We may even love it and then we hate it. Most people like to go on yearly vacation as well as a number of us need it for business tours, but there is a disadvantage in air travel. Now we have a love / hate partnership about it, more than ever in today’s times of high security. With all the advent of low-budget airway flights, more of people are usually flying much more than ever. This puts a strain on the airports at the best of times and there is an ever growing matter around the environmental impact of that airline travel.

There is no worse sight than the usual jam packed terminal waiting place with disappointed voyagers slumped down on the seats, when there are actually delays. I commiserate most with the children. Many couples with children travel with their little babies around the world, once they might be far more comfortable on their closest beach destination. Air Travel to whichever destination coming with the best travel package deals is fantastic at the time it truly does work, any time it doesn’t, it is just a nightmare. When we’re at the flight terminal, we are a captive audience and so they can charge all of us a king’s ransom for the coffee and a short bread merely because they can.

Besides, there are actually great options with traveling on a airplane. There is the possibility to read a magazine, or maybe doze, most likely watch over a movie or maybe two. Sometimes, anyone conspires against me setting aside time for any of those things in peace. You will find the blithering passenger sitting near to myself, and although I’ve known them for eight whole mins, some people spot his or her life report in any detail. Some people bring out the snapshots from the grandchildren. I make an effort to start looking interested. From time to time during airline travel, it is really better to pretend for being asleep.

I need to admit to liking plane meals. I’m sure I am possibly a little bit different in this, but I really look forward to the food and little snacks. Believe it or not, the greatest thing about flights for me will be the pretty little cartons together with sachets that they give you. The food is in general pretty good and it is always fun to open all sorts of things.

The future of flying will be around circumstances of flux at this moment because of high safety warns and even we are all on edge. It looks like getting affordable airfare tickets is going to turn into more complicated and not less difficult. Probably they need to re-think the airport terminal environment. A movie theatre could well be great or they may set a certain amount of beds in!

Overseas weddings have gained enormous popularity over recent years. Research from Mintel found that one in six (16%) British weddings are being held abroad. That’s an estimated 51,300 overseas weddings. A main reason for people tying the knot abroad is that key wedding features such as; venues, caterers and florists are cheaper than in Britain.

Karen Thornton-Brown, International Wedding Planner at WeddingsAbroad.com states, “With the average wedding in the UK now costing £25k, couples realise that they can make huge savings by marrying abroad. As much as 70% can be saved when compared with a like for like wedding to the UK.”

But with high street banks charging a small fortune for foreign money transfers – are brides and grooms really making a saving?

Charging upwards of £25 just to transfer your money, banks can also charge commission and take overseas delivery charges. Just sending deposits to the aforementioned could take a £120* chunk out of your wedding fund.

James Hickman, Managing Director at Caxton FX explains, “It is important to raise awareness about this, more so as the pound continues to weaken. People don’t realise that there is a cheaper and trustworthy alternative to using a High Street Bank for wedding money transfers. FastPay not only offers bank-beating exchange rates, there are no transfer fees either.”

Caxton FX FastPay enables currency payments to be made around the world, at any time. Live rates offer an opportunity to take advantage of currency volatility and FastPay customers are also able to track progress of their payments online.

FastPay is a vital tool to make your happily ever after ever cheaper.

* Transfer charge Total (Based on 3
separate transactions)
Caxton FX No charge 0
Barclays Priority (1-3 days) £40
Standard (3-5 days) £25 £120
Lloyds TSB Under £5k – £20 £60
Over £5k – £35 £105
Halifax £19.50 £58.50
HSBC £30 £90
Santander £25 £75

The award in the category of “Commitment to Developing People and Skills” recognises commitment to the development of staff at the heart of the organisation, and recognises that developing people in business will drive business forward.

Judging the entry, Russell Strutt, Principle of Central Sussex College, commented that the Copthorne Hotels “manage to wholly engage its workforce to achieve its business objectives through a comprehensive review process, a commitment to personal development and incentivised recognised programmes. Peer training champions in each of its departments help to drive and deliver development and training linked to organisational objectives, with targets translated into meaningful milestones for staff at every level. In an industry renowned for transient employment, this company has a stable staff with an amazing 43% of them in a post to which they have been promoted, proving that talent identification and development really works.”

Heinz Skalnik, General Manager at both hotels, commented: “We are incredibly honoured to receive this prestigious award which demonstrates that effective staff development can have a dramatic impact on the performance of a business, and this is fundamental to supporting our success at the Copthorne Hotels.”

