to strike over Christmas and into 2019


The Professional Pilots Union has announced industrial action by Virgin Atlantic pilots for December 23-25, December 30 to January 2 and January 4-7. The dispute surrounds Virgin’s recognition of the union.


Snow finally falls in Finland after early-season worries


Following concerns over rising temperatures and limited snowfall, winter conditions have arrived in Finnish Lapland. Depths of 21cm were reported in Rovaniemi, 31cm in Levi and Ylläs and 26cm in Kuusamo.


Travel Counsellors given training around disability


Juliet Dennis juliet.dennis@travelweekly.co.uk


Nearly 100 Travel Counsellors have been given bespoke trainin on ho to confient service enquiries from clients with accessibility requirements or isaiities


The two-day in-house training


scheme is run by Travel Counsellor and sector expert Richard Thompson, who aims to train all 1,000 UK Travel Counsellors so they can capitalise on the commercial opportunity of the accessible travel market. It comes as the government


unveiled a ‘passenger charter’ to improve the experience at airports and on airlines for disabled and elderly passengers. Villa company Oliver’s


Hear Travelsphere ambassador Penny Smith on the new TW podcast: iTunes, Soundcloud or go.travelweekly.co.uk/podcast


Travels, meanwhile, polled 1,000 people with a disability, which showed more than half found it difficult or impossible to travel. Thompson said the programme,


which has trained 90 agents in 14 months, had been so successful


8travelweekly.co.uk13 December 2018


customers who are worried about travelling abroad. Trained Travel Counsellors


have access to a closed user group for advice on everything from how to handle a tricky booking to delivering inspiring presentations to clients with additional needs. “These are colleagues who 12


months ago lacked confidence to take a call from someone who was disabled,” said Thompson. “They are now coming up with solutions on how to best serve deaf customers, for example, or help families with autistic children.” Thompson said the industry at


THOMPSON: “The problem is the low level of awareness”


that a steering group, The Accessible Partnership, had been created to take Travel Counsellors’ expertise to the next level. This will include extending training on accessible travel to suppliers and destination management companies, and putting together disability-specific ‘travel packs’ for


large needed to take the sector more seriously. “The problem is the low level of


awareness and understanding,” he said. “We need to educate suppliers to make it easier to create accessible product. “I have worked in this arena for


20 years and it can still be difficult to put together what should be a straightforward trip for disabled


holidaymakers.” › Snow holidays for disabled clients, page 63


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