The airport security trap

January 5, 2010

The most worrying thing about the latest attempt at terrorism is the desperate attempt to play politics with airport security that almost inevitably followed. Obama introduced some hastily put together measures while Brown appeared on television talking about full body scans without having thought through the financial or practical implications.
For some reason Cuba ended up [...]

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Battle of the ads

January 4, 2010

Happy New Year. As everyone trudges back to work for one of the busiest periods in the travel calendar, Thomson, First Choice and Thomas Cook are on our screens with their annual television campaigns. So what do we make of this year’s offerings?
Thomson have gone for a fairly safe re-hash of last year’s ad, where [...]

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The two faces Cuba shows America

December 21, 2009

Are the Cuban government intent on improving US-Cuba relations? Maybe not. Are they keen on American tourists bringing their dollars into Cuba? Absolutely.
At a video conference last week between US tour operators and Miguel Figueras Perez, a senior adviser to Cuba’s Ministry of Tourism, Perez tried to reassure operators of Cuba’s readiness for a US [...]

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What I don’t understand about the British Airways strike

December 16, 2009

I can understand why BA cabin crew have voted in favour of strike action. Anyone who has worked in a heavily unionised workplace knows how divisions between management and the workers can become so corrosive.
What I fail to understand is the scenes of jubilation amongst the BA staff when the result of the ballot was [...]

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How to attract new skiers

December 9, 2009

There’s an interesting article in the Denver Post about how Colorado resorts are preparing for the retirement from skiing of the lucrative Baby Boomer generation. This might be five years away but the resorts are already trying to attract a new generation of skiers and snowboarders to replace the boomers.
An ageing population of skiers is [...]

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The future of air travel

December 9, 2009

The Comittee on Climate Change (CCC) has released its Aviation Report with rather predictable conclusions. The aim of the report was to look at the implications for the aviation sector of the government’s target to reduce emissions by 80% by 2050.
And the findings of the report? Basically, bio-fuels are a non-starter, technology will only have [...]

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A 9½ hour delay is not too bad

December 8, 2009

I was surprised to read press coverage of 9½ delay on an EasyJet flight from Sofia to Gatwick. Admittedly, it wasn’t handled all that well by EasyJet, who after 10 hours finally offered complimentary food and drink but told people they couldn’t choose anything that cost more than £1.50. But is a 9½ delay so [...]

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The future for Dubai tourism

December 4, 2009

Despite its current troubles, there’s little doubt that Dubai will remain a popular tourist destination for many years to come. A little reputation management is going to be required in the short term to deal with extraordinary bile-filled nonsense such as Jane Fryer’s piece in the Daily Mail and countless other sensationalist stories but the [...]

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The most important man of the decade?

December 4, 2009

Bookended by 9/11 and the economic downturn,  it’s been a tough decade for the travel industry. A couple of my travelling experiences of the decade included seeing troops and tanks at Heathrow during February half-term 2003 and having to fly in August 2006 the day the liquid threat came to light. Few would have predicted [...]

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Should tour operators be allowed to discriminate?

November 19, 2009

In Australia a judge has ruled against Erin Matiland setting up a women-only tour operator on the grounds that it violates the human rights of men. What’s more surprising than the verdict of an overly-PC judge is the level of support there appears to be for the ruling. The decision would be understandable if Matiland [...]

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