Virgin Trains smashes its records for travel between Liverpool and London

VIRGIN Trains has broken new records for passengers travelling on its west coast route between #Liverpool and London.

As the intercity operator celebrates 20 years of operating the west coast route, new figures show it carried 1,765,874 customers between Liverpool and London in 2016/17, an increase of 11.2% compared to the same period the previous year (1).

The new figures have coincided with punctuality reaching its highest ever level since privatisation and the introduction of Virgin’s revolutionary new onboard entertainment streaming service, BEAM.

The growing availability of £17 fares between Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston has played a big part in encourage more customers to leave the car at home and travel by #train, both for business and staycation trips.

The increase in journey numbers has also coincided with the growing appeal of Liverpool as a destination. For the first time ever, more Virgin Trains carried more passengers to the city than the capital (889,000 in 2016/17, 13,000 higher than the number of journeys made from Liverpool to London).

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UK Airports: Regional airports have highest levels of satisfaction

AS millions of Brits gear up for their big summer holiday, Cheapflights, has once again asked them to share how they score the UK’s airports across more than a dozen categories including shopping, cleanliness, Wi-Fi access, bar and restaurant facilities, check-in and security - even the loos come under scrutiny!

In the second of its annual poll, Cheapflights asked frequent air travellers from across the UK to review London City, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton and Stansted, Belfast International, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, East Midlands, Edinburgh, Glasgow International, Leeds Bradford, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle airports. 

Newcastle emerged as the overall winner, achieving the highest levels of satisfaction across all categories, followed closely by London City, Liverpool, Edinburgh and Bristol. London’s airports, with the exception of London City, continue to lag behind, with Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton all trailing their regional cousins.

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A Danish Way of Life

DENMARK'S stunning capital city, #Copenhagen, embodies the effortless style and warm hospitality that has made the world fall in love with the Danish way of life. With a vibrant food scene, outstanding fresh ingredients and new restaurants, bars and food markets adding to the city’s incredible array of gastronomic delights, Copenhagen is a firm favourite for fans of the Nordic food scene.

RyanAir has expanded its range of flights from Stansted to Copenhagen, with a new three-per-day year-round service now operating offering one-way fares from just £9.99. In addition, RyanAir is introducing a four-times-weekly service from Liverpool to Copenhagen, with the first flight scheduled from the end of October 2017.

With more choice of departures, budget-friendly fares and a new route to Denmark from across the UK, there has never been a better time to visit Copenhagen on a budget.

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Summer Party Night in Liverpool

MAKE the most of the August Bank Holiday this year with a memorable ‘Summer Party Night’ aboard Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines’ Boudicca in Liverpool, on the evening of Monday 28th August 2017. 

Boudicca – one of Fred. Olsen’s most popular and friendly ships – will be in port during the city’s annual ‘International Beatleweek Festival’, taking place from 23rd to 29th August 2017, and Fred. Olsen is delighted to have secured one of the best-known Beatles tribute acts around – 'The Backbeat Beatles' – to entertain guests live on this very special party evening.

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Virgin Trains launches celebratory 20th Birthday Seat Sale

VIRGIN Trains is launching a record six-day online 20th Birthday Seat Sale, to thank customers for twenty years of travelling with Virgin Trains on the West Coast. 

From its birthday on Thursday 9 March to Tuesday 14 March, prices will be slashed on Standard and First Class fares on the Virgin Trains West Coast route.

Customers booking in advance to travel on Virgin Trains to West Coast destinations including Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow can save up to 55 per cent for travel between Saturday 25 March – Thursday 24 August 2017.

Discounted tickets will be available to book at www.virgintrains.co.uk from 00:01 on Thursday 9 March.

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Christmas Cracker

THIS Christmas season English National Ballet presents its acclaimed production of Nutcracker in Milton Keynes Nov 23 - Nov 26 and Liverpool Nov 29 – Dec 3 as well as returning to the London Coliseum Dec 14 – Jan 7, 2017. 

2015 saw English National Ballet’s most successful Nutcracker run on record, when over 73,000 people made a performance at the #London Coliseum part of their holiday celebrations. This year’s tour of Wayne Eagling’s version continues the Company’s tradition of presenting a Nutcracker production every year since 1950, its founding year. 

To coincide with #Nutcracker, #EnglishNationalBallet will host a range of workshops and events, aimed to provide a gateway into the world of ballet. Activities held in Milton Keynes, Liverpool, and London include on-stage workshops for all ages, Live Drawing, Family Events, and Behind-the-scenes Talks. Family Friendly performances of Nutcracker are on Tuesday 3 and Saturday 7 January (matinee performances). 

