Destination News.

Virgin Train

Virgin Train' chief proponent (and chairman) Sir Richard Branson was on hand last week to endorse Virgin CrossCountry to retain the franchise. The founder of the Virgin Group used the opportunity to unveil plans to run trains every 20 minutes between Manchester and London by 2008, the highest frequency anywhere in the world for a journey of more than 200 miles on a route used by more than one operator. Three services an hour will run between Birmingham and London under plans being finalized with Government and Network Rail. He noted that passenger numbers on Virgin West Coast have increased from 13.6m 1997/98 to 18.7m in 2005/6, while numbers on Virgin CrossCountry have grown from 12.6m to 20.4m over the same period. The biggest growth in passenger numbers on Virgin West Coast has been on the Manchester - London route where rail has taken a majority of the rail-air market. From having just one-third of the rail-air market before launching a half-hourly timetable, Virgin West Coast now has nearly two-thirds of the market. Since the new timetable was launched in September 2004, the number of rail journeys has increased 105% whilst air travel between the two cities has declined according to CAA figures. http://www.virgintrains.co.uk Apr 30, 2006

Whitbread

Whitbread, which claims to be the UK's leading hospitality company and long time owner of most of the UK Marriot hotels, has finally disposed of its 46 property portfolio to Royal Bank of Scotland, itself now with a impressive portfolio of room accommodation. With nearly [pounds sterling]1bn realized the former brewer plans to develop its Premier Travel Inn product. In the UK it currently operates over 470 hotels with more than 31,000 rooms. It has announced a joint venture agreement with Emirates Group to launch the budget hotel brand in the Gulf region. http://www.whitbread.co.uk Apr 30, 2006