Category Archives: Travel & leisure

Greece preparing new tourism rules with EU in wake of coronavirus

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Packed pools, beaches and tour buses will not return immediately as country plans for scaled back 2020 season

Packed pools, beaches and tour buses, as well as middle seats on planes, hotel minibars and scrums at airport check-ins, may all be a thing of the past as Europe’s tourism industry attempts to reimagine the holiday in the wake of the coronavirus.

Travel will take place only under “specific new rules”, Greece’s tourism minister has said as he prepares to propose ways of salvaging the sector with his EU counterparts in the era of Covid-19 on Monday.

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‘Time is running out’: airline industry warns government

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EasyJet and Ryanair to stop flying on Monday and less than 5% of passengers expected at airports amid coronavirus

Airlines and airports have warned that time is running out for the government to enact promised measures to help the aviation industry, with EasyJet and Ryanair set to stop flying after Monday and less than 5% of normal passenger numbers expected at major airports.

Further talks are expected between ministers and the industry on Monday as the government wrestles with how to keep critical infrastructure functioning.

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Markets plunge despite coordinated action by central banks

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Sharp losses recorded after US interest rate cut, as Bank of England hints at further support to combat turmoil

The FTSE 100 fell below 5,000 points on Monday and trading on Wall Street was suspended for the third time in a week as markets were gripped by mounting concerns over the threat of a global recession, despite a coordinated effort by central banks to protect growth and jobs.

In an escalation of the worst turmoil since the 2008 financial crisis, stock markets suffered further sharp losses on Monday despite dramatic action taken by the US central bank late on Sunday in an attempt to limit the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

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Airlines make dramatic cuts to services and call for state bailouts

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Aviation consultancy warns that international industry could collapse within months


Major airlines including British Airways, Ryanair, easyJet and Virgin Atlantic announced a dramatic scaling-back of their operations on Monday, including plans to cancel the majority of their flights and ground thousands of planes, with experts and industry executives calling for government bailouts to avoid bankruptcies.

The moves came as an aviation consultancy warned that the international airline industry will collapse within months, with the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, unless states worldwide inject billions of dollars of emergency funding to see it through the coronavirus “catastrophe”.

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BA says jobs will go as airline industry faces crisis ‘worse than 9/11’

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Coronavirus memo says British Airways will be ‘parking aircraft in a way we never have before’

British Airways has warned staff it is in a fight for survival and expects to make job cuts and ground an unprecedented number of planes, as it said the coronavirus pandemic has caused a crisis “worse than 9/11” for the airline industry.

BA’s chief executive, Alex Cruz, said in a message to 45,000 employees entitled “The Survival of British Airways” that the airline would be “parking aircraft in a way we never have before” after the drop in demand was compounded by the shock US travel ban from Europe announced on Wednesday night. It came as the German media reported that the country’s flagship carrier, Lufthansa, might ground most of its fleet and ask for state aid in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise move.

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Mass monkey brawl highlights coronavirus effect on Thailand tourism

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Fewer visitors mean less food for troops of wild monkeys at Prang Sam Yod

The coronavirus outbreak has left Thailand’s hotels empty, its tour guides without work and its markets unusually quiet. The country’s wildlife may also now be noticing the lack of visitors.

A video filmed this week in Lopburi, north-east of Bangkok, showed large crowds of monkeys brawling in the streets, apparently fighting over a yoghurt pot. Residents in the city, which is famed for its monkey population, say the fall in tourist numbers means there are far fewer people offering food.

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Lie-flat beds in economy class: Air New Zealand unveils bunks for budget travellers

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Airline which operates some of world’s longest flights is considering ‘Skynest’ sleep pods with pillows, sheets and blankets

Air New Zealand has announced it could have flat beds in economy for some of its long-haul flights, but it will be more than a year before customers could get the chance to sleep in one of the new pod beds.

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‘I’m a stranger in my own city’: Prague takes on Airbnb to dam flood of tourists

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Joining a battle already being waged by many other cities, the Czech capital’s mayor wants new laws to limit the lettings website

For decades, its mesmerising blend of baroque and gothic beauty was closed to mass tourism by the iron curtain that divided the communist east from the capitalist west during the cold war.

Now Prague, which has gained an unenviable reputation as a destination for stag nights and pub crawls, has become the latest European city to propose a radical assault on Airbnb and other short-term letting platforms as over-tourism threatens to overwhelm it and drive out residents.

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British Airways slumps to near bottom in passenger survey

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Which? finds BA ranks badly for both long and short haul, but Ryanair still props up table

British Airways has taken a nosedive in UK passengers’ opinions and is now rated just above Ryanair at the bottom end of the airline rankings.

The flag carrier was among the worst rated for food, seat comfort and value for money on both short and long-haul services in the annual Which? poll.

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Tourist trade counts the cost as separatist riots blight Barcelona

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Hoteliers, restaurants and shops say takings fell up to 50% after the violence, and future bookings may be hit

Catalonia has been counting the political cost after protests swept across the region following the decision by Spain’s supreme court to impose heavy sentences on Catalan separatist leaders found guilty of sedition. Now it faces a new cost – a slump in the lucrative tourist business in its hugely popular capital, Barcelona.

The violent disturbances left the city with a clean-up bill estimated at €3m (£2.6m), but it is feared that the images of airport chaos, running battles with police and flaming barricades will cost a great deal more.