For more details see www.ballet.org.uk/whatson

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Picture Credit: Nick Harris1 flickr.com/photos/36604011@N08/11594348235 Guard the tree via photopin.com

Ryanair unveils new route from Liverpool

#Ryanair has announced an expansion to its Liverpool winter 2016 schedule with the addition of a service to #Marrakesh, #Morocco, which will operate twice-weekly from October. 

This is in addition to a new route to Sofia announced earlier. Ryanair’s Liverpool winter 2016 schedule will now deliver two new routes to Sofia and Marrakesh, both twice-weekly, and five new winter services, including twice-weekly services to Bergerac, Pisa, Porto, Szczecin, and a weekly flight to Gran Canaria. The airline will also operate more flights to Alicante (five-weekly) and Malaga (four-weekly).

With the expansion move, the airline will operate 25 winter routes in total, with 95 weekly flights.

Seats for Marrakesh are on sale from £24.99.

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Up in the air . . .

FLYBE has confirmed that it will cancel its Liverpool service to Amsterdam at the end of March.

The route was launched in September, but the airline said demand was insufficiently strong.

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Biennial spending bonanza ahead for Liverpool

LIVERPOOL BIENNIAL 2016 is forecast to have an economic impact of more than £21 million when it returns to the city between July 9 and October 16. The festival, which takes place in galleries, unused buildings, and public spaces across Liverpool, attracted 875,000 visits in 2014 and is expected to be popular again when more than 40 international artists create work in the city this summer.

With more than 50% of visits coming from outside the Liverpool city region, overnight visitors are forecast to spend an estimated total of £11 million on accommodation, dining out, and visits to other attractions during their stay.

Following the 2014 Biennial, an independent report calculated that an economic impact of £20.8 million was generated by the festival in the preceding 15 weeks.

Sally Tallant, director of Liverpool Biennial, said: ‘The importance of culture in the city is well documented, but I think sometimes culture’s economic impact on the city and its businesses can be forgotten about. Liverpool Biennial welcomes visitors from around the world who come specifically to see the Biennial and stay in Liverpool.

‘While the Biennial itself is free, the visitors have a significant impact for hotels, restaurants, and bars. This is before even considering the longer-term benefits that come from the city’s growing reputation for culture.’

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Liverpool tourism award entries now open

ENTRIES are now open for the #Liverpool City Region #Tourism #Awards.  

Companies are being encouraged to submit their entries early – and a specialist workshop has been set up to assist with submissions, ensuring entrants have the best possible chance of being recognized. The closing date for entries in January 22.

A wide scope of businesses will be highlighted at the awards ceremony – all of which make a significant contribution to the region’s £3.8 billion visitor economy.

Award categories include:

• Hotels 
• Guest Accommodation/B&B's
• Serviced Apartments
• Small Visitor Attractions 
• Large Visitor Attractions 
• Small Tourism Events 
• Large Tourism Events 
• Entertainment Venues 

For full details, go to www.lcrtourismawards.com

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/11037560@N04/1408040977">Downtown Liverpool</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/">(license)

Brighton, Liverpool tipped for tourism

ENGLAND and Portugal dominate Trip Advisor’s list of top ten European holiday destinations ‘on the rise’. Brighton and Liverpool are tipped, as are Porto and, on the Portuguese island of Madeira, Funchal.

Top ten …

• Porto, Portugal 
• Moscow, Russia 
• Brighton, England 
• Liverpool, England 
• Granada, Spain 
• Funchal, Portugal 
• Oia (Santorini), Greece 
• Krakow, Poland 
• Valencia, Spain 
• Cologne, Germany  

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Picture Credit: Brighton Beach and Pier by Christine Matthews. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Up in the air . . .

Flybe launches Liverpool -Amsterdam route … FLYBE has started flights between Liverpool and Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Fares start from £34.99 one way including taxes and charges.

Wizz Air starts Glasgow-Bucharest service … Flights between Glasgow and Bucharest are to be introduced by Wizz Air in May next year. It is also increasing the frequency of flights from Luton to Bucharest.

EasyJet increases capacity and routes for spring 2016 … easyJet has hiked capacity next spring with more than 22.5 million seats going on sale. The budget carrier is to run 136,000 additional flights across its network between March 21 and June 26. Sample flights include Bristol to Barcelona from £22.24 one-way, Belfast-Amsterdam from £25.49, Inverness-Luton from £12.49, Southend-Malaga from £28.24, Gatwick-Copenhagen from £30.24, and Luton- Malaga from £30.24.

