Summer Holidays Rush Begins?

With travel agencies opening for the first day after Christmas traditionally, today, begins the big booking period for summer holidays. Its cold across most of the country but dry on the whole and it will be bright.
Why the weather forecast?
Generally if it is raining, snowing or the weather is miserable then summer holiday bookings increase. The milder and nicer the weather, the sages tell us, the lower the bookings.
Just before Christmas, ABTA and the Foreign Office released the results of a survey of 2,018 adults which said the top destinations that people were looking at were in Turkey and Egypt. The UK doesn't seem to be at the top of their list but I would have thought that the economic downturn and the weakness of the pound would make the UK attractive this year. At least you know how much your money will buy come the holiday.
And overseas?
Well both Turkey and Egypt are outside the eurozone so the pound hasn't slid so far against their currencies. Others suggested by the survey include Cuba, Croatia, Mexico and the Caribbean. I would have thought you could also add destinations that offer all-inclusive holidays wherever they might be. People will want to know that they have budgetted for virtually all their holiday spend. Already in November (for which the latest figures are available) Spain has had quite a downturn in tourist numbers and it could be that in order to try and attract more tourists there may be Spanish bargains. Remember though that with the demise of so many tour operators and ther mergers of First Choice with Thomsons and MyTravel with Thomas Cook that there will be fewer holidays around this summer.
Today and tomorrow the newspapers will be filled with holiday adverts to lure you to their destinations and into travel agancies. We will keep an eye on them and let you know early next week what we find.

Panto Memories Tour Scotland

Pantos will be full to bursting this season say the theatres. It's their time of the year when a good panto will help them ride out the next eleven months till the next one arrives (and my two local theatres have already told me what the pantos will be for 2009/10!)
I'be been a fan for years and even though my kids are in the twenties, I will still go and jeer and boo and hiss with the best of the ten year olds.
This year, the University of Glasgow has created an exhibition celebrating Scottish pantos. It has already been to Edinburgh, Perth and St. Andrews and last night it opened at Her Majesty's in Aberdeen before it goes to the Eden Cout theatre in Inverness for a week.
A touring exhibition will cover the east of Scotland next year.
This project has been funded by a £525,000 grant to the university for a three year study into all aspects of panto in Scotland. It would be nice if it came to England and other parts as well because such an exhibition might encourage youngsters to visit museums more.
There you have it. The last blog before Christmas and not one panto joke. You can add your own!
All I will say is enjoy Christmas tomorrow and for all of you have a peaceful new year wherever you may or may not be travelling to for the holidays.

Brecon Jazz Festival Dies?

Scenic spots, beaches, sunshine and features from our past are not the only attractions to tourists. Man made events and creations (Disneyworld etc) also attract people to an area.
One such was the Brecon Jazz Festival which this year celebrated its silver jubilee. Held each August, this years festival had been hit by the bad weather that dogged our Summer. It appears that the festival may have lost £66,000. (which equates to just less than half the average bonus that employees at Goldman Sachs will get this year).
This festival is small. It attracts only about 70,000 people each year. It is pitched at a limited audience so why should most people care?
Tourism is an industry. You might think of it differently but it brings money and jobs into a local economy. According to Powys councillor, Paul Ashton who was interviewed on the BBC, this small festival had been shown to be bringing in around £4 million into the local economy. The effect of this money was not just felt in Brecon or the surrounding area but apparently stretched to Cardiff. With its demise, hoteliers, B&B landladies, restaurants and cafes, shops and even the iniquitous Severn Bridge Toll will have less income.
If this was a company closing down, there would be talk of unemployment and it's impact on the community. The loss of £4 million to a smallish area will be significant. HSBC, the Arts Council of Wales, Powys County Council and at least 22 others provided sponsorship and without this the loss would have been much greater. The success of sponsorship has meant that this loss is only about 1.5% of its economic benefit. I would say finding £66,000 was a pretty good investment to reap £4million.
Good luck to those who will try and keep the festival going.

