Bournemouth rated best beach in UK

BOURNEMOUTH Beach in Dorset is named the best-rated beach in the UK in the Travellers’ Choice awards for Beaches, announced today by TripAdvisor, the site that helps you find the latest reviews and lowest prices.

Not just a favourite in the UK, #Bournemouth #beach also celebrates the title of fifth best-rated in Europe and 14th in the world, ranking above beaches in locations world famous for their miles of golden sands and crystal clear waters, including the Seychelles, Australia, Turkey and Sicily. 

Bournemouth’s seven mile stretch of sandy beach has something to offer everyone with its traditional seaside attractions, famous beach huts for hire, water sports and stunning views of the Isle of Wight and the Purbecks. The bay also boasts its own micro-climate, giving it some of the warmest sea temperatures in the UK.

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Two scoops please

#BOURNEMOUTH took two top accolades at the 2016 #Dorset #Tourism Awards for the second year in a row. The Russell-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum picked up gold for Small Attraction of the Year and the resort’s new Information Centre took silver for Tourist Information Service of the Year.

Other Bournemouth winners included:

Small Hotel / Boutique Accommodation of the Year – The Grove Hotel (Silver) and Cliff House Hotel (Bronze)

Café & Tearoom of the Year – Little Pickle Deli Café (Bronze)

Tourism Event & Festival of the Year – Shake and Stir Vintage Festival (Silver) and Bournemouth Wheels Festival (Highly Commended)

Venue & Business Tourism Award – BH Live in partnership with Business Events Bournemouth (Bronze)

Tourism Experience of the Year – Dorset Day Trips (Silver) and RockReef on Bournemouth Pier (Bronze)

Unsung Hero Award for Customer Service – Brenden Howard at The Grove Hotel

Large Hotel of the Year – Hilton Bournemouth (Gold)

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Picture Credit: grassrootsgroundswell flickr.com/photos/88920309@N05/30464367892 Bournemouth via photopin.com

At the airport . . .

BOURNEMOUTH Airport has successfully retained its Park Mark status, following a stringent re-assessment by the Police.

“This means that everyone parking their car at the airport can be confident that their car will always be parked in a safe environment and that we have strict measures in place for deterring criminal activity,” explains Paul Knight, Managing Director of Bournemouth Airport.

“We know that some companies are now offering a ‘meet and greet’ service at the Airport. However these organisations are completely unregulated and your car could be parked anywhere while you are away, often in an area which has no safety or security measures in place. The airport was first awarded the Park Mark status four years ago and maintaining this highly respected seal of approval from the Police is very important to us and our passengers,” he added.

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Red Arrows to star at the Bournemouth Air Festival

THE #BOURNEMOUTH #AIRFESTIVAL returns in just under a weeks' time (August 18-21) with a line-up of aviation displays and three nights of live music. 

It will feature:

• The Red Arrows 
• The Swiss Air Force Super Puma Helicopter Display Team 
• A B-25 Bomber
• Aerosparx 
• Night Air flying displays 
• Tigers Parachute Team 
• The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight 
• The Great War Display Team 
• The Band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines 

Tickets are available from bhlivetickets.co.uk

www.bournemouthair.co.uk

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Kent tops trending UK & Ireland destinations list

TRAVEL search site momondo.com has done an analysis of its search data in order to make its UK domestic travel predictions for 2016. The data showed that domestic destinations accounted for 10% of all searches made on the site in 2015.

Kent topped the list of the seven trending destinations they expect to see growing in popularity this year. Waterford in Ireland and Dundee in Scotland came second and third respectively. Searches for Cambridge were up by 288%, Bournemouth by 200%, Guernsey by 149%, and Kerry by 89%.  

Lasse Skole Hansen at momondo.co.uk, said: ‘Our findings suggest that cultural breaks may be on the up for Brits. This is due to a rise in interest for specific domestic destinations known for historical tourism.

‘For example, in Kent, Canterbury was once itself a pilgrimage site in the Middle Ages. Waterford is Ireland’s oldest city, and Dundee in Scotland is home to the 15th century Broughty Castle. Cambridge is home to arguably the world’s best university.

‘It seems many Brits do still like a view, though, as scenic destinations County Kerry and Guernsey, which both boast striking coastal terrain, are both also trending destinations.’

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Picture Credit: www.flickr.com/photos/65272231@N00/10625980414">Cathedral in Canterbury</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin

MAG Airports sees passenger growth

MAG AIRPORTS – owner of Manchester, London Stansted, East Midlands, and Bournemouth airports – has reported record passenger numbers in 2015, and continued growth into the New Year has been boosted by both the popularity of new winter destinations and fuller planes on established favourite routes.

At Manchester Airport, passenger numbers in January 2016 were up 7.8 percent year-on-year. Popular destinations for New Year get-aways to Dubai, Palma, and Tenerife saw strong passenger figures, supported by more capacity to destinations such as New York, and new routes from airlines such as Iberia Express and Vueling. Manchester is served by more than 70 airlines – compared with approximately 45 at Gatwick and 80 at Heathrow.

At London Stansted, planes were fuller than they have ever been before in January, with almost 80 percent of all available seats occupied on each flight. This beat the airport’s previous January high of 76 percent set last year. Coupled with an almost doubling of passenger numbers on domestic routes compared with January 2015, this led the airport to see an 11.8 percent increase year-on-year.

East Midlands Airport saw 191,000 customers in January, 4.1 percent busier than this time last year. Bournemouth Airport’s 29,569 passengers in January took its rolling 12 month total to 715,888, an 8.1 percent growth over the previous year.

