National Family Week

Today is the last day of National Family Week. Did you know?
This completely passed me by. There seems to be nothing about in it our local press and the first I heard of it was on Thursday when my copy of a trade magazine arrived, "Marketing Week." Instead there was a large insert promoting the week which amused me since we were already over half way through the week. Either a mistake, I thought, or a waste of money given that by then all of the supporters and sponsors would have been committed. At least they managed to organise it during half term.
This is the first such event. Gordon Brown supports it as does Legoland, Butlins and Pizza Hut. It seems there were over 1000 events organised across the country including the largest ever picnic with which they were hoping to enter the Guinness Book of Becords. 14,000 people seem to have helped out and they may well have won.
Today is a day for family reunions it appears.
There have been events from Glasgow to Bromley and Norwich to Hanley. Sports, film and book events have been held but did you know of it?
I'd be interested whether, in your part of the world, you were aware of this or did it pass you by as well.

Vote for the Best Garden

We are in full swing for outdoor events now. We have had the Chelsea Flower Show, the Bath & West and even the slight one day event pretentiously called the Surrey Show. Now it is the turn of the big one in Scotland, Gardening Scotland 2009.Th three day event which started yesterday celebrates its tenth anniversary this year.
Based at the showground at Ingliston, just in front of Edinburgh Airport (You can actually walk there from the airport if you are so minded. It takes about 10 minutes), this show is fairly typical of ones seen the length and breadth of the countries. there are the displays, the stalls, the advice areas, the experts and all the gardening paraphernalia you might want like hammocks and expensive garden hot tubs.
So why did I single out this show rather than others to comment on? Well apart from the really good weather in Scotland this weekend which will make either today or tomorrow a really pleasant day out, it offers another feature. Most shows have judges, weaned on gardening shows over many years who award prizes that represent their opinions. Nothing wrong with that; they should know and the GBP (Great British Public- last time I use the words in this blog; only initials from now on) like disagreeing with their decisions. So know the GPB has their opportunity. Gardening Scotland has decided that visitors can make their choice of what they think is the most outstanding feature of the show. Sponsored by the "Sunday Post," all visitors yesterday had the opportunity to vote. If you are going today or tomorrow it's too late. The results will be announced later.
Just like so many things, it will be interesting to see if the GBP disagree with the judges.

Bournemouth and the Weather

You might remember last Monday. Bank Holiday Monday.
It was dry in the south east where I was. Well until early evening when the heavens began to open.
The weather forecast for the day in England was for rain spreading from the south west.
Now in Bournemouth it stayed fine all day. If fact it was pretty warm at 22 degrees. And that’s the problem. According to Mark Smith, Head of Tourism at Bournemouth Council it should have had thundery showers in the Bournemouth area. Because the public was expecting rain, a lot of them stayed away. 25,000 fewer people came compared to the numbers the tourism people were expecting. According to Mr Smith, that equates to a loss of revenue of more than a million pounds.
Mr Smith obviously believes that the Great British Public believes the weather forecast. We might watch it to get an idea of what is happening but to believe that we totally set our life by it is an extraordinary claim to make.
There could be other reasons. The entertainment in Bournemouth might not have been appealing that day. Other nearby events could have been more attractive. The thought of facing the A27 and the other roads into Bournemouth might have been a deterrent.
But by blaming the weather forecasters, Mr Smith has a ready-made excuse to explain the fall in numbers.
Just a thought.
How well was the bank holiday weekend promoted by Bournemouth? Or did the tourism people think that visitors would come because they always do.

Why International Meetings are Shunning London

Newly released figures from ICCA, (International Congress & Convention Association) show that London was only 19th in the list of destinations chosen for international meetings last year. And before you say that there aren’t many international meetings being held, the total list included 7,475 events! The market actually grew by 800 events yet London’s share of the market dropped. It had only 68 events, just under half that held by the two leaders, Paris and Vienna.
Overall, the UK secured 322 events in 2008, only about 80 less than the leader, Germany, so that overall the UK performs well.
But not London.
Why?
Could it be due to the high cost of hotel rooms? The cost of eating out? This might be an argument but Paris is pricey as I am finding out in supporting a daughter there! Is it due to a shortage of venues to hold big events? We have the aging Earl’s Court and Olympia along with the newer 02 Arena and Excel stuck out in the difficult and time consuming Docklands to get to. 254 events are held outside London which seems a bit disproportionate so there must be something about London that is offputting?
In some ways it could be the same things that put tourists off. You need to have something new or different. Is there a new leisure ride, a new exhibition, a new tourist attraction. After all, if you’re familiar with something there is a tendency not to return and maybe that’s a reason.
Whatever it is, the people at Visit London need to identify it because we need those tourists and these events to help the economy for all of us.

