Travel Weekly (UK) articles from April 2005

Travel Weekly (UK) archives from April 2005

Departments consolidated.
April 1, 2005... THE remainder of head-office roles facing the axe will disappear before the end of the year when departments are consolidated in the move from London to Luton. Departments such as finance and marketing will be brought together as...

Know your brand.
April 1, 2005... Luxury seems to be the buzzword in travel at the moment. There has been a swathe of magazine launches concentrating on this theme and no end of conferences and exhibitions to boot. Celebrities are paid to bang on about their favourite spa...

In good company.
April 1, 2005... THIS is the third year in a row that Flight Centre has made it into the top 15 of the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For. This year, the specialist flight and package company was in at number 14. Avis Rent A Car, which came 58th in...

Eastern Europe is not Third World.
April 1, 2005... I am writing a guide to Bulgaria for Bradt Guides and have spent the last six months researching Bulgarian accommodation and tourism sites. I wonder if Steve Tate actually visited Bulgaria before writing his Guest Column about health and...

Broaden your horizons.
April 1, 2005... TOUR operators are planning to take more agents on educationals to Iceland later this year after seeing an increase in bookings to the destination. Many tour operators have reported rising demand for Iceland and, as the tourist board has...

Wizard tool of the trade.
April 1, 2005... Gold Medal's Holiday Wizard product is helping travel agents make the most of dynamic packaging.Jane Archer reports NO-ONE in the travel industry can have failed to notice that dynamic packaging is making something of an impact. It...

Airline sells via operators.
April 1, 2005... BUDGET carrier Iceland Express is offering tour operators net rates on its Stansted-Reykjavik service for the first time later this month. Director of sales and marketing Birgir Jonsson said the airline will offer tour operators net rates...

Scantours expands summer packages.
April 1, 2005... SCANTOURS has expanded its summer Iceland programme. A new Iceland and Greenland package combines three nights in Reykjavik with four nights in Narsarsuaq on the tip of Greenland. The lead-in price of [pounds sterling]1,565 per person includes...

Wake up, it's a beautiful morning.
April 1, 2005... WINTER may be wonderful, but it's in summer when Iceland really comes to life. Batteries are recharged after the long, dark nights and the bright days of summer go on forever. Flowers bloom, whales and birds migrate, and Reykjavik is ready to...

Dolphin friendly.
April 1, 2005... WITH its lunar landscape, geysers and glaciers, Iceland has some of the most stunning scenery in the world. But it's not just the landscape and water that gives Iceland its natural appeal - the country offers an excellent opportunity to get...

A slice of something Ice.
April 1, 2005... Regent Holidays MD gives us the lowdown on Iceland Roughly the size of Scotland and Wales combined, Iceland's small surface area belies the wealth of activities on offer. Travel Weekly asked Regent Holidays managing director Ian Neale about...

news in brief.
April 1, 2005... tour options added Titan Hitours has extended its 10-day Icelandic Adventure tour to take in more of the island's natural attractions and give clients additional free time to explore the beauty spots. The trip, which starts at [pounds...

Return to form.
April 1, 2005... The Canadian Tourism Commission is confident UK visitors to Canada will break the one million mark for the first time this year. A million UK visitors has been a long-term goal of the CTC and it last came close in 2000, with a best-ever...

Back of the Net.
April 1, 2005... Tourism British Columbia has doubled its marketing budget for this year in anticipation of the run-up to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and Whistler. Tourism officials would not reveal how much they would be spending in the UK...

New Brunswick raises profile.
April 1, 2005... New Brunswick tourism minister, the honourable L Joan MacAlpine, made her first visit to the Spotlight Canada show in London last month to help raise awareness of the Atlantic province. She was dismayed by the lack of knowledge of Atlantic...

Brand push by Toronto.
April 1, 2005... Toronto will benefit from two extra daily flights as Air Canada resumes its services from Manchester and Glasgow. The flights launch on June 17 and will run until October, to coincide with Toronto's rebranding strategy which will be...

Parks Canada camping it up.
April 1, 2005... Parks Canada, the government authority that runs Canada's National Parks system, has devised an online reservation system for campsites. The website at pccamping.ca can take bookings 24 hours a day for a fee of [pounds sterling]5. The site...

