In Brief

New York licensees fight new late-night regime

Nightclub and bar owners in New York City are fighting new proposals that could force them to close at 1am instead of the current 4am.

The new late-night licences are being drawn up by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who also pushed through the city's public smoking ban last year.

Owners say the rules, which impose strict conditions on businesses wishing to stay open later than 1am, would be difficult to comply with and would result in licences being easily revoked.

Inventive confirms plan for more vodka bars

Inventive Leisure, owner of the Revolution vodka bar chain, has confirmed it plans to add further sites to its 40-strong portfolio this year, but denied media reports that a figure of 12 new acquisitions had been agreed.

The company's Christmas trading was boosted by the opening of six new Revolution vodka bars, with sales increasing by 18% for the three weeks ended 3 January 2004. The company's like-for-like sales showed a 7% decline over the same period.

The company has recently opened new Revolution sites in Bath, Swindon and Watford.

Poll indicates domestic tourism set to star

Domestic tourism for 2004 is expected to show more growth than the outbound and inbound sectors, according to VisitBritain's latest Business Confidence Monitor.

About 59% of 400 senior marketing representatives polled expected domestic tourism to grow more quickly than other sectors, and 50% said they expected to see more customers in the first quarter of 2004 than in the same period in 2003.