So we're back from Advantage's event in the Catalonian coastal town. I can assure you it was all this >>
And very little of this >>
And here's the proof. Enjoy.
Let me know what you think of the coverage in the comments section or on email.
Kev has posted this on the Travolution blog. The new site is due to go live very soon . . .
Martin Couzins, managing editor
This weekend some of the TW team is in Sitges, Spain, to cover the Advantage conference.
Nathan will be live blogging here, our publishing director Simon Ferguson will be delivering a keynote speech on the results of a survey we have carried out with Advantage (here is a teaser story), I will be chairing a session on cruise and Kevin May (Mr Travolution) will be running a session on booking online.
There should be lots of interesting news and reaction from this large independent agent consortium.
We will be pulling all the content together on this Advanatge conference page.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
According to a report in today's Metro, the island is, and I quote, "the teenage punch-up capital of the world".
Martin Couzins, managing editor
Here's Thomson and First Choice's joint TV ad, designed to reassure travel consumers - and make the case for booking with a big, stable travel company in unsettled times.
It debuted during long-running comedy police show The Bill last night.
Reassured? You know where the comments section is...
Update, May 21 2009: The pop-up this post refers to no longer appears on the ESTA site.
Travel Weekly reports today that the rollout of ESTA, the US's Electronic Travel Authorisation system, may be put back if too few travellers know about it or understand it.
Here's a screengrab of what currently happens when you arrive on the ESTA website. Click the image to enlarge and read what is, by my estimation, between 100 and 150 words of disclaimer...
Public understanding here we come?
To be fair, there's a helpful ESTA page on Visit USA's UK site.
But you'll still be faced with this when you (as traveller or travel agent) go to use the system.
Tim Leffel points to a very-few-holds-barred assault on modern tourism in the Washington Post. A flavour:
Global tourism is ... nothing short of a planet-threatening plague. It's polluting land and sea, destroying wildlife and natural habitat and depleting energy and natural resources. Look-alike resorts and spas are replacing and undermining local culture...
But writer Elizabeth Becker does have some kind words, pointing approvingly to the National Trust's tourist rentals and 'community-based tourism' in Namibia.
Our writer Ian Taylor (who also blogs) visited a community tourism project in Thailand earlier this year, and came away impressed.
Anyway, Leffel widens Becker's piece into an indictment of travel journalism:
When is the last time you saw a destination exposed for the bad experience it really is in a major travel magazine? What's the ratio of positive cruising stories to the ones that examine the destruction caused by the industry and its passengers?
Some TW staff took part in a related discussion on the ethics of travel writing over on Adam Tinworth's One Man And His Blog recently (Adam is head of blogging at our publisher RBI).
Plenty to chew on here...
TW's Ed Robertson is quoted in today's Media Guardian piece on how travel journalists covered the XL Leisure Group failure. An interesting piece which highlights some of the difficulties reporting on this type of story.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
As if anyone needed to be told. It was the one of the wettest summers on record.
And more of us were here to enjoy it - bad news for those got wet, good news for the likes of Bourne Leisure who sold us the holiday.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
Weloveso.com is a nice public feedback idea from Hotel So, picked up by Guillaime at Hotel Blogs...
Seeing people's thoughts on page does give a sense of authenticity, which is something it has over TripAdvisor.
What it doesn't have over TripAdvisor, obviously, is that the hotel is in charge of what goes up - and maybe it's just an A1 hotel, but you'll struggle to find any negative comments here.
(Want more on hotels? Try Hotel Girl, by Travel Weekly's Chloe Berman.)
Had an interesting time yesterday evening. I attended the Kuoni global brand launch at a tented version of the 1851 Crystal Palace, situated next to the Serpetine Gallery in London's Kensington Gardens.
The evening was the most un-travel like travel event I have attended.
The reason: Kuoni is trying something far more esoteric than just a rebrand (although it does have a new logo and product). In its own words, it is 'introducing the the new culture of travelling . . . Kuoni believes that with a deeper understanding of contemporary culture, a travel organisation at the premium level can truly understand what the most discerning travellers are looking for.'
