Travel Weekly Blog

This comes from an Institute of Travel and Tourism survey into travel and climate change - it's our lead story today:

• Only 34% think travel has a role to play in combating climate change
• Only 54% think travel businesses are threatened by climate change

The first stat I don't condone but can partly understand: there's always the question of whether the government or industry leaders should take the lead, and many feel travel shoulders a disproportionate amount of blame for environmental problems.

But the second? Nigh-on half the people surveyed don't think travel businesses will be affected?

We'll see. Ian Taylor spoke to World ­Meteorological Organization head Michel Jarraud for an analysis piece on the issue, and here's what he had to say:

Disturbances to the global climate system are everywhere... hurricanes, floods and persistent droughts. [Tourism will face] increased risks: variations in rainfall, wind and temperatures, sea-level rise, reduced snowfall, increased frequency of heatwaves.

Nothing much to worry about, then.

Our former features editor Matthew Hampton emailed me this morning with a horrified response to elements of Andy Cooper's latest column for TW:

I practically spat out my tea when I read Andy Cooper's column. His sole justification for Brits wanting to go on holiday seems to be that we live on a "cold, wet island with no guarantee of good weather."

Therefore it's "not unreasonable to expect our citizens to travel to experience culture, sunshine..."

Sorry Andy, I like a bit of beach time as much as anyone, but sunshine is not a prerequisite for a nation developing valuable cultural attributes.

Perhaps you should spend a bit less time abroad and more inside the British Museum, National Gallery, Tate Galleries.... Failing that a library would suffice; most small towns have one.

When you're done, why not visit some domestic attractions and see whether they think 'tourism deficit' is completely meaningless outside Westminster.

Britain is a great country to visit and it's about time the industry woke up to that fact.

Yikes. Any differences of opinion out there? I see what Matt's getting at, but I do think Andy's wider points about the economic importance of outbound tourism stand.

We reported recently on the launch of Locate, a Foreign and Commonwealth Office initiative that allows travellers to register their holiday plans online. Here's where I've been commenting...

Travolution: Kevin waxes sceptical, arguing that few will want to give their personal details to a Government department.

Musings on Travel Ecommerce: Alex Bainbridge backs the service, citing a couple of instances in which he has needed FCO assistance - but he adds that the service needs a 'registration API' so retailers can bring it into the booking process.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

I've just been commenting on a post about fast food chains coming to Cusco, Peru (jump-off point for most Macchu Pichu tours) over on Travel Rants.

It's a good topic for discussion. As tourists we can all rehearse the reasons for not wanting KFC, McDonalds and Starbucks to move in, but not wanting them to come is the easy part. You also have to justify keeping them away.

See also: my post on Prague's culture debate last week.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Recruiter magazine has an article in today's issue on the travel and tourism jobs market.

The piece reflects AA's recent salary survey results which were upbeat. Theme of the piece is once again that online skills are very much in demand as well as business travel skills.

TW's business and community editor Jackie David who was quoted in the piece.

Martin Couzins, online editor

It's all about travel agents' specialist knowledge these days, so we thought we'd share this nugget with you:

On Easter Island, pulling the ancient statues to bits can result in a jail sentence.

What... you knew?

Someone should have told Finnish tourist Marko Kulju, who faces prison after apparently yanking an earlobe off one of the stones.

Personally I think Easter Island residents should be invited to Finland to pull bits off various things that are dear to Mr Kulju, but I guess the threat of imprisonment will have to do.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Regular contributor Brian Hordon (Silversea Cruises UK) looks at the Tories' proposed review of domestic tourism marketing...

I tend not to get involved in the political side of travel and tourism, because I invariably do not understand the thinking behind politicians' proposals.

But I am about to change, to the benefit of all political parties involved. I am prepared to share my wisdom achieved over 50 consecutive years in tourism.

The March 21 issue of Travel Weekly recently reported, under the headline 'Maketing needs change', that "the Tories could hold a review of the UK tourism market structure if the party wins the next election".

Some of the quotes in the article jump so high off the page that they could be worth a flutter in the Grand National. For starters, the Shadow Minister for tourism believes funds are "spread too thinly across a number of agencies" (no reference to the miserly funds that are currently available).

Between them, the two parties talked about "concerns about regional agencies"; "concern that we are losing out to competitors and need to look at the domestic market"; a "need to close the current UK tourism deficit"; "a challenge for the tourism industry to see how it can increase domestic tourism".

