Organisations & Operators,

Heathrow has partnered with Mr. Men Little Miss to create a mobile game to entertain young travellers at the airport over the summer holiday period. The game features Mr. Adventure and Little Miss Explorer, characters created exclusively for Heathrow.
It can be easily accessed by scanning a QR code which will be posted throughout the airport, with no downloads or sign-ups necessary.
The game is available now and suitable for 2-12-year-olds, providing parents with a quick and engaging way to entertain children throughout the airport. Activities include travel-themed quizzes, colouring-in pages, and a search and find game where kids can hunt for their favourite Mr. Men characters. Children can even use the game’s camera mode to snap photos with the characters themselves.
A Parent Zone for grown-ups includes tips and information for families travelling through Heathrow, including how to find the nearest play areas and baby changing facilities, safety tips and a helpful shopping directory.
Heathrow colleagues will also be handing out free Mr. Men colouring packs and stickers to families throughout the airport this summer. Travellers can also take advantage of Heathrow’s other initiatives to make travelling easier for families, including the Kids Eat Free offer – available at selected restaurants across terminals; as well as free Heathrow Express tickets for children under 15.ADVERTISEMENTSummer is set to be the most popular time to travel through Heathrow, with a forecast of over 850,000 passengers expected to depart in the first week of the summer holidays. As the most connected airport in the UK, travellers can fly to over 200 different destinations from Heathrow, with the most common holiday spots this summer predicted to be New York, Dubai, Los Angeles and Dublin.
Tonia Fielding, Director of Services at Heathrow, commented: “At Heathrow we want the airport experience to be as fun and stress-fee as possible. We know over the summer holidays many families will be jetting off on well-earned, much-needed, time away with the kids and we wanted to make travelling with little ones that little bit easier this summer.
We’re looking forward to welcoming all the Mr Adventures and Little Miss Explorers at Heathrow over the summer months and we hope the Mr. Men Summer Fun game gives children something fun to do, while taking some of the pressure off parents as they start their journey at Heathrow.”
The Summer Fun game can be accessed via a mobile phone or tablet by scanning the QR codes across Heathrow terminals, or via this link: https://summerfun.heathrow.com

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The IPRN Tourism Group is made up of agencies with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the sector that aim to share high-value information, develop business in new markets and learn as much as possible from each other.
IPRN announces the creation of a specialised tourism group to boost international public relations in the sector. With the growing importance of tourism as an economic and cultural driver, IPRN has identified the need for a specialised (and internationally inclusive) approach to tourism. The creation of this group provides IPRN members with access to tourism specific expertise for their own clients whilst the group members can leverage their specific knowledge and expertise with the best-practice experience of other group members to deliver strategies and campaigns tailored to the unique needs of the tourism industry.
Optimal PR support on the way abroad
IPRN’s new tourism specialty group brings together PR agencies from around the world that excel in tourism and share the goal of promoting tourism destinations and businesses with innovative and creative approaches. These agencies will work closely together to exchange knowledge, develop best practices and provide customised solutions that boost the promotion and global visibility of their clients in the tourism industry.
Diego Barceló, CEO of Comunicación Iberoamericana (Spain) and Chair of the IPRN Tourism Group explains: “The tourism industry faces unique communication and promotional challenges, and we are committed to providing effective and strategic solutions to our tourism clients. By bringing together the best tourism PR agencies from around the world, we will be able to offer world-class services and leverage our global expertise to promote tourism destinations and businesses in an impactful way”.ADVERTISEMENTIPRN Tourism Group agencies
At the moment, the IPRN’s Tourism Group includes more than ten agencies from four continents. Leading the group is Comunicación Iberoamericana (Spain), Central de Informaçao (Portugal), Luna (Belgium), Wright on Comm (United States), MANGO-OMC (South Africa), Mekky Media (United States), EXTROVERT Business Communitacion (Greece), Public Dialog (Poland), Fortuna PR (India) and Concept PR (India).

Strategic advantages for international PR
Rodrigo Viana de Freitas, the newly elected president of the IPRN, explains the strategy behind the “Global Market Sector Leaders Groups”, which are also being established for other industries such as Real Estate, Technology, Healthcare or Food & Beverage: “The Tourism Group was made to share information in this exciting sector and to learn from one another. With this IPRN Group, companies can access a network with huge expertise and no borders”.