Urdd National Eisteddfod

To those of you who e-mailed me yesterday pointing out that there was more than one big festival in Wales this week, my thanks for pointing it out. It makes me think that I have more Welsh people reading this website than any other nationality!
The other big festival is an eisteddfod, not the international one held in Llangollen (to which a young Pavarotti came in the 1950's; this year 6-12 July) nor the Welsh speaking extravaganza that is held each August. (this year, Bala from 1-8 August). No in Cardiff this week at Millennium Centre is the Urdd, the 80th eisteddfod they have held. This is for youth to celebrate all things Welsh and, yes, a lot of it is in Welsh.
Like the other eisteddfodau, the Urdd is cultural as well. People like Bryn Terfel, Connie Fisher, Huw Edwards, Ioan Gruffydd and Cerys Matthews all attended the Urdd in their youth giving them an opportunity to display their undoubted talents. There are composers prizes and literary ones as well as a chairing of the bard ceremony and awards for Welsh language learners.
In my youth, Urdd Gobaith Cymru to give it its full name, had little hold in South East Wales. It was only when I went to Aberystwyth that I came into contact with it. In the last forty years it has seeped into all parts of Wales. It is claimed that a third of all Welsh youth up to about 21 are members. But it is more than about culture and celebrating Welsh heritage. It provides sports for youth with many weekend sessions as well as a much more important aspect; to give to youth an understanding of the world. There is nothing quite like it in England.
So if you are in the bay in Cardiff, drop by this week. If you've not been, it might surprise you.

The Hay-on-Wye Festival

It’s that time of the year when a small town of about 1800 attracts the book readers of the world to itself. As Saturday’s “Western Mail” put it “It is now almost inconceivable that a leading world writer would not have heard of the book festival which annually transforms this Welsh town”
Attendance is already up 15% on this time last year and the festival has still a week to run.
Literary figures like Clive James, Jacqueline Wilson, Sarah Waters, Kate Summerscale and the new poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy will mingle with Tony Curtis, Heston Blumenthal and Alistair McGowan. Demonstrating that the festival has come a long way in the last 21 years, the literary and book loving festival comes of age this year and, again, has widened its approach to draw not only the committed book lovers. You’ve already missed Jane Birkin, Gillian Clarke, Frank Skinner and Gerald Scarfe.
Hay was the first big literary festival. Other towns and cities have copied but Hay is the doyen. Now it is large enough to get sponsored, by “The Guardian” and Sky Arts runs a programme, Hay-on-Sky, every night about it. The population of the town will swell to bursting which is good for tourism and the local economy. Many people make a holiday out of it and go off to the Brecon Beacons for a few days to recover by letting the eyes take over from the brain as they view the scenery. Without the festival and the two dozen odd bookshops that are the magnet for visitors, Hay would just be another small town. Not every town or village could be as successful as Hay in attracting visitors from around the world but every village and town can at least try to be as inventive. Not everyone has a Richard Booth who dreamed up the idea of a book town.
I can’t put it better than the comment column of the “Western Mail”,
“Wales should thank the visionaries who had the audacity to dream up the festival, but a salute of respect is also due to the residents of Hay-on-Wye who extend such a welcome to so many each year.”
To see what’s still on, go to www.hayfestival.com.

