Beijing Olympics stimulates higher-end China tourism
Reservations for prime hotels and homestay rooms are doing good business as the Olympics approaches, while travel agencies are preparing for a boom in customers, a city tourist official said on Friday.
HOTEL RESERVATIONS STRONG AT HIGHER LEVELS
About 78 percent of the rooms at five-star hotels in Beijing have been booked, at an average rate of 3,464 yuan (505.70 U.S. dollars), 3.6 times the rate a year earlier, according to Xiong Yumei, the Beijing Tourism Bureau’s vice director.
At four-star hotels, 48.5 percent of the rooms have been reserved, at an average rate 2,185 yuan, 4.6 times that of a year earlier. Lower-ranked hotels have lower reservation rates.
There are 5,790 registered boarding facilities in Beijing, including 816 star-ranked hotels, with 339,000 rooms and 665,000 beds. Among all the star-ranked hotels in the capital, 119 had signed contracts with the Olympics authorities.
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New York City Is Number One U.S. Port of Entry for Foreign Travelers According to Recently Released Fed Report
Recently, the federal Office of Travel & Tourism Industries released a report showing New York City as the number one port of entry into the United States for foreign visitors. While the report shows that visitation to the U.S. is gradually increasing, New York City — which has seen record-breaking growth over the last two years — continues to be a top draw for the overseas traveler. Over 1.5 million foreign tourists have already come through the City’s ports (air, land and sea) through the first three months of 2008, an 18% increase from this time last year.
The report coincides with NYC & Company — New York City’s marketing, tourism and partnership organization — recent projections showing an increase of 1 million tourists to the City over the first few months of 2008. NYC & Company cites the weakened dollar, improved customer service efforts for visitors and citizens alike, and its aggressive expansion of 18 international offices as major reasons for the success.
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DayJet Fills Gaps in Regional Travel with 30 Percent Expansion of “Per-Seat, On-Demand” Service Network
DayJet Corporation today announced a 30 percent expansion of its “Per-Seat, On-Demand” service network with the addition of two primary DayPort™ and 14 secondary DayStop™ markets. Orlando and St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Florida are the latest DayPort markets to gain direct connectivity to more than 60 community airports across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Since the launch of its “Per-Seat, On-Demand” jet service last October, DayJet has tripled its core DayPort service network. In Florida alone, 83 percent of the state’s population now lives within 40 miles of a DayPort airport. With today’s service expansion, the company is continuing to grow “Per-Seat, On-Demand” service operations into Southeastern states with the addition of new DayStop markets in Anderson, S.C.; Asheville, N.C.; Atlanta, Ga.; Athens, Ga.; Birmingham, Ala.; Gulfport, Miss.; Greenville, S.C.; New Orleans, La.; Rock Hill, S.C.; and Tuscaloosa, Ala.
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Travelocity Announces Free Travel Application for New Apple App Store
Travelocity® today announced that TravelTools, a new native application that offers iPhone and iPod touch users an innovative set of travel features while they are on the road, will be available at Apple’s new App Store. The TravelTools application will include a new location-based feature called “Hotels Near Me” which provides a dynamic list of nearby hotels, with links to maps, hotel descriptions, and booking options.
iPhone and iPod touch users away from home can also easily manage their itineraries booked on Travelocity, as well as get information on flight status and TSA security checkpoint wait times. The TravelTools application will be available as a free download worldwide from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore/. Earlier this year, Travelocity was one of the first major online travel sites to launch an application available to iPhone and iPod touch users via a Safari browser at http://iphone.travelocity.com.
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EzRez Builds Dynamic Vacation Packaging Site for Cebu Pacific Airlines
EzRez Software, Inc., a software as a service (SaaS) company that provides one of the largest travel inventory networks, tools, and technologies to enable any business to easily package and market travel online, today announced a partnership with Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) to build a complete dynamic vacation packaging suite on the airlines’ website at: www.cebupacificair.com.
The low fare airline leader in the Philippines and one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, CEB is EzRez Software’s most recent airline client in the Asia Pacific market and represents the latest of a number of new Asia-Pacific airline partnerships to come.
EzRez currently works with some of the most recognized and forward thinking names in travel, including American Express, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, American Airlines Vacations, Virgin America, JetBlue, Carlson Travel, Westjet, Riu Hotels & Resorts and more.
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EzRez Builds Dynamic Vacation Packaging Site for Cebu Pacific Airlines
EzRez Software, Inc., a software as a service (SaaS) company that provides one of the largest travel inventory networks, tools, and technologies to enable any business to easily package and market travel online, today announced a partnership with Cebu Pacific Air (CEB) to build a complete dynamic vacation packaging suite on the airlines’ website at: www.cebupacificair.com.
The low fare airline leader in the Philippines and one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, CEB is EzRez Software’s most recent airline client in the Asia Pacific market and represents the latest of a number of new Asia-Pacific airline partnerships to come.
EzRez currently works with some of the most recognized and forward thinking names in travel, including American Express, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, American Airlines Vacations, Virgin America, JetBlue, Carlson Travel, Westjet, Riu Hotels & Resorts and more.
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Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park launches Christmas Extravaganza Promotion
The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London has started taking reservations for the ultimate traditional London Christmas for their “Christmas Extravaganza” experience which includes priority arrangements at Harrods ‘Christmas Grotto’, the Royal Albert Hall’s ‘Christmas Carols by Candlelight Concert’, ‘Winter Wonderland Ice-skating’ in glorious Hyde Park, and a helpful gift collection and wrapping service.
Enjoy the festive season in one of the most spectacular buildings of the Victorian era, for a time-honoured English Christmas with all the trimmings, unparalleled warmth, hospitality and service. Furthermore, the hotel’s concierge has created seamless arrangements to some of the most popular traditional Christmas festivities in the area.
Priced from GBP 2525, the ‘Christmas Extravaganza’ programme includes:
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