We cannot blame the politicians. We should blame their researchers, who are simply reviving the same old comments politicians always make when they have to enter the tourism arena.

My advice is to revisit previous reviews, and look at what was actioned, what worked, what did not work, and why.

Then present a new proposal on tourism marketing. But this time, do it alongside some of the many very talented people working in the domestic tourism industry.

Brian Hordon, director of training and development, Silverseas Cruises UK

It just gets worse for the US dollar. According to a report on the BBC it slid to its lowest value yet against the euro this morning.

Great news for travellers from Europe, eh? Well... kind of.

As the dollar continues to weaken, investors are placing their money in commodities, contributing to the sharp rise in oil prices. Sweet crude oil climbed to a new high approaching $112 a barrel.

The market giveth, and the market taketh away.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

I'll play my Canada card against your Brazil card. Yes folks, you can now play tourism trumps courtesy of Visit Britain.

The card game forms part of the publicity around British Tourism Week, which kicks off on Monday.

Scottish tourism body VisitScotland has had to destroy footage of three naked surfers which it planned to use in a promotional film (via The Daily Record).

The footage was taken for a web video promoting outdoor activities, but locals on Barra, where the segment was filmed, proved hostile to the idea.

VisitScotland was contacted by a local priest and backed down.

Should VisitScotland have stood its ground? Or should local people have a decisive stake in how their region is presented?

More importantly, who thinks three fully naked men wobbling around ten centimentres from the freezing sea is in any way appealing?

Nathan Midgley, web producer

There's a story in the Metro about plans to crack down on drunken Brits in the Polish city of Cracow.

In particular, the city is looking at punishing bars and cafes which serve 'under-dressed Britons'.

While I sympathise with Cracow - too many cities have seen tourism gains from low-cost flights offset by consistent abuse of their hospitality - this plan will only force business owners into direct confrontation with patrons. Drunk ones. In crowds.

It's a difficult problem to solve. You can't artificially inflate the price of drinks to keep people away, and there are benefits to low-cost air traffic that cities such as Cracow will not want to forego.

So what's the solution? Do you push for a cultural change in Britain? Do you lobby for harsher travel limitations on those who misbehave abroad?

I don't know. But I'm pretty sure refusing to serve bare-chested people is not the answer.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

A transcript of a Northern Ireland Assembly debate on tourism recently popped up on my theyworkforyou.com email alert.

What makes it particularly interesting is that Paul Maskey of Sinn Fein, whose motion initiated the debate, recommends developing political tourism.

I understand that people have sensitivities towards political tourism. However, I also recognise that it has massive potential to grow the tourism industry and will assist in the regeneration of many areas of social need throughout the North.

Robin Newton of the DUP later counters:

The aim of political tourism is to confuse the political process and to present a biased and prejudiced approach to the events of the past. That is a road down which Northern Ireland tourism must not travel.

There's much to think about here, even for those with no specific interest in Northern Ireland. Is there a time threshold beyond which dark episodes of history can acceptably be used to drive tourism? Does the mere possibility of bias make all 'political tourism' untenable? And if objectivity is vital, how is it to be enforced?

Anyone with even a passing interest in tourism and/or destination marketing should give it a read.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Have you heard of skiers - and not those on two skis? I hadn't until last night when I spoke to Martin Edwards, a product manager at Bales Worldwide. He was telling me that he had started to hear of the term 'skiers' from clients. Skiers being those that spend their kids' inheritance on travel.
His was anecdotal evidence but could this be a new traveller who is hell bent on a) having a good time b) spending their cash to avoid tax and c) breaking the hearts of their children who will get less inheritance?
Martin Couzins, online editor

Here is a list of the top ten passport disasters reported to Identity and Passport Service staff.

1 My wife fell off a cliff: While holidaying in Ireland, a strong gust of wind blew a Glasgow woman - and her handbag containing both her and her husband’s passports – over a cliff. Although the woman lived to tell the tale, the couple both had to re-apply for their passports.

2 My bag exploded : After using his passport to withdraw a large amount of money from the bank, an incident involving an ‘exploding’ plastic bag, designed to prevent hold-ups, left a man – and his passport – covered in luminous, red dye.

3 Grand Canyon disaster: A man travelling in Arizona had to apply for an emergency passport after his passport fell out of his pocket during a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon.

4 Hell hath no fury… : After favouring a ‘lads’ holiday’ with his mates over a romantic trip with his other half, a man from London had to re-apply for his passport as his was cut into pieces by his angry girlfriend.

