NEWS ROUND-UP IN THE PICTURE: Holy smoke


Paris was dealing with the aftermath of a devastating fire at landmark cathedral and popular tourist destination, Notre Dame, this week. The fire destroyed its spire, roof, wooden interior and


stained-glass windows. The two towers and the main structure of the 850-year-old building survived the blaze. Millions has been pledged to fund a rebuild. Firefighters extinguished the fire 15 hours after it


broke out on Monday evening. The cause was yet to be confirmed on Tuesday. Renovation work had been ongoing at the cathedral. Notre Dame attracted 13 million tourists in 2018


– an average of 36,000 a day – making it one of the most-popular attractions in the world’s most-visited country, France.


AmaWaterways’ new ship increases UK Douro sales


Katie McGonagle


katie.mcgonagle @travelweekly.co.uk


AmaWaterways has doubled its proportion of Douro river cruise sales to the UK market with the launch of AmaDouro, its first shi to e christened y a British godmother.


Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief


executive of The Advantage Travel Partnership, christened the 51-room ship in a ceremony in Porto, Portugal, on Friday, the final evening of its maiden sailing. The Portuguese river accounts


for 14% of total UK sales this year, compared with 7% in 2018, and is already sold out for much of the coming season, with most availability in July and August. The ship is sailing seven-night


round-trip cruises from Porto, while sister ship AmaVida, which has sailed the Douro Valley since 2013, offers one-way journeys. Kristin Karst, co-owner and


executive vice-president of AmaWaterways, said: “The past


BRITISH GODMOTHER: AmaDouro was christened by Julia Lo Bue-Said few years [on the Douro] have


been incredible. We have sold out AmaVida, which really encouraged us to launch AmaDouro. “Forward sales are very good.


A lot of guests from the UK love to travel to Portugal. We know there’s a special demand there, and that encouraged us to have our first British godmother.” Lo Bue-Said was on the ship for


its first sailing with her husband and younger son, but the cruise line surprised her by flying her older son out for the ceremony. She said: “eing the first ritish


8travelweekly.co.uk18 April 2019


godmother is great, not only for Advantage and its members, but for the whole UK marketplace. “It demonstrates the commitment AmaWaterways is making to the UK, and the trade in particular.” The line’s president Rudi


Schreiner also confirmed that sales on the Rhine and Danube, which will see further ship launches this year with AmaMora and double- width AmaMagna, were up 50% to 60% across all markets, and that AmaDante would move to the Seine for 2021.


Freedom Travel hikers step up to raise more funds for Abta Lifeline


Staff and members from Freedom Travel Group strapped on their walking boots and hiked more than 29,000 steps for charity, raising more than £5,000 in the process. The group of 48 climbed nine


miles up Mount Snowdon last week. A total of £5,400 has been raised so far for Abta Lifeline. Travel Weekly’s digital


content manager David Golledge joined the group (some pictured below), which also included Abta Lifeline director Trudie Drake, interim head of The Freedom Travel Group Matthew Harding and supplier partners. Shearings supplied a coach


for some of the group to travel to Wales from Manchester. › To make a donation, visit https://tinyurl.com/freedomhike


PICTURE: BENOIT TESSIER/REUTERS


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