The earth is getting warmer and warmer with each year that passes and that means we’re going to see some significant changes in the land around us. For a few lucky places, global warming means positive things. For example, British Columbia is hoping that the extra few temperature points could mean a more Mediterranean climate that will boost their wine business and take industry away from wine hot spots like the South of France and the United States’ Napa Valley. However, a great number of places aren’t going to be nearly so lucky.

In addition to those wine hot spots that will be economically destroyed when the weather warms up, there are a large number of beautiful places that are going to devastated if global warming comes to pass. Numerous vacation destinations that are revered for their beauty and tranquility will drop off the map as the heat eats up the very things that make them appealing to travelers today. Famous diving spots, much-loved coastal cities and famous landmark attractions are all at risk of being lost to the global rise in temperatures.

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According to the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), music festivals are a lot cheaper overseas than in UK. Also, the chances of obtaining tickets are better.

ABTA spokesperson states that the music ticket prices are priced economically elsewhere. The chance of bad weather playing a spoilsport is remote when compared to places in UK. With the UK economy flourishing, tickets anywhere outside UK will be cheaper than in UK.

Tipton said – “Savvy music fans are beginning to realise that many of the bands that tour the UK over the summer also do the music circuit in Europe, with the added advantage that ticket prices are often considerably lower.”

Experts have predicted congestion, chaos, confusion and sluggish movement of traffic this Thursday. The Easter traffic this year is expected to be double over last year. Around 16 million cars are expected to take to road on Thursday, it’s been estimated.

RAC research has shown that people travelling abroad have dwindled by 43% from the previous year. Reasons could be plenty like recession, rising prices of travel and price rise in other countries. The transformation from abroad to domestic travel will take toll on domestic flights, trains and roads. With the predicted rail chaos this weekend, many are preferring road transportation.

Neil Thompson from RAC said - “Easter is always one of our busiest periods of the year, but this Easter’s getaway is expected to be more intense as motorists shun foreign travel in favour of domestic driving holidays.”

Traffic is expected to be on similar lines on Easter Monday as well. The advice for motorists is to accommodate 50% extra time before travelling for both Thursday as well as on Monday.

The company in papers almost daily for its sub-standard services at London airports has decided to change personnel right at the top. BAA has announced that Colin Matthews would replace Stephen Nelson from the 1st of April, 2008.

Matthews has previously worked as a CEO for Severn Trent, a British water company and also occupied the capacity of a technical director for British Airways.

BAA is facing criticism from all facets of management at London airports, especially at Heathrow. A third of Heathrow flights are delayed and the blame game has taken the airport operator as its convoy. If the slide at Heathrow continues, other airports in Europe could soon replace Heathrow as the hub in Western and Central parts of Europe.

Terminal 5 with its servicing capability of 35m passengers a year seems to have given a new lease of life for BAA. The opening of the new terminal will decongest other terminals and offer scope for redevelopment. A third runway and a sixth terminal are in the pipeline but with the protestors sitting on their backs persistently, obtaining approvals cannot be imagined as an easy task.

Travel bigwig Thomas Cook (TC) has bought out an internet giant in the hotel business, Hotels4u.com. This is TC’s first acquisition since its merger with MyTravel last year.

Hotels4u was acquired for a priced sum of £21.8m, totally payable in cash. The existing management will remain in place till 2013 and will claim 25% stake in the profits earned through operations.

Hotels4u is an independent website which offers hotels, resorts and other places of stay for travellers along with exchange programmes. Last year, it serviced over 500,000 people. It also offers attractive commission for travel agents who use its services.

Manny Fontenla-Novoa, Thomas Cook CEO said - “This acquisition fits perfectly with our strategy of enhancing Thomas Cook’s position in the independent travel sector and will also further strengthen our mainstream business.”

Thomas Cook might have found an able ally and a perfect acquisition in Hotel4u’s ability to customize hotel packages. Thomas Cook too offers customized solutions.

Hotels4u has links with over 30,000 hotels and TC plans on inviting its online users to make use of it. We have learnt that TC will be starting this service in Germany and will spread across to other geographies.

TUI Travel UK has openly criticized airliners for not revealing the carbon emissions caused by each of their planes. The holiday giant plans to label eco-friendly airliners and publish the amount of emission caused by each plane, and this should act as an indicator for consumers to choose an airline based on ideology.