Holidays on the London Underground

It seems to me that, this year, there are more adverts on the tube in London than ever before for holidays. Not only on the tube trains themselves but on the posters on the stations and by the escalators.
I was up in London to go and see the musical, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. (well worth a visit if you were thinking about it) Posters for Tunisia, Bury St Edmonds, Suffolk, Isle of Man and Turkey seemed to crop up the most. I did wonder whether it was just me but my wife said she also thought there were more than usual as well.
Could it be that the tourist authorities are still working hard to get us to visit their destinations when most of us, by now, would have booked? We are told there will be more late bookers than ever before. We are told there will be more of us holidaying in the UK so that might explain why there seemed to be a lot more British destinations. I’d be interested in seeing whether this level of advertising is only in London or throughout the countries. In June I shall be in Scotland, the North East, South Wales and the South West so I shall be keeping an eye out as I try and find out what tourist authorities are thinking their prospects are for this year
Certainly if the tube is anything to go by, it does look as though destinations are still working hard to persuade us that theirs is the place we must go.

Bank Holiday Monday and the Beach

Rare, it seems, for a Bank Holiday Monday to be warm so when it happens at the end of May many people think of the beach. It could be the first opportunity to enjoy the sun whilst lounging, ice-cream in hand, watching the kids. So unless you’re in Scotland tomorrow where the weather is forecast to be not so agreeable, you might have a day out. I remember being taking to Lavernock or Barry Island as a kid and later to Bognor Regis or Hayling Island where people ran around in strange elasticated or woollen costumes. Then we just cared about the beach; we didn’t think about the quality of the water.
Today we have the Good Beach Guide to tell us which beaches are the cleanest to go to. Or, at least, which beaches have the cleanest water. The trouble is that this year’s guide which tested 777 beaches has shown the first drop in quality for some years.
Why?
The main suggestion it seems is the wet summer last year and the flood waters which ran into the outlets that led to the sea. The rains also raised the levels of sewage overflows and that contributed as well. So where the rain was heaviest, the water quality of the sea declined. Devon and Cornwall beaches have been hit with failures at places as popular as East Looe, Instow and Porthluney Cove but on the east coast at Torbay, every beach passed. Only one beach in Kent, Sandgate failed. In Yorkshire two beaches improved, Sandsend and Runswick Bay but Rhyl failed in North Wales as did Saltcoats in Scotland.
But is this method of categorising beaches fair?
These recordings were taken last summer. After heavy rains. In the nine months since the water quality will have changed depending on rainfall and what has happened in terms of cleanups. This summer is forecast to be hot and driesh. What’s the betting next year’s figures will show a rise in water quality merely because of that one factor?
Surely the best answer is to use common sense and, as the Marine Conservancy Council suggests, don’t go in the water if there has been heavy rainfall in the previous 24 hours.

Bank Holiday Weekend in York

This weekend is time for the York Roman Festival.
Although the festival is only about 6 years old, the Romans had a strong link to York or Eboricum as they called it, deftly turning the local name for the area into a Roman one. Constantine the Great was at York and, over the years, archaeologists and not just Time Team have found relics of the stay.
Centuries later, there was the story of the man who saw the Roman ghosts in the Treasurer’s House, which whether true or not adds to the attraction.
So what’s on this weekend.
On both Saturday and Sunday, there will be Roman soldiers marching around the city; gladiators will be fighting but maybe not like Russell Crowe and there will be a living history camp.
The appeal is mainly to children although there are things for the adult. And as we all know, events for children can be expensive. But the attraction of this festival is that most things are free. Yes you might feel like buying a Roman ice cream or some face painting but it shouldn’t break the bank. And with the good weather forecast this is a place to be this weekend particularly if you have kids.

Online Hotel Booking Systems: Are You Happy With Them?

More of us are booking accommodation online. No surprise there for anyone, I'm sure. No surprise either that most people expect online booking to increase. But how satisfied are you with online booking?
A company called iPerceptions has started a new quarterly study that will measure how satisfied we are with such booking sites and the very first report covering the first three months of the year has been published. It is a pretty comprehensive study since it covers 137,000 visitors to over 100 hospitality sites. (these can be individual hotels, chains or booking sites for all sorts of hotels/villas etc).
To get technical for a moment, the study measures satisfaction on a scale of 1-10. what they have seemed to have found is that the more complicated and lengthy a site is to go through and book then the least satisfied we are. Probably no surprise there either.
But the fact that people are frustrated by the process means designers of these booking sites have got to make it easier. Some don't let you book near a place where you want to be (such as a university for your child's graduation or a church for a wedding and you end up looking at a map to find out how many miles you're away) Some don't allow you to go back to check something but instead through you out so you have to start again.
If nothing else, this study shows IT people (hopefully not like Channel 4's “The IT Crowd”) need to be told that not everyone has years of experience with playing on the web.
Remember KISS; keep it simple stupid.

