Essential

Lisbon to hold referendum on the future of short-term rentals

The city’s government will put the issue to residents, with questions likely to revolve around whether properties intended for housing should be permitted to be used as short-term rentals

Inspire My Holiday aiming to connect agents with one million potential customers

The holiday inspiration platform plans to launch its ’Find An Agent’ service on Boxing Day which will give individual agents ’free exposure’. So far, ’hundreds’ of agents have signed up

Outbound travel now contributing more to UK economy than pre-pandemic

Outbound travel’s contribution to UK PLC now exceeds that of pre-pandemic, new figures from Abta estimate

EasyJet to trim domestic flight network in response to APD hike

Chief financial officer Kenton Jarvis branded Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s decision to increase the domestic and short-haul rates of Air Passenger Duty by £1 and £2 per passenger respectively not ’a smart move’

Jet2 to explore mid-haul routes and meet with Doncaster Sheffield

Taking questions from agents at the Jet2holidays conference in Paphos last week, chief executive Steve Heapy opened up on some of the airline and operator’s short-to-medium term planning

Hurtigruten and HX finalise separation following buyouts

The lines have been acquired by investment consortia, both led by asset management firm Arini Capital Management. The buyouts are expected to be completed in January 2025.

Heidi Alexander named new transport secretary after Louise Haigh resigns

Heidi Alexander – the MP for Swindon South – had been serving as a justice minister until her promotion to transport secretary. It came hours after the previous incumbent Louise Haigh resigned from her cabinet position

Abta names Danny Waine's successor and new board members

Roberto Balasco will join the trade body from Kenwood Travel on 13 January. In his new role, he will support Abta members and help drive the association’s membership strategy

Black Friday driving 'mini peaks' as value becomes top consumer priority

’At the beginning of November, Black Friday queries were already up by 7.3% on last year – Black Friday is definitely a shift we didn’t have previously,’ Google industry manager Ailish English tells Jet2holidays conference

Black Friday: UK holiday fraud hotspot named after £12m hit last year

Police have warned consumers to be vigilant about holiday buying scams on Black Friday after fraud totalling more than £12 million was reported in 2023

Lufthansa Group extends green levy fare despite sluggish take-up

Lufthansa Group’s Green Fares option has been extended across its worldwide network covering all its brands except Eurowings

Jet2 chief pins anti-tourist sentiment on 'unlicensed tourism'

Steve Heapy said demonstrations this summer in places like Majorca, the Canaries and Barcelona were a reaction to ’incompetent and impotent" politicians failing to regulate short-term rentals, not traditional package tourism

British Airways unveils new-look first class seats

The upgraded cabins have been inspired by a luxury hotel and will feature wider and larger seats, personal luggage space and several other luxury amenities.

EasyJet vows to 'strengthen' tour op's customer base following strong results

EasyJet said high easyJet holidays customer satisfaction scores of 84%, with 82% likely to rebook, had helped drive the robust financial performance. It added that future initiatives are ’under way’

Jet2holidays to help homeworkers expand onto the high street during peaks

General manager trade Lloyd Cross has set out the airline and operator’s plans to support agents during peaks, including a new ’Scale up your Street’ push

Jet2 adds three new Greek island destinations, plus Tallinn city breaks

Airline and operator confirmed additions to its summer 2025 and 2026 programmes, plus its 2025/26 winter schedule, at its conference in Paphos on Wednesday (27 November)

Gus Antorcha named Princess Cruises president amid Carnival Corp shake-up

The leadership reshuffle sees Holland America Line president Gus Antorcha replace Princess Cruises boss John Padgett who will leave the cruising giant in February. While Beth Bodensteiner, senior vice-president and chief commercial officer at HAL, will become HAL’s president as well as have executive responsibility of Seabourn

Ambassador pulls remaining 2024 Amsterdam calls due to climate protests

An Ambassador spokesperson told TTG the cruise line will decide whether to return to Amsterdam in 2025 before the end of the year. Climate protestors in the city have repeatedly targeted cruise vessels in 2024 forcing a number of lines to remove Amsterdam from cruise itineraries at short notice

Blue Lagoon to review latest volcano closure later this week

The famous geothermal spa will ’reassess’ the situation on Thursday (28 November) southwest Iceland experiencing its 10th eruption in three years

Tui staff up efficiency thanks to new AI assistant tool

AI assistants created on the Tui AI Assistant Store platform can be shared with colleagues. More than 400 individual AI assistants have already been been built by staff

SPL Villas fixes sights on 'doubling' trade bookings in 2025

SPL’s new head of marketing Sam Willan will be responsible for the specialist’s consumer and trade marketing strategies and for building stronger partnerships with agents and consortia after the specialist’s busiest-ever October

Synergy announces Sardinia as destination for 2025 wellbeing tradeshow

Annual travel trade event specialises in the wellness and retreats sector

Three Not Just Travel franchisees make jump onto high street in a month

In the past month, James and Natasha Oliphant, Rachael and Colman Coyne, and Kelly Baldwin have all opened retail units on the high street

Jet2 puts first winter sun programme on sale from new Luton base

The programme, announced less than a week after Jet2 named Luton as its 13th UK base, majors on the Canary Islands, and also features mainland Spain, Turkey and Portugal