What’s hot

Spain
Forget forking out a fortune to fly to Australia or the Caribbean and make for Spain instead. Temperatures might not match those of Barbados or Brisbane but Spain represents better value for money: Post Office Travel Money has revealed that a trolley of typical holiday items (sun lotion and the like) cost just under £38 on Spain’s Costa del Sol – almost £90 cheaper than the same items cost in Barbados and Brisbane.

Wearing a bikini in Egypt

Women visiting Egypt, who prefer to top up the tan in a bikini rather than an all one swimsuit, can pack their two pieces. Egypt’s new government has said that tourism “will not be subjected to any changes as long as we are represented in parliament. Bikinis and alcohol all round then.

Skiing rules
British holiday makers are hoping to see ski resorts introduce breath tests and penalty points in an attempt to curb reckless skiers, according to a survey by insurer More Than. Nearly one in there Brits are concerned about speed skiing, saying that they had been hit and/or injured by somebody skiing too fast. Meanwhile more than four in ten Britons want helmets made compulsory.

Skiing in Switzerland

On the subject of skiing, Swiss ski resorts are slashing prices this season by up to 33 percent – in a bid to boost visitor numbers. Case in point? Crans-Montana is offering 33 percent off accommodation, ski hire, passes and tuition up until February 11 and then again from March 10-April 6. For the full low-down, see our story: http://www.cd-traveller.com/2012/01/17/you-too-can-find-gold-in-crans-montana/

Enjoying a hot air balloon flight over Uluru
Australian adventure tour operator, Outback Ballooning, will start offering hot air balloon flight over Uluru next month. Negotiations for the 30 minute flights, which are priced at £300 per person, have taken two years.

Digital detoxing
Hands up if you spend too much time on your phone and/or laptop. That’s a lot of hands… which is why luxury operator, Black Tomato (www.blacktomato.com), is launching a digital detox in 2012. The week long trip to dreamy Caribbean destination, St Vincent and the Grenadines, takes in two private resorts and all technology is banned. Sign us up now…

What’s not
The cost of London hotel rooms
Looking for somewhere to lay your head in London during the Olympic Games? Be prepared to pay… Research into 60 London hotels conducted by Tessa Jowell, the shadow Olympics secretary, reveals that, on average, the cost of hotel rooms in London will quadruple during the Olympic Games.

Being a Concordia passenger

CD-Traveller readers booked to travel on the ill-fated Concordia should look away now. The cruise line has said that it will not refund airfares for holidays canceled as a consequence of the ship capsizing. In a statement, the cruise line (which has no legal obligation to reimburse customer for their losses) said: “For guests who choose to cancel their cruise, Costa will offer a refund plus a 30 percent future cruise credit. No compensation for airfares will be provided if they are cruise only passengers. Passengers should contact their airline and their travel protection provider.”

Bungee jumping in Zambia
Tour operator Shearwater has suspended a bungee jump after an accident which saw 22 year old backpacker Erin Langworthy plummet into Zambezi when her rope snapped 40ft above the water. Shearwater has said that it doesn’t know when the bungee would be open for business again – despite the Zambian tourism minister taking the plunge himself to reassure tourists that the 365ft jump is now safe.

Getting a tattoo in Bali

Travellers to Bali might want to refrain from visiting a tattoo parlour. Australian health authorities have said that a tourist contracted HIV from an infected needle on the Indonesian island. The number of new cases of HIV in Bali last year, was up 19 percent from 2010.

Lerwick Hostel
Lerwick Hostel in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, has been voted the best hotel by Hostelling International Customers. Others hostels worth heading to in 2012 include Utano Youth Hostel in Kyoto (most comfortable), Baan Dinso in Bangkok (most efficient) and Martha’s Vineyard in the US (most friendly).

Strictly come… cruising

Not content with its makeup, fitness DVDs and clothing spin off ventures, Strictly Come Dancing – the BBC reality TV show – is taking to the ocean. The BBC has announced a deal with a tour operator to launch an array of dance themed cruise holidays. Members of the public will be able to attend ‘master classes’ run by Strictly’s professional dancers and meet the judges while cruising to their destination du jour. The cruises are scheduled to start later this year.

Taking a trip to the Titanic
2012 marks a century since Titanic, the unsinkable ship, erm sunk, and travellers with well stocked wallets can now book a trip to see the wreckage. For £41,784, Kensington tours will take you on a submarine trip from Newfoundland to the Titanic’s remains.

Burma
Burma is back on the radar. The National League for Democracy has lifted its recommended tourism boycott of the country, prompting operators to re-enter for the first time in 16 years.

