Archive for the ‘Travel & Tourism’ Category

Athens International Airport awards airlines for their development in 2009

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

(TDN): Athens International Airport S.A. (AIA) awarded the airlines that recorded the highest passenger development in 2009, during the Airline Marketing Workshop, organised by the airport company on an annual basis.

AIA’s 10th Airline Marketing Workshop – held at the Municipality of Athens’ “TEXNOPOLIS” - was an anniversary event on the occasion of the 10 years since AIA established this fruitful get-together between the airport company and its airline partners. As every year, this year’s workshop proved to be a unique communication (more…)

Viator.com launches four new country sites across Europe

Sunday, February 14th, 2010

(TDN): Viator.com, the leading resource for researching and booking more than 5,500 trip activities and experiences in 75 countries at the best prices, today announced the debut of four new European local-language sites: viatorcom.dk in Danish, viatorcom.nl in Dutch, viatorcom.no in Norwegian and viatorcom.se in Swedish.

According to PhoCusWright, Scandinavian countries (defined in their research as the combined travel markets of Denmark, Norway and Sweden) collectively rank sixth (more…)

Demand for Abu Dhabi hotel rooms to increase by 10 per cent in 2010

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

(TDN): Cristal Hotels and Resorts, one of Abu Dhabi’s fastest growing hotel chains, has announced that it has achieved one of the highest month-to-date occupancy rate among Abu Dhabi’s 4-star and 5-star hotels, garnering 84 per cent average occupancy in January 2010. The figure is in line with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority’s (ADTA) 10 per cent growth forecast in hotel guests in the emirate this year. Abu Dhabi accommodated around 1.5 million hotel guests in 2009, which according to ADTA will grow to 2.3 million by 2012 when the emirate’s hotel capacity reaches over 27,000 rooms.

Cristal Hotels and Resorts’ surge to the top of the rankings is a significant achievement as it outperformed more well-established 5-star hotels despite having started operations only in (more…)

Continental Airlines joins Star Alliance Company Plus

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

(TDN): Star Alliance Company Plus (SACP) is pleased to welcome Continental Airlines as its 12th member. Continental Airlines offers a comprehensive route network from the UK and Ireland to the USA, announcing just last month that it will increase its frequency of flights between London and New York during 2010.

Continental’s addition as an SACP member will be welcome news for existing SACP members. From London Heathrow, the airline operates a three-times-daily direct service to its New York hub at Newark Liberty International Airport, plus a twice-daily service to Houston.  The airline will add a fourth (more…)

Norwegian Cruise Line’s new 2011/2012 worldwide deployment

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

(TDN): Norwegian Cruise Line has announced its 2011/2012 summer deployment which includes increased capacity in Europe, Copenhagen as the new homeport for Norwegian Sun and a year-round commitment to New Orleans. Norwegian Sun will sail nine-night Baltic Capitals fly-cruises from Copenhagen, whilst Norwegian Spirit will homeport year-round in New Orleans - both firsts for the company.

The announcement means a trio of ships will be based in Europe next summer including newest and largest ship Norwegian Epic which will sail Western Mediterranean (more…)

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts manages a hotel in Chongqing

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

(TDN): Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group, recently signed an agreement with Chongqing Guest House Co. Ltd. to manage a hotel in Chongqing that is scheduled to open in late 2011. The 469-room Shangri-La hotel will occupy the first 28 floors of a new 58-storey landmark building, a multi-purpose complex incorporating office space and innovative retail outlets.

Designed by East China Architectural Design Institute, the hotel will be located in the central business district, 45 minutes from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport and an eight-minute walk from the Chongqing People’s Liberation (more…)

British Airways adds extra frequency to new London City routes

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

(TDN): British Airways is to increase peak season frequency on its new services to Majorca and Ibiza, less than a month after announcing the launch of the new routes from London City airport. The new services to the Balearic Islands direct from the Docklands take off in May 2010.

But the destinations are already proving so popular that British Airways is now planning to increase the schedule (more…)

28 per cent passenger growth for Norwegian in January

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

(TDN): Norwegian continues the strong passenger growth. In January, Norwegian transported 827,743 passengers which is a 28 percent increase from the same period last year. This months strong passenger growth and load factor is very satisfactory, particularly taking into consideration that January is seasonally the weakest month of the year.

“We are continuously renewing sour fleet with more Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The brand new aircraft (more…)

Wizz Air launches flights from Serbia

Tuesday, February 9th, 2010

(TDN): Wizz Air announced that it would enter the Serbian market by opening two new routes from Belgrade, as early as Summer 2010. The initial network will include services to Dortmund and London Luton from 12 June and 24 July respectively.

Gyorgy Abran, Chief Commercial Officer of Wizz Air said: “We are delighted to extend our service offering to the Serbian passengers, who can now enjoy our low fares coupled (more…)

Jumeirah to manage 5-Star hotel in Bangkok

Monday, February 8th, 2010

(TDN): Jumeirah Group, the Dubai-based luxury hospitality company and member of Dubai Holding, has been appointed by Thailand’s Country Group to manage a luxury hotel in the heart of Bangkok. The management agreement was signed by Mr. Gerald Lawless, executive chairman of Jumeirah Group and Mr. Ben Taechaubol, managing director of Country Group, at a ceremony held recently in Bangkok.

The 305-room, five star luxury Jumeirah Bangkok will have a prime location on the legendary Chao Phraya River, close to the Sathorn Bridge and Bangkok’s Central Business (more…)