About IPRN
IPRN is an international network of independently owned and operated public relations and communications agencies with more than 50 members in more than 100 major cities and more than 40 countries around the world, including North and South America, Western Europe and Eastern, Middle East, Africa, Far East and Australia. It represents all sectors of the industry and represents a cumulative turnover of around 150 million dollars, with more than 1,000 employees and 4,000 clients among the different agencies. More information at www.iprn.com

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Quark Expeditions, the global leader in polar adventures, announces hot summer promotions for polar explorers—up to 30% discounts on Arctic and Antarctic expeditions, plus new solo traveler deals.“For those that act fast, this is an incredible opportunity to explore for less with the best team in the polar regions,” said Thomas Lennartz, Vice President of Sales for Quark Expeditions. “And for our solo travelers, removing single supplements in Antarctica makes our extraordinary adventures even more enticing.”For a limited time, guests can book at up to a 30% discount across any sailing season: Arctic escapes this summer, Antarctic expeditions next winter, and all itineraries in 2024 or 2025. Solo travelers on select Antarctica voyages—including the legendary Emperor Penguin Quest to Snow Hill—can save up to $20,000 by booking now with no single-occupancy premium.
Together with these summer specials, regular offers are always available—an additional 5% discount for guests combining back-to-back voyages, an immediate 10% off when paying in full at time of booking and, for all repeat explorers with the company, a further 5% discount for life as a member of the Shackleton Club.
To learn more and book the adventure of a lifetime, visit the Quark Expeditions website’s Featured Deals page. https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/offers/featured-deals

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APT & Travelmarvel will be giving one lucky travel agent a year’s worth of food shopping for them and their household with a new ‘Win a Year’s Food Shopping’ competition, launching today.
It couldn’t be simpler to enter.
Agents just need to subscribe to APT’s trade emails here before December 14th, or in person at any of the trade events that APT will be exhibiting at throughout the year, and they will be automatically entered into the draw.
With food prices continuing to rise, the average annual spend on food shopping in the UK is now £4,125.
APT will support the lucky winner by covering these household costs for a full year, giving them a total prize of £4,200 in Love2Shop vouchers, valid to spend at Sainsbury’s, ASDA or Morrisons.
These will be delivered in 12 monthly instalments of £350 throughout 2024.
The lucky winner will be selected at random on December 15th.
Once subscribed to APT’s informative trade emails, agents will benefit from learning about new incentives, fam trip opportunities, product launches, training, key events and more.
Brad Bennetts, APT & Travelmarvel head of sales & business development, said: “With the cost-of-living crisis, times are tough out there, so we wanted to come up with a new way to support our valued agent partners, creating a trade campaign that was exciting but also genuinely meaningful.
“By covering the cost of their household food shopping each month for a whole year, our ambition is to reduce the pressure of rising costs for one lucky winner for a whole year.
“I wish everyone the best of luck – get subscribing today!”

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London City Airport has announced the successful applicants for the second tranche of funding from the airport’s £75,000 Community Fund.The airport has awarded £36,023 of funding to 13 charities and not-for-profit organisations covering six East London boroughs including Newham, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Bexley, Waltham Forest, and Redbridge. Each successful applicant will receive a grant of up to £3,000 to build stronger, safer, and healthier communities, and raise aspirations of East Londoners.
Local groups that have secured funding include Salaam Peace, an organisation dedicated to delivering sports and education programmes across East London which attracts 1250 people per week, in addition to Island House Community Centre, a charity providing education and digital skills training to improve the confidence and employability of disadvantaged and marginalised groups.
The announcement follows the airport’s first tranche of community funding in December, which included a donation of £50,000 to local foodbanks to help support communities with the cost-of-living crisis. Since launching the fund in May 2019, the Community Fund has awarded over £400,000 to 120+ charities and not-for-profit organisations to date.
Azi Mohammed, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Salaam Peace, said:
“We are delighted to be recipients of the London City Airport Community Grant Fund. The funding will make a significant impact to the young people from underserved local communities. The grant will be used to deliver a football sessions, workshops and coaching courses for 13-16-year-old boys, which will enhance the physical and mental well-being, social mixing and employability skills of these individuals.”ADVERTISEMENTPaul Rogers, Centre Director, CEO, Island House Community Centre, said:
“Island House Community Centre welcomes the generous funding from London City Airport which will enable us to continue and grow our valuable SKILLS project, providing much-needed digital skills, language and employability training in our local community.”
Jan Mitchell, Project Manager, One Place East, said:
“We are very excited to be awarded Grant from London City Airport Community Fund. This will give us the opportunity to continue our Dementia befriending work with the local community and make a difference to those living in isolation due to this disease!”
Bablu Miah, Head and Founder of Trapped in Zone One, said:
“London City Airport’s funding will support Trapped in Zone One to offer free to access fitness classes to women from marginalised communities in East London. The grant will provide opportunities for local women to get active through weekly group exercises sessions, boosting mental-wellbeing and promoting social activity.”
Robert Sinclair, CEO of London City Airport, said:
“Just as we did during the pandemic, we’re using the Community Fund to benefit local community initiatives that need it most. We hope these grants will make a noticeable difference to local organisations that are vital for the prosperity of East London.”

