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    Overhaul for Robinson ahead of half-century celebration

    Robinson, a high-end brand owned by TUI Group, is sharpening its profile for its fiftieth anniversary with the launch of a new brand identity.
    The first Robinson Club Jandia Playa opened 50 years ago on Fuerteventura as a small project by the German company.
    Half a century later, TUI has become a leading tourism group and Robinson has expanded to 26 clubs across 15 countries, respected as the German market leader for premium club holidays.
    For its birthday, the club provider is now launching its new brand identity and confirming its positive outlook on carefree travel after the pandemic.
    Bernd Mäser, managing director of Robinson, commented: “Even during the pandemic, we were able to welcome thousands of guests in compliance with comprehensive hygiene and safety measures. ADVERTISEMENT“There was a great deal of trust in our brand already before the crisis and it is now paying off.
    “As soon as we can reopen a club, we see bookings come in immediately – the bond with our guests is overwhelming.
    “We are convinced that we will see a boom in bookings with the upcoming changes to travel rules with the most beautiful beach clubs sure to top the list.”
    A parrot has served as the brand logo for Robinson since it was founded.
    The colourful bird stands for happy, carefree sociability and continues to symbolise the central promise of the holiday provider.
    While the head was more abstract in the company logo over the past 27 years, the likeable bird is now clearly recognisable again.
    The typeface of the word mark has also been revised: the new sans serif font appears timelessly clear, underpins the premium claim and perfectly complements the formal language of the animal.
    A TUIfly aircraft with the new Robinson corporate design and parrot will soon enter its service in the TUIfly fleet.

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    Brand overhaul for Robinson ahead of half-century celebration

    Robinson, a high-end brand owned by TUI Group, is sharpening its profile for its fiftieth anniversary with the launch of a new brand identity.
    The first Robinson Club Jandia Playa opened 50 years ago on Fuerteventura as a small project by the German company.
    Half a century later, TUI has become a leading tourism group and Robinson has expanded to 26 clubs across 15 countries, respected as the German market leader for premium club holidays.
    For its birthday, the club provider is now launching its new brand identity and confirming its positive outlook on carefree travel after the pandemic.
    Bernd Mäser, managing director of Robinson, commented: “Even during the pandemic, we were able to welcome thousands of guests in compliance with comprehensive hygiene and safety measures. ADVERTISEMENT“There was a great deal of trust in our brand already before the crisis and it is now paying off.
    “As soon as we can reopen a club, we see bookings come in immediately – the bond with our guests is overwhelming.
    “We are convinced that we will see a boom in bookings with the upcoming changes to travel rules with the most beautiful beach clubs sure to top the list.”
    A parrot has served as the brand logo for Robinson since it was founded.
    The colourful bird stands for happy, carefree sociability and continues to symbolise the central promise of the holiday provider.
    While the head was more abstract in the company logo over the past 27 years, the likeable bird is now clearly recognisable again.
    The typeface of the word mark has also been revised: the new sans serif font appears timelessly clear, underpins the premium claim and perfectly complements the formal language of the animal.
    A TUIfly aircraft with the new Robinson corporate design and parrot will soon enter its service in the TUIfly fleet.

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    Tui Group pins hopes on strong summer as losses mount

    Tui Group has pinned hopes for a its financial recovery on a strong European summer.
    The company reported an adjusted loss of €1.3 billion for the first half of the year, down further from losses of €795 million seen in the same period last year.
    Tui pointed to “massive” travel restrictions as the primary driver of the losses.
    Looking ahead, capacity for the core months of the 2021 summer programme remains equivalent to around 75 per cent of the 2019 summer programme.
    A pick-up in demand has been clearly evident in recent weeks, Tui said, with new bookings doubling since April.ADVERTISEMENTTUI has recorded a total of 2.6 million bookings for this summer, though this is 69 per cent lower than at the comparable point in time for summer 2019.
    Average prices are 22 per cent higher than for summer 2019 due to the high proportion of all-inclusive packages in current bookings.
    Fritz Joussen, TUI Group chief executive, said: “The prospects for early summer 2021 make me optimistic for tourism and for TUI.
    “They are significantly better than in the first pandemic year, 2020.
    “Scientists and doctors know the virus, there are vaccines from several manufacturers, the vaccination campaigns are working everywhere in Europe and rapid tests are now available everywhere.
    “Much has been achieved in the last 14 months through government programmes and the discipline of us all.”
    He added: “Incidence levels in key destinations are falling steadily.
    “The Balearic and Canary Islands are well below 50 new cases a day.
    “The opening of Mallorca over the Easter holidays with thousands of TUI guests has shown that safe and relaxing holidays are possible in times of the pandemic.”

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    CWT shakes up senior leadership team

    CWT has appointed Courtney Mattson to the role of acting chief financial officer.
    She will also become a member of the executive leadership team.
    Immediately prior to this she was global treasurer and deputy chief financial officer.
    At the same time, Patrick Andersen has been appointed president and chief commercial officer, while Niklas Andreen has taken up the role of chief operating officer.
    The changes follow the appointment of Michelle McKinney Frymire as chief executive of the company earlier this month.
    “We have an incredibly talented leadership team globally, and I am delighted that this continues to be reflected in these appointments,” said Frymire.ADVERTISEMENT“We remain committed to our proven growth strategy, focused on our industry-defining, successful business-to-business approach, which we believe is a true differentiator in business travel management.
    “Courtney, Patrick, and Niklas are all key partners in that journey along with the balance of our executive leadership team.”
    Mattson joined CWT as treasurer in November 2018, from Mosaic, a public company based in Minneapolis, where as treasurer she was responsible for the company’s capital markets, insurance and treasury operations functions.