5. Tug of war: A man from Peterborough who regularly enjoyed playing ‘tug of war’ with his Great Dane made the mistake of dropping his passport around his pet, which proceeded to tear it to shreds.

National Statistics has produced a report - Family Spending - which shows how family spending in the UK has changed over the last 50 years.

The stats compare 1957 with 2006 and although there is no like for like comparison on travel expenditure, what is interesting is that if you combined the money spent abroad and amount spent on buying the holiday, travel would be the second biggest expenditure behind mortgage payments. Travel has become a top spending priority.

The second biggest weekly expenditure in 1957 was . . . cigarettes.
Martin Couzins, online editor

Fashions in travel come and go, but maybe there is one booming area of travel that will never go out of fashion - and that is faith tourism. According to the World Religious Travel Expo web site, £9bn is spent on faith tourism each year.

If faith tourism is your bag you might like Sacred Destinations, which lists holy places in 55 countries. And in the US there is the Religious Travel Association. And as for blogs, well you could start with the association's president Kevin J. Wright.
Martin Couzins, online editor

Tim Leffel flags up some interesting ITA figures on where US travellers flew to in 2007. Europe easily outstripped every other region, but grew only 2% - Asia was up 8.6%, South America 7.6% and Central America 8%.

There is speculation that travel to Europe will decline in 2008, with Latin America predicted to make even bigger gains. Says Leffel:

The economy is skittish and airfare hikes are getting daunting, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see people decide to stay closer to home. If you do head out and you’re earning money in U.S. dollars, I have two words of advice for you: habla espanol.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Next Monday 14 Jan at 4.30pm, ITV1 will be kicking off Wish you were here now and then, which will look back at some of the places visited by the original Wish you were here programme. It will also offer a look at holiday destinations for 2008. Judith Chalmers' son, Mark Durden Smith, will be fronting the new show.

To get you in the mood, here is some footage of the original show. I had forgotten about the catchy theme tune.

Martin Couzins, online editor

It's that time of year, so here is a compilation of travel predictions for the coming year.

Travel industry and trade press

• ABTA's top tips for 2008. It's all cruise, luxury and eastern European destinations.
• Travolutions's predictions include consolidation amongst online travel agencies. Now that would be a first.
• Caterersearch.com has some predictions for domestic tourism.
• Travelmole's predictions from David Beirman, Director Struan & Associates, Tourism Destination Crisis, Recovery and Master Planning Specialist.

US media

• Conde Naste's Traveller's Gold List 2008 - a list of the best hotels.
• New York Times' 53 places to visit in 2008. No 1 is Laos. But why 53?
• Five top predictions for 2008 from smartertravel.com. Expect in-flight internet connections this year.
• Rwanda is to become the new Croatia, according to traveland leisure.com.

UK national press

• 12 top trips for 2008 from The Guardian. Here we are offered a trip for each month of the year. This month it is Liverpool and August it is Mongolia - there is a total eclipse of the sun on the 1st.
• The Daily Telegraph's destination predictions. Think China, Cuba, Iceland.
• 40 travel trends and trips from The Times. South America, China, adventure holidays...
• The Independent's best of 2008. 'Responsible tourism and ethical travel will become de rigueur.'

And from the left field...

• Darren at Travel Rants provides an interesting list including TUI buying a stake in Facebook!
• Tripinator's 'outrageous' predictions - a jaunted look at the year to come. Will Club Med really open in Kandahar?

Martin Couzins, online editor

The Guardian reports today that UK plastic surgeons are seeing more and more patients who have been on the receiving end of botched cosmetic surgery abroad. Members of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons said after care, language barriers and lower quality standards were the main causes of concern. Patients were particularly dissatisfied with treatment in Poland, South Africa and Belgium.

More on medical tourism from Travel Weekly: Selling travel for health treatment abroad
More from the TW blog: A short UK break and a trip to the dentist

Martin Couzins, online editor

Europ Assistance USA, the 'professional ally for people in crisis or distress' (their words), emails TW Blog with details of a recent survey on risk and stress in travel.

No prizes for guessing the nature of the findings. But the survey comes up with some arresting stats on just how much holidays stress people out.

• 46% find holiday travel as stressful as a fight with a loved one
• 42% find it as stressful as a minor car accident

At least you're not going on holiday

Remember when people used to go on holiday for fun?