Spotlight on Alberta.
April 1, 2005... Alberta is hoping to double its marketing budget for this year thanks to a new funding model launched this month. From today, the 5% room tax that used to fund tourism marketing and other departments is replaced with a 4% levy used only for...

Perfect for absolute beginners.
April 1, 2005... Report by emily williamson accustomed to the UK market and knows just what Borovets' unpretentious, price-driven customers want. In this case it meant an apres ski excursion to her cosy home with a hearty meal consisting of the no-frills...

news in brief.
April 1, 2005... Insight additions Insight Vacations makes its Canada coach tours debut this year with four itineraries ranging from eight to 20 days. They include the Rocky Mountains, rail travel, Vancouver Island combinations, Alaska cruises and eastern...

Away in the prairies.
April 1, 2005... Hands up who's been to Saskatoon? Pop this question into the mix at your next industry bash and you're sure to be met with blank stares and possibly the question: "Where is that exactly?" It's true that tourism isn't the number one industry...

Display of affection.
April 1, 2005... Long-haul specialist Travel 4 has launched a Canada travel agency window display campaign, to run until January 2006. The 10-month promotion is costing [pounds sterling]60,000 and has been jointly sponsored by Travel Alberta, Tourism British...

British visitors flock to Hungary.
April 1, 2005... THE UK is now the second biggest market to Hungary after Germany, according to Hungarian National Tourist Office director Balazs Szucs. Previously low-cost flights from the UK to Budapest departed only from London, but in the last quarter...

Gold Medal in Europe-wide expansion.
April 1, 2005... GOLD Medal is planning to increase its number of hotels across Europe almost four-fold in the next couple of months, as well as introduce transfers and excursions in key cities. It will add 1,500 new hotels across the continent, taking the...

Pulling power.
April 1, 2005... Report by emily williamson ACCOMMODATION-ONLY bookings across Central Europe are rising sharply as more flights to the region are launched. To meet demand, accommodation-only website Somewhere2stay.com is expanding its Central Europe...

Strictly for the wild at heart.
April 1, 2005... Botswana offers a taste of untamed Africa with a sophisticated edge In the fourth book in The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, called The Kalahari Typing School for Men, its heroine, the delightfully named Precious Ramotswe, muses how...

Sheikh your thing.
April 1, 2005... Medlife NEW Argo Holidays brand Medlife has introduced a programme to Sharmel-Sheikh in Egypt and added eight properties in Greece and Cyprus to its second-edition brochure. The operator is featuring five hotels in Sharm, with a...

Thailand visitors on the up.
April 1, 2005... THAILAND's UK visitor numbers for this year are up on 2004 - but overall levels to the key tsunami-affected destination Phuket are 92% down. Tourism Authority of Thailand marketing director Richard Hume said UK visitors for January and...

Balkan adds ski flights.
April 1, 2005... BALKAN Holidays is launching a charter service out of the southwest to Bulgaria this winter. The ski specialist is launching the service out of Cardiff Airport from December, running until April 2006, using a 180-seat Airbus A320. ...

Botswana sells it by the book.
April 1, 2005... Business to Botswana has seen an upturn as price hikes elsewhere in Africa make the destination appear more reasonable and awareness of the product increases, according to operators. Tourism Botswana said UK figures for 2004 were up around...

Hebridean looks South for winter.
April 1, 2005... its 80-capacity Spirit ship from Tenerife to Cape Town and Durban next December and operate nine itineraries over the winter. Kuoni Worldwide and ITC Classics are both featuring the programme and will offer pre and post-cruise options. ...

Row erupts over discounts.
April 1, 2005... A ROW has erupted over tour operator tactics of mass discounting tsunami-affected destinations to stimulate demand. Somak Holidays Far East general manager Rob Haynes warned delegates at a seminar, organised jointly by the Chartered...

Don't put up with it.
April 1, 2005... I wish Andrew Dickson every success with his attempt to reshape the way tour operators and travel agents work together (Travel Weekly March 18). Imagine an architect drawing up plans for your house, then happily sitting back and watching...

Namibia air boost.
April 1, 2005... THE UK market to Namibia will receive a significant boost this summer with the launch of direct flights by Air Namibia from London to Windhoek from July 2. (Travel Weekly March 18). The service will operate thrice-weekly from Gatwick on...