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“Hundreds of electric taxis visit Helsinki Airport every day, and the number is growing. We are pleased that, in cooperation with Plugit Finland, we will be able to offer taxis operating at the airport their own charging area in a central location. We believe that the new charging station will be well received,” says Jukka Isomäki, Finavia’s Head of Parking and Landside Traffic at Helsinki Airport.
The total power output of the charging area for electric taxis to be built at Helsinki Airport is considerable, about 4 megawatts. The charging area uses Plugit’s high-power charging system.
“With an implementation of this scale, we absolutely wanted to have a Finnish charging system and operating software. By investing in public charging stations for commercial transport, we are doing our part to help commercial transport transfer quickly to electric vehicles,” says Tuomas Mäkelä, who is responsible for Plugit’s charging business for commercial transport.
The power planning of the charging area means the station can later be extended to support the charging of up to 100 electric taxis simultaneously.

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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) will publish an annual Track Zero report using IATA’s Net Zero Tracking Methodology to report industry-level progress towards aviation’s commitment to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The Net Zero Tracking Methodology and related reporting process were developed with industry experts. IATA will aggregate and report annually inputs from IATA member airlines on an industry basis. After thorough validation, aggregate industry data from the previous calendar year will be reported annually in the fourth quarter of each year. The first report with airline-contributed data is planned for publication in Q4 2024. Non-IATA member airlines are also encouraged to contribute data and participate in the reporting.
“Transparency is a critical element of aviation’s decarbonization. We will report our progress annually to ensure standardized, accurate and comprehensive reporting of aviation’s journey to net zero. Industry-level data in the Track Zero report will help airlines, governments, and investors with tools to improve decision-making to accelerate progress,” said Marie Owens Thomsen, IATA’s Senior Vice President Sustainability and Chief Economist.
Individual airlines may use the aggregate data of the Track Zero report to benchmark their own progress towards decarbonization. They may also choose to report their progress on decarbonization to key stakeholders including governments, investors and customers, using IATA’s Net Zero Tracking Methodology.
“Decarbonization is an industry challenge, not a competitive issue. Nonetheless, the report and the methodology behind it can enable benchmarking that could intensify decarbonization efforts by spreading the success of best practices and sparking innovation,” said Owens Thomsen.ADVERTISEMENTKey features of the Net Zero Tracking Methodology include:
Standardization: The methodology establishes a transparent framework for accurate reporting that can be used industry-wide by identifying the relevant emissions scope, sources, and processes for emissions tracking and measurement.
Accuracy: The methodology includes best practices for data collection and validation with minimal administrative burden.
Comprehensiveness:  The methodology accommodates reporting of all manner of decarbonization activities on a lifecycle basis, including usage of conventional and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), carbon offsets/carbon capture, and future power sources (hybrid-electric, electric, and hydrogen-powered aircraft).
The decision to publish a Track Zero report follows the release by IATA of five roadmaps detailing critical actions for aviation to achieve net zero CO2 by 2050. They address aircraft technology, energy infrastructure, operations, finance, and policy. Together, they show a clear direction and will evolve with the insights of the Track Zero report, practical experience and emerging technologies to help aviation set interim milestones on the way to net zero.

