Wednesday 3rd July 2013.indd - Travel Daily Media

TRAVEL DAILY ASIA TRAVEL DAILY INDIA TRAVEL DAILY MECRUISE NEWS UKwww.traveldailymedia.com/ukWednesday 3rd July 2013 ▶ P 1≪ SPARKWhy travel companies should bemore risky in their technology...READ MORE≪ EYE ON LATIN AMERICAHotel and airline news from theregion...READ MORE≪ GREENMaking Holidays Greener Monthkicks off and more eco-friendlynews... READ MOREHOW TO SELLRiverCruisesTOP TIPS AND ALL YOU NEED TO KNOWCLICK HERE TO READ THE GUIDENew ‘hub’ hotels from Premier InnLocation and price over space...Premier Inn has launched anew hotel brand based aroundsmall spaces and technology.Its ‘hub by Premier Inn’ hotelswill have “ingenious storagesolutions” and technology pointsto target hotel guests that aremore concerned about locationand price over space. Lighting,temperature and what is onthe television when guestsarrive can be controlled bya smart phone app after theguests check-in online.Its rooms will measureonly 11.4 metre squared insize and will include an ensuitebathroom, wardrobe,desk, bed, free WiFi and 40”television.The fi rst of ‘the hub’ hotels willopen in London’s West End nextsummer and will be priced a thirdlower than Premier Inn rates.UK cities will be targeted for itsexpansion plan, with its pipelineaiming for fi ve ‘hub’ hotels in thenext three years and 40 by 2018."hub is all about givingcustomers more choice. Itwill provide great quality,contemporary room design inthe heart of a major city at anoutstanding price,” said PatrickDempsey, managing director atPremier Inn’s parent companyWhitbread. Click here for fullstoryFlight Centre andIntrepid divide MyAdventure StoreFlight Centre and Intrepid Travelhave announced that the currentjoint venture (JV) of My AdventureStory (MAS) will end at the end of theyear.The JV, which started in 2008,sees the 17 MAS stores ran by bothcompanies however, the changewill mean that all stores in Australia,Canada and Wellington (NewZealand) will be owned by FlightCentre and Intrepid will operate theLondon and Auckland (New Zealand)stores.The changes will be rolled out withimmediate effect in Australia and NewZealand, the 30 September in Londonand 31 December in Australia. Staffwill transfer to either Flight Centre orIntrepid. Click here for full storyNew routes addedfor BelleairBelleair Holidays has addedtwo new direct routes to Maltafor the summer. Flights from LeedsBradford and Glasgow Prestwickare now available for fl ight onlyand package holidays. Both areoperated by Ryanair, running twice aweek from Leeds and once a weekfrom Glasgow.Egypt tourism minister quitsHishamZaazou, thetourism minister ofMohamed Morsi’sMuslim Brotherhoodgovernment, is oneof five ministers whohave reportedly quitamid widespread antigovernmentprotests.Middle East newsagency Al Jazeera,who cited a seniorofficials as the source,said the ministers had resigned insympathy with the protests, whichare calling for president Morsi’sresignation.Zaazou has resigned along withcommunication & IT minister AtefHelmi; legal & parliamentary affairsminister Hatem Bagato; water ministerAbdel Qawy Khalifa; and environmentminister Khaled Abdel-Aal.The demonstrations mark theone year anniversary of Morsi’sreign, which has left many Egyptian’sdisenfranchised after the Arab Springas Travel Daily reported last month.Click here for full storyThai pushes back A380 London launchThaiAirwayshas pushedback thelaunch ofits AirbusA380 Londonlaunch by 10months dueto “importanttechnicalmodifications”.The airlinewas originallydue to introduce the aircraft onthe London-Bangkok route on1 December but has set a newtentative launch date for 30October 2014.Its London route will beoperated by a Boeing 747 in themeantime.In a statement the airline said:“Thai Airways regrets to announcethat due to important technicalmodifications, the A380 will not beable to commence its operation onthe Heathrow- Bangkok route asplanned from December 1, 2013.”Click here for full storyfollow us onAdvertise with TDUK today! Email us at advertising@traveldailymedia.comManaging Editor: Amanda Greenwood * | Editor-in-Chief: Mark Elliott *30 St John's Lane, London, EC1M 4NB Tel: +44 (0) 207 2530888

