Travel Weekly (UK) articles from May 2009

Travel Weekly (UK) archives from May 2009

News.
May 8, 2009... Advantage is confident the consortium will be not be affected financially as a result of the failure of its former member Freedom Direct Holidays. It follows speculation from some observers that claims as a result of the failure of the...

Destinations.
May 8, 2009... As if the market wasn't tough enough for business travel agents and travel management companies prior to the recession, it is now even tougher. Members of the Guild of Travel Management Companies have seen nearly a 30% year-on-year reduction in...

Destinations.
May 8, 2009... Ouch! Yes, that baguette at Venice airport was [euro]5, just less than [pounds sterling]5 at today's exchange rate. Add this and other costs up over a long weekend and you've got an expensive European city break. Cities within the eurozone...

Destinations.
May 8, 2009... Head out of the eurozone for a better value city break. Nick Easen reports As the euro continues to fly high against the pound, non-euro destinations are increasingly popular for a city break, especially eastern Europe. Cities such as...

Destinations.
May 8, 2009... 24 hours in Copenhagen Joanna Booth finds out how to make the most of a day in Denmark's capital city Copenhagen is a stunningly beautiful city, sitting on the sea, and packed full of sights. It's not cheap, but with the current...

Destinations.
May 8, 2009... North Africa market overview Judging from what the operators are saying, agents should be turning towards sunny North Africa to bag a sale certainty right now. Ever-popular Morocco is performing well. In fact, The Adventure Company has...

Destinations.
May 8, 2009... Joanna Booth discovers Tunisia has more to offer than its spectacular beaches Tunisia is so now - not only does it offer a heady cocktail of year-round sun, picture-perfect beaches and exotic culture, it's got this season's must-have - a...

Skillzone.
May 8, 2009... I never really had a life plan until I met my partner, who announced early on that he'd always promised himself he would retire at 50 - or at least exit his wheeler-dealer corporate directorship to do his own thing. Me? I guess I thought I'd...

News.
May 8, 2009... Exclusive by Juliet Dennis Outsourcing company Sitel is predicting a third of travel call centres will be outsourced by the first quarter of the next financial year. The forecast comes as the company experiences increased demand from...

Mystery Shopper.
May 8, 2009... M8-mysteryshopper-crewe The Target Crewe, Cheshire Wanted A first-time holiday to North Africa, maybe Tunisia, with culture and beach, for a couple This week Mystery Shopper was a couple looking for a holiday to North...

Maureen.
May 8, 2009... A criminal getaway My recent column outlining the frustration I felt when I offered the authorities information about fraudsters who had targeted our office clearly hit a nerve. Many of you responded with stories of your own and the...

News.(Conference notes)
May 8, 2009... Dragons' Den entrepreneur Levi Roots is to speak at the fourth Advantage Focus Champions Conference in Belfast on June 1-2. Roots offered a stake in his Reggae Reggae Sauce business in return for [pounds sterling]50,000 when he appeared on...

News.
May 8, 2009... Thomson Cruises will resume cruising from the UK when it gets another ship, TUI director of cruising UK and Ireland David Selby has vowed. The cruiseline launched cruises from Liverpool and Harwich in 2005 but is pulling out of the UK in...

News.
May 8, 2009... Royal Caribbean International and Dubai's tourism and entertainment complex Dubailand have signed a memorandum of understanding for a strategic marketing partnership. Under the deal, which is yet to be fully signed off, the cruise company...

News.
May 8, 2009... The travel industry can expect a spate of failures in the autumn, a PricewaterhouseCoopers director has warned. Speaking at yesterday's Travel Recession Toolkit seminar held in London after the ABTA annual general meeting, Ian Oakley Smith...

News.
May 8, 2009... Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is to change the itinerary of Balmoral's world cruise in 2010 due security concerns over pirate attacks. The 106-night cruise, which is scheduled to sail from Dover on January 5 2010, will no longer sail through...

News.
May 8, 2009... From our own correspondent While destinations generally have massive PR resources to overcome crises, individual hotels and resorts can struggle. Stories about swine flu are decimating the bookings for hotels across Mexico, many of...

News.
May 8, 2009... The Co-operative Travel has credited its rebranded high-street shop network as a major factor in turning an operating loss of [pounds sterling]2.1 million in 2007 into a [pounds sterling]5.3 million profit in 2008. After interest, the...

News.
May 8, 2009... Cruise Baltic has gone live with a new website where agents and consumers can post pictures, videos or articles about their holiday in the region. The best entry will win a prize. Cruise Baltic director Bo Larsen said the aim is to create a...

News.
May 8, 2009... The Global Travel Group says it is witnessing an unprecedented boom in interest in travel agency franchises as a result of the number of redundancies during the recession. The group has 360 franchise members, while its Independent Options...

News.
May 8, 2009... The swine flu epidemic is having a knock-on effect on the search ratings of Mexico on Gazetteers. During March, Mexico was the ninth most searched country by agents looking to sell holidays to clients. However, the country has dropped to...

