[ October 16, 2010; 9:00 am to 6:00 pm. ] Tenburys annual Applefest is back and will this year see over 200 varieties of Apple on Show. The event celebrates Tenburys status of being named by Queen Victoria as the Town in the Orchard. There will be a craft and produce fair and various activities and shows throughout the day – A fun day out [...]

During this year we’ve drawn attention to the awards being given to organisations in tourism and two more have been announce, the Welsh National Tourism awards and Airport Operators Association (AOA) Awards. Why?

The number and quality of TripAdvisor reviews has been touched on a few times in CD-Traveller. the mantra is virtually distrust the few, only pay attention to the recent and disregard the overly critical or praiseworthy. In conjunction with UNESCO, TripAdvisor has been trying to raise awareness of world heritage sites and has gathered 244,690 comments on its website about them. This is biggest analysis of what how people view the 789 world heritage sites (there are 911 in total).
So which are the most recommended?

One of the pleasant features of flying first thing in the morning on the British Airways shuttle to Edinburgh, Glasgow or Manchester, (I can’t speak for the others having never flown the routes) is that they serve you a hot English breakfast. Bacon, sausage, scrambled egg, tomato and mushrooms are served along with orange juice, a roll and tea and coffee. On flights further afield on BA I’ve had the same. Before I catch the train to 7.10 Leeds from London Kings Cross, I have time to nip round the corner and get a proper breakfast from a greasy spoon. (they know how to give decent portions)
Now Visit Britain has published research showing that the rest of the world rather fancies trying a full English as well. Forget for a moment whether it should be called an English or British breakfast as there are slight changes in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Our notion of what is breakfast is what they want to try.

CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world

Yesterday the Financial Times reported on the meeting of the Airports Operators Association (AOA) at which the chairman of British Airways, Martin Broughton, said that some of the security checks we have to endure at airports were a waste of time. We had them because the Americans insisted yet they were not carried out on domestic flights within the US. Forgive me if you tired of this story already. The BBC, then ITN and Sky made it their lead story for most of yesterday and by 7am today there are 866 articles on the web about it. Broughton has obviously struck a chord.
But which checks are unnecessary?

Don’t countries want us to visit them? Have many got a tourism death wish that they cannot understand?
Austria has decided to follow Germany and introduce an eco- tax from January 2011 on passengers leaving from its airports. Just in time for the skiing season, the time when the largest number of visitors will be expected. They will charge €8 to fly to a European destination and €40 elsewhere. And how much will this tax bring them? Estimates vary from between €50-€70 million per year. And how much will they lose as visitors decide to go elsewhere

I think I know how Oprah Winfrey got so rich. It’s because she doesn’t have to pay for things. As her show nears the end of its 76 year continuous run or however long it’s been, some of the last remaining programmes are going to be filmed in Australia. Why Australia you might ask. Because it looks as though Tourism Australia will be picking up a large part of the bill. As are Qantas, the airline that calls itself the spirit of Australia, who are flying 300 people from the audience at which she announced the freebie and 150 staff to Australia. They will all enjoy an 8 day, all-expenses trip in December.

On one of those business social media websites, one guest house owner has written that his local tourist board will be a victim of the cutbacks. He then asks the million dollar question. Will anybody notice? It’s a brave question. Everyone likes to think that the work they do is effective but very often you only notice the effect of what you do when it is no longer being done.

Cast aside any preconception of Scotland’s biggest city as an industrial hell hole and give Glasgow a go. CD Traveller lets you in on five things you really mustn’t miss in Scotland’s capital of cool

You’ve probably heard the news about this exhibition opening in Berlin in Germany. Called “Hitler and the Germans: Nation and Crime” it is the first time since the end of WW2 that such an exhibition has occurred there which focuses directly on Hitler. Yes, there have been other exhibitions and in one way this continues that theme. It is of guilt and has been accompanied by much wringing of hands as to whether it should have been put on at all. Would it just give right wingers a focus? CD-Traveller was going to write about it when it opened but we hesitated and thought we would wait and see what impact it had. Now we know. It made the media around the world but a few days later was newsdead.
Would you go?
We are often accused of being fixated by the war and you could believe that if you were an avid view of the TV channel, Yesterday. Others say we should move on. But what of Germany? Der Spiegel ran two articles about it. Other newspapers also gave it wide coverage. 4,000 people went on the first day to the German History Museum and queued for over an hour to get in. Visitors now are in the tens of thousands. Across the city at the Stadtmuseum, a new exhibition of photographs showing the changing face of the buildings there including the effect of the war attracted fewer people. At the same time, the opening in Los Angeles of a museum about the holocaust which merged four different sites into one got very little publicity outside California.
Why? It’s the man’s name. That is what attracts crowds just as it did when he was alive.

For that weekend a way, the choice of where to stay can be based on any number of factors. The first one has to be is it close to where you want to visit and the second is price. If it is too much then you will probably balance out price and location until you find something acceptable. But have you something in mind at the time you make the decision to have that weekend break?

