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  • ABTA reveals what Brits imagine themselves abroad

    Over 18 million Brits will leave the rustic for his or her holidays this summer, with Spain, Greece, Turkey and North Africa amongst the preferred destinations. We know the stereotypes about Brits abroad, but do they still ring true a brand new poll from ABTA highlights just what we predict about ourselves on holiday.

    The usual stereotypes are upheld with two thirds of Brits (65%)* unwilling to benefit the local language and believing that the British holidaymaker speaks English to locals. Over half (55%) also consider the British holidaymaker to be guilty of rowdy drunken behaviour and 38% consider Brits to be badly dressed when on holiday.

    There is a few excellent news however, a 3rd (32%) of Brits call to mind themselves as polite and 42% folks consider ourselves as friendly abroad.

    Regional differences

    In general, people inside the North East have one of the most positive view of the British holidaymaker with almost two thirds (63%) pointing to our friendly behaviour and one in five (20%) stating we’re willing to profit the local language.

    Some regions however, consider us to be particularly badly behaved and the table below reveals which regions think the worst of the British holidaymaker:

    Perception of British holidaymakers Region National average
    Extremely badly dressed (22% – East of britain) 13%
    Extremely bad tippers (22% – Scotland) 14%
    Very unwilling to take a look at new things (32% – Northern Ireland) 15%
    Very rowdy and drunken (53% – Northern Ireland) 27%
    Rude (41% – Yorkshire) 31%
    Speaking English to locals (77% – East) 65%

  • News: Room 77 appoints new CEO

    Hotel search engine Room 77 has named travel industry and search veteran Drew Patterson as chief executive officer. The appointment comes at the heels of a $30 million financing around the company recently announced, that is getting used to accelerate Room 77’s growth and international expansion.

    “Room 77 has experienced tremendous growth inside the last year, and Drew has the ideal background in travel and search to assist take the corporate to the subsequent level,” said Brad Gerstner, founder and Chairman of Room 77.

    “The Room 77 team has built a big hotel search engine, which customers are raving about because it’s faster, easier to exploit and it’s helping them find better deals. Drew’s history as a product pioneer and brand builder will continue that momentum and help deliver our message to a much wider audience. Shall we not be more excited for him to be joining at this key moment inside the company’s growth cycle.” Adds Gerstner.

    Patterson, a graduate of Harvard College and Columbia Business School, is a seasoned travel executive. As one of the vital founding employees at travel metasearch site Kayak, he was instrumental in building the business and brand, serving in business development roles after which as vp of selling. He left Kayak in 2009 to co-found Jetsetter, which he helped build into the leading travel brand inside the flash sales segment with greater than $100 million gross bookings.

    After leaving Jetsetter, Patterson co-founded a stealth mobile hotel startup called CheckMate, which Room 77 is simultaneously acquiring as portion of Patterson’s appointment. The CheckMate product and team are an outstanding complement to Room 77’s mission of creating the world’s best hotel search engine.

    “Room 77 is a massive company with an international-class team. Their history of product innovation is impressive, and Room 77 has created an experience that travelers love and use many times,” said Patterson. “Travel search is a class with huge potential, further accelerated by the rapid shift to mobile. I‘m thrilled to come back to my search roots in an industry i like, and that i sit up for building Room 77 right into a global hotel search leader.”

    The company has raised $43.8 million to this point from companies, venture capitalists and high-profile angels, including Expedia, Inc and Concur Technologies.

  • 21% of yank adults spend $197 Billion on obligation travel

    With wedding season fast approaching, Hotwire.com, a number one discount travel site, today revealed more results from its second annual American Travel Behavior Survey, conducted online on its behalf by Harris Interactive in October 2012 among over 2,000 U.S. adults. In accordance with the survey, over the last 365 days, 21 percent of yank adults spent up to $197 Billion on trips they felt obliged to take. Furthermore, 48 percent of american citizens spent money on obligation trips to weddings of friends and family in the course of the same period of time and were anticipating they might do an identical next season. With such a lot money allocated to obligatory travel, travelers can be excited by removing the thrill trips they wish to take because they think they won’t be capable to afford them. The excellent news is the travel experts at Hotwire have compiled a Where to move Now & How Guide to the head five affordable and fun destinations for spring, so even though travelers must attend a marriage or another obligatory event this season, they ought to look to 1 of the ensuing destinations for more fun-on-the-dollar.

