Chronology

Full chronology version

2000

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is established in Ohio, USA.

2000

Ryanair launches Europe's largest online booking website.

2000

The American Hotel and Motel Association rebrands as the American Hotel & Lodging Association.

2000

Easyjet celebrate their 10 millionth seat sold online.

2001

Ji Qi founds Home Inns, the largest budget hotel chain in China. As of 2015, Home Inns operates 2,661 hotels in 338 cities.

2001

Tokyo DisneySea, a £2.5 billion nautically-themed resort, opens.

2001

Disney California Adventure Park opens exactly 45 years, six months and 22 days after Walt opened his original theme park.

2001

Thomas Cook is acquired by C&N Touristic AG and changes its name to Thomas Cook AG.

2003

The sales of digital cameras now exceed those of traditional film versions for the first time.

2003

Congaree National Park is established in South Carolina, USA.

2003 - 2004

Ryanair is named the most popular airline on the internet by Google.

2003 - 2012

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg takes an interest in revitalising Coney Island as part of the city's bid for the 2012 Olympics. When the city loses its bid for the Olympics, the restoration project is passed on to the Coney Island Development Corporation.

2004

The Whitbread company buys the hotel chain Premier Lodge for £505 million and combines it with their Travel Inn brand to create Premier Travel Inn, later shortened to Premier Inn in 2007. This chain is the largest hotel chain in the United Kingdom, with over 700 sites.

2004

Best Western launches the hotel industry's largest High-Speed Internet Access initiative. In just eight months, the company establishes free wireless in some portion of the public areas and in at least 15% of rooms at all of its North American properties.

2004

Great Sand Dunes National Park is established in Colorado, USA.

2004

The Lunn Poly travel agency is renamed Thomson.

2005

Disneyland Hong Kong opens, a joint venture between Disney and the Hong Kong government.

2005

Having bought a large amount of land on Coney Island, the company Thor Equities announces it plans to build a large scale hotel resort surrounded by rides and amusements.

2005

The New Forest is established as a National Park in the UK.

2005

Wynn Las Vegas opens on 28 April 2005. At $2.7 billion, the resort becomes the most expensive hotel and casino in the world.

2005

After a decline in popularity, Rockaway Beach is designated a surfing-only beach; New York City's first, and attendance starts to grow.

2006

Thermae Bath Spa opens in the city of Bath, meaning people can once again enjoy the benefits of the water, following in the tradition started by the Romans over two thousand years ago.

2006

Hilton buys back Hilton International from Trans World Airlines.

2006

Premier Inn launches in Dubai.

2006

Biometric British passports are introduced to comply with the US visa waiver programme.

2007

Thomas Cook AG merges with MyTravel Group plc to become Thomas Cook Group plc.

2007

Premier Travel Inn hotels become Premier Inn.

2007

Premier Inn launches in India.

2007

Premier Inn launches in Dublin, Ireland.

2008

Astroland, having operated as an amusement park on Coney Island since 1962, is closed.

2009

A new incarnation of Coney Island's Dreamland is opened.

2009

Hilton now has branches in 76 countries. This is the largest fully-serviced hotel chain in the world.

2009

German tourists spend $80.8 billion on international tourism (population 82 million). In comparison, the US spend $73.1 billion (population 310 million) and the UK, $48.5 billion (population 61 million).

2009

An estimated 20-33% of US citizens hold a valid passport, compared to 70% of British citizens.

2009

The South Downs is established as a National Park in the UK.

2009

50% of passengers using Easyjet now originate from outside the UK.

2010

A new incarnation of Coney Island's Luna amusement park is opened.

2011

The Peruvian government introduces new entrance rules at Machu Picchu aimed at reducing the impact of tourism on the site.

2011

The first new roller coasters to be built on Coney Island in eighty years are opened in an attempt to attract more visitors.

2011

Thomas Cook amalgamates its UK high street travel and foreign exchange business with those of the Co-operative Group and the Midlands Co-operative Society to make the UK's largest retail travel network of over 1,200 shops.

2012

Butlins open the undersea themed Wave Hotel and Apartments at Bognor Regis.

2012 - Present

Hurricane Sandy causes damage to Coney Island. Luna Park is soon reopened and the rebuilding of the Aquarium begins in 2013 with an expected finishing date of 2017.

2013

The Pinnacles National Park is established in California, USA.

2013

Easyjet see 60 million passengers travelling with them during this year for the first time.

2016

Disneyland Shanghai is due to be opened, at a cost of over $5.5 billion.

2016

Las Vegas sets visitation records with 42.3 million visitors.