Unlike my normal activity of tuning adverts out I wanted to see the new TUI advert that announced the second stage of their branding campaign so it was the ad rather than the programme that I watched!
Yesterday TUI linked the old with the new. Thomson died and the smart customer holiday suggestor was born in its stores. The next step is to see how customers react to both.
Adrian tries to understand how significant the World Airline Awards are.
PV has introduced a new level of assistance and safety for tourists. They have enlisted the taxi-drivers.
Is it not time for the CAA to read the riot act to all airlines, remind them of their responsibilities and order them to pay legitimate claims in a speedier manner?
Yesterday TUI – the largest holiday company in Europe – announced that it was going to get rid of fifty of its brands because they don’t fit in with the plans of the company.
This year could one that will make long haul destination choices difficult especially as it looks as though holidaymakers are believing in safety first.
APD, VAT and airline profits due to reduced fuel prices are some of the topis interesting Adrian this week as well as an octpus and whale watching.
Adrian looks at the possibility of having one visa in the future to cover seven central American countries, the continuing trials of Mr Platt and how easy it was to take down Norwich Airports website.
At the ABTA convention last week, tour operators and travel agents have been looking for words to describe how business will be in the future. The prize for the most interesting comment must go to Nick Longman who is the managing director of our biggest tour operator, TUI. Not only did he say that “…the customer’s journey has been confusing so moving from Thomson to TUI will help…” but he philosophically proclaimed that “…“At the moment, if TUI was a woman, it would be Mary
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The new James Bond film and claims that various parts of the world are linked attract Adrian’s attention this week along with fuel surcharges and disruptive passenger behaviour
Gone with be such familiar travel names as Thomson, First Choice, Falcon Holidays to be replaced by Tui.
Everybody gets in the act these days of forecasting where we might holiday, where the “hot-spots” will be, what’s up-and-coming and where will be the most popular.
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?
A little while go Thomson flew one engine on one flight on one plane on a mixture of Jet A1 fuel and waste cooking oil as opposed to normal aviation fuel. It was a test to see the effect but you would have thought from the reactions that they had almost single-handedly caused the starvation of millions by using a resource that stopped food crops being grown.
First Choice and Thomson holidaymakers are to pay more for their vacations next year, owing to the rising costs of fuel and accommodation.
Are the costs the same between airlines? CD-Traveller picks one route to Tenerife to find out.
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
I was quite surprised to find yesterday that the first local school had just broken up for Easter. In my mind it was still weeks away but in fact Good Friday is only 2 weeks tomorrow.
After the winter we have had it wouldn’t surprise any of us if bookings to the Spanish resorts and warmer areas was the main appeal but personal finances being what they are, some of us will think of taking no breaks at all. And for those that do go, there could be quite a few handicaps to going away. First there are the railways. The RMT union is considering scheduling a nationwide strike because of what it says are safety issues that may occur when Network Rail lays off staff. . You probably need to be an expert to know if safety was an issue. Needless to say, Network Rail says there is no problem and you have to wonder whether if safety was the issue, the union wouldn’t have called the strike as soon as it legally could. By striking at Easter, the cynical amongst us begin to wonder.
Whether you’re staycation-ing or vacationing, CD Traveller tells you what’s hot and what’s not in the travel world
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.
This is the time of the year when the new holiday brochures are being prepared to be sent out to shops so, that come the days after Christmas, we can pick and choose where we want to go. In truth that has changed quite a bit and some destinations and tour operators were taken aback by how late some of us booked this year. In some cases panic was almost about to set in at some places because they thought they would never be able to sell these holidays. Next year, they are assuming that a lot of us will book as late as we did this year.
Last night the winners were announced of the British Travel Awards. CD-Traveller is one of the sponsors because these are the only awards where you, the traveller and holidaymaker, can vote. So it’s not just the travel industry patting itself on the back. And over 100,000 of you voted so our thanks, and those of the organisers, for taking the time to vote.
Sites like TripAdvisor have been discussed before in these rumblings. The issues of small numbers for some hotels, biased reviews put up by the companies or their opponents themselves have all been considered.
Estimates vary on the number of people who are flying on a bank holiday break this weekend in addition to all the other flyers but it will be over 2 million. During the summer period maybe 15 million will have gone abroad.