Lufthansa wins takeover approval.
April 1, 2005... price performance, and will begin with an 11% share-buy. This will rise to 49% once the deal is given the all-clear by anti-trust authorities. Once air traffic rights are obtained - expected by 2007 - Lufthansa will take over 100%...

Air Canada launches Club Class.
April 1, 2005... Air Canada has added a premium economy service, dubbed Club Class International. The new cabin launches this month on routes from Manchester and Glasgow to Toronto, plus selected services from Heathrow to Vancouver and Toronto, on Boeing...

Ruling his new kingdom.
April 1, 2005... This week: Jeff James, Walt Disney World Resort Florida vice-president for the UK and Ireland While in the US, this would have given him the radius of a 10-mile car trip, he quickly realised with the capital city's congestion, the most he...

Agents urged to be proactive.
April 1, 2005... Travel agents who want first-hand knowledge of Canada should forge closer links with tour operators and tourist offices. This is the reality for Canada specialists following the demise of the Canadian Tourism Commission's annual Superfam....

Axe falls on 2,000 jobs.
April 1, 2005... TUI UK has admitted up to 2,000 jobs will go as part of its restructure launched last year. Despite announcing in 2004 it would cut 800 jobs, bosses now admit that figure applied only to full-time head-office losses and didn't include...

Sri Lanka struggles to top record levels.
April 1, 2005... SRI Lanka is unlikely to top last year's record visitor numbers this year, the tourist board has said. The number of holidaymakers hit record level last year, with 500,000 visiting the country, with 10,000 of those coming from the UK. Sri...

Deals set to continue.
April 1, 2005... DEALS for Thailand are likely to continue into next season despite the destination's swift recovery, writes Juliet Dennis. Thomas Cook specialist business managing director Ian Ailles, who has just visited the country, said many of the...

TAT'frustrated' over funds blow.
April 1, 2005... THE Tourism Authority of Thailand has lost its application for [pounds sterling]500,000 in marketing funds. Instead, the UK arm of TAT has been offered just [pounds sterling]46,000 by head office for a post-tsunami marketing campaign. ...

news in brief.
April 1, 2005... Orient-Express adds helicopter excursions Orient-Express Safaris has introduced helicopter excursions at Eagle Island Camp in the Okavango Delta. Guests can choose either a 45-minute helicopter tour or a "go the whole way" speedboat/...

in brief.
April 1, 2005... Libra's Summer Sale Libra Holidays is launching its annual Summer Sale with holidays starting at [pounds sterling]179 per person. The Summer Sales leaflet offers breaks from [pounds sterling]179 for seven nights' self-catering in Corfu....

Elite rewards top retailers.
April 1, 2005... long-haul specialist Elite Vacations has singled out its 'best of the best' agents. Nine retailers were picked out from 75 attending an awards ceremony at Cafe de Paris, London. The agents received certificates and prizes including stays in...

New operators enter web row.
April 1, 2005... Debate over brand name interceptions escalates Report by paul nelson A move by three of the big four operators to ban agents from using their brand names on search engine Google looks set to be replicated across the whole industry. ...

in brief.
April 1, 2005... Al Fresco discountsFamily holiday brand Thomson Al Fresco is offering 30% off all holidays of seven nights or more. The deal could represent savings of up [pounds sterling]242 per family. All holidays must be booked by the end of June. Le...

in brief.
April 1, 2005... EasyCruise global draw EasyCruise has taken bookings from 42 nationalities since its launch in February. Around 50% of bookings are from Brits, with the USforming the second largest market at 13%. Freedom additions Freedom Flights...

Spread the word.
April 1, 2005... So, the cruise industry continues to grow with more than a million cruise passengers in the UK. Add to that all those taking a river cruise and the number is considerably above the million mark. That's a significant number of passengers paying...

The main Attraction.
April 1, 2005... NEW superhero Attraction Man is set to hit the high street this week with Keith Prowse Attraction Tickets' month-long prize give-away worth up to [pounds sterling]25,000. Agents who make a booking with the ticket specialist will be entered...

