Page 40 - 373067 LP258570 Travel Magazine A4 88pp Issue 59 Feb23 PROOF.pdf

NEWS
TRAVEL COUNSELLORS
ANNOUNCE BEST EVER JANUARY
Travel Counsellors has announced its best January on record, reaching £114.5m in sales. This is up by 50 per cent on January prior to the pandemic and means the company is trading 65 per cent up on pre-pandemic levels since the start of the financial year (1st Nov 2022).
In January, eight out of 10 of Travel Counsellors’ had their biggest sales days ever, with the final day of the month seeing the company have its best ever sales day on record of £6.5m, exceeding the £6m mark for the first time.
In fact, the top five sales day for January saw £28.1m of sales combined.
Both leisure and corporate sales in the UK saw a rise with figures increasing by 60 per cent and 105 per cent since 2022, respectively.
Top selling destinations included the USA, Spain, Greece, UAE and the Maldives. Lapland, in Finland, also sits in the top ten destinations booked in January and tops the company’s Winter 23/24 sales.
NEW INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENTS FOR PALMA
The Palma 365 Tourism Foundation and the Department of Tourism have unveiled new infrastructure developments aimed at consolidating the Mallorcan city as a quality tourist destination.
Palma saw an occupancy rate of 69% in 2022, matching that of 2019 and indicating a good post-pandemic tourism recovery. Projects include the transformation of the beach promenade, the Paseo Marítimo and the repaving of the Plaça d’Espanya, from where visitors can take the popular wooden train to Soller.
A new tramway project has also secured funding which will facilitate better connections, making the city easier to navigate. In recent years, Palma has also renewed 165 buses and created several new routes, in addition to tripling the number of Bicipalma bicycles available across the city.
This winter the island also saw thousands of visitors from all over the world attend conferences, with the MICE segment having seen exponential growth since the Palau de Congresos opened in April 2017.
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FEBRUARY 2023
NEW EUROPEAN RIVER CRUISES
FROM RIVIERA TRAVEL
Riviera Travel has launched three brand-new 10-night European river cruises. A total of 15 new departures will be on offer, sailing from April to October 2024. They join an additional 13 European river cruise itineraries, which went on sale late last year.
New itineraries include Cologne, the Rhine Gorge & Medieval Germany, with ten guided tours of Cologne, Andernach, Rüdesheim, Mainz, Miltenberg, Wertheim, Würzburg, Ochsenfurt, Bamberg and Nuremberg. It also features a visit to Braubach, a drive along the Romantic Road to Rothenburg and a sailing through the Rhine Gorge.
Paris, Normandy & Historic Treasures of the Seine, comprises seven guided tours to Paris, Auvers-sur- Oise, Rouen, the D-Day Normandy Beaches, Honfleur or Étretat, Abbey Jumièges and Abbey St Wandrille and the Château de Malmaison, plus two visits, to Caudebec-en- Caux and Claude Monet’s house and garden.
An optional on-board drinks package is available to purchase, which offers a selection of drinks during lunch and dinner. The package for the 10-night sailings starts from £219pp. The three new sailings form part of Riviera’s early booking campaign, which offers guests a 10% saving when booking their 2024 river cruise before 28th February, 2023.