News

The new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into force on 25 May 2018 as part of new legislation designed to update and expand the Data Protection Act 1998. Compliance with the GDPR is relatively straight-forward if you are already complying with existing data protection regulations. You need to remember three main things in looking at what changes you need to make to the way you handle and use the personal details of customers when the new regulations come into effect: If you are already complying with the Data Protection Act, you will be complying with 80-90% of the requirements of the GDPR. The GDPR isn’t a whole new set of requirements, it simply builds on existing requirements. The GDPR is designed to give customers more control over the information that companies have on them. If you look at it from the perspective of what you would expect from other companies when you give them your data, you will have a fair understanding of what you should do with your customers’ data. Remember when looking at your storage and use of personal data, this extends beyond things like a person’s name, address, phone number and includes images and recordings (i.e., […]

CODE Pod Hostel has recently jumped across the Irish Sea to the city centre of Dublin. The hostel currently trading as Jacobs Inn Dublin, will be transformed into a brand-new CODE Pod Hostel. CODE is an urban concept designed to re-invent the hostel experience at an attractive price point in vibrant city locations. They’ve taken the Japanese pod concept and developed it for the luxury hostel market. The pods are designed with the emphasis on privacy, security and a great sleep. The first hostel opened in 2014 in Edinburgh and it featured the pod beds as one of the first pod hostels in the UK.  Recently they’ve opened two trial pod rooms at their property in Dublin, 4 years after the first pods were built in Edinburgh. Based on the customer reviews and staff comments and they’ve improved their first design and created the pod 2.0! Convenience was one of the focus points. How annoying is it when you are cosy in your pod and you need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night? So, finally you muster all your courage to climb down the steps only to discover that the bathroom is occupied because someone has […]

Mariah Carey has joined the ranks of unexpected celebrities who stay in hostels in Hostelworld’s latest spoof campaign Legendary diva Mariah Carey has taken a break from her lavish lifestyle to join backpackers on a recent trip to Barcelona where she had her first hostel experience. In a short film released on April 9, Carey is seen with her entourage approaching the reception desk of a hostel in Barcelona, Spain. While not happy at being booked at a hostel, the world-famous singer soon changes her tune, exploring the lodging’s rooms and enjoying her time at the onsite cocktail bar. Marek Mossakowski, Hostelworld’s Global Head of Brand, says that many people are still unaware of how much hostels have been improved in recent years, stating: ‘Now they’ve got all the facilities you’d expect from expensive accommodation, but with an affordable price and with a ready-made community of like-minded travelers to share experiences with.’ Carey states: ‘To mine and everyone’s surprise, the hostel was fabulous! It was super clean, modern and spacious. I say give hostels a go.’ The hostel featured in the new video is the Casa Gracia hostel located in the heart of Barcelona and indeed features the high ceilings and upscale furnishings seen in the video. The new […]

Between 31 May and 9 June, CONIFA (Confederation of Independent Football Associations) is holding the 2018 Paddy Power World Football Cup in London CONIFA is a politically neutral, charitable NGO run by volunteers with the desire to be ‘FIFA for teams outside FIFA’ – but with a focus on transparency and equality. CONIFA’s aims are simple: we want everyone in the world to be able to enjoy and play football – no matter their race, religion, gender or politics. In total, CONIFA now represents over 320 million people worldwide and amongst the more recognisable teams coming to London are Tibet and Panjab, whose diaspora community in the UK totals over 800,000 people and can expect a warm welcome when they play their games at Slough Town FC. Some of the teams amongst the 16 qualifiers have endured massive hardships to compete. The Kabylia team from Algeria had to play their games in secret for fear of police reprisals and when they qualified their FA president was arrested. Matabeleland in Zimbabwe are using football to repair the wounds of genocide. Tuvalu, a tiny Pacific island, will travel over 9,000 miles to get a chance to discuss the fact their island will […]