“The Guide has been conceived as a special sales manual, targeting mainly our industry clients”, says Thomas Feda, managing director of the TCF. “It is an indispensable planning aid for travel, conference and congress experts as well as an important marketing instrument for promoting the Frankfurt Rhine-Main region as a first-class business and tourist destination.”

The Guide’s content has been categorised into specific subject areas. It is clearly structured and offers comprehensive information on hotels, conference venues, unusual event locations such as museums and scientific institutions, sightseeing attractions, cultural establishments and traffic and transport connections. The range of information is rounded off by recommendations for fringe programmes, special events, shopping, pubs, bars and restaurants.

The information provided in the 214-page sales manual is also available on the TCF’s Internet presentation (www.frankfurt-tourismus.de), where it is updated regularly. Furthermore, all of the TCF’s service offers may be booked online at any time. The online hotel navigator lists over 150 accommodation establishments of every category and price range. The Frankfurt Convention Bureau, meanwhile, offers event organisers a choice of some 220 conference venues, event locations and congress hotels, making it easy to find the right venue for every type of event.

To obtain your copy of the Frankfurt Rhine-Main Guide 2010/2011, simply fax or e-mail your order to the Frankfurt Tourist+Congress Board, Kaiserstr. 56, 60329 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Fax: +49 (0) 69 / 21 23 78 80, E-mail: info@infofrankfurt.de or tourismus@infofrankfurt.de.

Visitors to WTM 2009 rated the exhibition as better than other industry events, including ITB Berlin, in a range of categories with WTM being particularly strong for meeting and networking and keeping up to date with the latest trends.

The independent research of 2,058 visitors to WTM 2009, by Fusion Communications, also reveals increased levels of satisfaction compared to WTM 2008. An impressive eight out of ten visitors in 2009 came away feeling completely satisfied or very satisfied.

Overall, WTM 2009 met or exceeded the expectations of 94% of visitors.
The research also reveals WTM remains an extremely important place to do business with a massive 91% stating the event is imperative for their business and an impressive 97% of visitors likely to return in 2010.
Furthermore, 85% of visitors feel attending WTM gives them a competitive advantage over their rivals.

International media, which increased by 12% to 2,839 for WTM 2009, are in agreement with visitors with a massive 86% rating WTM as the best event or among the best events in the travel industry, including four out of ten stating WTM is the best event.

World Travel Market Exhibition Director Simon Press said: “It’s great to see that visitors are delighted with the experience of World Travel Market 2009 and view the exhibition as the best in the industry.

“WTM 2010 is expanding with a new floorplan, seminar content and networking functions offering greater opportunities.

“The findings from the independent research firmly cements World Travel Market’s position as the premier global event for the travel industry.”

The site was badly flooded in November leading to an early closure and a £2 million refurbishment.

Over the past few months the park has undergone an extensive refurbishment programme which has included:

• New luxurious hire fleet lodges
• State of the art new multi sports play area
• New beer garden
• Full boat and club house refurbishment
• New restaurant and caterers: The Flying Boat
• Development of new owner pitches

White Cross Bay is one of the nine parks owned and managed by South Lakeland Parks, with the others located around the Lake District, Morecambe Bay and Ribble Valley.

It occupies an enviable position in the northern tip of Windermere with a number of its lodges directly overlooking the Lake and surrounding mountains.

The park features a range of luxury lodges and caravans for both sale and holiday hire. A typical lodge at the park costs from £75,000 to purchase, while the company is currently offering a re-opening launch price of just £99 on three night caravan holidays.

For more information about purchasing a holiday home or holidays at White Cross Bay visit www.southlakelandparks.co.uk or call 015395 69835 for holidays and 015395 69834 for sales.

Cancellation and amendment fees were found to be the highest charge added to the booking with all the companies charging cancellation fees if a booking is cancelled close to the travel date, however some charge hefty fees even if customers cancel well in advance. Airparks, BCP and Holiday Extras (all part of the same company group) charge £9.50 for each cancellation if not done within 24 hours of making the booking, whereas Airport parking and Hotels (APH) and Purple parking have no charges for cancelling at least a day in advance of the departure date.

Nick Caunter, managing director of Airport parking and Hotels (APH) says: “The good news is that compared to the no frills airlines where the extra charges often occur, the airport parking industry has many fewer “extras”. However, customers really need to be savvy about who they book with because there are significant differences between companies.”

Airport parking and Hotels Ltd is one of the UK’s leading booking agencies and this year celebrates its 30th year as a retailer and operator of pre-booked airport parking and travel extras. APH offers parking at all major UK airports, ports and Eurotunnel terminals plus airport hotels packaged with parking, airport lounges, travel insurance, car hire and holiday taxis. APH is also a carbon balanced company and has, through the World Land Trust, helped purchase more than 1,000 acres of Belize rainforest.

