A Week Away from £427: What KAYAK’s Summer Numbers Mean for Value-Hunting Clients
TL;DR What’s Happening at the Value End Let us end the week on something genuinely cheering. KAYAK’s UK summer report has landed, and the numbers are a lovely antidote to all the “holidays cost a fortune now” headlines. According to the data, a full week abroad, flights and accommodation included, starts from around £427. Prague, […]
Inside Travel Group Puts a £20,000 Holiday on the Table for Agents
TL;DR What’s Happening at Inside Travel Group A nice one for your own diary this time, rather than a client call. Inside Travel Group, the operator behind InsideJapan Tours and InsideAsia Tours, has launched what it is calling its biggest-ever agent incentive. The headline prize is a £20,000 holiday for one agent, with ten further […]
The Newly Amplified Liberty of the Seas Sails from Southampton This Week
TL;DR What’s Happening at Southampton Good news for your cruise clients, and especially the ones who would happily never see an airport again. Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas, freshly out of a major refurbishment, begins her Southampton season this Friday, 29 May. She has come through Royal Caribbean’s amplification programme with a string of […]
Why Greece Has Jumped to the Top of the Booking Charts This Summer
TL;DR What’s Happening at the Top of the Charts Here is a useful one for client conversations this week. Advantage Travel Partnership data shows Greece has climbed to the top of the booking charts since the start of May, accounting for roughly 22% of all bookings. That is a notable jump, and agents are pointing […]
Emirates Brings Premium Economy to Birmingham on Its First Two-Class A380
TL;DR What’s Happening at Emirates Right, here is one your Birmingham-based clients will want to hear about. Emirates has completed the first retrofit of a two-class A380, converting it to a three-class layout, and sent it to work on the Dubai to Birmingham route. The aircraft, A6-EUX, is flying as EK 39/40 with brand new […]
Celestyal Swaps Its Crete Port and Your Greek Island Pitch Gets a Whole New Angle
TL;DR What’s Happening at Celestyal If you’ve been pitching the Idyllic Greece itinerary to clients, this one’s worth a quick update in your notes. Celestyal Journey made her first call at Agios Nikolaos on 12 May, and that port now replaces Heraklion for the rest of the 2026 season. Lee Haslett, Celestyal’s Chief Commercial Officer, […]
Windstar Builds Its Own UK Base, And It’s Worth Watching | JLT Daily Dispatch
TL;DR This popped up in the trade press over the weekend and felt worth sharing with you. Windstar Cruises has confirmed it’s setting up its own UK operation, ending a long-standing arrangement where another company handled UK sales on its behalf. For agents who’ve worked with the brand, this is a small but useful change […]
Why Summer Fares Are Looking Softer Than Anyone Predicted | JLT Daily Dispatch
TL;DR This popped up over the weekend and felt worth flagging for you. Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary held court on Sunday with his usual mix of bluster and useful detail, and underneath the headlines there were a few things sitting in your inbox-radar zone. You’ve probably seen the snippets. No fuel shortage this summer. Fares trending […]
G Touring Confirms Trade Sales Unaffected by Restructure
TL;DR What’s Happening at G Touring G Touring, the parent company behind escorted-tour operators Travelsphere and Just You, confirmed on Tuesday that it is making redundancies across parts of the business. The operator pointed to the ongoing Middle East conflict as the trigger, with extended uncertainty weighing on booking volumes through April and into May. […]
Hotels Plug Direct Into ChatGPT and Claude
TL;DR What’s Happening at DirectBooker DirectBooker quietly went live this month with something the hotel sector has been waiting twenty years for. The platform now connects five of the world’s ten largest hotel groups, including BWH Hotels and Radisson Hotel Group, directly into ChatGPT and Claude. Loyalty programmes covering more than 250 million members are […]