BAA told to sell off Gatwick, Stansted & Edinburgh

On this, the 105th anniversay of the first manned flight by the Wright Brothers, the Competition Commssion (CC), has issued a report (over 107 pages plus appendices) saying these three airports should be sold;- maybe.
Why maybe?
Because this isn't the final report. That is due next February/March so I suppose the CC could change its recommendations. Just how long will this decision making last? The original referral to the CC was as long ago as March 2007
Ever since the public ownership of BAA, it has seemed anti-competitive to some that one body should control virtually all of the airports around London and the three major ones in Scotland(Aberdeen is the other one they own). As a result Gatwick, for example, has lost a great deal of it's transatlantic flights because why should BAA Gatwick resist the moves? BAA would win whatever happened. Ferovial had even recognised that change would come by putting Gatwick up for sale last August.
So this is a non-news story. Because a definate final decision won't be made till next year.
Perhaps.

Air Traffic Controllers Have Christmas Off

In the words of Corporal Jones, “Don’t Panic.”
This isn’t happening over here, this is happening in Newcastle, NSW in Australia.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, from December 13th until January 10th, there will be no air traffic controllers working at this airport which has about 1 million passengers flying through it per year. (that makes it about the size of Exeter, Doncaster Sheffield or Bournemouth and bigger than Inverness, Durham Tees Valley or Norwich). Apparently at this Newcastle Airport, the air traffic controllers have the weekends off and are replaced by air ground radio operators.
The head of the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), Bruce Byron, says that safety will not be compromised.
Detailed assessments have been made he said. A robust package of procedures is in place. There might be, but there is still no air traffic controller coverage.
A former head, Dick Smith, is quoted by the SMH as saying that the Christmas period is when flights are at their busiest; which seems the obvious time to have your best skilled people.
Apparently, the Australian Ministry of Defence operates air traffic control at this airport ( don’t ask me why) and it made this decision.
Perception counts for a lot in this world. Whether those air ground radio operators are as skilled as air traffic controllers or not doesn’t matter in the eyes of airline passengers. They expect air traffic controllers to be co-ordinating all flight movements. Their training and skills are appreciated. I would much rather their work rosters were altered so they gave complete coverage when planes are using that airport than by allowing all of them to have a four week holiday. Passengers will feel more comfortable as well and that is what matters.

Airline Survival;- According to Paddy Power

The Advertising Standards Authority has criticised Paddy Power, the Irish based bookmakers from advertising its betting service on which airline would go bust next. And I half sort of agree with the ASA.
The problem with betting like this is that it can become a self perpetuating philosophy. If there is a lot of money placed on an airline going bust people might think that someone has inside information and the airline must be on the skids. If it is publicly quoted, the shares might side; if it is privately owned, creditors might demand quicker payment or cash up front.
Up till about a month ago you could look at the Paddy Power website and get odds on a number of airlines and their chances of going bust. I see that has been removed. And over the period I looked at it, only one of the airlines did go. A perpetual favourite to go bust was Alitalia which this week arose from the ashes as… Alitalia with exactly the same colour scheme. So even there paddy power wasn’t really right.
On the other hand, no-one wants to be in the position of booking a flight on an airline that isn’t going to be around when we want to fly. Or even worse, on an airline when we want to return home. The airline though, has a responsibility to its shareholders and staff to try and keep going so it can’t turn around and say that it has steeply declining passengers booking or creditors at the door or suppliers wanting to be paid in advance. As I said earlier, if that were to happen, the collapse of an airline becomes a self-perpetuating philosophy.
So as I wrote a few weeks ago, a bond scheme for airline passengers should be instituted and quickly. Certainly before next Summer’s holidays get booked. £1 on every ticket, it has been estimated, will be enough. Come on Mr Hoon. As the minister responsible for transport, do something.