Beds and Bars’ annual numbers reflect another massively successful year with 9% growth year on year. Beds & Bars annual growthBackpacker hostel and bar operator Beds and Bars, led by CEO Keith Knowles OBE, is pleased to report a fantastic financial year (April 2017 to March 2018) with some impressive growth across the group. Overall sales bucked all market trends and grew £4.2M year on year which equates to a 9% growth year on year. A massive achievement for Beds and Bars. EBITDA is expected to be £4.53M which represents a 16.9% growth year on year. When looking at a breakdown of the company’s overall sales, they demonstrate some really strong numbers with all aspects of the business seeing significant improvement in trade. In terms of drinks sold, overall Bar Sales across the group grew by £1.47M year on year which is 9% overall. The UK bar sales have been particularly successful, growing by 11% which is an industry leading statistic in the UK. Overall, that’s half a million more drinks sold versus last year. It has been an unprecedented year for food sales for the group. Food sales grew by 13% giving Beds and Bars the most successful year […]

Belushi’s Bars led by CEO Keith Knowles has teamed up with Girls United, an organisation that strives to help women across the world have an equal opportunity in sports, with a strong focus on football. Together, we want to empower females in local London communities and worldwide through the brilliant sport. As an international sports bar chain, Belushi’s has proudly partnered with the charity to raise funds for Girls United throughout the whole of March. With 8 sports bars across the UK including 5 in London, Belushi’s is using its platform to raise awareness for the fantastic charity. Girls United’s’ mission is to establish football academies in low-income areas and provide the local community with the support and structure to develop the academies. The charity is all about equipping girls with confidence to succeed whether it’s on the pitch or in the workplace. Girls United opened its first academy in Mexico, and London is the next on the cards. Kicking off on International Women’s Day on the 8th March, Belushi’s will be giving 25p for every cocktail sale to Girls United, with the aim to raise donations throughout March. Alongside this, the UK bars will be hosting events and drink […]

What is important about youth & educational travel Educational travel or travel with a purpose can be life changing, it helps young people to become more flexible, it gives them a greater global perspective, making them more tolerant and able to adapt to change. Youth, student and educational travel plays a major role in the global travel and tourism industry, they are the travelers of the future and are able to deliver long term benefits to destinations that successfully capture this growing market. Young travellers stay in a destination longer than an average traveller and they spend more money within local businesses, which increases the economic impact. In 2016, 14.9 million young travellers visited the UK this is 38% of all international arrivals and whilst here, they contributed £22.3 billion to the UK economy – this is more than twice the value of Twitter Read our latest study Unlocking the Value of Youth Travel here Engagement & Investment BETA continues to invest in and share industry data, insights and messaging into government to help them to understand the importance of youth mobility to and from the UK. In 2017 BETA published a study on the volume and value of the […]

As voice technology grows in popularity brands will need to ensure any communication they have with consumers hits the right note. If there is one piece of technology that has captured marketers’ imagination this year it is voice recognition. Amid the rising popularity of voice-controlled devices, including Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home, brands have jumped on the voice bandwagon – coming up with their own ‘skills’ (what Amazon calls voice-driven apps on the Alexa platform) and even, in the case of Burger King, using an ad to trigger voice searches on a viewer’s computer. These are all valid ways of thinking about voice. Voice offers a new and innovative way to reach consumers that technologically advanced brands can take advantage of. Domino’s Pizza, for example, sees voice as a way to sell more pizza and so has enabled customers to order directly through Alexa using voice. The brand’s digital boss Nick Dutch admits it isn’t seeing huge sales from the channel now but it expects to in future and is “preparing for the fact this technology will be something people use”. However, perhaps the bigger transformation for brands is in search. Google claims 20% of mobile search queries submitted via […]

At this stage in the year, we take time to reflect on where the industry has been in 2017 and where it’s going in 2018. The travel industry is a particularly exciting one to be a part of, given that it is constantly evolving. After observing the lessons learned, trends and new product/service offerings over the past several months, here is our analysis of what we can expect in 2018. Between tightening budgets and Google Flights taking off, OTAs and metasearch companies need to get creative to compete. Companies of all sizes are spending less and selling less and having to employ creative strategies to push their brands forward with smaller budgets. Just having come off of the Phocuswright conference, we saw TripAdvisor lost $1 billion as its stock had the largest single day drop ever. At the same time, Trivago and TripAdvisor have seen advertisers spending less with them and have slashed ad spend themselves. At the same time that purse strings are tightening, Google Flights boasts the top monthly visitor count of metasearch sites, with its unique monthly visitors more than doubling from the first half of 2015 to the first half of 2017. It is  effectively removing […]

