The Tourist Authority of Thailand has launched a marketing campaign called Beautiful Thailand to attract more visitors to the country. But the older promotion they used, Amazing Thailand, is more apt. Why?

The CD-Traveller team share their top 2011 travel experiences and look at the top spots for 2012

Although many parts of Thailand have been affected by floods, they are expected to recede in a few weeks, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) team have welcomed guests at this week’s World Travel Market with smiles and enthusiasm, despite the damage that the floods are causing back home.

CD-Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month it’s good news for Greenwich and Glasgow but Gulf Air may want to rethink their plans to introduce in-flight phone and internet access

So Colonel Gaddafi has gone but, despite the death of the desperate despot, the future isn’t especially rosy for Libya. Gaddafi might have gone to his grave but the nation faces a tough battle to win back holidaymakers – like much of the Middle East

CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month, Burma and British Airways’ two new initiatives get the thumbs up but the futureisn’t quite so rosy for Trip Advisor and the Travel Bookshop

CD Traveller reader, Olivia Keith, takes us on a tour of four of her favourite destinations

Mirjam Stibbe started Barcelona-Enabled in 2010. In Spain like many countries, she says, there are initiatives that promote accessible travel. What she noticed was there was no bridge between travellers and the services Barcelona offered. Suppliers were the same, the needs of disabled visitors was overlooked.

Heading to Dubai for the kingdom of bling’s shopping festival? Make sure you hit the malls by all means but be sure to get yourself to Global Village, where you can shop and eat your way around the world…

The online travel agency, On the Beach, has conducted a survey amongst its website users (so they aren’t representative of the population as a whole or even just of online users) and has come up with some figures that should worry the British domestic travel industry. 96% of all responders said that they will spend their summer holidays abroad in 2011 and the two most frequently given reasons were the weather and that British hotels were too expensive. 70% said that a holiday in the UK was more expensive than going abroad.

It’s never too early to start planning your next holiday. CD Traveller lets you in on where to have a warm, white Christmas

The last 12 months or so have not been kind to Thai tourism. Visitors have been deterred from going there because of the deeply held views of supporters of the government and the trenchant views of the opposition. Disruption has occurred in Bangkok and some other places and there have been outbreaks of violence. The British Foreign Office recommended that visitors stay away and as that can affect some insurance policies, some will have followed that advice. Although the stand-off still exists between government and opposition, things have been quieter. Throughout this year, very few tourists have been affected even where they fly in to Bangkok.

Whether you’re staycationing or vacationing, CD Traveller tells you what’s hot in the travel world

UPDATE: 14 MAY
The headline stays the same but the advice has changed. Last night the FO advised against all travel to Bangkok in view of the increased tensions and the decision by the Thai government to remove the protestors. The British Embassy will be closed on 14 May and it’s reopening will be reviewed daily.

Our Foreign Office (FO) has modified the overall advice it gave to us not to travel to Thailand. There are still some parts that it is suggested we don’t visit but these don’t apply, in the main, to the main tourist areas. The Thai government has been at pains throughout recent weeks of demonstrations in the capital, Bangkok, to say all is fine and tourists would be unaffected.
Should we believe them?

A third of the year has gone and, as we get ready for the huge number of events being celebrated over this long week end, it is worth pausing to look at what seems to be happening to the efforts to attract us to visit destinations so far.
The impact of the Icelandic volcanic eruption is still to be felt. Will we travel abroad less because of concerns this may happen again? (I know people who are still in China some twelve days after the flight ban was lifted.) Will we view the disruption as one of those events that happen only once a lifetime and forget it as quickly as it began or will we holiday at home more? Research from TNS Research International suggests that the majority of us won’t let it affect our travel plans

Can’t afford a trip to Thailand to celebrate Songkran? Celebrity chef, Gordon Ramsay, shares a few of his favourite Thai recipes to help spirit CD Traveller readers to the ‘Land of Smiles’

In celebration of Thai New Year, CD Traveller has teamed up with TV chef Gordon Ramsay to bring you some mouth-watering meals from the east. Today the notoriously hot headed chef shares his recipe for Chicken in spicy coconut broth, followed by a Mango, lime and coconut rice pudding

This year, Thai New Year – Songkran – falls between April 13 and 15. Water is at the heart of this three day festival: it symbolises starting the New Year with a clean slate as well as helping Thai people to beat the stifling April heat.
Can’t afford to take a trip to Thailand for a water dousing? Why not celebrate the Thai New Year with a culinary feast of flavoursome Thai dishes courtesy of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. Over the next three days we’ll be running a few of Gordon’s favourite Thai recipes: prepare to treat your taste buds!

Most country destinations begin a new year with a forecast or wish about how their tourism industry will do. South East Asia has been a growth area for long distance holidaymakers from the UK. The combination of climate, different cultures, currencies that haven’t been altered much against sterling, wildife and some inexpensive fares on particular routes have helped those countries tap into British holidaymakers.
One country forecasting tremendous growth is Sri Lanka…

Just before Christmas, we mentioned a few ideas that some of the experts thought would flourish in 2010. Today we have the thoughts of another four groups on what they think, ABTA, IPK, STA Travel and the Intercontinental Hotels chain. You might remember that Mintel thought it would be another year of the staycation with days out and weekend breaks becoming more prominent. And Euromonitor forecast the rise of pop up hotels which could be assembled (and taken down) quickly and which would offer inexpensive accommodation.
ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) says that Sri Lanka, Mexico and Thailand will see more tourists from the UK than they had in 2009.

In the travel industry there are only two seasons, summer and winter. Summer ends at the end of October. No figures have come out yet showing what we did this summer but there are some hints.

We didn’t go abroad as much as we did the year before. Maybe the numbers dropped by between 15 and 20%. Europe and North America would have been the worst hit since their currencies were strong and there was less discounting on hotel prices. Unlike Turkey where flexibility and keen pricing will have prompted many more of us to go there

By now, the Tourism Authority of Thailand will be a couple of weeks into its reality show style competition to raise awareness of Thailand as a tourist destination.
They are seeking five couples who will then travel around five destinations, Bangkok, Phuket, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Koh Samui all expenses paid, one couple to each of [...]

In the last few days a number of countries have issued numbers on how tourism is performing. All four, Greece, Indonesia, Thailand and the United States have all shown a declineIn Greece tourism spending has dropped by nearly 18% for the first five months of the year compared to last year but in May alone [...]

All the schools have broken up now. My local rail carpark is only about half full and the 7.30am traffic jam no longer exists. That means that some of you have already started your holidays.So are you holidaying in this country, having a staycation or are you going abroad after all? We are going to [...]