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Readers of the Guardian and Observer have revealed their favourite travel companies. Congratulations to Travel Counsellors for winning the best travel agent category for the second consecutive year. Trailfinders won best tour operator (large) and Original Travel (small).
Martin Couzins, online editor

Disney has produced a seven minute film for the US departments of state and homeland security to encourage visitors to the US. The film, entitled Welcome: Portraits of America and which you can view on the Discover America homepage, will be shown in airports and embassies.

However,the Guardian reports a glitch - the water falls pictured are none other than the Horseshoe Falls, which mostly lie inside Canada.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Medical tourism has just taken a distinctly domestic flavour. According to the Observer, the Grange Dental Practice in Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, will shortly be offereing visitors to the Lake District the opportunity to mix a leisure trip with a trip to the dentist. And when it is so difficult to get to see a dentist in other parts of the country, who can blame them? The practice is now a member of Cumbria Tourism and will be offering weekend breaks on its website in the next two months.
Martin Couzins, online editor

This morning Radio 4's Today ran an item on the UK's poor visitor figures for August (down 13% year-on-year) and VisitBritain's desire for more Government funding.

"It wants more money to make advertising like this," began business reporter Greg Wood, sounding as if he was holding something malodorous at arm's length.

Cue a VisitBritain promo. "Next stop, Liverpool!" it announced jauntily. "European Capital of Culture for 2008. No need to tell you who these lads are: The Beatles are definitely Liverpool's biggest export..."

VisitBritain chairman Christopher Rodrigues came on to discuss visitor numbers, and fairly pointed out that 1) performance for the rest of 2007 has not been as bad as August's figures suggest; and 2) the weak dollar and competitors with bigger marketing budgets are both major factors.

"Americans are still travelling," he said, "but they're travelling to other places. If you look at the amount of money spent on marketing in America top of the list are places like Mexico, Puerto Rico and Bahamas, which are close by."

But Wood hadn't finished with the advert.

Wood: So you want to spend more on advertising... I hesitate to say it, but from the clip we played there, you obviously need to spend a bit more.

Rodrigues: [Laughs] the interesting thing is, I was talking to the people in Italy [and] the Liverpool Captial of Culture thing has really caught on overseas-

Wood:That was hardly a cutting-edge ad for the city of Liverpool, though, was it?

Rodrigues: Well...it got the basic message over about what things attract people to Liverpool.

Rodrigues wisely steered the conversation on to more solid ground, namely the importance of the tourism industry making them most of London 2012.

Entertaining stuff. So should the Government dig deep? And does VisitBritain need to improve its advertising, or did Wood just get up on the wrong side of the bed?

Listen to the encounter on this audio stream - it's about 15 minutes in.

Nathan Midgley, web producer

A few weeks ago we carried the story that TransIndus, an operator that goes to Burma, has pledged to continue tours to the troubled country despited being placed on a boycott list. Reporter Edward Robertson followed up with a post about how tourism can help the political situation there.

Not so, says Labour member for Ilford South Mike Gapes. Gapes spoke on the issue in Parliament yesterday afternoon:

When an individual in this country makes a decision to go on a package holiday, and they choose a country where a repressive regime uses the foreign currency that is spent, there are consequences.

I was recently involved in an altercation about Burma with a figure from the travel industry. His claim that people who went on holiday to Burma might be able to report on what was going on there struck me as one of the most bizarre arguments that I had heard for a long time. I can hardly imagine the Burmese military regime allowing people to go up to the north of the country where the monks have been taken in chains and locked up.

I wonder who this 'figure from the travel industry' might have been. Does anyone know?

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Well not quite, but the 12-week overland bus journey from London to Sydney isn't going so well, The Guardian reports today.
Martin Couzins, online editor

I have always taken the stance that even though Burma is ruled by an oppressive military junta, tour operators with ethical policies should continue to run programmes in this country.

Not only does tourism allow the population to earn money and priceless foreign currency but it also ensures the reality of their day-to-day existence under such conditions can be understood by a potentially global audience.

It is to this end I chose to highlight in this week’s Travel Weekly TransIndus managing director Amrit Singh’s decision to continue running tours to the country.

This is despite being blacklisted by the Burma Campaign UK which accuses the operator of using hotels and transport infrastructure built by slave labour as well as financially aiding the regime.

The question is currently particularly pertinent thanks to last month’s pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks but which have now been brutally suppressed at the cost of perhaps thousands of lives.

