Autumn will soon be upon us – and the serene forests, wetlands, islands, gardens and cities of Estonia will be awash with autumn colour. From harvest festivals to catching lampreys in the river with a local fisherman, here's our round up of the top events in Estonia...

Cruise & Maritime Voyages (CMV) is offering dinner and overnight events ideal for groups. A cruise ship is the perfect venue offering a high standard of accommodation, excellent dining, drinks, entertainment, dancing and breakfast the following morning. Groups can...

What more uplifting way for a group to enjoy a day out in Spring than at an RHS Garden, with their fabulous displays of bulbs, blossoms and special events. From the Royal Horticultural Society’s historic home, RHS Garden Wisley in Surrey, to the beautiful RHS Garden...

UKinbound has released its latest Business Barometer results, highlighting the measures tourism businesses are putting in place to reduce their impact on the environment. Results also show bookings and yields are holding steady for two thirds of members and confidence...

The ‘festivalisation’ of events is a key trend in the MICE sector – and one that's set to continue throughout 2019 and beyond. Butlin’s Conference & Events, a leader in the MICE arena and already renowned for embodying the term ‘corporate playground’, is embracing...

Group travel organisers from around the country will be setting their sights on two great tourist destinations next year: the Lake District and Europe’s largest resort, Blackpool. Daish’s Holidays have been in operation for 40 years, ever since owner and founder...

The Royal Yacht Britannia sailed over one million miles on nearly a thousand official visits for the British Royal Family. An iconic symbol of the Commonwealth, Her Majesty The Queen’s former floating palace was built in Clydebank at John Brown & Company’s...

Coach Tourism Association (CTA) members headed down to Brighton for their annual Summer get together and before you could say ‘why is that deckchair so big’ they were looking down on the resort from a great height, thanks to a flight on the British Airways i360....

The date of the 2020 Southern Wales Group Buyer Showcase has just been announced. This now well established annual set piece for the travel trade takes places 1-3 March 2020 and will feature two night’s accommodation, attraction visits across the region and a high...

Following four days of outstanding music and glorious sunshine, the 55th Cambridge Folk Festival drew to a close on Sunday night. It’s estimated that more than 11,000 people passed through the hallowed gates of Cherry Hinton Hall to soak up the festival’s relaxed vibe...

‘Those Groups are Made for Walking’. Walking group specialists HF Holidays this week encouraged tour planners from around the UK to don their boots and head for the country. It took place in one of the country’s most beautiful tourist spots And the sublime destination...

Cornwall’s top zoo has won a national award for an exhibit about the Asian songbird crisis. Newquay Zoo won Gold at the recent British & Irish Association of Zoos & Aquariums (BIAZA) Annual Awards. The award, for the charity zoo’s Gems of the Jungle exhibit,...

Keepers are celebrating at West Midland Safari Park following the appearance of a critically endangered teeny-tiny pancake tortoise. The miniscule youngster is about the size of a bottle-top - which is what's currently being used as a water bowl for the tiny...

Afternoon Tea Week (12-18 August 2019), is just around the corner - and, to celebrate, K West Hotel & Spa in London has created a confectionary-inspired afternoon tea certain to tempt your sweet tooth.  Enter a world of confectionary surprises with K West Hotel’s...

It’s been hot, hot, hot of late over in the Cotswolds, and keepers at Cotswold Wildlife Park & Gardens have had to be creative in a bid to keep the animals in their care cool, calm and well watered.  The park's lemurs have been enjoying cooling slices of...

Following a £3.1million refurbishment, the 700-year-old Grade 1 listed God's House Tower - a scheduled ancient monument in Southampton's Old Town - will reopen in autumn 2019 as a unique arts and heritage venue. A warm welcome to groups will be a priority and plans...

A pair of endangered Amur tiger cubs - the world’s largest big cats - have been born at Longleat. The tiger births are the first at the Wiltshire safari park for nearly 20 years, and keepers say they are delighted with the cubs’ progress. In preparation for their...

A Yorkshire Dales hotel last week welcomed the UK travel trade during a special showcase event. The Durker Roods Hotel near the historic village of Holmfirth – famous for its Last of The Summer Wine connections – hosted a group of coach and tour operators from around...

News has emerged of the talented line-up set to star in the UK premiere of The Prince of Egypt, which opens at the Dominion Theatre on 5 February 2020. Luke Brady will take on the lead role of Moses alongside Liam Tamne as Ramses, while Christine Allado will play...

Airedale Tours has launched its 2020 brochure and biggest ever programme to date, with over 40 new tour ideas for groups in the UK, Europe and Worldwide. Commercial Manager Rob Carroll told us, “All the Airedale Classics are there, but we have enhanced our offering...

Looking for new places to visit and take your group? Visit Essex has got it covered! The Essex Group Travel Show, supported by Group Travel World magazine, will take place on Tuesday 8 October at the Jobserve Community Stadium in Colchester, from 10.30am to 2.30pm –...

Lydia Rusling, Visit Lincoln’s chief executive, has announced she is stepping down at the end of August after two and a half years at the helm of the award-winning Destination Management Organisation. She is leaving to take a new senior role at East Lindsey District...

Connections, the unique, international private community for decision makers in high-end travel, has announced that Robbie Jones, formerly awarded 2016 UK Salesperson of the Year for the world’s leading events organiser Reed Exhibitions, will join their team this...

The British Science Association (BSA) has unveiled the full programme and opened bookings for the British Science Festival 2019. Held in partnership with the University of Warwick, the Festival will transform Coventry and Warwickshire into a celebration of science and...

