News UK travel update 26/05/21 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 all-English Champions League's final is in Porto this weekend so we're putting one of Portugal's prettiest cities in the spotlight. We're also giving inspiration to newlyweds who are yet to enjoy that long-delayed honeymoon and, along with the rest of the country, are keenly awaiting the next green list update. Times Travel content

With Portugal being the only desirable country on the green list with it’s warm weather and beautiful beaches, it was predictable that readers were eager to find out more about where to go and what to see in sunny Portugal.

Also popular was an article discussing how digital passes Top 5 most read travel articles last week: might work when it comes to travelling abroad and interestingly, readers were curious about possibly 1. The 12 best Portugal holidays for summer looking at holidaying in the Jersey. 2. My eight forms to travel abroad put the chaos into The US Virgin Island’s caught a lot of reader’s attention context with it taking 4th place and finally, an anti-poaching 3. Jersey shore: the channel island has reopened article in Kruger National Park proved to be a highly 4. Postcard from the US Virgin Islands interesting read. 5. On the scent with anti-poaching sniffer dogs in Kruger National Park Sun Travel content

Sun readers are extremely eager to book and get away on holiday to Europe this summer. They wanted to find out how long we would have to wait for more countries to be added on Top 5 most read travel articles last week: the green list and when they can go on holiday to Spain. 1. Brits could lose thousands of pounds booking amber list holidays Finally, an article discussing how Spain are 2. Sun-starved Brits don't have to wait long for more countries celebrating Brits returning to the country with to go on the green list cheap pints. 3. Spain allows Brits to return tomorrow without proof of a negative Covid test All top 5 articles express how positive readers 4. More green list countries could be added on 7th June are about travelling and how desperate they are despite Indian variant to get away. 5. Bar owners celebrate Brits returning with £1.20 pints from Monday as businesses are set to boom Weekly travel search term trends

Notable search increases last week:

Hotel Barge Breakout Here are the top travel trends over the last seven Thames River Cruise Breakout Hampton Court River Cruise Breakout days. Search for Thames river cruises soared after Cheap flights to Europe Breakout being featured on Jane McDonald's latest show in Orkney Luxury Lodges 4500% which she sailed from Hampton Court to Henley. Ryanair £5 flights 4500% Ryanair's £5 flight sale understandably piques Derwent Hotel Keswick 3600% interest and other new entries include holidays to When can we fly to America 350% Austria bans flights from UK 300% Monaco and Virgin's newly launched balloon flights. Holidays to Monaco 140% Ocean liner vs cruise ship 70% All stats are taken from Google Trends. Advice on travelling to Europe 90% Rail & Sail to Belfast 90% Virgin balloon flights 50%

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. New ad campaign for The Times and The Sunday Times

Our News UK agency ‘Pulse Creative’ has created a brilliant ad campaign ‘Know Your Times’, which is running from the 22nd May - 12th June, across TV, VOD, Radio, Cinema, Digital, Social and OOH. It will coincide with the easing of lockdown restrictions and re-opening of society.

The campaign invites the audience to ‘Get more of The Times and The Sunday Times for less than £1 a day with a digital subscription’.

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg3mpYsrHpQ Virgin Radio Pride - New opportunity

To celebrate the LGBTQ+ communities across the UK, Exclusive Partner Tenancy Opportunities Virgin Radio will be launching Virgin Radio Pride mid June Mid June - Mid September (TBC) through to mid September, available on the Virgin Radio app, website and through connected speakers as well as DAB in On Air London. 10am-10pm Monday to Friday 06am-10pm Saturday & Sunday Two partners will receive 2 x 10” branded credits per hour Virgin Radio Pride will be presenter-led, starting with The Chris (exact phasing TBC, subject to brand guidelines and Evans Breakfast Show throughout the week and then with a curated individual line up across the rest of the day and at the programming schedule) weekend. Minimum of 168 credits per partner per week

1 Month Tenancy - £17,647 gross Please get in touch for more information. 3 Month Tenancy - £47,058 gross Thank you

Get in touch: [email protected]