It’s not often you come across people who say that sticking a candle in their ear makes them feel good. However an ancient Chinese way of removing ear wax, is proving surprisingly popular today. CD Traveller gave it a go

Why is the most obvious question?
Because those behind the British Tourism Week were trying to come up with something to top this year’s launch event. You might remember that we had illuminated beacons stretching all along Hadrian’s Wall last March. This made TV and newspapers across the world.
What to beat it in 2011?
They have come up with a party on a pier. What could be more quintessentially and eccentrically British than the seaside pier. And who could be more… But enough of that. Giles Brandreth, one of the patrons of the National Piers Society, opened the launch

Last week, I attempted to book a round trip from Beijing-London in November. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong: it proved anything but.

As you all know by know, there is a bonding system for holidays called ATOL. To remind you, the idea behind it is that if you buy from someone who is ATOL bonded, your holiday should be covered in the event that the tour operator goes bust. You will get your money back (but it might take a while) but not a replacement holiday. The problem with the system is that if you book your accommodation and flight separately you may not be covered.

[ November 12, 2010 10:00 am to November 14, 2010 4:00 pm. ]
Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, Leamington Spa,
Adults £7.50 (£1 extra on the day)
Seniors £6.50 (£1 extra on the day)
Children £4 (£1 extra on the day)
Family tickets £11.50 and £19
Advance booking ends 25 October

Have they planned it? Just as the Ski and Snowboarding Show is about to open in London we get a cold snap with snow forecast for parts of Scotland and Northern England and widespread frost for the rest of us. After the balmy days of last week this is going to be a surprise for many. But it doesn’t seem to be going to last for long.
Which is the exactly the opposite of what all those companies involved in winter snow, skiing, sledding and so on want. Last year was a good, long season for the Scottish snow sports industry. Another one like that and they would be delighted.

Yesterday I went to the Daily Telegraph sponsored Cruise show at the NEC in Birmingham. So did thousands of you. And even more. At times you couldn’t see the carpet for people. The same, I am told, happened on Saturday. Try buying a cup of tea? Long queues were at those places as well as the stands.
So the organisers should have been pretty happy with the turnout. The exhibitors seemed to have been. At least in one sense. They were rushed off their feet and had little time to sit down. Brochures were being collected by the armload but were visitors just collectors or were they buying? Had they just come to enter the free competitions because just about every stand was offering a prize draw for a cruise?

[ October 20, 2010 11:00 am to October 24, 2010 9:00 pm. ]
Olympia, London
On Saturday and Sunday it opens at 10am but closes earlier at 8pm (Sat)and 6pm (Sun)
Tickets: Weekdays in advance £9; on the door £12
Weekend in advance £13; on the door £16

CD Traveller reader, Jackie Keith, takes us on a tour of her five favourite destinations

Jason Palmer of the BBC broke a story this week from the journal, Food Quality and Preference, about research done by 9 academics which has been available since July. We all missed it, probably due to the fact that this magazine isn’t usual bed time reading. The research claims that background noise affects the taste of some foods. Could it be then, that the engine noise that we all experience when flying affects us so that we think that the food we eat tastes differently?
No. My research shows otherwise.

The new owners of Durham Tees Valley Airport are the latest to remove cash from passengers by charging a Passenger Facility Fee. This fancy name can shield anything but what it amounts to is that adults (newly defined by the airport as being over 15) will pay £6 on departing flights and children between 3 and 15 will pay £2. A family of two children and two adults now has an extra £16 to find each time they go on holiday.
And you’re going to love the excuse the owners of the airport, Peel Airports, have given for the charge.

CD-Traveller (25 Sept. 2010) referred to a list of quangos that the government was planning to close, merge or retain. Yesterday the “official” list was published. Going through the list of hundreds affecting the holidaymaker and the traveller, we are not sure that we’ll notice much difference.

This is the name of a website rather than my personal view. Set up 3 years ago by, yes you’ve guessed it, a disgruntled passenger, you will be surprised to hear that the airline objected to it. And yesterday, Ryanair succeeded in persuading the arbitrator of web domains, Nominet, that www.ihateryanair.com should cease because the passenger was making money from the airline’s trademarked name. Money! He earned £332 from sponsored links on the web pages.
Is this fair?

There is an idea to place the Concorde aircraft, sitting round at Heathrow doing nothing, on a floating plinth on the Thames in London somewhere near the London Eye. The plinth will have two levels with the first floor being given over to a river landing stage and presumably either a museum of some sort or other exhibits and Concorde sitting on the top floor. Obviously the thought behind this is that it will become a tourist attraction.
But will it?

Yes, the first mention of the word Christmas but things begin earlier and earlier these days so CD-Traveller thought it time to mention it. And one of the increasingly traditional features of our Christmases is the imported Germanic Christmas market. Last year we wrote of the Edinburgh Christmas market (this year is its 10th birthday) that is on the south side of Princes Street. But what of the countries where they began? In particular, Salzburg in Austria.

The Canary Islands have long proved popular with Brits craving a quick blast of sun. CD Traveller gives you the low-down on where to sun yourself on four of our favourite volcanic islands