Scotland will be getting its first tourist tax, a levy in Edinburgh, but the local tourism industry is concerned it will make the destination less competitive.
22.08.2024 - 23:42 / skift.com
Thousands of companies have traded in their big office spaces in favor of remote work. But team building is tough on Zoom and many are organizing regular in-person gatherings to bring employees together.
That shift has a growing number of travel managers and hotels revamping their offerings to cater to this new kind of business travel.
Reed & Mackay is one such company. The 62-year-old travel management firm recently doubled its meetings and events staff to address growing demand for offsite internal events.
“That’s been a big surge from our client base, as well as just in the industry in general,” said DeAnne Dale, who oversees sales for North America at UK-based Reed & Mackay.
That surge has translated to a boost in revenue and an increase in global staff, as well as the acquisition of three new companies with expertise in meetings and events. Clients are doubling or tripling the number of gatherings they hold yearly and reorganizing how they operate in light of new trends, Dale said.
While business travel might have been handled by a travel manager in human resources, meetings and events were often organized by administrative assistants. Potential synergies and savings were often being left on the table.
When lumping all travel and meetings together, companies can get better rates for general business travel and see savings of 15% to 20% on meetings, said Tim Wagner, senior vice president of consulting services at travel management tech platform HRS. Companies get better pricing from scale and travel suppliers get more business.
Grant Caplan, president at travel consulting firm Procurigence, said he has one client who booked 8,000 rooms at a single hotel for one year alone but company meetings weren’t included during negotiations.
“You can imagine that hotelier was interested in my client’s business,” Caplan said. “When we went back and said, ‘Well, how about we also throw in some meetings,’ they were hungry enough for the 8,000 that they were glad to make some room on the meeting side to honor our transient room rate for those meetings.”
While Dale expects regular business travel to remain at about 80% of pre-pandemic levels, demand for meetings is expected to stay strong.
“Larger meetings and events, side incentive trips, the partner conferences, things like that, have doubled in volume,” Dale said.
The recent State of Travel report from Skift Research noted that the Meetings industry is set for strong growth through 2032.
Hoteliers have noticed.
Employees aren’t seeing each other five days a week, and companies “are seeking to do more retreats or employee off sites or team meetings, and we’ve seen a significant rise in that,” Frank Passanante, senior vice president at Hilton, said in
Scotland will be getting its first tourist tax, a levy in Edinburgh, but the local tourism industry is concerned it will make the destination less competitive.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Scarlett Kiaras-Attari, a marketing executive and education content creator who moved to the UK for her studies. It has been edited for length and clarity.
The rapidly brightening sky was painted with swaths of orange, pink, and yellow. The early-morning light revealed a city that seemed to be little more than a patchwork of haphazardly planned mid-rise buildings in varying states of repair, punctuated with sprawling bushes, trees quivering in the morning breeze, and lawns sloping toward the nearby sea. The nocturnal beep-beep of tree frogs gave way to the insistent chirp of morning birds that rose from the trees to swoop across the sky like animated chevrons. As I watched the Senegalese sunrise on my first day in Africa, I was vibrating with anticipation. Dakar was waking up, and I was here to witness it.
A cruise on the Mediterranean Sea aboard a superyacht was supposed to be a celebratory event for the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who was acquitted in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.
Few properties are so inextricably associated with their location as Gleaneagles, where days are composed of traditional clay pigeon shoots on misty moors and fireside whisky tastings. This year marks 100 years of the Scottish estate, which has celebrated by collaborating with the British outdoor brand Barbour and releasing a Rizzoli tome devoted to its glamorous history (royal escapades included), all while planning a centenary ball that will take place this fall. Walk the line between country chic and laid-back glamour with soft creams and pinks that will look as at home in the glen as in the plum-colored American Bar.
There has been a shift in travel preferences with emerging trends such as quiet travel and the pursuit of a slow-paced life gaining popularity in recent months. Quiet travel is a way of exploring that emphasises tranquillity, mindfulness, and a closer connection to nature. Scotland’s serene landscapes offer a perfect escape for those seeking quiet, reflective travel in nature’s embrace.
A cruise on the Mediterranean Sea aboard a superyacht was supposed to be a celebratory event for the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who was acquitted in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.
As interest in visiting Porto only grows stronger, visitors are finding even more things to do in the city. What was once seen for many as a short trip is becoming a longer break, with exploration outside of the city centre and into neighboring areas. Porto may be Portugal’s second largest city—after Lisbon—but it did give the country its name from the Roman Portus Cale. Centuries later, the city became famous for port, its “divine nectar of the Gods,” tastings of which are highly recommended in any of the port lodges lining the riverside in Vila Nova de Gaia. From there, look across the Douro at Porto’s colorful jumble of medieval houses, soaring church towers, and glossy blue-and-white tiled façades. Here, our selection of the best things to do in Porto can help you weave your way through the city, dipping into its sights, sounds, tastes, and smells to better get under its skin. To be sure, Porto will get under yours too.
A cruise on the Mediterranean Sea aboard a superyacht was supposed to be a celebratory event for the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, who was acquitted in June of fraud charges tied to the sale of his company, Autonomy, to the tech giant Hewlett-Packard.
Aug 20, 2024 • 7 min read
Thailand is redefining its approach to tourism promotion by harnessing the power of digital influencers.
Points and miles enthusiasts were dismayed last month when a system issue at Virgin Atlantic Flying Club caused Air France-KLM Flying Blue partner award flights to become unavailable on Virgin Atlantic's site. Thankfully, the glitch seems to have been addressed because Flying Blue flights are showing up again, meaning you can once more use your Virgin points to book flights operated by Air France and KLM.