CD-Traveller has the low-down on what’s hot in the travel world, right now

The search for the ultimate ‘Maria’ and ‘Dorothy’ may be over – now the search for Yorkshire Diarist and adventurer ‘Jemima’ begins

Oscar nominated Skyfall encourages Istanbul travel

No, not on clothes or beds or sofas. I’m talking about the holiday sales. At the moment airlines, hotels, travel agents and tour operators have them in abundance. But will they make us book?

The familiar slogan goes, “Don’t just book it, Thomas Cook it.” Regardless of what you think of the viability of Thomas Cook – or even TUI or any other ATOL bonded travel company- you can still book confident in the fact that your money, if not your holiday, is as protected as it could be.

Remember voting for which travel companies you thought were the best in the British Travel Awards? Altogether, 700,000 votes were received. Last Wednesday the winners were announced.

Are the costs the same between airlines? CD-Traveller picks one route to Tenerife to find out.

Perhaps the best indicator of how confident we are about taking holidays comes from the recently released half yearly figures from TUI (owners of Thomson, First Choice, Falcon, Crystal, Citalia, JWT, LateRooms.com and Austravel amongst other brands) and Thomas Cook (who own Airtours, Direct Holidays, Neilson, Club 18-30, Sunset and other brands.) Between them, these two move about 9 million holidaymakers per year so what they report is a pretty good guide given their dominance in the holiday market.

After yesterday’s fuel surcharge announcement by Thomas Cook comes a similar announcement from TUI, owners of Thomson and First Choice Holidays. I suppose it was only to be expected. The airlines have been increasing their surcharges and it was probably only a matter of time before those tour operators with their own airlines would soon follow.
So how much might this cost you?

Yesterday the transport minister, Theresa Villiers, announced reforms to the way holidays are bonded. Or rather she announced what the government proposed to do subject to consultation. After that, and provided there aren’t suggestions, watered down ideas or whatever, the legislation will come in until the end of the year.

Not only is Tenerife in the Canary Isles a popular summer and winter sun destination for us Brits and Irish but the tour operator companies who provide our holidays like them too. Last year Thomas Cook – whose brands include Airtours, Sunset and Neilson – had their annual convention there but this year, the other biggie, TUI- whose brands include Thomson, First Choice and Crystal – are having their big managers meeting there as well.

Both TUI (the parent company of Thomson, First Choice and Crystal) and Thomas Cook announced results this week. Each seems to have been hit by people booking later and by people holidaying at home. Eurodisney also announced that they had been helped by more French people visiting their resort outside Paris so it seems as though the staycation, whether you are in France or the UK, is having an impact on tourism and travel. And now we have David Cameron making a speech on tourism and urging us to holiday at home (More on this over the weekend, when I have properly read it. I can’t remember a Prime Minister making a speech on tourism before.)

The travel industry was one of the early adopters of the internet. These days searching travel and tourism websites is regularly listed as one of the top things to do. And obviously CD-Traveller readers have more interest in it than most since we are only available online. But how easy is it to use? Does a bad website put us off? Are some better at information than in accepting orders? Are pricing issues concealed until the last moment making customers wary of using them.
EDigitalResearch has provided some of the answers in their new study published this month. They have looked at 47 sites during the last two months and assessed the

Looking out of the window at the large dollop of snow that has fallen overnight, it is easy to think of warmer parts of the world and getting away from the cold and bleak view I see. Where to go is one issue but who I go with is another.
You could be forgiven for thinking, after seeing the Which? Holiday report on tour operators that you should avoid the big companies like Thomson, First Choice, Thomas Cook, Cosmos and Virgin because they haven’t done very well in the report.
You would be wrong.
This is not to say that the survey is wrong.

Over the last decade, anyone travelling by plane will have had almost a different life compared to the decade before that. And not for the better either.
Terrorism is at the heart of the changes that have occurred. Governments around the world have responded by tightening security and, by and large, the public has gone along with whatever has been suggested on the basis that they will welcome almost anything if it makes them feel safer. It has made flying more of a chore than the enjoyment it once was.

Given the weather that we are having this week (and last come to think of it) you may not be thinking of lounging in the sun but Thomas Cook is.Their German company has decided, as you may have seen, to allow German bookers to prebook for €3 a day, sun lounges if they do it when they book their holiday. So far the offer is only available for 9 hotels in Turkey, Egypt and the Canaries so don’t necessarily feel that you may lose out  [...]

This week saw financial figures released from both TUI (owners of Thomson and First Choice) as well as Thomas Cook (who also own Airtours). As these four brands are the dominant players in the overseas package holiday market, their comments give a better idea than anyone else’s about what we, the holidaymaker, are going through. Both have cut the number of holidays to try and match the downturn. Both are down about 14% in the number of holidays they have sold and both have almost  [...]

The outbreak of a flu virus in Mexico has prompted some of the strangest media coverage. On the one hand, there have been the stories of returning holidaymakers suffering from flu like symptoms and the spread of the virus to other countries and on the other, plaintive stories of people who have had their holiday plans dashed as tour operators cancel their package holidays.It is too early to establish how severe this scare is but comments from Michael O’Leary of Ryanair claiming that it is  [...]

Thomas Cook runs a Holiday Cost of Living Survey and the results have just been published. It claims that places like Majorca, Cyprus and mainland Spain are still cheaper than the UK. But all these places are in the eurozone and we have been told that the eurozone has become expensive because of the fall of the pound against the euro. Can this be right?This survey compares prices in resorts as opposed to the actual cost of the holiday and checks nine individual items. They  [...]