For further information visit www.aph.com or call 01342 859515.

This new sector benchmark, launched by the Hotel Carbon Index Company, is designed to deliver a standard method of   calculating the carbon cost of hotel and venue usage for an individual stay or event.
Charles Prew, CEO of Barceló UK said: “We are seeing an increase in the number of requests for information on our  corporate social responsibility and environmental policies.

Carepar™ will help us respond to the needs of travel managers who are under pressure to measure the impact their  business travellers are having on the environment. Using Carepar™ means all the data is collated together in one   document allowing quick analysis to be done and improvements to be made where necessary. This is the start of an evolving process as the group proactively tries to reduce its Carbon Emissions.”

Peter Ducker, founder of the Hotel Carbon Index Company says: “We are delighted to have Barceló UK on board with  Carepar™ and hope that it will encourage more organisations to follow suit. The ability to measure carbon   emissions in hotels means that procurement departments and guests can make this a criterion of choice. Hotels that  embark on this scheme to reduce their emissions can expect to see a reduction of up to 20% in their energy  consumption. This process will enable Barceló UK to not only look at their emissions but also assess the long term  improvements that can be made.”
All Barceló UK’s 21 hotels, with more than 2800 bedrooms and 217 conference and meeting rooms will go through the  Carepar™ process to assist them in reducing their carbon emissions.

Property details and graphics: http://www.cornishhorizons.co.uk/kubu_st_merryn_padstow_self_catering.htm
Caxton FX Helps Overseas Property Owners Demolish Their Fees

Banks and online currency companies overcharge for making simple overseas payments. One provider is bucking the  trend by offering free transfers and bank-busting rates.

Overseas property owners spend a bundle for the upkeep of their property. Local taxes, ground rent, service  charges and utilities bump up monthly transfers and online payment systems (as well as your high street bank),  want a piece of the action.

Not only do banks and some online payment services often charge around £25 pounds or more just to transfer your  money, they can also charge commission, normally adding around 1.5% to the already uncompetitive exchange rate  given. This means you’ll find your hard earned money being whittled away for no good reason. For example, using your high street bank account/online payments service to transfer multiple monthly bill payments could cost you an  extra £1062 per year*. That’s the cost of eight return flights to Valencia or paying the mortgage off earlier on  your home abroad**.

FastPay allows you to make payments around the world with no fees or commissions and offers bank-beating exchange  rates. Use it day or night, 7 days a week; it’s an easy and cost effective way to transfer money overseas.

Caxton FX FastPay offers competitive exchange rates and no fees or commission for transfers of £100 to £10,000.
FastPay enables currency payments to be made at any time and live rates offer an opportunity to take advantage of  currency volatility. FastPay customers are also able to track progress of their payments online, meaning you can  see when the beneficiary receives their payment. As 96% of all FastPay customers would recommend the system,  you’ll be safe in the knowledge that your money is travelling better.

*
High Street Bank/Other online payments service
Transfer fee (£25 per transaction, based on 3 separate payments per month) = £75
Commission at 1.5% (based on 3 separate transactions of £300 per month) = £13.50
Total bank charges for a year = £1062

Caxton FX
Transfer fee = No charge
Total bank charges for a year = 0

**flight price based on two people flying from Gatwick to Valencia return with Easy Jet. Departing 6th June 2010  and returning 15th June 2010 (£123.70 = 1 rtn flight).

With more and more businesses researching and booking their venues online, VisitScotland’s Business Tourism Unit has today (23 February 2010) unveiled a new website, conventionscotland.com to complement the recently launched brochure, MeetScotland. Together, these two provide conference and event planners with comprehensive information and easier access to Scotland’s superb and diverse conferencing portfolio.

Announced at this year’s Confex, the website and brochure are being showcased to 10,000 potential buyers alongside some of Scotland’s top conferencing and meetings businesses who are exhibiting on the stand.

Speaking about the website, VisitScotland’s head of business tourism, Caroline Packman comments: ‘The new website is totally user friendly and gives buyers the chance to find what they need both quickly and easily. With everything from ideas on how to extend a business trip to Scotland, to an interactive venue search, we are making it even easier for delegates to find Scotland at their fingertips. The use of stunning photography in both our new brochure and on the website paints a vision of what it is like to hold an event in Scotland, as well as demonstrating our sheer quality of offering – event planners will be spoilt for choice. “