News UK travel update 02/06/21 Welcome to News UK

With the first steps towards the reopening of travel and a handful of “green list” destinations now announced, here at News UK we are going to continue to sharing the latest trends and analysis to give you as much information as possible as we navigate the coming weeks and months back to normal life.

As always we can clearly see from our popular content that our readers cannot wait to get travelling again and are engaging with destinations to which travel will be possible soon.

In the meantime, please do let us know if you have any questions or information requests. Editor’s letter Lucy Perrin, Editor, Times Expert Traveller

The UK is gearing up to have its busiest summer yet when it comes to staycations. This week we'll be focusing on city guides for everywhere from Lincoln to Belfast, the top spas in the Lakes and Scotland and, given the recent boom in bike sales, the best cycling routes that the UK has to offer. Times Travel content

Parents were eager to find out what activities to do with their children during half term, as they sought to look for advice in the ‘30 fantastic things to do with your children this May half term’ as it came top spot in the travel section last week. Top 5 most read travel articles last week:

The allure of staycations haven’t lost their appeal as 1. 30 fantastic things to do with your children this May ‘Postcard from Carbis Bay’ in Cornwall came second half-term and interestingly an article about travelling by trains and staying in youth hostels in the UK also sparked 2. Postcard from Carbis Bay interest amongst our readers. 3. Why trains are on track for revival 4. Henning Wehn Interview: We Germans really do get up at 6am to put our towels on the sunloungers 5. Youth Hostels are back Sun Travel content

Sun readers are waiting in anticipation for the green list announcement on the 7th June, trying to find out as much information as they can, whether certain countries will be on the green Top 5 most read travel articles last week: list with the top two articles focussing on what is to be expected. 1. Four more countries set to be added to the red list 2. Green list announcement expected this week and the An article about the most expensive caravan in Spanish Islands could be included the UK took third place. Following on from that 3. Inside the UK's most expensive caravan was yet another positive article about the 4. Malta, Balearic's & Greek Islands on green list from Greek and Balearic Islands set to be included on June the 7th June announcement, showing just how 5. Plans for double decker planes, so people can have desperate The Sun readers are to get away more leg room abroad this summer. Weekly travel search term trends

Notable search increases last week:

Australia UK Travel Bubble 1250% Here are the biggest search trends in travel over the Ambassador Cruise Line 600% last seven days. An Australia-UK travel bubble looks Uk to US travel ban list 550% possible by the end of the year and searches for this Clivedon House 400% are up 1,250%, followed by a focus on the newly Port Lympne Hotel 400% launched cruise line, Ambassador. Skopelos 350% Flights to Bali 140% All stats are taken from Google Trends. Northern Ireland staycation 130% Villas in Portugal 70% Virgin balloon flights 60%

We are delighted to announce we have launched a new travel website for The Times & Sunday Times - https://www.thetimes.co.uk/travel/ The new Times Travel site will give us a full 7 day, always on offering, with all travel content living outside the paywall. We have layered our incredible inspirational content with newly commissioned evergreen articles which align with search trends for our key destinations, holiday types and audience profiles throughout the year, boosting our domain authority in search. We can now offer fully integrated solutions for our partners where branded content, multimedia solutions and affiliate links will live within the editorial content features, moving our audience from reading to booking and offering a tangible ROI for our partners. For more information on all integrated solutions please get in touch with us today. Times Earth Podcast Sponsorship Opportunity

We are launching the Times Earth podcast in late July called the ‘Climate Chronicles’ podcast, where we will be examining a different aspect of or consequence or climate change in the UK by framing them through a real-life personal story.

We now have an exciting opportunity to sponsor the podcast. The series consists of 12 episodes and each one lasts between 40-60 minutes.

Opportunity options: ● One sponsor for the 12 episodes at £76K gross ● 2x sponsors on a 50% SOV basis at £38K gross each

If you would like to find out more information, please get in touch Sunday Times Short Story Award

We are the world’s pre-eminent English language prize for short stories, and also at £30,000 the richest.

We have an array of past winners, including some of the world’s greatest writers.

For the 12th year of the award, the prize is seeking a new partner to share in its expansion and drive to become one of the most recognised brands in literature.

We are seeking £150K to become headline To find out more information about this new partner for the 2021/2022 award. opportunity, please get in touch. Virgin Radio UK launches LGBTQ+ station

To celebrate the LGBTQ+ communities across the UK, Virgin Radio will be launching Virgin Radio Pride mid June Virgin Radio Pride will start the day with The Chris Evans Breakfast Show throughout the week along with all other through to mid September, available on the Virgin Radio app, Virgin Radio sister stations and broadcast The Graham website and through connected speakers as well as DAB in Norton Radio Show at the weekend. London.

You can listen to Virgin Radio Pride UK from June 7 Virgin Radio Pride UK has joined up with a range of partners on DAB in London, online or via the Virgin Radio who will feature in the station’s programming including The app. Food Chain, mental health charity Shout, AIDS memorial Quilt, All About Trans and The Logbooks podcast.

All this sits alongside a predominantly pop-dance and pop-R&B playlist from the last 20 years, complimenting the existing Virgin Radio sister stations. Wireless at the Arias Awards

Huge congratulations to Wireless had a record night at the Arias Awards (dubbed the audio & radio Oscars), bagging two golds, four silvers and a bronze across our stations.

Talksport bagged two golds, winning best sports show for it’s documentary series on the history of two black footballers called ‘Coming in from the Cold’, which also won silver for best factual series . Talksport Breakfast also won ‘Best Speech Breakfast Show’

Times Radio took bronze for best speech breakfast in its first Arias. Thank you

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