According to a study conducted by multilingual search engine optimisation (SEO) company Oban Multilingual more and more people around the world are booking their travel tickets online...You heard it here first, trendspotters.
Here's one for the amateur travel photographer (all of us, then).
Pop this tripod attachment on a bottle, attach your digital camera and take rock-steady photos every time.
Unless it, er, overbalances. Which on reflection seems quite likely. Worth a punt for €10 though. Thanks to Plurk user herebejames for the catch...
According to a survey by online travel agency e-bookers, these are the big holiday stress factors.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
This is yours truly wearing a sheep mask from a travel company. The mask is actually an invitation to an event at which said travel company will 'unmask' its new look.
So, what type of company would send such an invite?
UPDATE: Here is the press release to expalin.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
It seems counterintuitive in the current economic conditions, but Bilga Air has announced a new service between Birmingham and Amritsar in Northern India starting 9 October.
Air India is suspending its Birmingham-India route in October and Bilga Air is filling the gap.
UK Charter Airline, Monarch, will operate the direct flights for Bilga Air, departing from Birmingham up to twice a week.
So with a Monarch involvement it look as if this is a venture that has legs.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
TW's sister publication Personnel Today is running a live blog/chat from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development conference in Harrogate.
The session is entitled 'Surviving and Thriving through Turbulence' and should provide the HR professional's perspective on people management in tough economic times.
Register and you can get involved in the session.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
A colleague, Will Mann on RBI sister website contractjournal.com, was at Saturday's West Ham versus West Bromwich Albion match.
Will reports that the West Ham fans covered the XL logo on their shirts with pieces of paper adorned with the likes of 'Ryaniar' and 'easyJet'.
The XL logo was covered on players' shirts.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
Monday 8 September: Futura Airways files for bankruptcy protection
Tuesday 9 September: Corfu carbon monoxide trial to go ahead after appeal fails
Wednesday 10 September: Seguro Travel ceases trading
Thursday 11 September: Channel tunnel fire halts Eurostar services
Friday 12 September: XL Leisure Group goes into administration
And let's not forget hurricane Ike.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
TW has created an information page which will list updates on the XL Leisure Group failure.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
TW editor-in-chief Penny Wilson reflects on her weekend ahead . .
I have a lot of sympathy with all those people stuck either side of the Channel Tunnel last night and today.
I'm one of them, but unlike those suffering discomfort at St Pancras with little budget to go elsewhere, at least I have the comfort of my office in London to sulk in.
I've just called one of my best friends in Brussels to say I'm just not going to make her 50th birthday bash over there this weekend. My partner and I were due to get on Eurostar this afternoon. Now I'm all dressed up with no place to go!
Here is response and advice from the Association of Tour Operators.
It reads . . .
XL Holidays, Britain's third-largest tour operator, last night went into administration, grounding 21 planes and causing chaos for 85,000 people who are currently on holiday in addition to the 200,000 who were due to travel on its flights or via its collection of disparately-named holiday companies (Kosmar, Freedom Holidays, The Really Great Holiday Company, etc., etc.).
Says Derek Moore, Chairman of the Association of Independent Tour Operators (AITO): "We have long warned of the likely implications of the Government allowing a two-tier industry to exist, and here we have a prime example of what happens when things go wrong.
Consumers who booked holidays through ATOL-protected tour operators, e.g. with AITO members, will be helped by their tour operator to find new flights - not easy when 21 planes each carrying 170 people on several flights a day have been removed from the flight market overnight. Additionally, the tour operator will cover all extra costs involved, which can be considerable.
ABTA has published advice to consumers. Here it is . . .
ABTA has been informed, and can confirm that the XL Leisure Group has ceased trading today, 12 September 2008.
ADVICE TO PASSENGERS
Passengers yet to travel:
All future XLUK tour operator holidays are now cancelled and people with advance holiday bookings will not be able to travel. Outbound customers are advised not to go to their departure airport. Customers who booked with tour operators will be able to claim a full refund from ATOL. Information on how to claim is available on the CAA website www.atol.org.uk.