New York

Over 50 million people headed to the Big Apple in 2011, representing a– a rise of 1.5 million on 2010. The figures cement New York’s status as the most popular holiday destination in America. For the low-down on what to see and do in New York, check out our travel feature http://www.cd-traveller.com/2010/04/08/new_new_york/

Going to the Galapagos
From Feb 1 there will be new rules and regulations in regard to cruise routes and frequencies to and around the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. The new Galapagos National Park regulations will allow guests of onsite tour operators to stay a maximum of four nights and five days per ship. The new regulations are part of Ecuador’s conscious tourism initiative.

The curb on credit card charges

Good news for travellers: Airlines et al have been ticked off for the silly surcharges that they impose on those of us paying by credit card.  And rightly so: we are not charged extra for using a credit card in a restaurant so why should we be charged more when paying for plane fare on our credit cards? Of course, the worry is that now that the credit card surcharge ruse has been rumbled, companies will simply try and find another way to make the same money. Nonetheless, coming as it does at a time when our purse strings are suffering, the revelation that credit card fees will be revoked in 2012 is a cause for celebration…

NOT

Egypt
The recent unrest in Egypt has prompted the Foreign Office to advise UK travellers to avoid areas in Cairo such as the Egyptian Museum and Downtown. For the latest, see www.fco.gov. UK

The Nazca Lines
The Nazca Lines site in Southern Peru has been placed on the World Monuments Fund’s (WMF) 2012 Global Watch list of endangered heritage sites. Other sites listed as under threat include Mumbai’s Royal Opera House and the fishing villages of Halong Bay in Vietnam

Travelling by train

Rail fares are set to soar this year. The Association of Train Operating Companies has said that overall fares would go up by an average of 5.9 per cent altho9ugh in West Yorkshire, the increase will average eight per cent. Ouch! Commuters facing season tickets costing more than £4,000 for the first time include Hastings, Eastbourne and Bedford.

There are three main reasons for changing ports of call – official advice, weather conditions, and unforeseen circumstances.

The Foreign Office (www.fco.gov.uk) offers advice to all British travellers on going anywhere in the world. For instance, the latest bulletin on travelling to Libya is:

“Since March 3, we have advised against all travel to Libya. However in the light of the improving security situation on the ground the FCO has decided to change our Travel Advice to advise against all but essential travel to Zuwara, Az Zawiya, Tripoli, al Khums, Zlitan and Misrata, and the coastal towns from Ras Lanuf to the Egyptian Border, including Benghazi.  We still advise against all travel to all other areas of Libya.

Any British national thinking of travelling to Libya should take care and check our Travel Advice regularly. It is also important to note that the British Embassy in Tripoli is only able to provide limited consular assistance at present, but we do plan to deploy additional staff when the situation allows”.

All the cruise line head offices are in constant communication with all the relevant Foreign Offices, embassies and consulates, and will advise their captains accordingly. This advice takes into account local conditions such as general strikes (in the case of Athens, recently, when Arcadia changed her plans to go there), and civil unrest (when locals were protesting in Alexandria in Egypt during a trial in October, and ship excursions were curtailed)

Changes due to weather conditions usually mean that the sea is too rough for the captain to either enter the port in the first place, or to leave it once safely berthed. He has to take into account not only any damage to an extremely expensive vessel, but more importantly, in cruise company minds, the safety of the passengers. No-one wants to have a Medical Department full of people with broken bones due to the ship tossing, turning and lurching while trying to keep to the prescribed course. Again, this is unfortunate when passengers have banked their hopes in reaching a certain port, but overall passenger safety and comfort overrides the hopes of a few.

Unforeseen circumstances are the very rare events that no one wants to even consider! Severe illness on board, unrepairable damage, etc.

What happens when a ship itinerary is changed? In almost every case, the captain will change course for an alternative port. The cruise line staff will be rushing round negotiating new berthing arrangements, calculating lost revenues and increased fuel costs, organising new excursions, and refunding pre-booked excursion payments onto passenger accounts while the passengers stroll round on board discussing the effect on their holiday. Devastating in the case of the Australian honeymooners desperate to see Florence, annoying in the case of wine buffs wanting to buy port in Oporto, but just interesting in the case of the majority of passengers who get to see somewhere quite unexpected! (Nafplion instead of Athens, Cadiz instead of Oporto on our most recent trip.)

It is always a possibility that you might visit an unexpected port. But your cruise company will usually be sympathetic to your comments. It’s just that sometimes it’s out of their hands.

HOT

Sleeping to Scotland

Britain’s first every budget sleeper bus is now running from London to Glasgow, with fares starting from a bargainous £1! Even better? The Stagecoach vehicles are super swish: customers get their own berth, complete with reading light, curtains, a duvet , blanket and pillow plus an overnight pack with toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask and a bottle of water. One word: result!

