CD-Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month, we’re loving the sound of the Strictly themed cruise and booking breaks in the Big Apple and Burma, while crossing our fingers that the situation improves quickly in Cairo

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

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

Package holidays to Vietnam, one of the fastest growing holiday destinations, may become a reality in the next few years now that Vietnam Airlines is launching a direct service from Gatwick to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Most visitors to Vietnam miss out on Hue in their rush to Ha Noi or Ho Chi Minh but the old imperial capital of Hue (pronounced Hway) with its palaces and pagodas, tombs and temples, cultures and cuisine, repays a visit. Hue resident, Phan Thi True, gives us the low-down on this UNESCO world heritage listed city

CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world

CD Traveller reader, Tom Rumboll, takes us on a tour of his favourite destinations

Nguyen Minh Tuan, The Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa’s marketing & communications manager, tells CD Traveller why he loves Hong Kong, wants to travel to China and Bali and believes that Vietnam is on the up

CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world. This month the future looks red hot for Virgin’s cabin crew but gap years could be on their last leg…

Swap Britain’s chills for beach thrills. Now is the perfect time to head to Nha Trang

Martin Anslow
What do you like to do on holiday?
Diving and trekking
Where did you last travel?
Burma
Do you know where you’re going next?
Maldives
Of all the places you’ve been to, what was your favourite and why?
Vietnam in 1990 – as it was so untouched by mainstream tourism
Which destination do you wish to travel to but haven’t been there [...]

Harriet Norton of the family owned adventure sailing business (www.thepolarfront.com ) which focuses on Arctic ocean trips and expeditions tells us where she likes to holiday.

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.

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

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

Aidan Lawes gives us the low-down on Hanoi, Halong Bay and Sa Pa – the final part of his journey around Vietnam

Aidan Lawes shares his experience of Hué and Hoi An in central Vietnam with CD Traveller

Aidan Lawes shares his experience of the Mekong Delta with CD Traveller

Aidan Lawes ventured to Vietnam and quickly fell under the country’s spell. Read about his oriental odyssey all this week exclusively on the CD Traveller website

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…

Each year, Frommer’s (the people who produce travel guidebooks and magazines) poll their readers to see what the destinations for 2010 would be. Primarily American vote for this so it does tend to reflect where Americans holiday but this year it includes the Scilly Isles. It doesn’t really say why they were voted for but just gives a potted tourism pitch. I’m not complaining but sometimes when surveys like this take place it would be nice to know what appeals to readers.

There are lots of reasons to visit the Scillies; the weather, the sandy beaches, the subtropical plants that grow there and, lets face it, the fact that you don’t have to change currency or speak another language. Frommer’s only warning is to book well ahead because accommodation is limited particulary in May when the gig races take place.

So what are the other selections by Frommer?

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

It seems that the troubles in Sri Lanka are over so it won’t be before long that tourism steps up as well. Here is a country that promotes itself widely at travel trade shows and supports advertising its appeal but the new stories must have contributed to the lack of people going there.