There aren’t many of us that go to Argentina despite the fact that for some of us there are strong links. With names like Peurto Madryn (Port Madryn) there are clues to the number of Welsh who settled there in the nineteenth century. From next March it will be easier to go there as British Airways will be launching a direct service from London. This week, the Argentinian Minister of Tourism, Enrique Meyer, was over here to help announce the service. Declaring that 2011 will be the year of Argentina might be a bit ambitious but then with even a modest increase in tourists from the UK, it could be the start given the range of holiday options that Argentina offers.

Heritage tourism has been one of the growth areas during the recession. Our love of visiting our past has held up well as those owning castles have been saying. Now here’s your chance to own your own “castle” and at a knockdown price.
That’s the problem, “knockdown” or rather falling down.

Glencoe is a popular destination for walkers and skiers. Rather than just being looked on as a place to visit in the winter, it has more people who meander over its stark countryside in the summer. Now Glencoe calls itself an area for all seasons.
So here is an opportunity to renew your acquaintance with the area or visit it for the first time because the local tourist association, Glencoe and Loch Leven, have just launched a prize draw to win a 3 day break for two people

France is probably the most visited country by Brits and Paris, one of the busiest cities to go tp. Although, not as many of us fly as we used to since we have Eurostar, the numbers are still large. I hadn’t flown to Charles de Gaulle airport for a few years until Saturday. Like others I was unaware of some long engineering work that is taking place on the railways that might delay your journey so here is the news.

It’s a funny old world! Yes an old cliché to start an article but the last week has seen the best and the worst of the rail industry.
On the positive side, positive to over 55 year olds at least, we have seen the launch of another promotion by the First Group of their popular discounts. For £15, you can have return 2nd class (alright, standard class travel for purists) in any one zone. Seeing that one of the zones runs from Manchester to Penzance, this can be terrific value for money. Even better is that you don’t have to book up in advance. You can just turn up on the day and buy the ticket. The website is www.club55.co.uk. The offer runs until November 30th whereas a similar deal from Arriva Trains Wales runs until 11th December. Their website is www.arrivatrainswales.co.uk/Club55.

This week is National Cruise Week. More travel agents than ever have been on training courses to help them explain the benefits of a cruise holiday to you. So if you drop by your local agent this week you might see more emphasis than usual on this type of holiday.
4.8 million Europeans will take a cruise holiday this year just in Europe and that’s not counting those who fly to the Caribbean and start their holidays there. Add to those who fly to Alaska or Canada for cruises or the huge business in Pacific Ocean cruising and you can see it has become big business.

This weekend sees the beginning of the two month Biennial, a string of artistic events that, when last held two years ago, encouraged nearly a million people to visit it from all parts of our countries. This is the 6th such event in Liverpool focussing on contemporary art. Whilst the first back in 1999 was quite small, Liverpool’s has now grown to cover over 40 specific events. The theme this year is “Touched” which the organisers describe as meaning that visitors should be “…touched in the head and in the gut…”

There must be something in the air at the moment as, having just returned from Australia, the tourism publicity over here about the place is coming in big doses. That may not be surprising given that the number of Britons – and tourists overall – going there has declined in the last year. Now they are trying to persuade us to visit them again. They claim that Air Passenger Duty (APD) is not playing a role but it is hard to see that it isn’t having a bit of a deterrent and will so again when it rises in November this year yet again.

Following in the footsteps of the South Beach Wine and Food Festival ( a four day destination event designed to raise money for Florida International University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism) comes the 2010 China Wine & Food Festival. Susan Gladstone, director of the China Wine & Food Festival Tianjin, dishes the dirt on the inaugural event

For the third year running, CD-Traveller is involved with these awards.
Why?
Because you are the decision-maker in deciding who gets some of these awards. Last year nearly 100,000 of you voted on which company you thought was the best tour operator, cruise company, long haul airline, hotel and a number of other awards. As we have written before, these are one of the few awards where you, the traveller, get to make your thoughts known. Most awards are decided by the people in the trade. You, alone, decide some of these.
So it’s important that you vote.