TRAVEL DAILY ASIA TRAVEL DAILY INDIA TRAVEL DAILY MECRUISE NEWS UKwww.traveldailymedia.com/uk Wednesday 3rd July 2013 ▶ P 3Pub hotels “snapping at budget chain heels”Perceptionsof pubaccommodationare changing andcould be seen tocompete with thelikes of budgethotel chains, anew report hassuggested. One innine pubs in the UKis thought to haveaccommodation,totaling morethan 50,000 rooms across thecountry. With more awareness theRPBI Report suggested combinedturnover could reach GBP750million. In a survey of pub ownersthe report found two thirds of ownersexpect revenue from rooms to growin the next year and half have plansto refurbish rooms in the next 12UK’s luxury market holds upLuxury travel sales continueto hold up in the UK althoughChina and Brazil continue tosee the most growth, accordingto recent research. Data from asurvey of luxury tour operatorsby Pangaea Network foundmost companies were positivewith around three quarters ofcompanies seeing a boost in sales.months.A statement from the report said:“Pubs have always offeredaccommodation. It is hardly a newmarket. But, with all the focus onfood and other industry issues, thispotentially lucrative revenue streamhas often been overlooked.” Clickhere for full storyLuxury consumers are also takingmore trips, with more than half ofrespondents saying clients arebooking four or more trips a year.The UK has the largest numberof people with budgets more thanEUR10,000 and as such rateprivacy and exclusivity as their toppriority when it comes to bookinga hotel.Exciting Sales OpportunityICS Travel Group, premier DMC for Indochina,Indonesia and India, is looking for an UK-basedSales Representativeto strengthen the Group’s profile in theUK/Ireland market.Candidates must process a strong productknowledge of the destinations that we feature,along with a dedication to servicing our existingagents and establishing new contacts.Previous sales representative experience ispreferred along with a strong agent following.If you have the above attributes, please emailGordon Bell, Director of Sales, UK/Ireland Market at gordon@is-intl.comwww.icstravelgroup.comHyatt selectsSiteMinderHyatt has selected SiteMinderas a channel manager. Thecompany has chosen SiteMinder'stechnology in an effort to moreeffectively manage the onlinedistribution of its entire portfolio.David Williams, SiteMinder'sExecutive Director of Global Sales &Marketing, called the Hyatt contract a"milestone achievement" and a "voteof confidence in SiteMinder’s abilityto bolster the group’s online visibility".The gates await: Charlieand the Chocolate Factoryopened on the West End recentlyand has already been selling wellfor Superbreak. Packages areavailable throughout the summer.Eurolines launchesDisneyland ParisservicesEurolines UK has launched dailyservices to Disneyland Parisfrom its base at London Victoria.The coach operator will run theservices seven days a week to theresort’s coach station and six ofits resort hotels. Its services runfrom London to Charles du GaulleAirport and onto the theme park.follow us onAdvertise with TDUK today! Email us at advertising@traveldailymedia.comManaging Editor: Amanda Greenwood * | Editor-in-Chief: Mark Elliott *30 St John's Lane, London, EC1M 4NB Tel: +44 (0) 207 2530888

TRAVEL DAILY ASIA TRAVEL DAILY INDIA TRAVEL DAILY MECRUISE NEWS UKwww.traveldailymedia.com/uk Wednesday 3rd July 2013 ▶ P 4Art installed into Cardiff AirportSPARKTaking risks with technologyCardiff Airport has introducedvarious art and multimediainstallations to improve its welcome toincoming passengers. The ‘welcomewall’; a walkway featuring DylanThomas poetry and a beach wallshowing off Wales’ beaches have allbeen put up as part of a project tocelebrate the country’s culture in itsTitan Airways signs Jet2 dealTitan Airways has increasedits airline activity for thesummer with a new Jet2 deal.One of Titan’s Boeing 757 aircrafthas been damp leased to thenorth-based low-cost carrier’sQUOTEOF THE DAY“It is atremendoushonour and a dayI will forevertreasure”ThomsonAirways’ MD ChrisBrowne acceptsher OBEpublic areas. “First impressions areimportant. Cardiff Airport is a majorgateway into Wales for air passengersand this new project will showcase auniquely Welsh approach to business,culture, the arts, tourism and events,”said Wales’ First Minister CarwynJones. Its displays will be updatedduring the three-year project.Manchester base while anAirbus A320 will be heading toNewcastle. Both will be usedthroughout the summer up toSeptember and will be decked outin Jet2’s livery.IN NUMBERS10Months minimal Thaihas pushed back A380London launch11.4Metre-squared sizePremier Inn’s new ‘hub’rooms are50,000Rooms in pubs acrossthe UKTravel companies needto be braver when it comesto updating their technologysystems or risk losing out inthe future, a developer hassaid. Bharat Patel, commercialdirector at CodeGen told TravelDaily that a ‘tick box’ approachto fi nding a new front, mid andback office system needs tobe eradicated and businessesshould consider how technologycould change in the future.He advised companies intoconsider how systems are nowautomating many functionsand how doing so could makeworkfl ow for employees better.