BUSINESS
VISITORS TO LONDON from the U.S. and Canada reached record
numbers last year, according to Visit London, with nearly 1 million
visits in 2006, the highest since 2000. Factors contributing to the
high numbers include the frequency of international flights and
upgrades in the city's infrastructure. ExCeL London, for example,
the largest convention center in the city, has hosted more than
2,000 events and welcomed more than 4 million visitors from
200-plus countries since it opened in 2000.
RAIL
EUROPE tapped Frederic Langlois to succeed Fabrice Morel
as its new president and CEO. Langlois, a 15-year veteran of the
travel industry, served as Rail Europe's executive vice president
of sales, marketing and distribution for the past year, overseeing
sales, marketing, product development, group rail sales, e-commerce
and customer relations. Morel moves on to serve as Railteam
distribution director at the French National Railroad's passenger
division, based in Paris. Railteam is a new alliance of seven
European high-speed-rail operators dedicated to streamlining
international high-speed rail travel.
THE REZIDOR
HOTEL GROUP, a Brussels-based hotel management company, is
set to open five new Park Inn hotels in Germany, expanding the
portfolio of that brand in Germany to 18. Rebrandings are planned
this summer for 180-room Park Inn Mannheim; in September for the
118-room Park Inn Dusseldorf Sud; in October for the 118-room Park
Inn Bielefeld; and in early 2008 for the 120-room Park Inn Hamburg
Nord and the 121-room Park Inn Mainz. The Rezidor portfolio now
features more than 300 properties.
HILTON
HOTELS CORP. signed its first Doubletree Hotel agreement
in Europe with G&W Hotels with an eye to growing the brand
throughout Europe. The newly built, 240-room Doubletree by Hilton
Milan is set to open in Italy in October 2008. The property will
feature a 225-seat restaurant, a 250-person covered terrace, a
lobby bar, a fitness area and meetings facilities. The hotel will
join the 319-room Hilton Milan hotel, which opened in 1972 and is
the only other Hilton branded property in the city
LOUIS
TUSSAUD'S WAX MUSEUM in Copenhagen, Denmark, will close on
Aug. 31. Located in the Hans Christian Andersen Castle, adjacent to
and owned by Tivoli Gardens, the wax museum attracted nearly 10
million people during the past 33 years. Most of the 200-plus wax
figures will be redeployed to other Ripley Entertainment
attractions worldwide. The closure will not affect the operations
of two remaining Ripley Entertainment attractions in Copenhagen:
Ripley's Believe It or Not museum and the Guinness World Records
Museum.
Europe
Editor: Felicity Long
Phone: (781) 659-1301
[email protected]
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