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    UKHospitality warns rent arrears could cost tourism jobs

    The £2.5 billion in rent debt hanging around the neck of the hospitality industry is a threat to the future of thousands of businesses and over 330,000 sector jobs, new analysis by UKHospitality has revealed.ADVERTISEMENTA new survey of members, found that resolving the rent debt issue is critical to ensuring the future health of a sector that pre-pandemic accounted for ten per cent of UK employment.
    As part of its submission the government, UKHospitality highlighted that more than half of operators surveyed said they have not had a rent reduction from their landlord, despite prolonged periods of closure and over a year of punitive trading restrictions.
    Other key findings include:

    Some 52 per cent have not been given any extension to pay rent.
    A total of 73 per cent are either unable or do not know how they can pay their rent arrears.
    Some 40 per cent have not been able to reach a deal with their landlord over rent concessions.

    If the current protections that are in place are removed this summer, the analysis estimated that a sixth of the remaining hospitality workforce, equivalent to 332,000 jobs, could be lost.
    This would be in addition to the hundreds of thousands of jobs already lost during the course of the pandemic.
    Kate Nicholls, UKHospitality chief executive, said: “Our survey shows that while a proportion of operators have been able to strike a deal with their landlords on payment of rent debt, for many there have been no concessions and little engagement on the issue.
    “The issue of rent debt must be resolved in a way that shares the burden as businesses simply cannot be expected to pay their rent arrears in full.
    “This is why the government must take affirmative action to help hospitality rebuild and play its part in the economic recovery.
    “There has to be a sharing of the pain caused by lockdowns and trading restrictions.”

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    Cox & Kings launches small group brochure for 2022

    Luxury small group tour specialist Cox & Kings has launched its small group tours 2022-23 preview brochure early, on the back of consumer demand.
    The new brochure includes a globe-spanning selection of the most popular small-group tours – spaces on which are already filling up as confidence in travel returns.
    The new brochure can be read online here. ADVERTISEMENTThe company reports longer lead times for bookings, an increase in demand for tours including arts and culture as well as solo travel.
    Kerry Golds, managing director of Cox & Kings, commented: “Cox & Kings have been pioneering travel for over 260 years – our small group tours are best in class.
    “With pent up demand and limited capacity at peak travel times, we recognise the desire for travellers to secure their tour spot early.
    “Our clients are telling us they wanted to make up for lost time and ensure they didn’t miss out.”

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    FCDO updates travel advice for limited number of destinations

    The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) has updated its travel advice for a number of destinations, potentially clearing the way for the restart of travel.
    The government hopes international tourism can resume on May 17th, with details expected in the coming days on which countries are considered safe.
    Ahead of the announcement, the FCDO is no longer advising against non-essential travel to the Canary Islands, five Greek islands, most of Portugal, Malta and Israel.ADVERTISEMENTThe Canary Islands include Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura.
    Greek islands with exemptions to the do not travel warning are Rhodes, Kos, Zakynthos, Corfu and Crete.
    Each destination has seen success in efforts to vaccination residents against Covid-19, with official stating the newly revealed exemptions are “based on the current assessment of Covid-19 risks”.
    The FCDO still advises against travel to the rest of Spain and Greece, and the autonomous Portuguese archipelago, the Azores.
    The US Virgin Islands has also been given an exemption.

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    IATA warns testing costs may deter travellers

    The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has called on governments to ensure that high costs for Covid-19 testing do not put travel out of reach for individuals and families.
    To facilitate an efficient restart of international travel, Covid-19 testing must be affordable as well as timely, widely available and effective, the body argued.
    An IATA sampling of costs for PCR tests (the test most frequently required by governments) in 16 countries showed wide variations by markets and within markets.
    Even taking the average of the low-end costs, adding PCR testing to average airfares would dramatically increase the cost of flying for individuals.
    Pre-crisis, the average one-way airline ticket, including taxes and charges, cost $200 (2019 data). ADVERTISEMENTA $90 PCR test raises the cost by 45 per cent to $290.
    Add another test on arrival and the one-way cost would leap by 90 per cent to $380.
    Assuming that two tests are needed in each direction, the average cost for an individual return-trip could balloon from $400 to $760.
    The impact of the costs of Covid-19 testing on family travel would be even more severe.
    Based on average ticket prices ($200) and average low-end PCR testing ($90) twice each way, a journey for four that would have cost $1,600 pre-Covid, could nearly double to $3,040 – with $1440 being testing costs.
    Source: IATA
    “As travel restrictions are lifted in domestic markets, we are seeing strong demand.
    “The same can be expected in international markets.
    “But that could be perilously compromised by testing costs – particularly PCR testing.
    “Raising the cost of any product will significantly stifle demand.
    “The impact will be greatest for short-haul trips (up to 1,100 km), with average fares of $105, the tests will cost more than the flight,” said Willie Walsh, IATA director general.

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