“The travel industry lacksa good IT consultancy to really look at the engine of a company andsee what the business needs,” he explained. “Consultants look atthe functions but do not think about the future and in thinking in thetraditional mentality means they do not get the benefi t of a new system.”Taking on what Patel calls ‘legacy’ systems such as GDS and otherreservations, ticketing and back office platforms, he said CodeGen’sTravelbox product had been previously ruled out by companies by pricealthough it has other benefi ts, although some companies are taking therisk. Its module-based system includes more than 30 options coveringreporting and dynamic packaging to ticketing, shopping cart and visamanagement.“Companies need a shake up and need new software that does not‘plug holes’ or build on old systems but delivers the entire offering,”he said. “It is a big decision to make [to change technology systems]but technology is critical now and businesses need someone whounderstands both the IT and business processes to choose a solution.Monarch is a client of ours and chose to transform its business usingtechnology, not the other way around.”Likewise CodeGen has also encouraged IATA to not be afraid totake risks with technology for its New Distribution Capability (NDC),highlighting how the travel industry is usually behind in the tech stakes.“Standards like NDC is what other industries have been doing for 20years,” said John Andrew, managing director at Cool Travel which worksto consult businesses with CodeGen. “Technology is often so central to abusiness that it is tough to make that change but IATA needs to make theright decision keeping the future in mind too.”Thinking forward is a constant theme within talks with Patel andAndrew. CodeGen, with its head office in Sri Lanka, prides itself on anacademic approach to business and in its research and development(R&D) arm to see what the next big thing is. Boasting that CodeGen wasusing today’s buzzwords years ago and has already spent more thanthree years working with HTML 5; the company is to use its knowledgeto produce a series of white papers. Although like most technologycompanies, it will hold back on revealing too many secrets and on-goingprojects.“The papers will focus on what products are out there now and thechallenges the industry faces with areas like mobile, HTML 5, airlineinventory, revenue management and NDC,” added Andrew.follow us onAdvertise with TDUK today! Email us at advertising@traveldailymedia.comManaging Editor: Amanda Greenwood * | Editor-in-Chief: Mark Elliott *30 St John's Lane, London, EC1M 4NB Tel: +44 (0) 207 2530888Travel Daily UK is a publication of Travel Daily Media Limited (UK). All content is fully protected by copyright law. Written permission from the Editor-in-Chief Mark Elliott (mark@traveldailymedia.com) is required to reproduce any material.While every care has been taken in the preparation of Travel Daily UK no liability can be accepted for errors or omissions. Content is published in good faith. Responsibility for editorial comment is taken by Amanda Greenwood.

TRAVEL DAILY ASIA TRAVEL DAILY INDIA TRAVEL DAILY MECRUISE NEWS UKwww.traveldailymedia.com/uk Wednesday 3rd July 2013 ▶ P 5Ethiopian flies to South AmericaEthiopian Airlines hascapital of Togo.launched its fi rst fl ights toThe addition of Sao Paulo andSouth America. On 1 July 2013, Rio de Janeiro will bring Ethiopian'sthe African carrier commenced total network to 75 destinations onservices from Addis Ababa to the fi ve continents. The Brazil serviceBrazilian cities of Sao Paulo and also follows the recent launch ofRio de Janeiro, using its Boeing B787 Dreamliner services to the787 Dreamliner. Flights will operate Korean capital, Seoul. Click herethree times a week via Lomé, the for full storyGREENMake Holidays Greener Month kicks offMore than 18 travel companies have pledged to be moresustainable this July to mark Make Holidays Greener Month. AITO,Cosmos, Hilton, Holiday Extras, Kuoni, Thomas Cook, Travel Mattersand TUI UK & Ireland are amongst the companies that have signedup to make staff and customers more aware of green issues andholidays.Initiatives include Thomas Cook’s use of the Travel Foundation’sGreener Excursions tool, while Cosmos has rolled out a greenthemedquiz for its staff and AITO is offering tips to ‘link what’s local’.Headline sponsor Cyprus Tourism Organisation has also adoptedthe campaign’s local theme and had invited tour operators andtravel agents to take part in a Facebook poll to gather views from theindustry (www.facebook.com/cyprustourismorganisationuk). Thosewho participate in the poll could win a fam trip place.UK hotels urged to ‘act now’ to save energyHotels in the UK have been urged to “shape up” to save energyand help cut down on “spiralling” costs.With some properties in Europe thought to be spending morethan GBP1,000 on electricity per room every year, management fi rmEcompter has encouraged hotels to look into their carbon footprintand implement a strategy that also involves how its customers andstaff use electricity and water during their stay.