AGTO, the Association of Group Travel Organisers, has appointed four new directors as it moves to further strengthen membership and travel trade engagement. The new directors are Lynne Cooper, group travel trade manager with New Lanark Mills World Heritage Site,...

Rabbie’s Tours has been nominated for the 'Best Escorted Tours Holiday Company' in the prestigious 2019 British Travel Awards (BTAs). The winners will be determined by the consumer, who have until 30 September to cast their vote, with the successful companies...

There’s just over a fortnight  to go before the gates to Cherry Hinton Hall open to fans for Cambridge Folk Festival 2019! Established by Cambridge City Council and held each year since 1965, Cambridge Folk Festival is one of the longest running and most prestigious...

This August, Dreamland in Margate will host its biggest ever Only Fools and Horses exhibition to celebrate the 30th anniversary of one of its most popular episodes – the Christmas special The Jolly Boys’ Outing – which was filmed at the attraction in the 1980s. From...

The travel trade is losing a charismatic and high profile tourism icon, and stand by for more superlatives... writes Steve Reed of Steve Reed Tourism. For that’s the opinion of many in the tourism industry when the name Diana Roberts of Visit Guildford is mentioned....

Zookeepers at ZSL London Zoo are getting ready to move animals into the new zoo-within-a-zoo on Wednesday 31 July, creating an exciting nature-inspired adventure-play destination for the capital this summer holidays. With 32,000 sq ft of space dedicated to inspiring...

Staff at West Midland Safari Park are celebrating after winning two prestigious national awards, recognising excellence in photography and service to group travel. Both prizes have been awarded by national organisations who are very significant to the park, the first...

The countdown has begun to the 40th Warwick Folk Festival, which returns from July 25-28 with Billy Bragg headlining. This year the festival has a new site layout with improved access to all areas and the introduction of a new festival village including craft, food...

UK travel trade specialists Steve Reed Tourism Ltd have just revealed the date and venue of their Group Buyer Forum-South event for 2020. The Royal Air Force Museum in London will provide the top class and stunning backdrop to the annual set piece on Monday 21...

A craft spirit distillery, gin school, visitor experience, bonded warehouse and bottling plant is coming to 400-year old Hensol Castle at the Vale Resort in South Wales, as part of a £7m scheme to bring the castle back into use. The basement of the 17th century, Grade...

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live™ has announced its first European tour, starting in the UK, before heading to Poland and Denmark in 2020. In partnership with Live Nation and Raycom-Legacy Content Company (RLCC), Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live creates an immersive...

Twycross Zoo is to be the first place in the Midlands to host the BRICKLIVE Big Cats exhibition, which will be available every day of the summer holidays from July 13. This unique collection of LEGO® brick models will join a fantastic summer line up following the...

Visitors to Newquay Zoo in Cornwall this summer can meet the attraction's crowning glory - a gorgeous baby crowned lemur. The zoo's curator of animals John Meek says: “We are thrilled to welcome this cute bundle of joy as it is a great effort towards the conservation...

Keith Brown has joined the Tourism Society as its Chief Executive. A highly respected and innovative senior executive with extensive experience in the hospitality and tourism sectors, he takes up the post with immediate effect. Keith was previously Chief Executive of...

Pioneering London-based event organiser Connections is to evolve its offering in 2020 by creating an invitation-only international private community for senior executives in the high-end travel industry. Since its launch in 2014, the company has developed an approach...

Hastings Contemporary, a new, independent art gallery will open to the public this Saturday 6 July 2019. Set on the historic Stade on the seafront in Hastings, the gallery will bring a dynamic programme of modern and contemporary art to the South East, exploring and...

The RHS Back to Nature Garden, co-designed by HRH The Duchess of Cambridge and landscape architects Andree Davies and Adam White, for this year’s RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival (which runs until July 7) has been unveiled. The design is inspired by the...

WICKED, the classic West End musical, has launched an official information and services hub designed specifically and exclusively for travel industry practitioners. The new digital resource - www.WickedTravelTrade.co.uk - provides relevant information on the...

Following a sold-out run at the National Theatre and in New York, the NT and Neal Street Productions' critically acclaimed The Lehman Trilogy has transferred to the Piccadilly Theatre. The story of a family and a company that changed the world, it's told in three...

Liverpool's newest tourist attraction, RLB360, has announced it will be opening later into the evenings to meet visitor demand. The Royal Liver Building tour unlocked the iconic waterfront building to the public for the first time and has proved hugely popular,...

Set along almost four kilometres of deep turquoise coastline on the Mediterranean’s glittering Côte D’Azur, the principality of Monaco is inhabited by 38,000 citizens. Beloved of the international jet set, the destination draws over seven million visitors per year,...

Tour planners wishing to see exactly why Hull was named UK City of Culture for 2017 can now sign up for a special, high quality group buyer showcase from 17-18 November 2019. Arranged by Visit Hull and East Yorkshire [VHEY] and coordinated by national travel trade...

Albatross Travel – www.albatrosstravel.com – is celebrating the bicentenary of Queen Victoria’s birth with its latest Royal Collections tours packaged with overnight stays for coach operators and group organisers. The company has a choice of one and two night tours...

The 2020 date for the annual English Riviera Group Buyer Showcase and fam event to South Devon has just been announced - and group organisers and tour operators are invited to sign up. The event will run from March 17-19, 2020, organised by the English Riviera...

Tickets for the Enchanted Forest, Perthshire's multi-award-winning sound and light show, have now gone on sale. The 2019 event, entitled Cosmos, is inspired by the vastness and natural beauty of the skies above Faskally Wood, with visitors able to follow a winding...