XL Leisure Group, the UK's thrird largest package holiday group has gone into administration.
All its flights have been cancelled and aircraft grounded.
The BBC reports the Civil Aviation Authority as saying 85,000 people could be stranded abroad and 200,000 have made advance bookings with the company.
The XL group runs an airline and owns several travel companies, including Travel City Direct, Medlife Hotels Limited, The Really Great Holiday Company, Freedom Flights and Kosmar Holidays.
A statement on the XL website says the companies ceased trading 'as a result of volatile fuel prices, the economic downturn, and were unable to obtain further funding'.
Customers who booked through XL ATOL bonded tour operators will receive refunds. These companies are:
Customers booked with XL Airways Through XL.com or XL Call Centres will only be able to claim a refund if they booked using a credit card.
XL has issued the following help numbers:
CAA helpline: +44 (0) 2891 856 547.
Administrator helpline: From the UK - 0800 068 8991, from Abroad - + 44 208 242 4783
Martin Couzins, managing editor
Had a chat with an executive at a large airline last night and was given this top tip: the best day to get an upgrade is a Tuesday. I have yet to try it out . . .
Martin Couzins, managing editor
TW has just had this statement in from the Caribbean Tourism Organisation regarding the hurricanes currently hitting the area.
Couple of useful sites mentioned:
And here is the statement . . .
Julia Hendry, director of marketing for CTO, UK and Europe said, "Our first priority is the safety and security of our people and our visitors, but let me reassure travellers that the Caribbean is a covers a vast geographical area and what happens in one area does not affect all 32 islands and destinations in the region.
This is the press release sent out by the Triton board today. It is the basis of the TW story, TTG story and Travelmole story.
John McEwan has responded to the release.
I'll be posting more of analysis of the story shortly.
Here is the press release:
Triton has today removed John McEwan from the chair of the consortium with immediate effect.
In addition, Advantage Travel Centres has been given one month's notice to leave Triton. After that time, Advantage agents will not have access to the exclusive deals available to Triton members.
The move follows the decision by McEwan to serve notice that Advantage will leave Triton at the end of the year.
We've been reporting the news of John McEwan's departure as chairman of travel agent superconsortium Triton.
Following the story across the travel trade media you would be forgiven for thinking this was about personalities in charge of large travel agent consortia. Let's face it, it is (and we are partly to blame, I admit).
At TW Towers we received a press release telling us that McEwan had been asked to leave his role of chief executive at Triton.
This press release has just landed from the Association of Independent Tour Operators.
Aim: Blatant attempt to big up independent tour operators and their agents on the back of the launch of a particle accelerator.
Does it work? Well, it made me laugh but will it get punters booking holidays? I think not. That said, if the accelerator does create a black hole into which we all fall, then thanks AITO for providing me a laugh on my last working day. Here is the press release . . .
CERN's particle accelerator gizmo starts up tomorrow and if you believe the doomsday prophets, we won't be around to take any holidays from Thursday onwards!
As if we haven't enough to worry about with a miserable economic outlook and shocking weather, European boffins are about to fire up their new plaything tomorrow and possibly have the Earth sucked into a black hole.
We are currently looking into the English language content that is produced in destinations to see a) what type of content is produced and b) whether it would be useful for our readers.
A repository of RSS feeds from in-destination news sources could be very useful - especially if added to maps etc.
Am only at the start of this piece of work and have come across worldnewspapers.com, which is a directory of links to news sources from around the world.
It is divided into lists of sources based on country so is easy to navigate. It aslo has some interesting links.
I took a look at what is being said about hurricanes in the Caribbean and came across the reflections of Fidel Castro published by the official Cuban News Agency.
There is also some useful info at Dominican Republic One, which has a lot of content in forums.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
One of our colleagues on Gazetteers.com - Elaine Clark - recently flew to Portugal.
But this was no ordinary flight. Elaine turned up at Gatwick south terminal to find hers was a CelebAir flight.