“Hotel policies alone, however well intentioned, are not goingto bring about kind of changes in energy use needed to cut costs,improve profi tability and have a positive effect on the environment.Hotels can only achieve this by working in partnership with theirguests and their staff,” Ecompter’s founder and CEO Ville Valorintasaid.Dubai Airports to limit carbon footprintwith new concourseDubai Airports is working towards making Concourse D - whichwill become the new home of more than 100 international airlines thatfl y to Dubai International when it opens in 2015 - as energy efficientand sustainable as possible, the company has said.Under the supervision of Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects(DAEP), the new building will implement several green initiatives thatwill reduce the environmental impact of the new facility.These include adopting recycling programmes duringconstruction, the use of renewable energy as well as utilising locallysourced and recycled building materials. For Dubai Airports andDubai Aviation Engineering Projects the intention is to promotehealthy, durable, affordable and environmentally sound practices indesign, construction and eventual operation. Click here for full storyEYEONLATIN AMERICAHoliday٭ Inn expands in EcuadorIHG has opened a new Holiday Inn hotelin Ecuador. The 122-room Holiday Inn HotelGuayaquil Airport is a new-build propertylocated adjacent to José Joaquín de OlmedoInternational Airport in Ecuador's secondbiggest city. Facilities include a swimming pool,business centre, fi tness centre, lobby bar andeight meeting rooms. It becomes the secondIHG-branded hotel for Ecuador, following the Holiday Inn Express Quito,and the company also has plans to launch a new Holiday Inn at QuitoAirport in 2016.Meliá to launch Tryp Hotels in Peru ٭Meliá Hotels International has announcedplans to launch a new Tryp hotel in Peru. Dueto open in Peru's capital Lima in 2016, theTryp Lima Mirafl ores will feature 140 roomsplus a restaurant, fi tness room and meetingrooms. Located in the Mirafl ores area, which ispopular with tourists, the new hotel will targetboth leisure and business travellers. It willbecome Meliá Hotels' second property in the city, following the MeliáLima Hotel. The company is also planning to bring its Innside brand toPeru.Aeromexico adds US services ٭Aeromexico has added several newservices from Mexico City to destinations inthe US this summer. Effective 1 July 2013,the carrier has add a second daily fl ight onits Mexico City-Orlando route, and a fourthdaily service between the Mexican capital andMiami. In addition, Aeromexico has startedoperating six more weekly fl ights betweenMexico City and Los Angeles. In a separate move, the Mexican airlinehas leased three Embraer E170 regional aircraft from Finnair for aperiod of six years.Guatemala tourism climbs ٭Visitor arrivals to the Central Americannation of Guatemala have increased in 2013.According to the latest data from the country'sMinistry of Economy, international arrivalsclimbed 8.8% in the fi rst quarter of 2013. AndGuatemalan specialist Martsam Travel said85% of visitors to the country visit one or moreof its three UNESCO World Heritage sites -Antigua, Tikal and Quirigua - which form the backbone of a new 10-yearsustainable tourism development plan implemented in 2012.JetBlue launches Costa Rica flights ٭JetBlue Airways has launched a newroute to San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica.Effective today, the US carrier will serve theCentral American country with daily directfl ights from Fort Lauderdale-HollywoodInternational Airport in Florida, using its 150-seat Airbus A320 aircraft. Destinations in LatinAmerica and the Caribbean now make upalmost a third of JetBlue's entire route network. The carrier previouslylaunched fl ights between Orlando and San Jose in 2009.follow us onAdvertise with TDUK today! Email us at advertising@traveldailymedia.comManaging Editor: Amanda Greenwood * | Editor-in-Chief: Mark Elliott *30 St John's Lane, London, EC1M 4NB Tel: +44 (0) 207 2530888Travel Daily UK is a publication of Travel Daily Media Limited (UK). All content is fully protected by copyright law. Written permission from the Editor-in-Chief Mark Elliott (mark@traveldailymedia.com) is required to reproduce any material.While every care has been taken in the preparation of Travel Daily UK no liability can be accepted for errors or omissions. Content is published in good faith. Responsibility for editorial comment is taken by Amanda Greenwood.