US top of the pops for shops.
April 1, 2005... AWEAK US dollar is fuelling the UK market's love of transatlantic shopping holidays, according to the latest annual American Express Travel trends report. North American cities represent six out of the top 10 shopping break destinations...

Midlands Co-op sales lift.
April 1, 2005... MIDLANDS Co-op increased its travel sales by [pounds sterling]4.6 million last year thanks to strongforeign exchange business. Although the society will not release details of sales or profits for its individual trading divisions, such as...

Airlines told to watch behaviour.
April 1, 2005... Carriers urged to get tough with unruly passengers GREATERManchester Police wants more airlines and airports to get behind its Disruptive Passenger Protocol ahead of the summer season. GMP Manchester Airport chief inspector and security...

Thomas Cook sees benefits.
April 1, 2005... THOMASCook Airlines has saved hundreds of thousands of pounds by working with Manchester police to combat disruptive passenger behaviour. The charter airline was experiencing seven to eightincidents of unacceptable behaviour per week just...

Superbreak sees rise in room-only.
April 1, 2005... SUPERBREAKis experiencing strong demand for its beach accommodation-only range, with sales for Majorca up 20% year on year. The operator said sales for the programme, launched two years ago, are showing a significant increase, with 3,000...

It gets on my Wick.
April 1, 2005... Last week we received notification from Transun Holidays that it has cancelled a special departure from Newquay Airport to Sardinia, due to depart on April 17, because of a lack of numbers. We got right behind the departure and it even had...

There's no dirt to dish.
April 1, 2005... Your guest columnist Steve Tate should have written his article - which talks about Eastern European countries not meeting European Unionrequirements - in 1985 (Travel Weekly March 18) rather than 2005. For 20 years, we have sent clients as...

in brief.
April 1, 2005... Fred Olsen highlights Newcastle departuresFred Olsen Cruise Lines has launched its 2006 advance guide brochure for its three ships Black Watch, Black Prince and Braemar. It will feature departures from Newcastle to Norway and the Baltic for the...

Savings? They've quacked it.
April 1, 2005... A TOUR operator that offers tours on the River Thames is saving as much as [pounds sterling]50,000 a year thanks to a new online booking system. London Ducktours managing director John Bigos said efficiency has been increased by the...

Cruise training.
April 1, 2005... COSTA Cruises has launched a new agent training CD-ROM outlining information about its 11-strong fleet. The interactive CD will be sent out to 1,000 agents and can be downloaded in less than five minutes. It can also be used at...

A United effort.
April 1, 2005... I was interested to read Ian Taylor's report from ITB Berlin (Travel Weekly March 18), and comments attributed to Travel Industry Association of America president and chief executive officer Roger Dow, regarding the US government's...

City-break show planned.
April 1, 2005... WORLD Travel Market organisers Reed Travel Exhibitions is launching the first travel trade city-break exhibition. City Break 2006 will take place next June. Reed Travel Exhibitions - part of the same group that owns Travel Weekly - plans to...

BA Holidays and Libra join FTO.
April 1, 2005... LIBRAHolidays and British Airways Holidays have become the newest members of the Federation of Tour Operators. The pair join a range of companies that account for 70% of all overseas inclusive tours from the UK. FTOdirector-general...

Profits dented by cost of UKrevamp.
April 1, 2005... Sarah Thomas reports on TUIAG's financial results for 2004 TUI AG has blamed the restructure of its UK business for hitting the financial results of its Northern Europe business by more than 30 million euros. The operator recorded...

Parent company counts cost of revamp.
April 1, 2005... THE true cost of TUI UK's restructure is actually [pounds sterling]31.3 million, according to chief operating office Will Waggott. Parent company TUIAG said the restructure had hit profits by more than 30 million euros. Waggott said the...

Revenue up for 2005.
April 1, 2005... TUI UK sales are on a par with last year, with revenues slightly improved at 1.5%. TUI northern Europe chief executive Peter Rothwell said business to mainland Spain remained "pretty tough" but areas such as the Balearics and the Canaries...

Leading by example.
April 1, 2005... IT'S no secret that the purse strings are being tightened at TUIUKHQ. But news has emerged of the lengths the company has reached to cut spending. As well as upping sticks from its swanky central London offices to Luton, head-office staff...