    “We know Americans around the country are using large portions in their travel budgets on the way to make it to all those ‘must see’ moments in reasonable weddings, reunions, birthdays and major holidays,” said Clem Bason , president of the Hotwire Group. “Fortunately, obligation trips don’t should come on the cost of leisure travel when you’ve got the appropriate resource guiding you toward savings. We’re offering deep discounts to numerous locations in order that this year you are able to comfortably afford both the must-go and must-have trips.”

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  • Abu Dhabi hotels report record April

    Abu Dhabi’s 142 hotels and hotel apartment had their best April on record last month with rises in most key performance indicators, consistent with figures just released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi).

    During the month some 236,704 guests checked into Abu Dhabi accommodation – a 20% rise on April last year – with guest nights jumping by almost a 3rd to 738,797.

    “One of the foremost encouraging results is the progress we’re making, with our partners, in expanding the common-length-of-stay of Abu Dhabi’s hotel guests and this may remain one in every of our key deliverables inside the coming months,” said HE Mubarak Al Muhairi, Director General, TCA Abu Dhabi.

    The average-length-of-stay of hotel guests during April was 3.12 nights, a growth of 8% at the same month last year.

    During April, Abu Dhabi’s occupancy rate climbed 12%, revenue rose 18% to AED 468,474,193 (US $127.6 million). Room revenue was up 21% to AED 238,135,624 (US $64.8 million) while F&B turned in another stellar performance rising 16% to AED183,853,608 (US $50 million).

    During April there has been a slight dip of 6% inside the average room rate which stood at AED453 (US $123.3).

    “There were a number key events in Abu Dhabi during April – the hosting of the area Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit and Abu Dhabi International Book Fair among them – and these can have delivered enhanced performance and demonstrate the significance of industrial events and exhibitions within the tourism mix,” added Al Muhairi.

    April continues a month-on-month upward trend in guests, guest nights and average-length-of-stay for Abu Dhabi that’s this year targeting an annual hotel guest performance of two.5 million.

    Performance for the 1st four months of this year shows 10% growth in hotel guests to 868,121, a 25% uplift in guest nights to two.9 million, a 13% rise in average- length-of-stay to a few.29 nights, a 9% increase in occupancy to 73% and a 16% surge in total revenue to AED 1.9 billion (U $517.4 million) with a slight dip of three% in average room rate to AED480 (US $130.7).

    Domestic tourism remains solid with 283,856 guests from in the UAE delivering 649,114 guest nights within the first four months of this year with an ordinary-length-of-stay of two.29.

    On the international front, the united kingdom remains the emirate’s largest overseas source marketplace for hotel guests with some 54,050 Britons staying in Abu Dhabi’s hotels within the first four months – a ten% rise at the same period last year. They stayed on average, 4.71 nights – up 11% at the corresponding period – and accounted for 254,768 guest nights – up 22%.

    India is the second one largest overseas marketplace for hotel guests. a complete of fifty,057 Indians checked into Abu Dhabi’s hotels from January to April this year – an 18% lift at the same period last year. They accounted for 228,410 guest nights – that’s up 51% year-on-year – and stayed an ordinary of four.56 nights.

    “India have been performing particularly well and we anticipate further growth from this market with Etihad Airways’ recent equity purchase in Jet Airways opening up additional Indian destinations to us and the launch of Jet Airways of a regular Kochi to Abu Dhabi flight,” added Al Muhairi.

    German came in at third place with 44,033 German nationals staying in Abu Dhabi’s accommodation – a 22% rise at the first four months of 2012. They accounted for 201,573 guest nights – that is up 30% – and stayed on average for 4.58 nights.