Singh denies the accusations vehemently stating she only uses private, smaller guest houses while private drivers are used to ferry her customers around the country, thereby avoiding the need to use the railways which she admits have been built under horrific conditions.

Her reasons for doing so? She believes only by revealing the plight of the country’s people to the wider world will the country’s dictators be persuaded to embrace change while the fact that only 2% of a tour’s cost ends up going to the Burmese government means she can sleep soundly at night.

In this sense it is heartening to see The Times’ former travel editor Cath Urquhart today arguing that if change is to be effected, westerners must continue to visit the country to understand just how much change is needed.

Despite having stood down, Urquhart continues to have considerable clout and we should be pleased she has chosen to highlight to a wider audience the good that the travel industry can do if the intentions are pure and the methods as ethical as possible.

by Edward Robertson

Some news just published on TW - the Institute of Travel and Tourism has chosen not to go ahead with a Zimbabwe Tourism Authority session at World Travel Market.

As you can imagine, it was the country's dire political situation that led to the decision. The ITT would surely have faced considerable disapproval if the session had gone ahead.

How do readers feel? Is it the right decision, or could some good have come out of what was planned as an educational session for new entrants to the trade?

Nathan Midgley, web producer

A new version of the board game Monopoly is to feature British towns and cities. An online poll asked the public to vote on towns and cities they would most like to see. Not surprsingly there has been a lot of lobbying to get on the board - it's iconic and is played the world over.

Exeter took the most pricey spot of Mayfair while Liverpool took down at heel Old Kent Road - perfect PR as it prepares to become Europe's culture capital for 2008.

The Guardian story reveals which city/town takes what colour on the board.

Martin Couzins, online editor

OK, he did Monty Python, has done some good travel books and TV programmes but does he deserve a fan blog for the run up to his new series New Europe, to launch on BBC1 at 9pm this Sunday 16 September?
If you need more info, try the BBC web site for New Europe.
Or Michael's own web site Palin's Travels.

Our chief reporter, Juliet Dennis, has just arrived in the office and informed me that she doesn't want to be here right now. I didn't ask why but I did ask where she would rather be.

Answer: a beach in Cape Town.

Hmm, Sutton or South Africa. I know where I'd rather be.

Right now I'd rather be in bed as my son was up well before dawn. Where would you rather be?

Is Wastwater in the Lake District.

Who says? Those who voted in ITV1's Favourite View programme.

Live in London and want to see a 120m long depiction of Scotland? Then get down to the London Gathering.

Billed as a two-day celebration of the very best of Scotland in London (catchy, eh?), the event will feature a very long poster of Scotland. The poster was due to be used in the London Underground but will now adorn Temple Gardens on Victoria Embankment.

Martin Couzins, online editor

Hawaii is hitting the Japanese market with a new campaign called 'Smoking in Aloha', which reassures tourists that they can puff away throughout their time on the islands (thanks to Bill Geist for the spot).

This will chill the blood of Sunday Times deputy travel editor Jane Knight, who recently used her column to complain about smoking aboard British ships:

It seems bizarre that while pubs in the UK have been smoke free since the July ban, you can still get smoke in your eyes if you are off the coast of Britain or on a British ship.

Interesting one. As destinations stub out for good, smoking is becoming a niche interest - which makes it marketable. So it's no surprise to see a tourist board cash in.

See also SMINTAIR, the specialist airline for smokers - which claims that:

Non-smokers will find the cabin air more refreshing than on any other flight with any other airline, as SMINTAIR adds fresh outside air to the conditioning system!

I doubt there is enough fresh outside air in the world.

Anyway, if you want to find out how the law treats smokers around the world check out this smoking tolerance map from Budget Travel Online (via Tim Leffel).

Nathan Midgley, web producer

Devon County Council has had its wrist slapped by the Advertising Standards Authority. Devon's claim to be England's greenest county simply did not wash and has been rejected.

Devon may well have strong green credentials but which county can now fairly lay claim to be the greenest of them all? And exactly how do you measure that?

The adjudication won't appear on the ASA web site until Wednesday 5 September. In the meantime, you can stay on top of ASA adjudactions courtesy of its adjudications RSS feed.

Here's one for the energetic tourist: City Running Tours, founded in New York last year, is looking to expand into more cities after successful moves to Chicago and Washington D.C.

The concept needs little explanation. Expert guides take groups of joggers on set or tailored city tours, sharing insights on landmarks and history as they go.

Says source