Her account appears on celebsonholiday.com.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
This happens all the time but is a touch more galling this time because TW reporter Edward Robertson actually sent a briefing note to national newspapers about the story he had written.
Ed's analysis on the cuts in capacity in the holiday market has been repackaged as an 'exclusive' story in the Daily Mirror. Quite like the headline they use . . . but a credit would have been nice.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
Well it does in a forthcoming episode of Coronation Street, according to the Daily Mirror.
Barmaid Becky Grainger goes on the rampage after a love tiff with Jason Grimshaw. She ends up smashing the window of the agency that sold him the flight to see his ex-wife.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
La Machine's giant spider ('La Princesse') has 'woken up' after being removed from Liverpool Lime Street station...
Liverpool Daily Post has some more video and a live blog; the BBC has a timetable and map of the spider's five-day visit.
Following up on Margaret Hodge's comments on UK tourism, one UK operator, Superbreak, told TW such comments aren't particularly useful.
And over at TW's sister brand, Caterer and Hotel Keeper, Martin Couchman, deputy chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, hits back at her criticism of hotels.
And Guy Parsons, UK managing director at budget hotel chain Travelodge, is quoted as saying . . .
Tourism must be seen as a leading contributor to UK plc but Margaret Hodge seems intent on damaging the industry's reputation. Tourism will only be successful if outdated rhetoric handed down from one tourism minister to the next is replaced by government action on policies and desperately needed funding.
There are also 86 comments on the Daily Mail's story.
NB Hodge has yet to say anything on her DCMS diary. Although I did note the last post she wrote was about the things she likes in the UK.
I've posted a couple of comments in this discussion on the ethics of travel journalism on One Man and his Blog...
...and am skimming through this detailed feature on developments in in-flight entertainment on Travel Weekly's stablemate Flight Global.
IFE's not just important because it's fun - most carriers are eager to carry less weight (for what we'll call 'a mix' of commercial and environmental reasons) and investing in it allows them to ditch in-flight magazines without too many bored passengers crying foul.
There was a related discussion on Travel Rants after Emirates announced it was to scrap its magazine.
Busy day yesterday. Here's what happened...
The TTA-Worldchoice merger got shareholder support
Consumers: The merger would create a huge travel agent consortium.
In a consortium, member travel agents are technically independent but benefit from the spending and buying power of a large organisation - so theoretically you may see more products and better technology on the ground.
The other big consortiums are Advantage and Global Travel Group (with Worldchoice they form the superconsortium Triton).
Andrew Laurie announced he is to quit
Consumers: Won't affect you. Laurie is quitting Stella Travel Services UK, which owns a number of UK travel businesses.
Oasis of the Seas went on sale
Consumers: For existing cruise fans, you can now book what will be the biggest cruise ship in the world.
Non-cruise fans should look at the sheer volume now going into this market - cruiselines need to fill these ships, and that means winning over new passengers.
Heavy marketing is a certainty, and discounting a possibility - so you might yet find yourself swayed...
Other good stuff from the issue:
Our misnister of tourism - amongst other things - Margaret Hodge has provided a critique of the domestic holiday maket. Fair or unreasonable?
Quite strange, if you ask me, as she is responsible for improving the UK tourism industry. I feel for Visit Britain who are doing a lot to improve things. Shame they can't respond to the minister . . .
Martin Couzins, managing editor
TW's student journalist Tiffany Evans, gives feedback on her visit to Royal Caribbean International's call centre in Addlestone, Surrey, on the day Oasis of the Seas tickets went on sale (here's our video from the day).
Tiffany writes . . .
Royal Caribbean started its general sale of Oasis of the Seas today and I went along to see if the hype around the ship, really had grabbed the public's attention.
I was not disappointed, as soon as we entered the office the phones started to ring and the bookings began.
There was a general buzz about the office, which incidentally has a cruise liner style as it was created by one of their ships designers.
The company decorated the desk areas with balloons and organised an 'oasis' chill out area, with treats and the juice drink oasis for the staff.