The British Youth Travel Awards are co-ordinated by BETA, reward and celebrate the excellent work and high standards that our members and industry stakeholders demonstrate through their work year on year. From creating new and innovative products and programmes for young travellers, to outstanding examples of customer service and responding to the needs of this important sector – a sector that is worth over £22.3 billion to the UK economy per annum. Having grown from a single category back in 2007, these awards have matured in stature and importance. For many these awards represent something special, something to work towards and this is demonstrated in the high quality of entries received. Emma English, BETA’s Executive Director said “The 2017 competition kicked off with a bang and in celebration of our 10th anniversary by introducing a new look and brand identity, new website and a new online submissions process making it even easier for businesses to enter. The result being that the number of entries in the 2017 competition grew by 41% – a competition record! and our judges had a tough time in choosing who scooped the top spots, with some categories being separated by 0.5 of a point!” The judging panel are made up of a […]

Dominic Jermey (CVO OBE) appointed as new Director General of ZSL Former UK Ambassador to Afghanistan takes the helm at international wildlife charity International wildlife conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) is delighted to announce the appointment of Dominic Jermey (CVO OBE) to the role of Director General. He replaces outgoing DG Ralph Armond, who has been with the organisation for over 13 years. As Director General, Jermey will be responsible for ZSL’s goal of achieving the global conservation of animals and their habitats. This remit will include overseeing two world-class Zoos, ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, as well as ZSL’s Institute of Zoology and field programmes in over 50 countries worldwide. The well-respected diplomat brings widespread expertise across industry and politics to ZSL, having been at the forefront of political and public life for the last 25 years, most recently as British Ambassador to Afghanistan. He will formally take up the new post with ZSL in late November. Commenting on his new role, Dominic Jermey, said: “I am delighted to be taking on the leadership of ZSL, a vibrant British institution with global impact on wildlife conservation. With its unique combination of world-class zoos, education and […]

The British Youth Travel Awards are our industry’s opportunity to reward our high achievers, gain recognition, and raise the profile of the work and individual successes of organisations engaged in youth, student and educational travel, to from and within the UK. We are now inviting entries from UK based travel and leisure businesses that can demonstrate best practice within the youth travel sector to submit their applications for the 2017 competition. Could your organisation be in with a chance to pick up an accolade at this event? Check out the winners and front runners in last year’s competition here: 2016 Winners & Finalists Visit www.britishyouthtravelawards.com to find out more and enter!

Each year, VisitBritain invite all English visitor attractions to take part in an annual survey, recording visitor numbers alongside key information like entrance fees and visitor profiles. 2016 Headline results The results from this survey are reported annually, providing an overview of the visitor attraction sector. The full report on the 2016 is available here: 2016 Full Trends Report (PDF, 1.9MB) The survey is carried out through a mix of online and postal interviewing. This approach means we’re unable to verify results provided by individual attractions beyond a very basic ‘sense check’. Read more about our methodology (PDF, 123KB). Survey users should also be aware that the lists of English attractions included in the report only feature those that choose to participate and make their results public. The Annual Survey of Visits to Visitor Attractions is an official statistic and is produced in adherence with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (2009). You can find out more about what this means by visiting Official Statistics. If you have any queries about the survey, get in touch. Results of the survey are published according to our release timetable. RANK Most visited PAID attractions Most visited FREE attractions  Name of attraction Number of Visitors in 2016 Name of attraction Number of Visitors in […]

On Friday 21st July, BETA members London Nest and English UK London are attempting to to break a world record for the most nationalities in a language lesson. Students studying from all over the capital have been invited to the annual garden party at the Calthorpe Project, where the language lesson will take place that afternoon. Trying to break a world record sounds like so much fun. I grew up in the era of Roy Castle’s Record Breakers and have happy memories of sitting in front of the TV with my penny chews, marveling at the McWhirter twins with their stop-watches and encyclopedic knowledge of records broken, mesmerized by dominoes falling in formations and singing along to “dedication is all you need”. If you didn’t grow up in 1980s Britain, take my word for it…it was a great time to be a child. Fast-forward to 2017 and the dedicated lot at English UK London and London Nest are going for a less domino-focused record: The Most Nationalities in a Language Lesson. We’ve been told that the current record stands at 56, which seems pretty easy to beat, given that the attempt is being done in London, Europe’s most international city […]

