Best Holiday Lettings

Author: Alicia

  • Package holiday bookings up as holidaymakers snap up heat-wave deals

    On-line travel specialist loveholidays.com has reported a surge in package holiday bookings to European hotpots as travellers make the most fantastic offers available.  The new findings come hot off the heels of a report from industry regulator ABTA which suggested that this summer there was a rise of virtually 50% in package holidays booked.  ABTA’s figures show that nearly half (48%) of these who booked an overseas holiday in 2012 booked a package holiday, up 6% from 2011 and 11% on 2010.

    Commenting at the increase, loveholidays.com CEO Alex Francis said: “Holidaymakers often find that organising a visit independently is a risky business. Problems can range from travellers being hit by hidden charges from so called low-cost airlines through to a scarcity of protection against weather and other unforeseeable factors.”

    In April 2013 loveholidays.com launched ‘flight plus hotel packages.’  This new format enables holidaymakers to create a tailored package including flights, accommodation, selection of departure date and preferred airline all in accordance with individual requirements. loveholidays.com then ‘package this up’ ensuring travellers are fully protected by the company’s ATOL license.

    loveholidays.com latest figures show a rise in sales to many popular destinations inside the last year. Spain is the most important success story with a 75% year on year sales growth followed by Tunisia at 54.3%, Balearic Islands at 31.8% and Turkey with 22.4% increase.

    Francis continues: ‘Economic problems in a number of our most advantageous destinations is creating very cheap in-resort prices, meaning package holidays are again offering consumers fantastic value for money. These coupled with the terror that holidays booked independently bring an entire set of problems from loss of protection to excessive flight costs, is having an instantaneous effect at the increase fashionable for package holidays.

    ‘Since the launch of our flight plus hotel packages we have got been astonished by the variety of customers tailor making their very own holidays.  We suspect it’s as a result of independent travellers still finding that this sort of holiday suits their every need with the added assurance that they’re fully protected from the unknown.’

  • News: Record passenger numbers at Changi Airport

    Singapore Changi Airport achieved its highest passenger traffic ever for the month of March when it registered 4.61 million passenger movements in March 2013, a rise of seven.7 per cent over the identical month last year.

    Holiday makers travelling over the nice Friday long weekend and the weekend prior contributed to the traffic growth.

    In tandem, aircraft movements grew by 5.3 per cent to twenty-eight,400 flights.

    In the primary quarter of 2013, Changi Airport handled 13.05 million passenger movements, representing a rise of 6.2% over a similar period last year.

    Traffic to and from Northeast Asia, Southwest Pacific and South Asia continued to underpin growth in this period.

    Aircraft movements for the quarter saw a three.9 per cent increase year-on-year to 82,600 flights.

    Airfreight movements posted a 2.2 per cent decline for the 3 months, with 434,000 tonnes of cargo handled.

    For the month of March 2013, a complete of 167,200 tonnes of cargo were handled at Changi Airport, a growth of two.5 per cent in comparison to March 2012.

    Changi Airport is taken into account the realm’s Leading Airport by the World Travel Awards.

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  • News: Etihad takes stake in Jet Airways

    Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways has confirmed it is going to take a stake in Jet Airways of India, ending weeks of speculation a couple of possible deal.

    Etihad said the move would allow it to take a larger foothold within the growing Indian market.

    It follows a sequence of equity investments all over the world from the ambitious carrier, with Etihad also having taken stakes in Aer Lingus, Seychelles Airways, airberlin, and Virgin Australia.

    The latest $379 million investment is the primary by an overseas operator in an Indian airline since ownership rules were relaxed.

    The government initiative was designed to give carriers in India with deep-pocketed global partners.

    Following the deal Jet is probably going to profit from strategic expertise, cheap financing and possible fuel import benefits as well as the capital injection.

    “The deal is predicted to bring immediate revenue growth and price synergy opportunities, with our initial estimates of a contribution of several hundred million dollars for both airlines over a better five years,” said James Hogan, Etihad chief executive.

    Etihad will buy 27.3 million new shares of Jet at 754.74 rupees per share, a 31.7 per cent premium to Jet’s closing share price on Tuesday, and obtain 24 per cent of Jet’s expanded share capital.

    Etihad can even invest one other $150 million in Jet’s frequent flyer program and spend $70 million to shop for Jet’s three pairs of Heathrow slots in the course of the sale and leaseback agreement announced in February.

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  • Swiss-Belhotel signs Saudi property

    Swiss-Belhotel International, certainly one of Asia’s leading mid-scale hotel operators, has added a brand new Saudi hotel project to its growing Middle East portfolio with the official signing of a 126-room hotel in Riyadh’s new financial district.

    Sheikh Abdallah Al Jumaiah and Khaled Al Jumaiah, president and vice chairman respectively of owning company, the Al Jumaiah Group, Gavin Faull, chairman and president and Ghassan Aridi, chief executive, Alpha Tours signed the management agreement.

    “As the economic capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh captures considerable inbound demand, and the signing of a second property gives us guaranteed city-wide coverage and access to a burgeoning corporate base to drive solid and sustained business growth,” said Faull.

    According to a press release issued by Sheikh Abdallah, the Al Jumaiah Group is specializing in providing creative value in each of its projects, and developing a suite of properties that features four-star, luxury and boutique hotels.

    “The co-branding with Swiss-Belhotel International will power our development forward through a partnership where all sides understand the wishes of the hospitality market and might delivers an excellent product to our global customers,” he remarked.

    Saudi Arabia is anticipated to deliver 1,182 new internationally branded hotels into the market by 2015 in line with a Colliers International October 2012 market report, with potential for an extra 34,882 mid-scale hotel guestrooms after 2015, located in both primary and second tier cities.

    “Internationally branded economy hotels are a good match for the demographic profile of the Saudi market and Swiss-Belhotel International’s modern product is both culturally suitable for local families in addition to appealing to international visitors, with its competitive pricing model,” said Faull.

    “With a limited supply of quality internationally branded economy hotels inside the Kingdom this can be a timely opportunity for us to cement the status of the emblem available in the market,” added Faull.

    Located at the busy King Fahd Street, only one kilometre from King Abdullah Financial City district, the 126-room hotel Swiss-Belhotel Riyadh is scheduled to open in September 2014.

  • 96 cruise ships back to European waters from winter routes

    Online travel agent Directline Holidays reports package holiday bookings are up for summer 2013 following a surge of last minute bookings as holidaymakers snap up reduced price holidays, many with discounts of as much as 50%, as a result of Britain’s heat wave.

    All-inclusive packages have seen the most important increase over the past few weeks with bookings now up 11% in comparison to summer 2012. The hot surge has also seen overall passenger figures for summer 2013 surpass those of summer 2012, with the height summer time just beginning.

    Recent figures released by ABTA showed that package holiday bookings are up around the industry as an entire with almost half (48%) of these who booked an overseas holiday in 2012 booking a package holiday when compared with 47% in 2011 and just 37% in 2010.

    Maria Whiteman, CEO of Directline Holidays, says: “Package holidays are a well-liked choice with our customers who desire to be capable to budget for his or her holiday without being hit by hidden charges. All-inclusive holidays specially offer great value for money, especially for families who don’t wish to lay our a fortune on dining out overseas.  The new price reductions because of the warmth wave signifies that there are currently some exceptional deals available online with huge reductions on packages departing inside the following couple of weeks, so for those that haven’t yet booked their summer holiday, now could be the time to take action.”