As the games entered into its 100 day countdown this week, theguardian.co.uk has reported on a number of events – like the one seen at Kew Gardens involving a floral display of the Olympic rings- set up by London 2012 organisers to drive tourism. To deal with problems that could arise from housing extra numbers, the Home Office will be hoping that the leaflets find their way around.

Amongst the information given was a set of guidelines for obtaining visas – with some of the 1 million tourists expected to apply for documents advised to send off their forms as soon as possible to avoid the inevitable rush.

In another key piece of advice, the Home Office told visitors – possibly rushing to hire cars – not to use designated Olympic and Paralympic lanes at Heathrow explaining: “Please do not use these lanes as they are for athletes coaches accredited media and other officials coming to the UK to take part in the games and the arrivals process is different.”

Waits at border security were also seen as a possible stumbling block, as over 100 million passengers are set to land on UK shores during a particularly busy period for transport in the capital. Due to this, leaving plenty of time for getting in and out of ports has been recommended.

Cited by london24.com, the extract read: “The London 2012 games coincide with the summer period when our ports are always busier than normal, so please make sure that you allow time for passing through the border.”

There was also a 10% increase in visits to Scotland from within Great Britain, and a 20% rise in the amount spent by domestic visitors.

Internationally, the number of visitors remained relatively static.

However, the latest ONS figures indicated tourist numbers from North America rose by 15% from 2010 levels.

Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing said: “These encouraging figures show just how resilient Scottish tourism is.

“The 9% increase in visitors to Scotland shows growth in one of our key sectors and is good news for Scotland’s wider economy, especially in the current global economic climate.

“These figures are a reflection of the hard work being done by Scotland’s tourism industry, and of the innovative marketing campaigns VisitScotland has created, both at home and overseas.”

In February, the Scottish Parliament’s economy committee warned that a target for a 50% boost in Scotland’s tourism industry by 2016 could not be met.

The 10-year Scottish government growth plan was set in 2006, before the global economic crisis hit.

In a report, the Holyrood committee cited industry concern the target was “not considered achievable”.

Scottish tourism is worth £4.2bn every year and employs about 215,000 people, according to trade association, the Scottish Tourism Forum.

The British Air Transport Association (BATA) is calling on UK ministers and the immigration department to increase staffing or consider a risk-based approach to screening specific passengers at passport control. BAA, which operates Heathrow airport, is also calling for extra staffing to deal with passport and visa checks, saying that immigration queues can become especially long during peak travel times.

The government has imposed tougher immigration checks following last year’s row in which immigration officials relaxed passport and visa checks beyond agreed limits.

Simon Buck, chief executive of BATA, said in a letter to UK home secretary Theresa May on 21 March that the UK Border Force “will almost certainly struggle to manage the volume of passengers” because of the government’s decision to introduce more stringent passport and visa checks.

“The subsequent impact on airline operations, passenger experience and satisfaction could be significant, especially at peak travel times such as Easter or during the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations,” Buck said, adding that over time this “would also have a significant economic impact given the very significant share of business passengers at our busiest airports, principally Heathrow.”

Buck claimed that if immigration halls at airports become congested due to long queues at passport control, airlines would be forced to keep passengers on the airplane, which could jeopardise the operation of subsequent flights.

“This is a concern to all BATA members. The possibility of disruption may appear remote, but there is a real danger of this becoming a reality if more support is not provided to the Border Force,” said Buck.

Mike Carrivick, chief executive of BAR UK said “The number one priority is economic growth. A policy of disproportionately high air travel taxation and a failed aviation policy, provide two glaring examples of how the Government’s aim for economic recovery is being damaged by its own doing. It is a day-dream to assume that air travellers will continue to pay increased air taxes without shrinking the market. Hitting families and businesses with ever-increasing APD rates and restricting much needed capacity increases at key airports is a recipe for failure.”

Mr Carrivick added “To make matters worse, residents and visitors to UK are all affected by yet another aviation tax, under the guise of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS). By the time the Chancellor wakes up to the fact that visitor numbers are dropping, other countries will have already benefitted at the expense of the UK.

“We call on the Chancellor to abandon the April APD increase and to reduce the previous rates by the amount of additional income received from the EU ETS.”

This compared with a figure of only 68 per cent in October-December 2010 – a period during which flights were badly affected by heavy snow.

The average delay for scheduled flights fell from 21 minutes in the last three months of 2010 to just 11 minutes in October-December 2011.

For the whole of 2011, a total of 80 per cent of scheduled flights were on time, up from 73 per cent in 2010.

The number of charter flights on time rose from 63 per cent in the last three months of 2010 to 73 per cent in October-December 2011.

The average charter flight delay dropped from 38 minutes in October-December 2010 to 21 minutes in the last three months of 2011.

The statistics related to flights in and out of Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted, London City, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow Airports.

Among the 75 scheduled international destinations with the most passengers in the last three months of 2011, flights to and from Larnaca in Cyprus recorded the worst on-time performance of 63 per cent and the highest average delay of 21 minutes.

Flights to and from Rotterdam achieved the best punctuality with an on-time performance of 92 per cent, while flights to and from Berlin (Shonefeld) achieved the lowest average delay of six minutes.

The UK’s Home Office intends to tighten visa regulations for international students to reduce the country’s annual net migration and cope with high domestic unemployment.

The Home Office has posted a consultation on its website to seek public opinion about the proposal until Jan 31, 2011.

Click here to find out more!
The regulations would cancel the Post Study Work (PSW) policy, which grants foreign graduates of specified courses up to two years of free access to the labour market.

It also raises the English-language requirement for many foreign applicants from level B1 to B2. B1 is equivalent to an International English Language Testing System (IELTS) score of 3.5 to 4.5, while B2 is equivalent to an IELTS score between 5 and 6.5.

ABTA predicts that the busiest pre-Christmas days for travel will be tomorrow and next Thursday.

It’s estimated that around 1.5 million travellers will be jetting away from Heathrow with 700,000 flying from Gatwick, 323,000 from Manchester, 138,000 from Birmingham and 70,000 from Newcastle.

In Scotland, almost 300,000 holidaymakers are expected to depart from Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports.

Monarch Airlines said it was flying 200,000 people abroad from tomorrow until Sunday January 9, which marks a 20 per cent increase over the 2009/10 festive period.

The airline’s most popular destinations this Christmas are Tenerife, Alicante on Spain’s Costa Blanca, and Malaga in southern Spain.

More than 200,000 will travel across the Channel or through the Channel Tunnel and a further 225,000 will use high-speed Eurostar trains on services between London and Paris and Brussels.