With decent weather over much of our countries last weekend it looked as though things were set fare for a while. In the space of one week, we have had winds and heavy rain and then, to top it off, Goldtrail Holidays (which also used the name Sunmar) went bust yesterday evening leaving 16,000 abroad. Now it also seems that there may be a strike at all BAA airports (Heathrow, Stanstead, Southampton, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen) during August.
CD-Traveller has frequently argued for wider consumer protection. In the wake of Globespan in 2009 and XL in 2008 (see CD-Traveller 14 Sept, 26 Nov, 17 Dec 2009), you might have hoped or expected that such high profile events might have stimulated some change. No, the EU prepared a document and sent it for consultation. The then government said it was an EU issue and we are no further forward. Yet we have had 11 cases of companies going bust this year.

CD Traveller reader, Joyce Callum, takes us on a tour of her five favourite destinations

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.

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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?

Some destinations toil for years building leisure parks, attractions or restoring crumbling piles so that they can attract visitors. Paul has proved there’s another way. Just pick the winners of the matches Germany has played in and then the final of the World Cup.
Paul is, of course, the octopus that has achieved his fifteen minutes of international fame by creating an astonishing record that gamblers would envy. As you will remember, Paul had two cubes each emblazoned with the flag of the playing country. He chose one- and the one he chose just happened to win. 8 times in a row. (Apparently a £10 bet would have given a return of £3,000 if you had rolled the winnings on). But Paul is now a bigger winner. At least for Sea Life in Oberhausen and Oberhausen itself.

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?

Why do you choose a hotel? Because it is where it is? Because of the price? Because of the appeal of the restaurants in the hotel? I could believe any or a combination of those answers. What I have difficulty believing is that it might be because of the soap or shampoo they put in the room.
But it appears one hotel chain may believe that.

Vanessa Collingridge has travelled the world from the frozen Antarctic to Tahiti. Here, the renowned geographer, explorer, author and presenter shares her experiences with CD Traveller and reveals why Scotland will always hold a special place in her heart