BAA Decides to Fight To Keep All It's Airports

BAA has decided that it isn't going to give up any of it's airports without a fight. It seems that they have decided to waste more of their money pursuing this idea despite the fact that, to just about everyone else, it seems like a good idea to stimulate a bit of competition. Could it be because of the price since recent estimates seem to value Gatwick at a lot less than they do?
And yet it seems they have have thrown the towel in as well.
I had a letter from BAA World Points telling me that they would no longer be available from Gatwick (my preferred airport from which to fly) from the end of June. World Points is the BAA loyalty system which operates across all of their airports. You get points for booking car parking, spending money in the duty free and so on.
Now if BAA really planned a fight of it wouldn't you have thought they would keep their loyalty system going? Doesn't this one act alone tell you that they were prepared to let Gatwick at least go?
Or is this just a case of one hand not knowing what the other is doing.

Airlines and Misleading Advertising

A couple of years ago there was a justified outcry about the way certain airlines advertised their products. Free seats turned out not to be free because taxes and surcharges were added. The EU stepped in with legislation and it became more transparent but it took a while for it to happen.
Now the EU has completed a review of how it has changed and how transparent airline pricing is. 115 websites out of the 137 that the EU looked at have changed. 52 airlines have been given a clean bill of health by the EU Consumer Commissioner, Meglena Kuneva. Here are some, however, that are misleading in the view of the EU.
Emirates, Turkish Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Aeroflot, Northwest and Olympic are on the list. Another group which does include British Airways and Air France/KLM are said to be holding talks with the Commission about their websites accuracy.
This is the bit I don't follow. I have flown a lot on those three airlines and book directly on the websites. Other than the surcharge imposed for using a credit card (which you can't put upfront because it depends which credit or debit card you use) I haven't had a problem. In fact many airlines have followed the BA model by giving you the flights throughout the day or either side of the day so that you can see if you can save money.
There are some airlines like flybe where the price is not on the main part of the page when you look for a flight but to the side where you see how much it goes up by when taxes and surcharges are added on. That I have found irritating and flybe hasn't had my custom for a few years because although I check their website regularly, they have yet to be cheaper than competitors.
So beware of some but this is a case where legislators have actually done some good for us, the traveller.

Carry on Camping

Yes we all know that more people are staying and holidaying at home this year but what sort of holiday are they taking? Many “experts” went no further than that. But it appears that this year camping is making a big comeback. Always popular with backpackers and students, it appears that the market has grown by at least a quarter in 2009 and may go higher still.
A travel insurance company, LV= has published the results of a survey that shows that Cornwall is the most popular spot with the Lake district, Devon and the Yorkshire Dales not far behind. It also shows that twice as many people as last yer are considering a camping holiday.
I think camping is for a particular sort of person; the person who can put up with life's little travails like lack of comfort and ... Well that will do for a start.
I have only been camping twice and am now firmly convinced that it for other people rather than me. The first time, the heavens opened and a deluge came, so strong, that it came through the fabric of the tent. I spent the rest of the night sleeping in the car. The second was when I spent two weeks under canvas on an archaeological dig in Essex. It was in winter and I was surprised at how warm as small tent can be when lit be just a candle. With a juice bottle filled with hot water acting as an electric blanket for my feet, I was still glad to be out of it. Thirty years after that and I have no desire to face a tent again.
But lots of you obviously love it because, according to LV, you will be spending an average of 450 pounds on the trip which is more than a hotel could cost .