Skiing
Word has reached CD-Traveller towers, that thousands of skiing holidays are being discounted heavily. Why? One reason is that many schools are returning as early as January 3, preventing families from enjoying a decent amount of time on the slopes, after Christmas has come and gone. Then there’s the fact that Christmas and New Year both land on a weekend this year. But for those who don’t mind ringing in 2012 up in the air, there are some amazing discounts to be had.

Ryanair

Chief executive, Michael O’Leary, plans to make the budget airline one of the biggest airlines in the world: new routes are planned for Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Scandinavia. Subsequently Ryanair should see passenger numbers soar to 120 million in the next decade.

Poland and Ukraine
To date neither Poland or Ukraine have featured high on the ‘hit list’ of British travellers, but 2012 should change that. The two nations will jointly host Euro 2012 and both football mad England and the Republic of Ireland, have qualified for the tournament. The draw for the finals of Europe’s biggest football tournament took place at 5pm last Friday.

Putting passengers first
A new bill promising to put passengers’ needs first, has been published by the Government. If the legislation – put forward by Britain’s transport secretary Justine Greening is approved, Britain’s aviation regulator will be given the ability to fine airports for poor performance.

NOT

Vanity
A quarter of women under 30 have admitted that it takes between five and 10 attempts to achieve, what they consider a ‘passable’ passport picture.  Please! It’s a passport picture – not a Vogue cover!

Cairo

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is warning Britons to avoid certain areas of downtown Cairo, following fresh clashes between protesters and the Military. “We strongly advise that British nationals stay away from Tahrir Square, including the Egyptian Museum and the Downtown area of Cairo including Maspero and the Interior Ministry. British nationals should avoid all crowds and demonstrations,” urges the FCO.

Fog delaying flights
A thick blanket of fog caused flights to be cancelled at Heathrow Airport at the end of last month. Manchester, Glasgow, Brussels, Stockholm, Cologne, Nice and Amsterdam were among the destinations affected. Still, we’d happily put up with the fog, if it means avoiding a freezing winter.

Skiing in Europe

Yes, I know we urged you to take to the slopes in the ‘What’s hot’ section above, but book carefully: many European ski resorts remain stubbornly green, with no snow on the horizon. For sure fire snow in Europe, you need to book resorts with high-altitude ski areas. Alternatively head to North America: Whistler and Vail have both experienced an excellent start to the season.

I get that Brits aren’t exactly going to be rushing to book a break in the likes of Egypt, Tunisia or Turkey given the uncertainty over safety as a result of the Arab Spring. However I am surprised that Spain and France – two countries that aren’t exactly great value right now – look set to woo British tourists.

On a personal note, with the greatest respect to Spain and France, I am unlikely to be setting foot in either country next year. For me, travel is about new experiences and I would rather holiday somewhere I haven’t been before. But that’s me: I know plenty of people – many of my friends and family  included – who would look forward to returning the same place they have been to every year since they were five.

How about you? Will be you opting for the familiar or the far flung next year? Or will you be making the most of Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics and holidaying at home?

Seven million tourists visited Tunisia in 2010. By contrast only three and half million have visited the country so far, this year. It’s nothing short of a disaster for Tunisia, given that tourism is a major source of income for Tunisia, accounting for 6.5 per cent of its gross domestic product. Houas said that it employs one in five Tunisians, directly and indirectly.
Houas used the conference to urge risky shy tourists to return next year, pointing out that Tunisia is nowhere near as dangerous a destination as somewhere such as South Africa. He emphasised that there wasn’t even a crisis – it was a revolution and one that went smoothly when compared to the conflicts that subsequently erupted in the likes of Libya, Syria and Yemen.

Mr Mehdi Houas

Clearly keen to stress that, contrary to public opinion, Tunisia is safe, Mr Houas announced that he will invite the new Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to visit. For while the country has long been known for its sea, sand and sun, Tunisia is now looking to offer
more than merely beach holiday packages: expect to see eco tours and an emphasis on Tunisia’s 3,000 years of history and heritage on the 2012 holiday agenda

Nonetheless, we can’t help but think that despite Tunisia’s many temptations (guaranteed sunshine, less than a three hour flight away being one of the main draws), Houas and his colleagues have their work cut out. The Foreign Office no longer advises
avoiding all but essential travel to Tunisia but it’s hardly advocating travel either, warning tourists of the threats of terrorism, kidnapping, I could go on… and on…. and on….

Is this information useful? Yes. However it’s also over cautious. The advisories have to, for want of a better word, protect their asses! We’re not saying to ignore alerts but don’t let them deter you from travelling to Tunisia and other ‘badlands’ either. There is and will always be anelement of danger involved in travel - whether you’re crossing continents or, as in the case of the M5 car crash that killed seven and injured 51, making your way up the motorway on home soil.