    Russia turned within the biggest percentage growth over the four months with 10,101 Russian nationals staying inside the emirate – a 66% increase on last year – which translated into 62,281 guest nights, which was up 73% year-on-year. Russians also are proving to be the emirate’s longest stayers, averaging 6.17 nights.

  • News: Abu Dhabi hotels record double digit growth

    Abu Dhabi’s 141 hotels and hotel apartments generated double digit growth in guest nights, revenue, occupancy and average-length-of-stay last month with guest arrivals nudging up 7% at the same month last year.

    Figures just released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi), show 196,518 guests stayed inside the emirate’s hotels and hotel apartments last month delivering 676,445 guest nights – a 23% rise on February 2012.

    “The fundamentals show that individuals are staying longer within the emirate which demonstrates that our message of there now being much more to determine and do due to expanded resort, attractions and business events offerings is resonating well,” said HE Mubarak Al Muhairi, Director General, TCA Abu Dhabi.

    “Average-length-of-stay climbed 15% in the course of the month-on-month comparison to face at 3.44 nights.”

    Hotel occupancy during February climbed 12% to a healthy 78% with the typical room rate rising by 7% to AED553 (US $150). Total revenue for the month came in at AED 503.3 million (US $137 million) – up 7% on February 2012 – with room revenue rising 31% to AED282.4 million (US $76.9 million) or 44% of total revenues. Food and beverage returns rose 14% to AED178.2 million (US $48.4 million) representing 35.4% of total revenues.

    February’s performance suggests that inside the first two months of this year, Abu Dhabi is riding a 5% upturn in guest arrivals on year-to-date comparisons with 2012 with rises in all key performance indicators apart from the common room rate which has slipped by just 1%.

    During February the united kingdom reclaimed its place on the emirate’s best performing international source market just previous to India, after being displaced for the #1 slot by the Sub-continent republic in January.

    UK arrivals in the course of the month rose 10% to twelve,595 accounting for 61,309 guest nights, which was up 20% month-on-month and a 9% increase inside the average-length-of-stay of four.45 nights. Indian guests amounted to ten,754, which was up 16% on February 2012, and translated into 54,418 guests nights – a 54% rise- and a median length of stay of three.81 nights, which was up by 33%.

    Germany is the third most efficient hotel guest market. Some 9,449 Germans stayed within the emirate’s accommodation, which was up 12% at the comparative period, and produced 36,688 guest nights – an increase of 18% – with Germans staying on average 4.34 nights.

    There were sharp upward guest arrival spikes from China and Russia. a complete of five,849 Chinese checked into Abu Dhabi hotels during last month – 196% greater than February last year. They accounted for 9,412 guest nights, which soared by 126% on February 2012 though they stayed for shorter periods delivering an ordinary-length of stay of just 1.61 nights. China now ranks as Abu Dhabi’s seventh international source market when it comes to guest arrivals.

    “We are looking hard at developing specific product to entice longer stays by our Chinese visitors and believe the staging of the Chinese Visitor Summit in Abu Dhabi this coming September, once we have the likelihood to sell the emirate to 75 leading Chinese bookers will assist us in this path” said Al Muhairi.

    Russian guest arrivals in February shot up 119% to two,125. These guests accounted for a 182% increase in guest nights to twelve,484 staying a regular of five.87 nights – a 29% month-on-month increase in average-length of stay.

    “Russians are our longest staying guests after those from america,” explained Al Muhairi.

    “Russian guests are largely leisure-focussed while those from the States are predominantly business visitors. Our leisure proposition has improved by leaps and limits during the last year with new beachfront resorts, the Yas Waterworld waterpark and new beach openings both on Saadiyat and Yas islands. We’re coming of age at the leisure front while refocusing at the business events segment with the hot launch of the Abu Dhabi Convention Bureau. We’re confident that with this new, highly focussed body, which has already re-energised our Advantage Abu Dhabi meetings incentives, we will secure significant new business within the corporate and MICE segments.

    “We are well placed to make an enduring and positive impression one of the industry leaders who will join us in Abu Dhabi this April for the area Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit 2013. We can use this pre-eminent forum to clarify our ambitions and persuade these influencers that our time as a balanced leisure/business destination has come.”