Most popular European destinations for American travellers

LONDON and Paris continue to be the most popular European destinations for American travelers this summer, but the remaining spots on the Top 20 list saw significant movement from 2017, according to an analysis by Allianz Global Assistance. This year, Reykjavik, Iceland jumped from 17th to third, Barcelona, Spain slipped from fifth to seventh and Nice, France cracked the Top 20 for the first time to come in at 11th.

American travellers visiting Reykjavik has grown significantly in the last few years. Ranked 28th in 2015, the destination cracked the top 20 in 2016 and 2017.Thanks in part to increased direct airlift from the U.S. to the island nation, Iceland's otherworldly landscapes and colorful city homes have been trending on social media in recent years. Despite talk of over-tourism and discussion to potentially limit the number of annual visitors to the country, Reykjavik's popularity continues to rise this summer.

Barcelona's fall in rankings from fifth in 2016 and 2017 to seventh in 2018, may have been caused by several recent incidents. In the last year, Barcelona experienced a terrorist attack in the popular Las Ramblas area; political turmoil as Catalonia attempted to cede from Spain; and organized street protests in Barcelona.

Nice lands on the list for the first time, this suggests that American perception of the city's safety has recovered from the 2016 terrorist truck attack during the city's Bastille Day celebration.

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On the runway . . .

BRITISH Airways is to launch new routes from London City Airport to three European capitals, Paris, Prague and Reykjavik, in October.

The new services to the three popular cities will mean British Airways will fly to 30 destinations from London City this winter.

The Orly flights are being transferred to London City Airport from Heathrow, offering customers a choice of two London airports from Paris. Flights to Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris will continue to operate from Heathrow.

It will be the fifth French route served by British Airways from the Docklands airport. The launch of Prague and Reykjavik routes will be the first time British Airways has flown to the Czech Republic or Iceland from London City.


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Reykjavik Winter Lights Festival

#REYKJAVIK is set to be illuminated at the city’s 16th annual Winter Lights Festival which runs from February 2-5 this year. 

The festival celebrates both the winter and the growing sun light after a long period of darkness. The program is a mixture of art and industry, environment and history, sports and culture.

All events are free of charge except The Northernlights Run and there will be free of charge museum night buses. The buses will be transporting people between the museums free of charge making it easier to participate in the Museum Night Game. 

www.winterlightsfestival.is

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Picture Credit: precipices 19650786@N04/13155461724 Aurora Borealis, Iceland via photopin

Up in the air . . .

RYANAIR has further expanded its London Stansted winter 2016 schedule with a new daily service to Luxembourg from September, 2016.

WOW AIR has started its Reykjavik-Bristol route. The route will be operated three times a week year round. With the new service, WOW air becomes the second airline to link Bristol to Iceland with a direct service, after British airline easyJet.

NORWEGIAN continues the expansion of its low-cost long-haul network by launching the UK’s only direct flights to Oakland, California. Three weekly flights will depart Gatwick serviced by Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
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Picture Credit: Luxembourg Grund night panorama via photopin.com

Up in the air …

WIZZ AIR has launched direct flights from Aberdeen to Warsaw. The service will operate the year-round twice weekly service on Monday and Fridays. 

Wizz Air arrived at Aberdeen Airport last year when it launched a twice-weekly service to Gdansk, Poland, in June.

EASYJET has recorded the busiest ski season in its history this year. With a 40 percent share of the UK ski market, easyJet carried 1.3 million passengers to destinations across Europe, 90,000 more than last year. New routes, good ski conditions, and a strong consumer demand have fuelled the growth in customer numbers, the airline said. 

easyJet operates ski flights to Lyon, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Grenoble, Friedrichshafen, Turin, and its largest gateway, Geneva.

ICELANDAIR will take its Glasgow to Reykjavik service daily on September 7. Currently it runs six flights a week between the cities.

Icelandair now offer services to 16 North American gateways with connections from six UK airports: London Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, and Aberdeen.

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Cycle 844 miles around Iceland

ICELAND’S annual WOW #Cyclothon starts on June 15, when cyclists from around the world compete to be crowned the fastest team to pedal around the Ring Road, an 844-mile route looping around the entire country. 

Taking place under the midnight sun, the non-stop relay race is the only one of its kind in #Iceland, often completed by the winning team in under 48 hours.

Teams can consist of four or ten riders, who cycle in a relay format non-stop for the entire route, followed by its support vehicle. There is also a solo category for individual cyclists.

Starting in Reykjavik, the route takes riders past Iceland's most stunning landscapes – glaciers, waterfalls, fjords, national parks, and volcanoes. There is an 18-mile gravel section on the route where a mountain bike is required.

As the main race sponsor, WOW Air awards flight tickets as prizes for each member of the winning female and male teams.

Open to cyclists of all abilities with a range of bike types, registration closes on May 1 and costs £395 (ISK70,000) for teams of four, £705 (ISK125,000) for teams of ten, and £170 (ISK30,000) for solo riders.

www.wowcyclothon.com
www.wowair.co.uk

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Edinburgh to the States, via Iceland

EDINBURGH is to become WOW Air’s third UK departure point, and the first in Scotland, for flights to Iceland and North America. Tickets for flights beginning in July are on sale from £39 to Reykjavik and £125 to the US and Canada.

Flights will depart Edinburgh to the airline’s hub in Reykjavik twice a week between July and October. Onward travelling passengers will have a short stop-over before continuing on to one of the airline’s North American destinations: Boston, Washington D.C., Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.