Your Local Airport and You

June 1st is the closing date for the public to make their views known to the government about what they think of their local airport; its standards and its services. You can do that by a couple of ways. You can either e-mail or write to the Department of transport or you can complete the survey that Co-op travel has running on its website, www.co-operativetravel.co.uk/marketing-survey/may/.
The Co-op has run one survey in the last couple of weeks to assess the service at British airports. the biggest level of dissatisfaction was with something that I know little about; baggage reclaim. About two thirds of you are unhappy with how it functions. Years ago I decided that I'd only fly with hand luggage. Its a discipline that I have kept to (unless my wife is with me and even she manages to fly without hold luggage sometimes) because you only take what you need. And it saves such a lot of time when you land.
Not far behind in this survey was the choice and quality of the catering provided at some airports. It has become standard fare in most places with chain store provision. Starbucks or Costa Coffee, Macdonalds, Burger King, the obligatory Irish pub, TGI Friday's and maybe a Harry Ramsdon. What happened to individuality?
And what would people most want? the Co-op says 24 hour access to all the facilities, more comfortable seating and more seating.
Well if you have views you have only just over 10 days to let the government know. Who knows. they make even take notice!

Strange Stories from a Frequent Flyer

There is a column in the Financial Times written by Tyler Brule, the editor of a magazine called Monacle which I must confess to knowing nothing about. But I was flying to an American trade convention called PoW Wow (yes I know that it sounds strange and has nothing to do with American natives but I didn't call it that) and they were handing out copies of the FT. Mr Brule writes a regular column which you can see at www.ft.com/brule.
Use the link and read it. He lives in a different world from most of us seemingly being a real international jetsetter. Nonetheless his comments are the sort of things any of us could overhear. His story of an overheard conversation at Los Angeles airport and the questions about a strip search are all to real. The story about an American Airlines flight to Honolulu and how the cabin crew altered their usual staid uniforms to brighten up the flight is different and more worthy of the adventurous spirit of South West Airlines.
Anyway it was a diverting read so if you fancy a regular dose of the thoughts an experiences of a real frequent traveller have a look at his columns on the FT website

Going Abroad with Tui and Thomas Cook

This week saw financial figures released from both TUI (owners of Thomson and First Choice) as well as Thomas Cook (who also own Airtours). As these four brands are the dominant players in the overseas package holiday market, their comments give a better idea than anyone else's about what we, the holidaymaker, are going through. Both have cut the number of holidays to try and match the downturn. Both are down about 14% in the number of holidays they have sold and both have almost managed to match the number of holidays to the number of expected buyers.
What it means for us though is that by managing that process, we seem to be having to pay about 10% more to go abroad this summer. Some of that is certainly due to the weakness of the pound against other currencies. Countries like Spain and Cyprus that heavily rely on the British holidaymakers are bending over backwards in trying to persuade the travel agents that we should go. In turn the travel agents should be trying hard as well. Yet this rise looks as though it is sticking so you may have to grin and bear it.
So where will be the best bargains?
Good question and the answer will vary depending on timing. More tourist authorities will be spending money as it comes closer to crunch time. The Mexicans, for example, agreed a $58 million dollar package to help the Mexican tourist industry once the swine flu crisis is over. The Thai government has come to the aid of its tourist industry after the demonstrations there. So what seems a price today may be cheaper later.
So can we afford to wait? If you are flexible in you holiday dates, maybe. If you are limited to school holidays, it could be tougher and you should probably expect to have to pay more,- at least if you're going abroad. The answer is probably that if you see a holiday you like and it meets your budget, book it. Waiting around may not help

Margate & The Apprentices

I have never watched an episode of "The Apprentice" before but last night's much heralded programme about a makeover for Margate made me decide to watch it.
Never again.
If the quality of the campaign from either team is anything to go by then tomorrow's entrepreneurs are going to do a lot for UK plc. Thankfully they don't represent the quality of most of the entrepreneurs, merely those who want an ego boost by appearing on TV.
One team decided that it would rebrand Margate as a holiday centre for gays; the other as a family holiday destination. the quality of the work wouldn't have tempted me to visit Margate. Judging from comments in the national press and ao radio and TV this morning the appeal of Margate was reduced to an also ran; the important news being whether editing had removed homophobic comments from the lady who was fired.
The tourism panel who assessed both teams opted for a fmily approach but there wasn't a lot that they said that would encourage me to visit it.
I suppose that Margate, when approached by the BBC, thought any publicity about Margate would be good publicity. And a good few million people would see the programme. Well the efforts were poor and the team from margate didn't come across as necessarily dynamic either.
Margate deserves better.
Margate deserves better.

