tourism-news.eu » Virgin Atlantic

Britain in Boston!?

admin — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:33:43 +0000

So we all know that Britain is an amazing place to visit, right? Well I read today that Virgin Atlantic and VisitBritain have been trying to reinforce this idea further by holding a special event at Boylston Plaza. To encourage more Americans to visit Britain they have erected famous British icons such as red telephone boxes and monarchs such as Henry VIII around Boylston Plaza. There was even British food on offer! I bet the ex-pats loved it! And all this effort just to encourage more people to visit Britain due to the favourable exchange rate. They even had the mandatory cheesy slogan; ‘get more Britain for your buck‘. This sounds like one publicity I would have loved to have seen!!

Swine flu? What swine flu?

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:11:53 +0000

Seeing as the world seems to be in panic over swine flu, I thought I had better make some sort of comment on it! News coming out of the international media seems to be that British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have started screening people for symptoms of swine flu and then refusing to allow them to board if they look like they have the virus. As a fairly frequent flier, I find it incredible that the airlines are going to so much trouble and spending time to try and spot people who have swine flu even though the vast majority people who have it, only have mild symptoms and recover within days. From what I have read, it seems to be nicer than the normal flu! But I suppose on the other hand, it is quite unfair on the other passengers, if one passenger on a flight has swine flu and they end up catching it. In order to relieve fear, ABTA has released a statement in which they say that fear of swine flu should not stop people going on holiday, but that also when they go on holiday they should ensure that they have adequate insurance. This is sensible advice, especially when in this financial climate, many economies are relying heavily on tourism. In Greece, the Tourist Development Minister Kostas Markopoulos has called for an end to exaggerated reports of swine flu in the country. He said that “The new flu has not damaged tourism yet, though continuing exaggerations would place Greece in the group of countries with high problem and this would have serious impacts on the tourist industry“. So what seems to be the main message is for people to continue travelling and going on holiday!

Happy Birthday Virgin Atlantic!

admin — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 07:35:31 +0000

Ok so it may not be the most exciting news ever, but today is the 25th anniversary of the first Virgin Atlantic flight way back in 1974. Since then it has become the UK’s 2nd largest long haul airline. To celebrate its anniversary, Virgin Atlantic is recreating its first flight with the aid of Kate Moss and a few other celebrities. The main reason I wanted to write about this, however, is the amazing advertising campaign which Virgin Atlantic launched earlier this year to celebrate. It recreates the atmosphere of a by-gone era so perfectly and with such style that I just felt that I had to write about the festivities. However, some fun-spoilers have accused the company of creating a sexist advert. Seeing as I’m a woman and I don’t take offence, how can it be sexist?

Virgin biofuel flight

admin — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 12:09:41 +0000

Yesterday Virgin Atlantic became the first airline to fly a commercial plane on a blend including biofuel. A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 flew from London Heathrow to Amsterdam Schiphol fuelled with a 20% biofuel/80% kerosene mixture in one of its four engines. The biofuel used a combination of coconut oil and babassu nut oil which came from sustainably cultivated crops. However, according to the BBC “Environmentalists have branded the flight a publicity stunt and claim biofuel cultivation is not sustainable”. Greenpeace has said that “last year, a leaked World Bank report said the steep food price rises of around 75 per cent seen over the year were mainly driven by biofuel production in US and Europe”. Now as much I like the idea of air travel being more environmentally friendly it brings about the question, who is right about biofuel? Are airlines just testing biofuels for more publicity or are they really trying to save the planet? Unfortunately we will not know the answers to these for a few years yet…..