The Dead Sea is among the top 10 finalists, along with the Grand Canyon (USA), the Great Barrier Reef (Australia), Halong Bay (Vietnam), Jeita Grotto (Lebanon), Jeju Island (Korea), Komodo Island (Indonesia), Puerto Princess Underground River (the Philippines), Sundarbans (Bangladesh and India) and Mount Vesuvius (Italy).

Misezhnikov and his fellow ministers are desperate to win because they believe that victory would bring a significant boost in visitors, not only to the Dead Sea but to Israel as a whole. And the country needs tourists for, while the Jewish state maybe relatively safe, it is suffering a decline in visitors in the wake of the region’s Arab Spring.

Voting closes this Friday – 11/11/11

A survey of almost 1500 adults by online independent travel agent Sunshine.co.uk, revealed that 89 percent professed to want to see the Pyramids, followed by the Northern Lights and the Taj Mahal. The Niagara Falls, Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef and Venetian Canals claimed spots four to nine while rather bizarrely, Big Ben, came tenth!

I get that the Grand Canyon, Great Barrier Reef et al are inspirational trips but Big Ben, while a landmark, is surely do-able for most Brits, being easily reached by car or train?! We Brits are known around the world for our eccentricity and, as the results of this survey show, for good reason!

The rise and rise in the popularity of cruising continues and ABTA estimates that it is up by 5% in just those cruising from the UK. Over all, ABTA says quoting from GfK-Ascent MI’s regular research, short haul holiday bookings are up 9% this year over last year.
Why?
There could be any number of factors. People who had staycations last year but have opted for an overseas break this year. Although the pound isn’t doing well against many currencies, the euro hasn’t done well either in the last year or so. That helps as it is in the euro zone where the upturn is being seen. ABTA also says that competitive pricing from hoteliers has helped as has the increase in all-inclusive holidays.

Provienciales
The tiny island of Provienciales in the Turks and Caicos has been voted the best beach destination in the world by Trip Advisor. “White-sand beaches, calm clear water and a bountiful barrier reef make the Turks and Caicos island of Providenciales a hot spot for families, snorkellers and divers,” says the free travel guide and research website. “Some call rock-free Grace Bay Beach the best in the world. For an unusual experience, divers can walk along the ocean floor at Smith’s Reef, where underwater signs describe the reef’s ecosystem”. Additional destinations include Iguana Island (home of endangered rock iguanas), the country’s only golf course, art galleries and a casino.

Tokyo
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is no longer advising against all but essential travel to Tokyo. The decision will be a welcome one for Japan; the ‘land of the rising sun’ has so far posted the economic price tag for its series of disasters at £122billion.

Carry on camping

In this age of austerity, camping has never been more popular: the Office of National Statistics reports that the number of UK camping trips rose by 20 per cent last year to 5.43 million. Robert Louden, director general of the Camping and Caravanning Club, isn’t surprised: “Holidaying in Britain is more attractive than ever, with camping in particular allowing families to drop their stressful day-to-day routine and spend some quality time together.”

Spain
If you don’t fancy the idea of holidaying at home, but don’t want to spend a small fortune either, seek out the Spanish Costas which have been voted the most affordable destination in Europe according to the poll by Post Office Travel Money. But it might be a destination only for those with strong stomachs (see below)….

NOT
David Cameron’s decision to fly Ryan air

Last month the PM and his wife flew from Stansted to Spain (to celebrate Samantha’s 40th) with Ryanair. You might think CD Traveller would be commending the Camerons for ‘keeping it real’ but you’d be wrong. Does anyone really think any more of Dave for flying with the low cost airline? He’s the prime minister for goodness sake and with his salary of £120k a year, could have and should have flown with BA. We’re sure Samantha, on the occasion of her 40th birthday, was tickled pink with Dave’s latest ‘man of the people’ act.

Sleeping pilots

A staggering one in five pilots have admitted to falling asleep while on duty in the cockpit! The study, by easyjet, of 492 pilots showed that one in five felt fatigued at least once a week while almost 50 per cent of those surveyed said they were suffering from significant fatigue. Eeek.
Stomachs in Spain
Many holidaymakers expect to fall ill in ‘exotic’ destinations like India and Egypt. Surprisingly, however, the destination where most Brits experience an upset stomach is in fact Spain. The poll, conducted by the company behind Bimuno Travelaid, revealed that approximately one third of Britons had experienced an upset tummy in Spain. Greece came a close second while France took third spot.

Stealing hotel towels

Seen the episode of Friends where Ross (David Schwimmer) shoves toiletries and towels into his suitcase before checking out of his hotel room in a bid to get value for money? Anyone thinking of following in his footsteps should think again. Hotels in the States are deploying new technology (washable radio-frequency tags are stitched into towels and trigger an alarm if removed from the premises) to catch towel thieves and word is that the anti theft system could soon be arriving in the UK.