There’s not really a mystery. It is just a rather obvious way of drawing your attention to the fact that this September sees the 120th anniversary of the birth of Agatha Christie. (The actual day is 15th September) She is as well known as her two main characters who also celebrate anniversaries, Hercule Poirot first appeared 90 years ago and Miss Marple, 80 years ago.
So what is Torquay doing to celebrate the fact?

CD Traveller tells you what’s hot in the travel world

Think of wine in the USA and your mind probably thinks of California. Oz Clarke and James May did a TV series a while back driving through the state and stopping of at different vineyards to taste and praise. But if you think of the state of Virginia, wine is not probably the first thing that you’ll consider. To me Virginia conjures pictures of southern gentlemen, the confederacy and heritage.

From about the 9th of September (depending on where you live) heritage sites will be open up and down our countries. This is the time of the year when our heritage sites are often free to the public along with council buildings and places normally closed for the rest of the year. At least 3,000 events are scheduled
Ireland has recently had it’s week. Now it is the time for England, Scotland and Wales to celebrate this pan-European achievement. Your local library or newspaper will have a list of what is open in your area.

For 2 months, Gloucester cathedral will host the largest exhibition of UK sculpture outside London. There will be 75 different pieces on display in the cathedral and its grounds. So big is the venture that when I was there a few weeks ago, they were erecting scaffolding and preparing for it. It was going to take a whole week to just get the exhibits into position. Called Crucible, the event opens on September 1st and runs until October 30th so there is plenty of time to get down to Gloucester to see it. And it won’t be going to any other towns or cities. Miss this opportunity and you don’t get another.

This story is a little different from the usual things you read here but I make no apology for including it. On this bank holiday weekend, there will be lots of people working in some aspect of tourism in Wales who will have ideas on how to improve things; to make that day-out, that stay, that attraction better or more appealing for us the visitor. And those ideas should be supported.
The Tourism Society in Wales offers a £5,000 award to someone,-anyone- to help develop a project that will improve, help or build tourism in the principality. You can be in business, in academic life or just that person with a great idea.

(Here is the latest posting by Clive Culley. Travelling long haul by a budget airline is rare for us in Europe so here is his view of one of the few opportunities around. He is having connection problems in Indonesia so we suspect we’ll get a glut of stories for you and then some gaps till he arrives at some bigger places. In a couple of weeks time, we’ll give you the complete opposite, – a long haul flight in first class)

Because Spain has attracted so many British and Irish holidaymakers over the years, a small percentage dip in visitors hides a drop of tens of thousands. The decline has been going on for a few years yet Spain remains as the most important destination. To Spain, the decline is worrying despite the vast numbers who still travel there.
Why do fewer Brits and Irish visit and what can be done to attract them back again?

After talks today, Unite, the union involved has withdrawn its proposed strike action at the airports of BAA. Heathrow, Stanstead, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen airports could have been affected by the strike which was likely to have taken place later this month.
A new pay offer has been recommended by the union and voting will take place over the next 3 weeks. If rejected by members the earliest a strike could now take place would be in September.

Both TUI (the parent company of Thomson, First Choice and Crystal) and Thomas Cook announced results this week. Each seems to have been hit by people booking later and by people holidaying at home. Eurodisney also announced that they had been helped by more French people visiting their resort outside Paris so it seems as though the staycation, whether you are in France or the UK, is having an impact on tourism and travel. And now we have David Cameron making a speech on tourism and urging us to holiday at home (More on this over the weekend, when I have properly read it. I can’t remember a Prime Minister making a speech on tourism before.)

If you are thinking about going to the United States in the next two years, it will pay you to apply for your ESTA authorisation now while it is still free. (ESTA authorisations have to be renewed after 2 years.) Even if you’re not sure whether you would want to visit it does no harm to get your ESTA application now. If you don’t go there it doesn’t matter. Why? Because from September 8th, the US government will charge you $14 for each application. What happens if you have one already? It is still valid and you won’t be asked to pay more. You will only have to pay when you renew.