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Picture: L/R: and Ms Noredah Othman, CEO, Sabah Tourism Board, Malaysia and Dr. Gerald Perez, Vice President, Guam Visitors Bureau, USA.
The Pacific Asia Travel Association(PATA) is pleased to announce the re-appointment of Ms Noredah Othman, CEO, Sabah Tourism Board, Malaysia and the election of Dr. Gerald Perez, Vice President, Guam Visitors Bureau, USA to the PATA Executive Board for a two-year term beginning June 27, 2023.
On the announcement, PATA Chair Peter Semone said, “I would like to first thank Dr. Abdulla Mausoom, Minister of Tourism, Republic of Maldives for his time and contribution on the Executive Board over the past two years. His support and experience were a great asset to us during a critical time for our industry coming out of the pandemic. I would also like to welcome back Ms Noredah Othman and welcome Dr. Gerald Perez to the Executive Board. Their proven track record and background will make them a great asset to PATA and our members.”
With 30 years’ experience in Sabah Tourism, Ms Noredah Othman is the longest-serving officer with Sabah Tourism Board. She is responsible for marketing and promotion of the destination.
Ms. Noredah Othman has held various positions since October 1990 and served as Deputy General Manager (Support Services) from 2016. Prior to that, she was the Senior Marketing Manager for the UK, Europe, Australia and the USA markets from 2011 to 2015. She was the Marketing Manager for the UK, Europe and Australia from 2005-2010.
Ms. Othman, a mother of three children, completed her education in Singapore, started her career as tourist assistant with the Sabah Tourism Promotion Corporation (STPC), the forerunner of STB, in 1990. Between 1991 and 2005, she held the position of assistant public affairs officer and later as communications manager. Ms. Othman was awarded the PATA Foundation’s scholarship for Executive Development for Tourism (EDIT) Programme in 2015.ADVERTISEMENTDr. Gerry Perez is a dedicated and accomplished individual who has made significant contributions to various fields, particularly in tourism and public service. Born and raised on Guam, he graduated from Fr. Duenas Memorial School and went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in Forestry and a Master’s Degree in Wildlife Management with honors from the University of Idaho. He also holds a PhD in Tourism Development and Public Policy from the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
In his private business endeavours, Dr. Perez has demonstrated exceptional leadership and success. He retired in 2003 as a Travel Retail Executive, where he oversaw over 500 employees during his 23-year tenure. He is also the proprietor of Micromed Suppliers and has served as the General Manager of the Guam Visitors Bureau. Gerry’s outstanding business acumen led to his induction into the Guam Chamber of Commerce Business Hall of Fame in 2017, and he represented the White House Business Conference as a delegate in 1994.
With an unwavering commitment to promoting tourism, Dr. Perez has been actively involved in various organizations and conferences. He currently serves as the Vice President of the Guam Visitors Bureau and is a founding member of the Micronesia Cruise Association. As a renowned speaker, he has shared his expertise at international forums such as the Beijing International Forum on Chinese Overseas Travel and the SKAL Asia Tourism Congress. Gerry’s dedication to the tourism industry is further demonstrated through his memberships in the Guam Tourism Foundation and the Executive Board of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA).
Beyond his professional accomplishments, Gerry has been actively engaged in civic and government roles. He has served as the Chairman of the GovGuam Retirement Fund Board of Trustees and the Vice-Chairman of the University of Guam Board of Regents. Gerry has also held positions in organizations such as KGTF Public Television, the Bureau of Budget and Management Research, Guam Economic Development Authority, and the Department of Agriculture, where he worked as a Wildlife Biologist.
Ms. Othman and Dr. Perez will join the other Executive Board members including Peter Semone, Chair, PATA; Benjamin Liao, Vice Chair, PATA and Chairman, Forte Hotel Group, Chinese Taipei, Singapore; Suman Pandey, Secretary/Treasurer PATA and President, Explore Himalaya Travel and Adventure, Nepal; Tunku Iskandar, Group President, Mitra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd, Malaysia; SanJeet, Managing Director, DDP Publications Private Ltd., India; Luzi Matzig, Chairman, Asian Trails Ltd., Thailand, and Dr. Fanny Vong, President – Macao Institute for Tourism Studies (IFTM), Macao, China, as well as non-voting members, Soon-Hwa Wong, CEO, AsiaChina Pte., Ltd., Singapore and Mayur (Mac) Patel, Head of Asia, OAG, Singapore.
The new Executive Board members were ratified at the PATA Annual General Meeting held online on June 27, 2023.

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