Merlin Entertainments says surge pricing will help offset decline in visitors since Covid pandemic

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The owner of Legoland, Alton Towers and Madame Tussauds is planning to introduce budget airline-style surge pricing, so families will pay more on peak summer weekends than rainy weekdays, as visitor numbers have fallen since the pandemic.

Scott O’Neil, the chief executive of Merlin Entertainments, which owns 141 attractions in 23 countries, said the group was aiming to introduce a dynamic pricing model – widely known as surge pricing – at its top 20 global attractions by the end of this year, and big US attractions next year.

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African Verreaux’s eagle owl to make final flyover during Easter holidays before move to Yorkshire Dales

Any night owl who has spent 30 years of working all day would be dreaming of retirement.

Such is the case for Ernie, an owl with a “big personality”, who will be quitting after delighting guests at Warwick Castle for three decades.

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Real-world rollercoaster designers and the game’s creator, Chris Sawyer, reflect on the impact of the primitive-looking theme park sim that became a late 90s icon

‘I remember I would rush home from school just to play RollerCoaster Tycoon,” recalls John Burton, a senior creative lead at Merlin Entertainments (the owner of UK-based theme parks including Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures, and Legoland Windsor) and the man designing the forthcoming 236ft (72-metre) drop Hyperia rollercoaster at Thorpe Park. “I would then go to sleep dreaming I could become the next Walt Disney.”

When he reflects on the game, the adult Burton speaks with the excitement of a teenager on a sugar high. “I learned so much about how rollercoaster systems work with their block zones, or even the little tricks of the trade at theme parks like adding side queues and strategically placed toilets,” he continues, confirming my suspicion that the Jumanji-themed jungle world he helped to design for Chessington has what he calls “subconscious similarities” to the classic PC game’s Jolly Jungle scenario. “If I have to travel to a theme park abroad for work, I still load up the original game on the plane and sketch out ideas. I never really stopped playing.”

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Despite UK government outrage the ‘legal loopholes remain and operator has been let off the hook’, says joint statement

Unions have called for proper legal protection for seafarers on the second anniversary of the P&O Ferries mass sackings scandal, warning that ministers have “done nothing” to stop other firms following suit.

The cross-Channel ferry operator fired 786 British crew on 17 March 2022 in order to replace them with low-paid agency staff. Although the firm admitted to breaking the law , it has continued to operate without sanction while undercutting rival operators on labour costs.

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With concern focused on online casinos, the firms who run ‘adult gaming centres’ have been expanding fast – and glad-handing dozens of MPs

In the corner of a dimly lit room, the face of a middle-aged woman is bathed in the greenish-yellow glare of a giant slot machine. Next to her, an increasingly agitated man jabs furiously at the “spin” button, as the jackpot eludes him yet again.

It is early afternoon on a weekday and they are among half a dozen punters robotically feeding banknote after banknote into the mesmerising terminals of an “adult gaming centre”.

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As ‘adult gaming centres’ spread across the UK, one woman tells of how she kept playing even after getting a cancer diagnosis

Jackie Olden can pinpoint the troubling origin of her mum’s gambling addiction. “She was the kind of person who’d go to one shop where milk was a penny cheaper and another where bread was cheaper,” Olden recalls.

“This [gambling] would never have entered her head.”

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Hospitality trade says chancellor failed to help save sector with VAT cut, while travel industry laments air duty rise

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The chancellor has been accused of producing a “cut and paste” budget that fails to provide the tax changes needed to protect pubs and restaurants.

UK Hospitality, the trade body for the sector, said Jeremy Hunt’s budget had done little to “bridge the sector through a difficult period”, and failed to reduce the escalating costs businesses now face.

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Passengers on planes with wifi will be able to send and receive texts on apps such as WhatsApp for no cost

British Airways is to offer free instant messaging on most flights and a new app to allow customers to automatically book alternative travel in cases of disruption, as part of a £7bn overhaul to spruce up the national carrier.

Passengers on planes with wifi – about 80% of the Heathrow fleet, plus all of the smaller Gatwick operation – will from next month be able to send texts on services such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger free of charge during the flight.

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Guests can delve deeper into history of London landmark in one-of-a-kind stay to mark World Book Day

It adds a whole new meaning to bedtime reading: St Paul’s Cathedral is opening its hidden library for a once-in-a-lifetime overnight stay in honour of World Book Day.

For one night only, two guests will be able stay in the “secret” room of the historic London landmark on 15 March. It is the first time anyone has officially slept inside the cathedral since the second world war, when a voluntary organisation protected the venue from bombing raids.

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