Trains Become No-Frills?

I write this as I travel on the National Express early morning service to Leeds. It's not very busy in my coach despite the fact that all but 8 seats have little cards indicating they are reserved for parts or all of the journey.
National Express have announced that, as from this weekend, they are going to charge a fiver return if you want to make sure you have a seat. Passenger Focus ha provided a quote saying this is not right and two union leaders have joined in the chorus of disapproval. Bob Crow from RMT calls it bleeding passenger dry and Gerry Doherty from TSSA says that the charge is mugging passengers. Norman Baker, the Liberal MP says that seat shouldn't be a luxury and the Yorkshire Post is running this story on it's front page with quotes from other M.P's.
Now we have just left Stevenage and none of the reserved empty seats were taken. And that is my point. As this train gets fuller, there may well be people standing at the end of the carriage. Why shouldn't they have a seat? Some passengers check whether anyone is using the seat on that sector of the journey and occupy it. Others look and see the reservations and move on.
National Express claims this is attempt to discourage people from reserving seats on a number of trains. Critics, as I have said, see it as a money making exercise. It won't apply to all seats. Season ticket holders and advance purchase tickets will be unaffected.
If it counts out unnecessary empty seats, well and good. If it is just a ploy to make more money, we'll soon know.

Camber Sands and the Day Trip

Last week I was talking about the seaside resort and how some people are turning to it as a comfort in the same way that chocolate is.
So off to Camber Sands to see how busy it was on a warm late spring weekend. For those of you who don't know it, Camber Sands is in East Sussex near Rye but the closest big town is Hastings. It has a long sandy beach that, as a kid, seemed to stretch for miles. And dunes that went on forever. Partly covered with grass they gave protection to you as you built castles but out of their protection and some days you could really feel the winds. Today it hasn't changed much. It is still a seaside village. It hasn't been filled with chain stores. There are the fish and chip shops and the ice cream and souvenir places and the caravan park. But now there is a Pontins as well. But it still remains about as traditional as you can get with no big nationally branded hotels, they are mostly B&B's or guest houses (still not quite sure of the difference).
Last weeeknd it was pretty busy but were they locals or people who had driven down for the day? Because it isn't really height of the season, or even close to it, I was surprised at how many peopole were there. But that could be due to the weather. The shopkeepers seemed pretty happy with business so far and were looking forward to the summer with relish. After the last two wet summers, they seemed to think this might make up for some of it. And why do people come? One couple said because they had been do so since they were kids. Another because of the sand and the safety for the kids. And yes there were quite a few from London and one family from Birmingham
So maybe the seaside is a comfort feeling like chocolate. At least at Camber Sands.

Going to Spain this Year?

We have had a love affair with Spain for decades. It is our most popular overseas destination so much so that for years, the holiday in Spain has been parodied by the Carry On team, a soap was set there and at least two comedy series. So for nearly 40 years, Spain has played a big part in our holiday plans. So much so that there are a lot of us have holiday homes there, partly helped by the no-frills airlines who gave us cheap flights to an array of destinations. Nearly 25% of all tourists to Spain are from the UK.
The appeal was almost guaranteed sunshine, beaches and inexpensive food and shopping. It seemed Spain would always appeal. But holiday homeowners and those who moved there have been hit by the property downturn and potential holidaymakers have been hit by the fall of the pound against the euro.
Last year it had a downturn in British tourists.
This year?
Numbers booking holidays there are down due to the euro and the general economic climate. But there is a returning optimism and British holidaymakers are booking later and later. Will Spain manage to encourage us to go there?
The Spanish Tourist Office is supporting a lot of travel trade events in the hope the trade will persuade us, the holidaymaker that it is still good value, has lots to attract us and has dependable weather.
In this year when many of us are thinking of holidaying at home and when a good hot summer is forecast, will the Spanish be able to persuade us? Well my aunt is going for one. But she has had a holiday flat there for twenty years.