Operators hit back over dynamic claims.
April 1, 2005... OPERATORS have defended the value of the package holiday despite Travel Weekly's Mystery Shopper showing it is cheaper for agents to dynamically package city breaks. Four agents were questioned by this week's Mystery Shopper about a hen...

Bunny hops over to France.
April 1, 2005... NEWS just in... the BCP Bunny has made it to the charming French ski resort of Les Gets. Bunny was spotted in a cable car on his way up the ski slope - all in aid of our photo competition run with airport parking specialist BCP. His...

Google fined after trademark ruling.
April 1, 2005... GOOGLE France has been ordered to pay 75,000 euros in damages and costs to two French agencies for failing to protect their trademarks. The appeal case ruling gives weight to Google UK's decision to stop third parties - including authorised...

in brief.
April 1, 2005... Bath joins campaign St Andrews Travel Centres managing director Andrew Dickson said Bath Travel has pledged its support to his campaign to develop a code of good practice with operator suppliers. Advantage, Worldchoice, Midconsort and the...

Awards night stage fright.
April 1, 2005... IFyou'd stumbled upon Thomas Cook Airlines' second annual TCXcellence Awards at Manchester Town Hall last week, you'd be forgiven for thinking you'd gatecrashed the next auditions for Celebrity Fame Academy. "We want to offer something for...

ABTA: the future's orange.
April 1, 2005... ABTA is to introduce colour coding at this year's convention in Marrakesh in a bid to get agents and operators talking to each other. The move is in response to criticism by agents at the 2004 conference who said they felt "ignored" by...

CAA sees rise in delays.
April 1, 2005... CHARTER airline punctuality slipped during 2004, according to new figures from the Civil Aviation Authority. Average delays reached 23 minutes - up from 20 minutes in 2003 - with on-time performance falling from 74% to 70%. However,...

If only ATOL was that easy.
April 1, 2005... I wish the issue of the new ATOLregulations was as simple as Bryan Shear of Woody Travel makes out in his letter (Travel Weekly March 25). How much does it cost his accountant to calculate the VAT under the Tour Operators' MarginScheme? How...

We need to play fare.
April 1, 2005... It is to the benefit of consumers that all air fares should be seen to be inclusive of all compulsory charges, and it should be welcomed that Ryanair is likely to be forced into showing fully inclusive fares in its advertising. But while...

Saga returns to ABTA.
April 1, 2005... SAGA Holidays is rejoining ABTAafter almost 20 years as part of its plans to expand the business following a management buyout last year. The direct-sell operator left ABTAin the late 1980s after it decided to ditch the association'sbond in...

Huge response to online stress poll.
April 1, 2005... A staggering 3,239 of you had completed our online stress survey as Travel Weekly went to press. The results of our poll - the biggest ever in the travel industry - will be analysed by professor Cary Cooper, the world's leading authority on...

Travel Weekly ; says:.
April 1, 2005... Waste matters One of the arguments regularly trotted out by the 'brochures will never die' brigade is that customers love nothing better than putting their feet up after Christmas and planning their summer getaway. Looking at glossy...

Let's talk about stress.
April 1, 2005... When we launched our online stress survey last week we had no idea what a chord we were about to strike with our readers. Within one hour of the survey going live, a staggering 675 of you had filled it in and that figure had soared by more...

Is Spain's reign about to change?
April 1, 2005... COSMOS is to scrap all hotel guarantees in Spain for summer 2006 in a move that could ultimately lead to brochures being replaced by catalogues. The move is the latest stage in Cosmos' development of a more flexible business incorporating...

Virgin changes Colours.
April 1, 2005... VIRGINAtlantic is changing its Colours agent commission scheme from July 1 by cutting fixed commission levels in favour of variable payments tied to performance. Under the current scheme, payments range from 1%-7% depending on the ticket...

An end to brochure wastage?
April 1, 2005... print off all the information as one glossy brochure, including additional branding or marketing informationas required. The cost - [pounds sterling]1.17 for a 12-page brochure plus postage and packaging - is paid by the agent before it is...

New quake fails to hit bookings.
April 1, 2005... Trade reports 'no cancellations' after Sumatra tragedy Report by edward robertson OPERATORS are remaining upbeat about the Indian Ocean despite a second earthquake in just three months and the threat of a third. They admitted the...