As some of you may remember and at the risk of not knowing what you might say, we invited some of you you to an online focus group so that we could learn your thoughts on what you thought of us. What did you want to read about? Did we cover all that you wanted? What do you like or dislike?
Firstly, thank you to all who gave us their views during the four sessions that were scheduled. That they went on longer than we anticipated was because the conversations were so helpful. Secondly, the results are from a small number of people. They aren’t indicative of many or all of you. The idea was to give us some guidance. As some of you may remember and at the risk of not knowing what you might say, we invited some of you might want.
So what are the results?

As one goes off another returns.
Last week, in Brasilia, UNESCO met to approve a new list of additions to its World Heritage Register. There were lots of additions and announcements and we’ll have a fuller review after the meeting is over on Tuesday.. There are two announcements though, about places that nearly everyone will know.
Sad to relate that the Florida Everglades have returned to being listed as endangered on the UNESCO list of heritage sites in danger. In addition the tropical forests of Madagascar have been added as well. But the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu have been taken off as UNESCO views the efforts by Ecuador and Peru to safeguard them as succeeding.

We’ve mentioned before the train deals available to those over 55. Many other deals are dependent on you being a senior, under 25, having a railcard or both. Here comes an offer from London Midland that provides a 50% discount for anyone regardless of age.
From 1st August to 5th September you can travel anywhere on the London Midland network which extends from London to Liverpool, from Hereford via Worcester to Birmingham and from Shrewsbury to Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington Spa. That’s pretty much the whole of the West Midlands area, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Northants and Buckinghamshire.

In the light of the difficulty of finding the cheap air tickets as advertised, do these exist?

This is the biggest weekend of the summer holiday when supposedly the largest number of people head off. And judging by the state of the M25 yesterday that could be the case. On the Surrey section there were entry speed advisory signs of 40mph and slow moving traffic when I crossed over it. A National Express coach going from Gatwick to Swansea came up from Dorking and headed off towards Cobham in an attempt to try and avoid the traffic, a sure sign of lots of traffic since a regular North Surrey-Swansea link isn’t in the timetable

As a reader of the CD-Traveller Newsletter, and the CD-Traveller website, we would like your assistance in improving and perfecting our newsletter and site.

Cake Research is conducting online group discussion on Wednesday 21st July and Thursday 22nd July at 3pm and 7pm and we would like to invite you to participate and share your ideas about CD-Traveller, tourism and holidays. What do you like and read, what would like to see in it in the future and what don’t you like. We are looking for 30 people to take part.

Your views remain anonymous. Each group should last approximately 1 hour and in return the 30 people will receive a choice of a £20 Amazon voucher or a Waterman fountain pen and pen set as a thank you for taking part.
If you would like to participate please send an e-mail to Cathrene@Cake-Research.com confirming your availability on either of those days and a daytime telephone number or click on the link at the top of this page.

Many thanks in advance for your help,

Hot on the heels of the Ulster Museum winning the Art Fund Prize of £100,000 (see CD-Traveller 3rd July) comes the news that Londonderry is to be the first British Capital of Culture in 2013. Beating off competition from Birmingham, Norwich and Sheffield, (see CD-Traveller 22nd March), Londonderry-Derry, as the winning city was called, was announced on BBC’s The One Show last night.
Prior to the announcement, Norwich was thought to be the favourite until the final week but not having the unerring accuracy of Paul the Octopus, many people got it wrong. So congratulations to Londonderry-Derry.
What will the award mean?

2009 was a year of belt tightening. We may not have gone abroad in such large numbers but holidays remained necessities. There was a drop of 15% in those of us holidaying abroad. So says our Office of National Statistics (ONS) via their annual Travel Trends publication and goes to confirm –officially- what we knew already.
Headlines in the press yesterday spoke of the fastest fall since the 1970’s and how overseas trips had grown by an average of 4% per year since 1974 up until 2009. But how accurately does this record what you and I did? Did 314,000 fewer of us go Turkey last year? And does it matter anyway?