News.
May 8, 2009... Gone With the Wind was released back in 1939, but the enduring appeal of this epic movie about romance and war has ensured that it continues to find an audience. Even today, it still ranks as one of the highest-grossing films of all time. ...

News.
May 8, 2009... What is swine flu? Should I worry about this flu? The people who died in Mexico were young adults who don't often die of flu, so we know this virus can be serious. But it isn't always this bad: the cases picked up in the US were mild....

News.
May 8, 2009... Shearings Holidays has invested [pounds sterling]400,000 in a new TV and press campaign to promote summer bookings on domestic breaks. The company has launched its Great British Summer campaign to target consumers who are still to book...

News.
May 8, 2009... Mexico is preparing for a slow but sure return to health for its tourism industry two weeks after the country was hit by swine flu, Mexico Tourism Board director for Europe Manuel Diaz Cebrian has said. "In the first week there was...

News.
May 8, 2009... "I'm not persuaded that the swine flu outbreak will have a major influence on the travel in trade in Britain in the medium to long-term. This might change if the most pessimistic predications about its virulence are proved correct. The state of...

News.
May 8, 2009... Thomas Cook has confirmed its participation in The Travel Foundation's sustainable tourism training programme Make Travel Greener. The company joins rival retail chains TUI Travel and The Co-operative Travel group and independent agency...

News.
May 8, 2009... The Triton Travel Group is confident it will announce two new consortia as members imminently. Talks have been progressing with two groups of agents, one of which is understood to be Northern Ireland-based Consort Travel Group. Meanwhile,...

News.
May 8, 2009... The Department for Transport has asked the travel industry to review its business continuity plans in the wake of the swine flu outbreak. The DfT has asked all companies to ensure staff are fully trained. It is advising that check-in staff...

News.
May 8, 2009... The Co-operative Travel has welcomed the opposition to Heathrow's third runway, which was voiced yesterday by business leaders in an open letter to The Times. The high-level leaders from a range of key UK industries claim alternatives to...

News.
May 8, 2009... The British Air Line Pilots Association is stepping up its fight against the introduction of ID cards at Manchester airport, after the government made clear today its intention to push ahead with the scheme. The cards will be made available...

News.
May 8, 2009... Travel agents and operators must draw their customers' attention to regulations about the food they bring into EU countries from outside the EU, following the introduction of new legislation on May 1. The rules , which apply to personal...

News.
May 8, 2009... The end of April was a bad month for negative cruise-related news. In the middle of April, a 39-year-old man was seen going overboard from Norwegian Cruise Lines' Norwegian Sky but was never found, and a week later Somali pirates attacked...

News.
May 8, 2009... Ski specialist operator Crystal has pulled its Lapland programme for 2009/10 due to "insufficient bookings". A spokeswoman for Crystal said the operator would be contacting all customers and offering them a holiday on the First Choice...

News.
May 8, 2009... The weak value of the pound has led to an average increase in hotel prices of 15% across Europe compared with last year. The trivago Hotel Price Index shows that the price of an overnight stay in a standard double room in Europe will cost...

News.
May 8, 2009... Former Thomas Cook director John de Vial and Advantage chief executive John McEwan are tipped to be potential nominees for the role of ABTA chairman. No nominations have been received by the ABTA board, but rumours indicate that the two...

News.
May 8, 2009... Agents are concerned that clients are thinking about avoiding travel to the United States as well as Mexico in the wake of the swine flu epidemic. Colletts Travel in Hendon, London, has received requests from customers to cancel their...

News.
May 8, 2009... Air rage incidents at Gatwick are on the increase, according to figures obtained by the BBC today. The number of incidents dealt with by police has risen from 50 to 58 in the last year. Including incidents on the ground, police dealt...

News.
May 8, 2009... Travel agencies must be prepared for staff absences if there is a major swine flu outbreak. ABTA has advised its members to have contingency procedures in place in case the World Health Organization pandemic alert is raised from phase five...

News.
May 8, 2009... British tourists are among 300 people being held at a hotel in Hong Kong after a fellow guest became ill with swine flu. The Metropark Hotel in the Wanchai area has banned guests from leaving the hotel for seven days in case they spread the...

News.
May 8, 2009... Tour operators and cruiselines have extended their suspension of holidays to Mexico as the Foreign Office continued to warn against all but essential travel to the country. Thomas Cook has cancelled its Cancun programme up until May 14,...

News.
May 8, 2009... Sector skills council People 1st is to launch its State of the Nation report this month. This is the biggest research project undertaken to date by People 1st, providing a an overview of the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism labour...

News.
May 8, 2009... The World Travel and Tourism Council has warned the industry not to panic as the number of UK confirmed cases rose to eight yesterday. The council has reassured the sector that it is safe to continue business as usual. It advises people who...

News.
May 8, 2009... A group of leading businessmen have joined forces to oppose the building of a third runway at Heathrow. The lobby group, which includes chief executives of leading retail companies Kingfisher, Carphone Warehouse, J Sainsbury and Credit...