Advantage boss exclusive: ‘We need to showcase travel industry’s attractiveness to get talent back’ May 13, 2022 The UK travel industry needs to revamp its image as an exciting yet stable industry to work in if it wants to put an end to its recruitment difficulties. According to Julia Lo Bue-Said, chief executive at travel agent consortium Advantage, post-pandemic, the UK workforce sees travel and tourism as a very uncertain industry. “The [...]
Travel chaos hits new low: Thousands of airline passengers forced to wait outside airport for hours May 9, 2022 Thousands of airline passengers at Birmingham Airport were forced to wait in long queues outside for several hours as the aviation sector continues to suffer from staff shortages. The situation on Monday was described as “absolute chaos” and “manic” by travellers on Twitter. One person said it took her “two hours to get through check-in [...]
Prince Harry teams up with Google, TripAdvisor, Visa and Expedia to launch eco-tourism project May 9, 2022 The Duke of Sussex has announced the launch of a sustainable tourism campaign, inspired by New Zealand’s native Māori people. Prince Harry revealed his new project on a television show in the country this week, working with six major companies including Google and Skyscanner to promote more eco-friendly travel. The initiative, called Travalyst, was created [...]
Londoner rushed to St Thomas hospital and put in isolation after catching extremely rare Monkeypox virus May 9, 2022 UKHSA has confirmed to City A.M. that a Londoner has been diagnosed with monkeypox. “The patient has a recent travel history from Nigeria, which is where they are believed to have contracted the infection, before travelling to the UK,” the agency wrote in an email. “The patient is receiving care at the expert infectious disease [...]
British Airways owner IAG predicts bounce back to profitability on return of global travel May 6, 2022 British Airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG) today said it believes the easing of global restrictions and the return of global travel will see it bounce back to profitability. The firm – formed through the merger of Iberia and British Airways in 2011 – said its Q1 2022 passenger numbers were 65 per cent those [...]
Brits opt for last-minute holidays following post-Covid uncertainty May 2, 2022 Brits are booking their holidays later to avoid travel disruption, according to a report published yesterday. Data from Advantage, the UK’s largest consortium of travel agents, showed that 40 per cent of bookings are for the next 12 weeks, with reservations for May half-term holidays down by 5 per cent on 2019 levels. Before Covid, [...]
Passport delays could cost £1.1bn in cancelled summer trips May 2, 2022 Delays in the processing of UK passports could cost £1.1bn in cancelled summer trips, according to a research published today. Data from the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has forecast a 50 per cent probability of timely renewals, with around one million holiday goers facing cancellations. “Assuming that passport holders are somewhat more [...]
French firm handling passport application phone lines is called in by UK government over backlog chaos April 28, 2022 The head of a French firm tasked with handling help lines for passport applications has been called in by the UK government over its handling of the backlog chaos. Teleperformance is being urged to answer questions about lengthy delays on the phones and a failure to process applications, after millions of Brits were left in [...]
CAA urges travellers to use £85m of unspent vouchers before they expire April 26, 2022 The Civil Avation Authority (CAA) has urged travellers to use £85m of unspent vouchers before they expire at the end of September. Given by travel firms as refund during the pandemic, the vouchers were issued between March 2020 and December 2021 and are under the Atol scheme, which protects customers if their travel company goes [...]
Portugal scraps EU’s strict Brexit rules and rolls out red immigration carpet for Brits with Spain and Italy likely to follow soon April 25, 2022 Portugal has confirmed it plans to ignore EU rules that require British nationals to be treated as third country citizens at border checks and immigration points. The southern European nation will become the first EU member state to allow UK passport holders to be fast-tracked through electronic passport gates, thereby receiving the same treatment as [...]