UK falling out of favour while other English speaking countries are proving more attractive to global youth visitors Visa controls, currency fluctuations and unfriendly impression following Brexit and controversy over immigration put young travellers off Young visitors down to 2014 levels, demand for higher education from foreign students is flat and uptake for English language courses see sharp decline Britain is losing its traditional reputation as a must visit destination for young travellers wanting to study, tour and work here, an extensive new report has warned. The inbound youth, student and educational travel sector is currently worth £22.3 billion a year to the economy and the 14.9m young people who visit the UK from abroad represent 38% of all tourists. However latest visitor statistics show youth travel is no longer growing as it once did. At the same time competitor English speaking countries are thriving. Unhelpful visa restrictions, the high costs of accommodation and living in the UK and an apparent unfriendly impression caused by Brexit and the controversy over immigration has seen one in five of those initially wanting to come to the UK opt for other destinations. Last year saw a fall in spending by young travellers for […]

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is due to come into force on 25 May 2018. It will affect every travel company. It is replacing the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC and has been designed to harmonise data privacy laws across Europe, to protect and empower all EU citizens’ data privacy and to reshape the way organisations across the region approach data privacy. The GDPR will not only apply to organisations located within the EU but it will also apply to organisations located outside of the EU if they offer goods or services to, or monitor the behaviour of, EU data subjects. It will also apply to all companies processing and holding the personal data of data subjects residing in the European Union, regardless of the company’s location. Even after Brexit, the UK Government has indicated it will implement an equivalent or alternative legal mechanism. It is expected that any such legislation will largely follow the GDPR. The penalty for breaching the regulation will be up to 4% of your annual turnover or €20 Million. Thus it is vital that you understand GDPR and set a compliance project in motion. Here are some practical steps you might take to get started. […]

UK’S First Multisensory Bus Tour transports pupils Into Shakespearian London for the Ultimate School Trip Unique bus tour includes live actors, sounds, videos, smells and props as it travels around the famous streets and landmarks of Central London. Launching on 20th March 2017, the start of Shakespeare Week, the tour revives key elements of London life during Shakespearian times in all its gory details. All content linked directly to the National Curriculum for Key Stages 2 and 3, providing a solid, interactive learning experience for pupils, and includes a free activity workbook. Developed in conjunction with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Shakespearian scholars and educational experts, the tour has been awarded a badge of quality from the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom. Have you ever wanted to transport your class back to Shakespearian London for a fully immersive, fun and interactive lesson? Golden Tours, the UK’s sightseeing tour company, launches the UK’s first-ever multisensory bus tour, giving schoolchildren the opportunity to experience the city as Shakespeare would have by bringing London’s rich history to life – in all its exciting (and disgusting) detail! Live character guides – in full Shakespearian costume – intertwine stories of the Bard and tales of the time with sights, sounds and smells that truly immerse pupils into Shakespeare’s […]

Two fantastic attractions located in Zone 2, are teaming up this summer to offer English Language Students a great day out! Both attractions offer a lot to learn, parks to discover, pedestrian areas to relax, markets and shopping malls to visit. A perfect day out away from the City centre. To Find out more Click here.

BETA member Anglo Educational Services are an established Study Abroad provider and are recognised by the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education). We work primarily with US universities to place their students in a part time internship as a part of their academic programme in London. We have students who have are studying across a number of areas including marketing/PR, finance, statistics and design. Some key universities we are working with this summer include UC Berkeley, George Mason, Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin. Their start date is in June and depending on the programme the internship would run for 6-10 weeks. The benefits of having a student intern include:       Gaining access to enthusiastic students with specialist skills and knowledge       An extra pair of hands to work on a project or assist busy employees       There are no fees or payment at all as the student gets academic credit from the internship Some more information on Anglo Education can be found at: http://anglointernships.com/for-employers/ Do get in touch on idm@angloeducational.com as we’d be happy to share some candidate CV’s that we think would be of interest to you or run through an information call.