Tourism Through the Eyes of Cartoonists

I have written about many different aspects of holidays and tourism but this is a first. In Turkey, there is a Univerity of Anadolu. They have a Research Centre for Caricature Art. Now there is a big cartoon collection at the Univerity of Kent but I don't think they have gone as far as Anadolu. They have announced that they are organising the 1st International Tourism Cartoon Competition which will be awarded in 2010.
For all you budding cartoonists, you have only until 31st of December 2009 to submit your entry. It has to be between A4 and A3 in size and you can submit up to 3 works. They can be new or previously published ones. The subject can be anything connected to tourism and holidays so the scope is really large. The rules can be found at www.anatoliajournal.com/cartoon.
I confess I have collected cartoons for a number of years yet the number of tourism related ones I have is few. And I haven't ever heard of a tourism cartoon competition before. So when the awards are announced in May 2010, I fancy I would quite like to have a Turkish holiday. And I have a funny feeling it will be somewhere near this university so I can have a look at the Anadolu University Museum of Cartoon Art. And if the University can be persuaded, we'll try and get some examples up on CD-traveller for you to see. Their website is www.krk.anadolu.edu.tr/karw/muze/index.htm.

Following Elephants in Ethiopia

Safaris and wildlife tourism has an understandable and increasing appeal. Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania and South Africa are countries that immediately spring to mind providing evocative holidays in stunning scenery with seemingly abundant wildlife.
One country you may not think of is Ethiopia. It has suffered much through famine and internal strife over the years so going there has been of limited appeal to visitors. This December however, Ethiopia is starting to promote visits to the Babile wildlife sanctuary situated about 350 miles east of Addis Ababa.
There they have a 300 strong elephant herd, the survivors of a much larger herd which had been greatly reduced by poaching. According to Reuters Africa, also there is the extremely rare black mane lion. It is the combination of the two that Ethiopia hopes will boost its tourism earnings to about $200 million per year a fairly insignificant sum compared to how much tourism brings to more developed areas.
In Babile it is the work of Wildlife Direct (www.wildlifedirect.org) who are using GPS systems to track four of the elephants over the next two years so that conservationists can track how far they roam. On their website is a graphic showing their movements over a three month period. The distance they cover is quite astonishing.
Unlike, it seems, elephants in captivity. In the same week the journal “Science” seems to show that elephants in captivity live much shorter lives in zoos than in the wild. Obesity seems to cut their lifespan in half suggesting they have insufficient room to roam in. (I’ve read this piece a couple of times and I think it just relates to zoos rather than wildlife/safari parks).
The work in Ethiopia would suggest they need a big area to roam in. The work being done by Wildlife Direct over the next few years will help understand that and, as a bi product, if tourists can help fund the research by visiting and leaving money in the local economy, we will have a better idea of just how much space we will need to find.

Planes versus Rail

Since Eurostar began operating, the demand for flights to Brussels and Paris has decreased. This year 9 million people will travel on Eurostar (less than half of what was estimated they could take) and it has lots of advantages. At least from London, it takes you from the middle of a city straight to the middle of another. You can carry more baggage. You don’t have the issue with what do you take as hand baggage and it takes roughly the same time or even less once you take into account queuing at airports, getting through immigration and passport control at both ends. Why does it only service Paris and Brussels when a number of other cities are easily within reach or a comparable time to flying?
“The Times” reports today that Deutsche Bahn (DB) the German state owned railway seems to be thinking the same. In conjunction with other state railways it operates a large number of long distance services. Over here, it owns Chiltern Rail, 50% of London Overground and EWS (the large goods service railway company.) Now it has it’s eye on buying the 33% stake that our government has in the holding company for Eurostar.
It plans, if successful, to operate new services direct to Amsterdam, Cologne and Frankfurt. But there are many cities within Europe that could be linked. Swiss ski resorts (taking skis on planes can be challenging which might be why the winter Eurostar services into the Alps are so popular), Luxembourg (very pretty but not considered as a tourist destination), Northern Italy and Denmark to name a few.
Any rail route where journey times are about the same time as it takes a flight must be welcome competition and a benefit to holidaymakers and tourists. So it will be interesting to see whether our government will sell its stake, and if it does, what will happen.

Holidays Next Year?

