n travelscene offers delft for £199
Travelscene is offering three nights for the price of two at the four-star MuseumHotel in the town of Delft, famous for its pottery. Prices start at £199 per person, which includes return scheduled flights with British Midland from Heathrow and breakfast. The deal is valid until April 2000.
n leger packages visit to dutch bulb fields
Coach tour operator Leger Holidays is offering a three-day mini-break to the Dutch bulb fields from £129 per person, in April and May 2000. The price includes return coach travel, a crossing on Eurotunnel and two nights in a three-star hotel with breakfast.
n P&ONSF in mini-cruise deal to amsterdam
P&O North Sea Ferries is offering two-night mini-cruises to Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam on its overnightHull-Rotterdam route. It costs around £28 for a trip to The Hague, £30 forRotterdam and £36 for Amsterdam. The price includes coach transfers from the port to each city. Clients spend around 5hrs in each city.
n rail europe launches simplicity brochure
Rail Europe has launched a new brochure, Simplicity, featuring high-speed rail connections to Amsterdam. London to Amsterdam takes 7hrs and 15mins via Paris or 6hrs 30mins via Brussels. Prices start at £79 for a return ticket. Bookings must include a Saturday night stay, and must be made seven days in advance.
n early-bookingbreaks to dutch capital
Amsterdam Travel Service is offering £55 off two-night breaks to Amsterdam from Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow for travel between January 17 and March 31. Bookings must be made before November 30. Prices start at £199.
Operators are countering Amsterdam’s capacity problems with a range of measures designed to take the pressure off the Dutch capital’s limited hotel stock.
Discounts for mid-week travel, the addition of out-of-town accommodation and the promotion of alternative Dutch short-break destinations are examples of initiatives put in place to tackle the continuing demand for bed space.
Netherlands Board of Tourism director, UK and Ireland, Jos Vranken said:”It’s getting difficult to find enough beds in the city and we’re discussing the long-term implications of this with the hotels. It’s crucial we start to create new business.”
He said that UK leisure and business travel overnights for the first quarter of 1999 were up by 17% to 736,000, compared to the same period in 1998. Although figures have yet to be broken down, Amsterdam accounts for around 50% of overnights in Holland.
Vranken hopes to influence operators’ product development by pushing alternative destinations such as the cities of Rotterdam, The Hague and Maastricht, and the Golden Circle region, the countryside around lake Ijsselmeer just outside Amsterdam.
“It’s very promising that our travel trade partners have started to programme alternative cities, but we don’t expect overnight success,” said Vranken.
This view is shared by Amsterdam Travel Service, which teamed up with the board of tourism earlier this year for a three-year promotion of Maastricht.
General manager Phil Jenkins said: “So far, it hasn’t proved as popular as we hoped, but we’re taking a long-term view. Maastricht has potential as a short-break destination and we need to work with consumers and the trade to show them this.
He added: “Amsterdam is simply a victim of its own success. It’s a popular short-break destination, especially at weekends, and there just aren’t enough beds. A couple of new hotels have sprung up recently but they are drops in the ocean.”
The operator offers discounts for mid-week travel, to encourage clients to travel off-peak. “With the majority of airlines it is cheaper to travel mid-week. We offer discounts of up to £27 on certain flights,” said Jenkins.
British Airways Holidays is offering £10 off per person for travel inward or outbound between Monday and Wednesday. Product executive Jane Chandler said: “Agents have no trouble selling weekend breaks as that’s when everyone wants to travel. We are aiming to boost the mid-week market.”
Travelscene is offering the incentive of free walking tours to encourage mid-week travel to Amsterdam, while promoting city breaks and self-drive holidays to destinations such as Delft, The Hague and Maastricht.
Commercial director Paul Stanley said: “Last year bookings to Amsterdam were up 60% on the previous year and we are on a par with that high point at the moment. In those circumstances we know we have to promote alternative cities and towns that share some of the qualities that makes Amsterdam popular.”
Sovereign Cities offers out-of-town accommodation as an alternative to Amsterdam. Product manager Anna Prentice said:”We brochure a four-star hotel in the Gran Dorado holiday village in Zaandvoort, as it is close to Amsterdam. It’s just half an hour away by train, and the hotel is opposite the train station, which is convenient. Zaandvoort is a seaside town, so clients can also leave the hustle and bustle of a city behind and go to the beach.”