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Thomas Cook staff and European tourist trade left reeling after collapse

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Former staff waiting for pay plan to take protests to Tory conference, and Greek hoteliers face a €500m hit

Staff from Thomas Cook are to hold protests at this week’s Tory party conference in Manchester and later at Downing Street over the government’s decision not to step in and save the company from liquidation.

Staff were due to get their monthly salaries on 30 September but are instead among Thomas Cook’s creditors, and it is now unclear when they will be paid. Some 150,000 UK holidaymakers are being repatriated at taxpayers’ expense following the demise of the world’s oldest tour operator. On 28 September, a further 16,700 customers were set to be flown home.

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Canary Islands hold their breath for Thomas Cook fallout

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Tour giant’s collapse leaves big hotel debts and staff fearing for jobs just before winter season

Under a late September sun that blisters white northern European skin with ease, Playa de las Américas offers its visitors a bounteous blend of the familiar and the exotic.

On the palm-lined main thoroughfare of the Tenerife resort town, tourists have an array of choice, from buying a pint for €1.50 (£1.33) to watching football matches, taking jetski trips and even Harley-Davidson tours of the island.

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Thomas Cook collapse: financial regulator may investigate – business live

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Failure of world’s oldest travel company leaves bosses facing tough questions over their pay and performance

A lot of people face losses because of Thomas Cook’s collapse.

The companies suppliers could be left with unpaid bills, while employees need to submit claims to obtain the redundancy payments and wages they’re entitled to.

If you are an employee or creditor affected by #ThomasCook, we have useful information about how to make claims in the liquidation https://t.co/UpfHpctze5 pic.twitter.com/E8RfjuVpve

Here’s our news story about the accountancy watchdog sniffing around Thomas Cook’s collapse:

Related: Thomas Cook collapse: accounting watchdog weighs up investigation

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Fallout from Thomas Cook collapse felt across Europe and Africa

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Governments are in crisis-planning mode over efforts to repatriate 500,000 tourists

The collapse of Thomas Cook has plunged governments across Europe and Africa into crisis-planning mode as they help with the repatriation of more than 500,000 stranded tourists and begin to count the cost of the holiday company’s demise on already-battered economies.

About 50,000 holidaymakers are stranded in Greece, 21,000 in Turkey, 15,000 in Cyprus and 4,500 in Tunisia. Thousands of tourists are also stuck in the US and dozens of other countries. Most of the tourists are from the UK with an estimated 150,000 people, followed by Germany with about 140,000 holidaymakers.

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UK ministers accused of sealing Thomas Cook’s fate

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Offers from Spain and Turkey to save firm reportedly had no support from Westminster

The government has been accused of sealing Thomas Cook’s fate, as claims emerged that the Spanish and Turkish governments had offered to help save the stricken tour operator, only for the deal to disintegrate due to a lack of support in Westminster.

As recriminations flew, government-chartered aircraft began flying 150,000 stranded Thomas Cook customers back to the UK after the 178-year-old tour operator collapsed into liquidation in the early hours of Monday under the weight of its debts.

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Thomas Cook travel chaos: insolvency leaves 150,000 stranded on holidays – live updates

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A huge repatriation effort has begun after company ceases trading with immediate effect, causing flights to be cancelled

I’m going to hand over to my colleague Graeme Wearden now. Thanks for following along through the early hours.

A few reports have come through that Thomas Cook staff were not notified by the company of the trouble that the company was in. One said he found out the company had gone bust by reading media reports today. Another, whose family member worked for Thomas Cook, said the company had been telling staff up until yesterday that reports of financial distress had been inflated by the press.

If you know more, please get in touch: kate.lyons@theguardian.com

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Thomas Cook in last-ditch talks to avoid collapse

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Up to 150,000 UK holidaymakers affected with 9,000 British jobs at risk as firm looks for £200m in funds

Thomas Cook is holding last-ditch talks with key players on Sunday in a bid to avert a collapse that will affect 150,000 UK holidaymakers abroad and put 9,000 British jobs at risk.

The travel company is at risk of falling into administration imminently unless it finds £200m in extra funds. The government and the UK aviation watchdog are preparing to launch a rescue plan codenamed Operation Matterhorn.

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Outcry as Saga travel firm advertises cruise ‘exclusively for Brits’

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Over-50s holiday company apologises for brochure after Twitter backlash

Saga, the insurance and travel company aimed at the over-50s, has apologised after customers were sent a brochure advertising a cruise “exclusively for Brits”, prompting a furious backlash.

Twitter user Anthony Bale, who is a university professor, said his mother was “outraged” after being sent the magazine, the front page of which outlined the characteristics of the cruise.

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Cockpit coffee spill caused transatlantic flight diversion – AAIB

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Control panel was damaged during Condor flight after captain put cup on tray table

A pilot spilling coffee in the cockpit of a plane flying over the Atlantic Ocean forced it to turn back and land in Ireland.

The hot coffee damaged an audio control panel, which gave off an electrical burning smell and smoke, an accident report found. It created significant communication difficulty for the pilots flying the Airbus A330, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) said.

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BA pilots to strike from midnight in dispute about pay

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Balpa union calls 48-hour walkout with further action planned for 27 September

The first-ever strike by British Airways pilots is set to start at midnight on Sunday night, leading to the cancellation of hundreds of flights and travel disruption for thousands of passengers.

Members of the British Airline Pilots’ Association (Balpa) have said they will walk out for 48 hours in a long-running dispute over pay, with a further strike set for 27 September if the row remains unresolved.

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