Yet again it is a combination of things rather than one that makes people think about whether they will have a holiday next year.
The CBI’s November Service Sector Survey says that travel services companies are less optimistic than they were three months ago and they predict that optimism will decline further. So what’s new? It seems all we read about are downturns.
Yesterday the pound hit a low point against the euro making the prospect of holidays in popular destinations like Spain, Italy, Greece and France more expensive. We might see a return to holiday surcharges based on currency fluctuations. And today Gatwick has been closed for hours because of the runway being frozen and the need to de-ice it. Bangkok had the demonstrations at the airport a few weeks ago which caused it to be shut for days and Ryanair announced that it will cancel all flights to Fuerteventura from January because the local tourist board hasn’t fulfilled its responsibility in promoting the island. This is despite the fact that Ryanair carried a quarter of a million passengers there this year. Cynical travel watchers are wondering whether this is really just a cutback disguised as a dispute
The holiday industry has been fairly resilient in past downturns. People might trade down from 4 star accommodation to 3 star or take an evening flight instead of a day flight. They might go somewhere a bit cheaper, maybe not in the eurozone but who is to know where currency rates will be in the peak season time next year? Domestic holiday bookings are said to be doing well.
Whatever happens people will still need a break. If for no other reason to get away from the perpetual doom and gloom the media preaches!

Compensation Schemes for Travellers

There have been a number of high profile collapses this year amongst them XL, Zoom, Online Travel Group and Fitura. The ABTA bonding scheme means that if you book your accommodation and flight together through an ABTA bonded travel agent you are protected. If you book them separately, you aren't.
If you pay for your flight, your accommodation, your car hire by a credit card (not debit card) then the credit card company assists.
But if you pay by debit card, bank transfer, cheque or even that disappearing commodity, cash, you are largely on your own.
When XL went bust, because of its sheer size (it provided hundred of thousands of holidays and flights each year) people cried out saying that there should be a compensation scheme for people who book their flights and accommodation separately. Since that time there has been a deafening silence. With the key booking period coming up just after Christmas, there isn't much time to reassure next years' holidaymakers. It could be that I haven't heard of these moves. If that is the case then let them be made known.
On the other hand, the city solicitors, Lovells, are in discussion with 10 major insurance institutions to set up a compensation scheme for those caught up in terorist attacks.. A worthy development but terrorism attacks occur less frequently than airlines or hotels going bust.It almost seems that, at the moment, this scheme will be up and running before a ccompensation scheme for those who book their holidays in separate bits.
And what about holidaymakers who book a holiday in the UK. Are they covered if their hotel or guesthouse goes into liquidation? Or their week on a touring coach? The only protection there is, it seems to me,is that you get when you pay by credit card.



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Jetlag and Tasimelteon

As I thumbed through The Lancet last week, that well known medical anti-insomniac relief for non medical types, I read something that kept me awake.

Research at a Harvard University outpost, the Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston in USA seems to indicate that this drug may relieve some of the inability to sleep as you cross time zones. Tested on 411 people who had “transient insomnia” over a 7 day period, some of the patients were given a placebo and the others, tasimelteon. Sleep patterns were adjusted to simulate the crossing of 5 time zones. Those that took the drug, in the words of the article, had “improved sleep efficiency. and “improved sleep initiation and maintenance”.

In English, then, they got to sleep faster and slept longer. Those that had the placebo didn't. Another study on The Lancet's blog said that similar results had been found in a study of 320 individuals.

So at some stage in the future, there may be hope for a pill for jetlag sufferers, insomniacs, breakfast TV presenters and nightclub dj's.

