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
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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.
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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 Tourism will only be successful if outdated rhetoric handed down from one tourism minister to the next is replaced by government action on policies and desperately needed funding.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.
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...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.
]]>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:
]]>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
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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
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You may remember La Machine's The Sultan's Elephant, which made a huge splash when it visited London in 2006.
Their 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.)
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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.)
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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...
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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.
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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.
]]> During the trip, the apprentices visited Prue Leith's Chefs Academy, near Pretoria.
These experiences will be turned into this week's menu at a series of special invitation-only events at Hoxton Apprentice.
The project has been created to tie in with the 'My South African Feast' food theme which is central to this year's SA Tourism marketing campaign, which TW is supporting on a dedicated microsite.
The project enables children from disadvantaged backgrounds to develop their skills and experience new cultures and ways of doing things - an interesting approach to destination marketing especially considering the mother of all destination marketing events - World Travel Market - is just around the corner.
Only time will tell if the project captures the imagination of the UK travelling market but South African Tourism is to be applauded for an innovative
Martin Couzins, managing editor
]]>Can't vouch for their accuracy, but here they are. Will add more if I find any.
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.
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