Skúli Mogensen, founder and CEO of WOW Air, said: ‘We’re very pleased to announce Edinburgh as our third UK departure point, given the success we’ve seen with advance bookings on the recently-announced Bristol route and our original route from London. We know that Scottish travellers are an intrepid sort, keen to explore unique and mountainous landscapes, so we hope to open up Iceland to many more Scots with our service.’

A320 aircraft will operate the Edinburgh to Reykjavik flight with single-class A321, and A330-300 aircraft operating the routes between Iceland and North America. WOW air offers a standard seat pitch of 30”, with the option to increase this to 35” on the North American legs of the journey for a small fee.

www.wowair.co.uk

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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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easyJet offers Stansted-Iceland flights

easyJet will operate a new route to Reykjavik, #Iceland, from London Stansted this winter. It will operate twice a week throughout the winter and joins London Gatwick, London Luton, Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Belfast as UK airports that have flights to Iceland’s capital.

Ali Gayward, commercial manager at easyJet, said: ‘Our Iceland routes have proved extremely popular in both the summer and winter owing to its stunning scenery and amazing natural landscape. There is a growing demand for short and long breaks in Iceland.’ 

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Picture Credit: "MyvatnIsland" by Andreas Tille - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons 

See the whales … don’t eat them

A FREE 'Whappy' app, launched in #Reykjavik by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has information about restaurants which have pledged not to serve whale meat, plus #whale-watching operators, whale-friendly souvenirs, and an identification guide for whales and dolphins that can be seen in Icelandic waters.

Sigursteinn Masson, IFAW's Icelandic representative, said: ‘The new app is another way of informing tourists visiting our beautiful country about the wonder of whale watching, but it also helps them to make whale-friendly decisions. Many tourists are not fully aware of the contradiction of going whale-watching and then later eating whale meat. Icelanders have very little appetite for whale meat these days, so if tourists sample whale meat in our restaurants they are contributing directly to the number of whales being killed.’

In collaboration with whale-watching operators, IFAW operates a summer Meet Us Don't Eat Us campaign in Iceland, a project launched in 2010 after it became apparent that with only a tiny percentage of Icelanders claiming to eat whale meat regularly, tourists had become a significant part of the domestic market for minke whale meat.

At the time, whale meat could be found on the menu of all but a handful of restaurants in central Reykjavik. The percentage of tourists who say they have tasted whale meat has more than halved over the last five years from 40% in 2009 to 18% in 2014. The whale friendly restaurants scheme has resulted in less than 50% of restaurants now offering whale meat. The rest have pledged not to serve whale meat and display a whale-friendly sticker.

Masson added: ‘We hope tourists and tour operators will use our Whappy app and help to enhance tourists' experience. Iceland is one of the best destinations in Europe for whale-watching with the opportunity to see a huge variety of species of whale and dolphin.’

Whale-watching is one of the top tourist attractions in Iceland, generating approximately £10 million annually and attracting more than 220,000 tourists a year.

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Picture Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31190896@N08/8058715493">Whale Watching Hervey Bay Australia by eGuide</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">(license), http://www.flickr.com/photos/47577668@N08/14094318412">Waterfall in Iceland</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/">(license)

Birmingham-Reykjavik flights doubled

ICELANDAIR is to increase services between Birmingham and #Reykjavik from two flights a week to four, starting in February next year.

The new flights from Birmingham Airport will operate on Tuesdays and Saturdays, in addition to the current Monday and Thursday services.

Paul Kehoe, chief executive at Birmingham Airport, said: ‘Passengers are set to enjoy greater choice and flexibility, whether they want to stay in Reykjavik and explore all that it has to offer, or travel on to the US and Canada, using Icelandair’s strong network of connecting flights.’

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Picture Credit: Eyjafjallajökull by Andreas Tille - Own work: http://fam-tille.de/sparetime.htmlImage with Information in EnglishBild mit Informationen auf Deutsch. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Icelandair starts Portland flights

ICELANDAIR is to start scheduled flights in May from Reykjavik to Portland, Oregon, with easy connections from five UK airports. 

‘We are delighted to begin flights to our newest gateway Portland, to which all our flights from five UK airports will connect in Reykjavik,’ says Andres Jonsson, general manager of Icelandair UK. ‘Our flight to Portland will be the quickest and most convenient way to travel there from the UK. Our passengers can also opt to have an additional stop-over in Iceland en route for up to a week for no additional airfare, to extend their holiday experience.’

Icelandair has daily flights from London Heathrow and regular flights from Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester, and Glasgow airports to Reykjavik that connect to 14 onward North American flights.

‘Oregon is famous for its scenic splendor, award-winning wine and tax-free shopping,’ said Todd Davidson at Travel Oregon. ‘We look forward to welcoming more European visitors with Icelandair’s convenient non-stop flight from Reykjavik. Our diverse landscapes –340 miles of open coastline, mountains, valleys, desert – and exciting urban centres and quaint small towns – will create rewarding, lasting memories for anyone who visits.’

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Picture Credit: "Icelandair Boeing 757-200" by By Myself (Adrian Pingstone). [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Massive Attack at Secret Solstice

THE world's most northerly capital city, Reykjavik, will be hosting the very first Secret Solstice music festival on June 20-22 June, providing an epic combination of live music and 72 hours of daylight.

There will be more than 130 acts, headliners such as Massive Attack.

Thanks to Iceland's location close to the Arctic Circle, the sun won't set for three days over the festival weekend during the summer solstice. Festival- goers will be treated to a natural light show as the sun makes an almost unending arch through the sky.

Other attractions include a volcano-powered geo-thermal pool, and tours to see some of the country's waterfalls.

Tickets at ISK19,900 (£105) for the three days can be brought on the office website: secretsolstice.is, with flights to Iceland available from London, Edinburgh, Manchester, and Bristol.

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