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Take a break in Liverpool

CITYBASE APARTMENTS has updated its online guide to Liverpool, the English city on the north-west coast that’s famous for its maritime and musical history. 

The guide covers culture, attractions, shopping, eating out, and entertainment in a city that claims to have the second-largest collection of museums and art galleries in England, after London.

www.citybaseapartments.com/blog/an-easy-guide-to-liverpools-fantastic-culture

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Picture Credit: www.citybaseapartments.com

Up in the air ...

Flybe to commence Liverpool-Edinburgh route – A domestic route from Liverpool to Edinburgh is being started by Flybe in September.

The daily service from October will be the regional carrier’s fourth route from Liverpool, complementing other services to the Isle of Man, Belfast, and Amsterdam.

Fares start at £27.99 one-way.

Finnair launches Edinburgh-Helsinki flights – Finnair is start a seasonal service, thrice-weekly service from Edinburgh to Helsinki in 2016. The service begin

Icelandair starts year-round service from Aberdeen – Icelandair’s year-round service from Aberdeen to Reykjavik commences in March next year, and will run four times weekly

Investment deal for Liverpool Airport – A major investment programme for Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport has been announced by its owners, The Peel Group. The operator said it has reached a long-term agreement with the airport’s lenders to underpin investment over the next five years.

The Peel Group said the arrangement will support future growth and has reduced the airport’s bank debt. It has also committed funding to improve the airport’s terminal and passenger facilities.

Ryanair in car hire partnership – Ryanair has launched a partnership with CarTrawler – a travel-technology platform and online aggregator of car rental services – allowing its passengers to book on the airline’s website.

The deal gives customers direct connections to more than 1,500 independent car rental agents in more than 30,000 airport and city locations in 174 countries.

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A stay with John, Paul, George & Ringo

MILLENNIUM HOTELS AND RESORTS (MHR) has bought a Beatles-inspired hotel in Liverpool's increasingly popular Cavern Quarter.

Housed in the 19th century Grade II listed Central Buildings and adjacent to the iconic #CavernClub, the hotel has 110 bedrooms.

CEO of Millennium Hotels and Resorts, Aloysius Lee said: ‘#Liverpool is a leading tourist destination that continues to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors annually. It maintains its prominent stance by investing in an array of forward-thinking regeneration projects, while firmly retaining its #Beatles legacy.

‘Being the only one of its kind, the Hard Days Night Hotel offers a Beatles experience like no-other and we are confident that our guests, particularly from countries including China, USA, Canada, and Europe, will be excited by the choice of this latest acquisition.’

Go Holiday editor David Kernek comments: This might be the very best hotel in Liverpool, if not England, but I’d rather spend the night on a bench in the docks than check in to a shrine to the Beatles. Such was the North-South divide, there was only one band worthy of the name for Baby-Boomers raised in London: The Rolling Stones. Many of us dismissed the Beatles as a mere pop group … and do so to this day!

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39712741@N05/3855313596">The Beatles</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license)

easyJet launches Zante route from Liverpool

A NEW route to the Greek island of Zante (also known as Zakynthos) has been started by easyJet from Liverpool.

The airline expects to fly 6,000 passengers a year on the Zante service. Fares on the route start at £33.99 one-way.

easyJet’s UK commercial manager, Ali Gayward, said: ‘Our Greek routes are proving extremely popular for those who wish to get some easy and affordable summer sun.’ 

The service brings the number of routes served by the airline from Merseyside up to 30.

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Picture Credit: Easyjet.b737-700.g-ezjr.bristol.arp Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons 

Three queens meet on the Mersey

ALL three Cunard ships – the Queen Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth 2, and the Queen Victoria – will call at Liverpool on May 25 to salute a city that will be forever part of the history of the ocean liner. It’s part of a summer of events to mark Cunard's 175th anniversary.

The liners will perform synchronized manoeuvres – a "riverdance" – at the Pier Head in front of the iconic Three Graces, a trio of landmarks including the Cunard building, which was the world headquarters of the Cunard Shipping Line until the 1960s.

The seven-week long programme of events will include art and history exhibitions hosted in Liverpool’s museums and art galleries, city-wide photography exhibitions, audio-visual projections, plus tall ships in port and live music at the waterfront.

Cunard's ship the RMS Britannia made its maiden transatlantic voyage from Liverpool to Boston on July 4 1840, with Sir Samuel Cunard, ­ founder of the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, ­ on board.


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Picture Credit: "Liverpool Three Graces Owl" by (WT-shared) HaJo at wts wikivoyage via Wikimedia Commons, "175 Years Forever" courtesy cunard.co.uk/cruise-types/anniversary-cruises-2015/