Chocolate, Lipstick and the Seaside

It is said that during this economic crisis sales of chocolate and lipstick have gone up.
Why?
Because people are finding comfort in them. They are inexpensive, they are moreish and they make you feel happy after using them. Where the Mars bar used to be held up as a guide to economic activity, sales of these products during this recession might be being used by some economist somewhere to determine the length of the recession.
I suggest another belweather.
The seaside.
For many of us, going to the seaside was the first sort of holiday we had. You might have just gone for the day, had a paddle, built a sandcastle and had an ice cream on the sands but it was something you looked back on. In your memory, the days were sunny and the sea was warm. The castle was the best anyone had ever built and the ice cream was not like the ones you get back home. It was much better. Most of it was seen through rose tinted glasses and I think that during this recession we are looking back at some of the things that seemed enjoyable and many of us try to recreate it.
One of the reasons so many people are holidaying at home this year is because of exchange rates. It isn't necessarily cost because some UK holidays cost more than overseas ones. But I think there is a group of us that yearn for the great holidays of our past. As we were when we wre young and our parents and grandparents took us to Skeggie or Barry Island or Blackpool or wherever. And now we look for the comfort of that again. Which is why some traditional seaside resorts are doing well in bookings this summer. And some hotels. Not the modern 200 roomed hotels. The smaller ones with 20-60 rooms; the ones where meals are at set times and where the floorboards creak. The ones where you still have a key to enter a door and the food is almost traditional British fayre. Only the Basil Fawlty type hoteliers have gone, thank goodness.
It's comfort some of us are seeking and like lipstick and chocolate, the traditional seaside and some of its hotels gives us that.

Fewer Flights from the UK

Each month a company called OAG compiles a list of all those flights that fly from British airports and publishes the results in its OAG Facts. This compares the number of flights and passenger seats available to buy based on the type of aircraft flying each route.
The figures for April show that there was a drop of 5078 domestic flights compared to the same month last year which meant a reduction of 476,000 seats. For those flying abroad there were 11,237 fewer flights and 1.6 million fewer seats. Within that it is possible to see that even the low cost airlines are having to cut back. In percentage terms they have cut even more flights and offer now 853,000 fewer seats than in April 2008.
So what does it mean for us the tourist?
It should mean that fares shouldn't be showing much of a decline because the airlines are trying to match supply with demand and obviously demand is down. But fares are not as stable as you might expect which suggests that there are still too few people chasing too many seats. Maybe the airlines are still to make cuts or maybe they are hoping that the ever increasing last minute bookers amongst us will come to their rescue over the Summer and fill those seats.
Whatever it is is makes it tricky for anyone to recommend buying seats now as opposed to leaving it till later when there may be fewer seats and hence, higher prices. The airlines would rather have your money now even if they think prices may rise. So you takes you money and takes your pick. Me, I think I'll book for flights I know I'll have to take but for a holiday, I am going to hold off a bit longer

Robbing the Poor to Give to the Rich?

The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) has joined with lots of other parts of the travel industry calling on the government to stop the increase in air passenger duty (APD).
Greg Duffell, the President and CEO has called for a review as a matter of urgency. Adopting words that might have come from the mouth of the CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, he said that the chancellor was “…acting like a modern day Sheriff of Nottingham- imposing an ill conceived, unfair and unjustified burden…”
After the next tax rise it is those on long haul flights that will pay the greatest tax revenues, so those members of PATA and others who put together holidays to Asia and the Pacific regions will be hardest hit. In some cases the taxes will amount to hundreds per person.. And the taxes will all flow to the Treasury probably never to be seen by the tourism industry again.
The Netherlands has already removed their taxes in order to help support the travel industry. What PATA and it’s members fear is that we holidaymakers and travellers will not book through them but instead choose to go via a European airport like Amsterdam where it will be a lot cheaper. And they are right. We might.
So why don’t PATA members just rejig their holidays and travel so that we just pay the APD on the hop to Europe and then fly onwards from Amsterdam or Paris or Frankfurt somewhere where our chancellor won’t get his hands on more of our money?