Associate vice-president and general manager, Jo Rzymowska (pictured), was wearing an apron with 'Domestic Goddess' written across the front, and was wandering around the desks with a trolley offering staff snacks as they worked.
The senior management including the Vice president and managing director of Royal Caribbean International, UK and Ireland, Robin Shaw were mucking in and answering calls which they found to be trickier than they first thought.
Martin Couzins, managing editor
A giant spider on a tower block has heralded the arrival of art-engingeering-storytelling collective La Machine in Liverpool - there's some video on the Liverpool Daily Post site.
You may remember La Machine's stint in Liverpool - part of the city's year as European Capital of Culture - begins on Friday September 5 and runs until Sunday 7.
Expect to have seen some clips several times more spectacular than this by next week...
(Hat-tip to LDP's Alison Gow for sharing this on Plurk.)
A journalist goes into a solo travel forum, posts something asking for 'advice', and gets a thorough flaming.
Our publisher's head of blogging (and author of One Man and his Blog) Adam Tinworth pointed to this little story on Twitter, saying:
The reaction this journalist received on a forum seems inevitable to me. I'm struggling to articulate why, though. Anyone?
Both I and Joanna Geary left replies (mine; hers) but I think this is an interesting one to throw out to a travel audience.
(Edit - I've changed my original headline, which said 'guy' - the author of Subs' Standard isn't. It was remiss of me not to check. Apologies, and thanks to Joanna for pointing it out.)
I'm just putting the final touches to a redesign for our Celebs on Holiday blog, which aggregates stories about... well, you get the picture.
It doesn't do this, as we were rightly forced to clarify a few months ago.
To my mind the most important addition is a more prominent and colourful widget linking to other TW Group blogs - eventually that'll appear in the same position on all of our blogs.
It's a conscious effort to consolidate, because I don't think it's been clear enough that Cruise Lines, Hotel Girl, Travolution and so on are all part of the same broad editorial team.
Let me know what you think...
Three cheers for little ideas that add lots of value. This is a menu from the Founders Arms - an otherwise ordinary pub opposite the Tate Modern in London.
Running along the bottom is a spot-the-building guide to the terrace's great views of the Thames - even including the peregrine falcons that nest on the Tate Modern's chimney.
It's not particularly sophisticated, it's not particularly stylish... hell, it's not even that original. But it helps visitors enjoy what is arguably the pub's best asset.
Had an interesting meeting with Matt Armstrong at South African Tourism (pictured) who told me all about the tourist board taking over the restaurant Hoxton Apprentice (which provides catering training for disadvantaged children) to provide a week of South African food.
Last week South African Tourism took a group of restaurant chefs and front of house staff from Hoxton Apprentice to South Africa, providing them with an opportunity to experience the food and culture and to allow them to learn to work with traditional South African ingredients.
I just checked lifestreaming service Twitter to see whether anyone on the ground is posting updates - and some seem to be.
Can't vouch for their accuracy, but here they are. Will add more if I find any.
Hurricane Gustav comes in what is traditionally the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season (roughly late August to mid-September).
As this National Hurricane Center map shows, Gustav is only the most severe of a number of threats.
Tropical storm Hanna is over the Bahamas, just east of Cuba. Experts are still unsure where it will head, though the NHC predicts it will travel north, perhaps threatening the east coast of Florida.
Further out in the Atlantic is an area of low pressure with 'high potential for tropical cyclone formation' (the red area); and east of that is a system with 'medium potential' (the orange area).
These may come to nothing, but Cape Verde-type storms can become powerful as they cross the Atlantic. The category-five 2007 storm Hurricane Dean originated around Cape Verde.
For now, all eyes are rightly on the evacuation of New Orleans - but the worst of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season may be yet to come.
More on hurricanes: Back at the beginning of the 2008 season Ian Taylor wrote an analysis on changing extreme weather patterns, and the implications for crisis management in travel and tourism.
Gustav on Twitter: I've posted a list of Twitter users who appear to be covering the storm live from the ground.