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Up in the air …

NORWEGIAN AIR has announced plans to launch direct, low-cost flights from Boston and New York to Cork, Ireland – the only transatlantic flights to operate to Cork Airport – as well as onward services from Cork to Barcelona.

LUFTHANSA’s latest route is from Frankfurt to Tampa, Florida. The airline now flies to 18 US cities.

BOURNEMOUTH AIRPORT has said that it has retained its Park Mark status, following a re-assessment by the police. ‘This means that everyone parking their car at the airport can be confident that it will always be parked in a safe environment and that we have strict measures in place for deterring criminal activity,’ says Paul Knight, the airport’s managing director.

IBERIA EXPRESS has confirmed it will launch direct flights from Madrid to Birmingham. The low-cost carrier will operate return flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

RYANAIR is to start twice-weekly flights from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Brussels.

DELTA AIR LINES’ non-stop double daily flights between Athens and New York-JFK are now on sale for travel in summer 2016. Flights will begin five times weekly from March, increasing to a daily service from May.

WIZZ AIR is to start twice-weekly flights from Birmingham to Bucharest, Romania, with fares from £28.49 one way, including all taxes and non-optional charges.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17375134@N00/3510571884">Tarmac and Engine</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

Bournemouth tops seaside search league

TRAVEL interest to UK coastal destinations has increased by up to 64 per cent according to new data from hotel comparison site trivago.co.uk.

Hotel searches made during the hottest days (June 29-July 1) were compared to searches made the previous week. #Bournemouth emerged as the UK’s favourite seaside resort, followed by Blackpool, Brighton, Scarborough, and Whitby.

The most expensive coastal destination in July was St Ives in Cornwall, where an overnight stay cost an average of £160. This was followed by Poole (£140), Portsmouth (£127), Newquay (£117), and Brighton (£116).

The cheapest prices were found in Blackpool (average of £60 per night during July 2015), followed by Skegness (£62), Scarborough (£79), Weston-super-Mare, and Southend-on-Sea (both £82).

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/33143245@N02/20232427329">Ocean City NJ</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

End of the British two-week holiday?

THE NUMBER of people taking a two-week holiday has decreased by 46% over the last five years, according to a study by Travelodge, which surveyed 3,000 British adults about their holiday plans for 2015.

It found that UK holidaymakers are opting for one week away, with four shorter breaks spread out throughout the year. This year, 70% of Britons are planning a domestic break, with less than one in five (19%) taking a two-week holiday.

But the traditional #seasideholiday is back in vogue as more than half (56%) of Britons are heading to the coast this summer, with top destinations including Cornwall, Devon, Blackpool, Brighton, and Bournemouth.

The next most popular type of holiday is the #ruralescape, with 35% exploring the UK countryside in places such as the Lake District, Yorkshire Dales, Scottish Highlands, Norfolk Broads, and Cotswolds.

The number taking #citybreaks has fallen this year to 25%, from 37% last year. Top city break destinations for 2015 include London, Edinburgh, York, Bristol, and Liverpool. 

A Travelodge spokeswoman said: ‘Our 2015 holiday index has revealed an interesting trend, with Britons taking more multiple breaks throughout the year, which suggests the end of the traditional two-week break.’

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/13806091@N00/3835319180"></a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">(license)

Homeland holidays set to boom

A SURVEY of 2,000 UK adults for VoucherCodes.co.uk has found that 83 percent of respondents planned a holiday at home this summer, a rise of 17 percent on 2014, with Cornwall, London, the Lake District, and the Yorkshire Dales leading the list of favoured destinations. 

The lure of British shores, country pubs, and cosmopolitan cities means the UK is now the number one holiday destination for Brits, beating the nearest contender, Europe, by 16 percent.

Despite spending less than they would abroad, British holidaymakers are set to spend more than £56 billion on summer breaks, with an average of £1,352 on accommodation, travel, visiting attractions, food, and holiday extras.

Other favourites in the top ten destinations list were Bournemouth, the Isle of Wight, Edinburgh, the New Forest, Brighton, and Cardiff rounded up

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Picture Credit: A591 road, Lake District - June 2009 Edit 1 by Diliff - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Flybe to open new base at Bournemouth

FLYBE is to open operations at Bournemouth Airport next March. 

Two 78-seat Bombardier Q400 aircraft will be deployed to meet demand for key routes to and from Bournemouth. The airline’s summer 2015 schedule will start with a new year-round, double daily service between Bournemouth and Glasgow.

The airline will also be starting new services to Amsterdam, Manchester, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Jersey, Dublin, Deauville, Toulon, and Biarritz.

www.flybe.com

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Up in the air …

WITH four days of incredible aircraft, jets and aerial displays including the Red Arrows, the Bournemouth Air Festival (August 28-31) promises to thrill and delight.




Amazing display teams from the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and Royal Marines 

including 

beach assaults, awesome jets, pilots, aircraft, helicopters, fireworks, entertainment, 3-miles of Pier to Pier trading, ground displays, street entertainers, interactive military villages and live music from local, national and military bands…this is all ‘by the sea.

And completely FREE!’

Want to know more then try: 
http://www.bournemouth.co.uk/whats-on/search-results/bournemouth-air-festival


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New flights to Turkey

HOLIDAYMAKERS will be able to fly to Turkey from Bournemouth Airport this spring. Tour operator OSKA Travel will be offering flights to Antalya in April.

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