Ripping off Tourists at home

When you’re on holiday, you know that the chances are you will pay a little over the odds for something, the taxi will take the scenic route rather than the shortest and that meal; well what was it you ate?
I still have a shapeless, tacky looking hat I bought in Beijing (I can’t remember why, probably at the behest of my wife who wanted me to cover my bald patch). Its part of the life of the tourist just as we like saying that we had this fantastic bargain is such and such or we had the best meal ever in this restaurant for what was little more than the cost of a first class stamp.
But we take a dim view of what looks to be a deliberate attempt to fleece the public with sub-standard offerings particularly at home. We like to think that it couldn’t happen here. But happen here it did and in the New Forest in Hampshire.
The Lapland story has received a lot of press coverage for it shoddy offering and high prices. TV pictures of wooden huts and stage sets make it look worse than some of the words written say. It has now been closed down and anybody trying to open a similar event will have a hard time overcoming the memory of people who came, who paid and who fled disgusted at what they found.
In Essington in Staffordshire, a Lapland West Midlands was due to open yesterday. It didn’t due it said to bad publicity and a poor response for ticket sales. Apart from seemingly not having permission to have an events licence (but having planning permission), it seems that it was only on Thursday this week that South Staffordshire Council said it couldn’t go ahead. Was this due to not having an events licence or not providing what publicity handouts said would be there?
In both cases it seems that councils should vet what is being offered before they open and, maybe, until that approval is given all monies paid over in advance ought to be held in an account (almost like an escrow account) so that when things like this happen monies are easily refunded.

Cheap Lodgings in Switzerland?

There is an odd little story in today’s copy of "Metro." Apologies if you already have read it.
In Switzerland, it appears, there is an alternative to high price holidays and hotel rooms. "Metro" reports that you can stay inside a nuclear bunker for just £6 if you sleep in a bunk or £17 for the expensive luxury room. The "hotel" is called Null Stern, meaning no stars. (Too close to null points at the Eurovision Song Contest and just as unappealing it seems)
At this price you ask yourself where the drawbacks are is and yes, there are at least two. Firstly no heating so they give you a hot water bottle. Secondly the noise from the air conditioning unit (remember this is a nuclear bunker so it is well sealed beneath the ground) is a little loud so they give you ear plugs.
Run by the Riklin twins, they are quoted saying that this "hotel" is the antithesis of the seven star hotel in Dubai. Now in the event of a nuclear attack, guests must evacuate the bunker so that it can be used by local officials.
The one place you might want to be in a nuclear attack and they turf you out to take your own chances. Me I’d barricade myself in and the officials can find their own hole in the ground!

Joern Utzon, Sydney Opera House & Tourist Draws

Sydney Opera House is iconic yet it has only been abou 35 years since it was opened. Rarely can a building be recognisable around the world after only a short space of time.
It was largely due to one man, the architect Joern Utzon who has just died. It is not how he wanted. The inside is nowhere near as striking as the outside but cost overuns dictated change. Some of his design needed engineering skills to turn it into reality but the Opera House along the harbour bridge typify Sydney and you only neeed to put those on a tourist brochure and everyone knows where yiu are.
Tourist officers around the world must be jealous. To have such a building, a magnet for tourists is what they look for in trying to ecourage you and me to visit. And there aren't too many around the world. The Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, the Statue of Liberty, the Gulbenkian Museum in Balboa are some.
In the last twenty years or so, architects have been able to create buildings which may join these in the future so the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh and the Gherkin in London may join them. Certainly they attract tourists and maybe others with the gifts of Utzen will give us building tourists are happy to visit rather than some of the square blocks we see

Is British Food British?

Collecting someone from terminal 3 at Heathrow over the weekend, I misjudged the traffic and arrived early. To pass the time I thought I'd have a snack so went over to the departures part of terminal 3 where there is a better choice of outlets.
Attached to one of the pillars was a sign saying " British Pub Classics. Hot Roast Sandwiches and a Hearty Mug of Soup. Only £7.95." Mug of Soup? When have we have ever had mugs? We have bowls of soup. Americans have mugs. And as for Hot Roast Sandwiches, well you can get a steak sandwich in a pub but a hot beef, lamb or pork sandwich, no. You could get a cold salad or a Sunday roast ( which would be hot) but a hot roast sandwich?
Some bright spark has decided that to appeal to Americans you offer them what they might be used to and then call it a British Pub Classic. I know tourists like to have food similar to what they are used to but does this county really not have any more British to offer than a thinly disguised American menu? If we don't then they might at least be honest and change the sign to read "Get food like you get back home. American food just like your Mom makes"
And the rest of us can have a good old fashioned British breakfast instead. If some restaurant there would like to supply it!