Getting Upgrades: the Sky Steward’s Idea

There are lots of suggestions that have been made as to how to get upgrades. Wear a tie, carry only hand baggage, say you’re on your honeymoon ( helps here if there are two of you), going to your mother’s/father’s funeral are some suggestions that have been made.
The Sky Steward is an actual member of a cabin crew on an American airline. As I have mentioned before, he has a website and regular articles on looking at passenger air travel from the point of view of an insider. He suggests an “Upgrade Bag” which he claims, has a 57% chance of success which is high by anyone’s thoughts.
He suggeste that you create a gift bag which should contain things like cookies, posh chocolates and posh popcorn. This you present to the Flight Service Director or the purser of the flight for it to be shared amongst the crew. He says this even got him an upgrade on an Air Canada flight from Tel Aviv to Toronto.
Is it bribery he asks? Yes it is and it’s a bit blatant given that you’re told to only take one bag on board. That aside, it might be worth a try. I have probably flown over 150 return flights in the last ten years and I’ve never seen this idea before so for just being unusual it might stand a chance. In all that time I have been upgraded only twice, once on United when the flight was full and I offered to step down since I had no reason to get there on that flight and secondly because someone I knew knew someone who knew someone. Apart from that it’s good old economy.
If anyone tries this let us all know. Even if it doesn’t work

Combining Tourism and Advertising

There is a little railway line that runs from Reading to Gatwick Airport via Guildford and Dorking. Going through countryside for most of the journey, passengers can stare out of the windows and watch the meadows, traffic as it veers by roads and sheep with advertising on their sides.
Yes you read correctly and no it isn’t a late April fool’s day joke.
After you leave Dorking on the way to Reigate you will pass a field where sheep have been daubed with an advertising promotion for thetrainline.com. Acting as woolly billboards, it will be certainly different for passengers, some of whom may not believe their eyes. The endless supply of ready made puns about sheep will be resisted by me other than to question the woolly thinking behind such a campaign. Would it encourage me to use thetrainline.com to book my next ticket? And would my advertising work if the sheep are facing the wrong way?
Or maybe it would encourage tourism because people will go and look to see how daft things in the country can be.

The Bank Holiday Getaway

Today will probably be the first big getaway of the year. People will stream out of work this afternoon and head for cars, trains and airports to enjoy the most of the bank holiday weekend. And oddly enough for a bank holiday it looks as though it will be fine and warm for most of the country.

For those of us driving away for the weekend, there is the usual chance of motorway congestion in addition to the roadworks that seem to turn roads into obstacle courses to face. And this year, there is another feature to drive us to despair.

A survey with the flashing warning signal called ALARM (Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance) has said that the number of potholes on our roads has jumped by nearly a third in the last year. It seems we can only travel about 120 yards before coming across another of these things in the road. Swerving to avoid dumping a wheel in what sometimes seems to be a trench is not uncommon around where I live. One little stretch of road seems to have more paint marks around holes than black tarmac.

So why so bad? The sharp winter snows and frosts won’t have helped. The rest must be due to either under investment or shoddy road building. I doubt whether it is due to thinking like the Naverstock council in Essex who seemed to think that potholes could be used as a cheap form of speed restriction.

I plump for under investment. Which means as you drive this weekend watch out. If you are travelling at just 30 miles an hour you will face 440 potholes in just one hour’s driving.
Maybe I’ll just walk somewhere this weekend.

ALARM

Combining Tourism and Advertising

There is a little railway line that runs from Reading to Gatwick Airport via Guildford and Dorking. Going through countryside for most of the journey, passengers can stare out of the windows and watch the meadows, traffic as it veers by roads and sheep with advertising on their sides.

Yes you read correctly and no it isn’t a late April fool’s day joke.

After you leave Dorking on the way to Reigate you will pass a field where sheep have been daubed with an advertising promotion for thetrainline.com. Acting as woolly billboards, it will be certainly different for passengers, some of whom may not believe their eyes. The endless supply of ready made puns about sheep will be resisted by me other than to question the woolly thinking behind such a campaign. Would it encourage me to use thetrainline.com to book my next ticket?

And would my advertising work if the sheep are facing the wrong way?

Or maybe it would encourage tourism because people will go and look to see how daft things in the country can be.