The company lauded the government for introducing air passenger duty (APD) for each flight but was unhappy that the duty would be introduced only in the year 2009. Also, the company wants to levy taxes based on the amount of carbon emissions caused by each plane. So, in essence, cleaner planes should pay minimum APD and planes that emit more carbon should pay more tax.

There is a call to publicly notify consumers on the amount of carbon emitted by each plane. If this practice is followed, then consumers can voluntarily choose planes that emit less carbon. It has been analysed that leisure planes produce less carbon compared to low fare and regular scheduled planes.

While the public outcry is against the airliners, a pro-aviation body, Flying Matters completely disagrees with the accusation. Their point of view is that aviation causes 2% emission globally.

Meanwhile, UK aviation has committed to cutting down carbon emissions by 50% by 2020.

British Airways has been confirmed as a fourth tier one sponsor to the London Olympics to be held in 2012. The sponsorship deal was on the expected lines and was expected. The sponsorship is rumoured to be around £50m. More sponsors are to be announced later this month.

London Olympics has three other big brand sponsors in Lloyds TSB in the banking sector, EDF Energy in the utilities sector and Adidas in sportswear domain.

Along with the sponsorship, BA will be the official carrier for British athletes for Beijing Olympics later this year and to the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010.

“British Airways is a natural partner for London 2012 and we are proud to become part of the team that makes the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games a success,” BA CEO Willie Walsh chief executive said in a statement.

The popular Indian auto rickshaw running in UK under the Thai name Tuctuc has seen an unfortunate end as a result of British bureaucracy. Tutucs have been permanently banned from UK owing to climactic effects and safety concerns.

Tuctucs were launched in the nineteenth century seaside town of Brighton two years back. The entrepreneur behind this project was Dominic Ponniah, an eco-friendly Swedish Tamilian.

The famous auto rickshaws from India were brought to UK as a means of public transportation and soon became popular in Brighton. Around 18 rickshaws plied within the town making it a popular means of transport. Ponniah was making plans to launch these in London and other major cities in Europe before the plug was pulled.

The tuctucs were probably the only public transportation vehicle that was emission free. It ran on natural gas fuel which is free from emissions.

A strong section of public transportation businesses numbering in thousands backed by British bureaucrats decided to put an end to what was going to revolutionize public transportation in the UK. The initial charge was a breach in license and later claimed that the tuctucs were unsafe for public and the environment.

West Wales Airport is seeing developments of different natures. While the councillors backed the £5m redevelopment project that includes a new terminal, control tower and a hotel, they also put a clause stating that the flight take off and landings are banned between 1030hrs and 1130hrs GMT. Sunday service takes place at a church close by during these times and the vision is not to disturb the Sunday service.

Blaenannerch Methodist chapel is located next to the airport. The runway runs parallel to the church. The ban on flights was proposed by the chapel and was accepted by the councillors and has been passed as an order to the airport authorities.

The West Wales Airport is a tiny airport with around 2000 flights plying annually. With the expansion, the load is expected to raise four fold over the next few years. The airport is mainly used for passenger planes and private jets.

The ban on flight operations for one hour might prove costly in the long run. If the chapel administrators feel that the planes taking off and landing are causing too many sound related disruptions, they should have been advised to implement sound-proof systems or to find a new home in a calm neighbourhood. Halting commercial aviation system for religious reasons will strongly be condemned in all circles.

via BBC

Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) have predicted that around 3.5 million people from UK will leave for other countries within and outside Europe between the 2st of December and 2nd of January. Residents in UK have been deprived of summer outings with an unusual wet summer and would like to make the most of the vacation time this time round.

Many are travelling to sunnier places on the other side of the earth like Goa, Egypt and the Canary islands. Shoppers have already flown to Dubai to avoid steep holiday prices.

As the winter sets in, snowfall has started in parts of Europe. Many skiers are flying to France, Austria and Italy which have recorded good amount of snowfall this year. Meanwhile, some skiers are flying west towards US and Canada in search of challenging slopes.

Non adventure folks are flying to cities for the New Year’s. Paris, Amsterdam, Dublin and New York have topped the list.

A small percentage of travellers will be plying through the newly introduced Eurostar service.

All the travelling will take place if there aren’t any cancellations in flights. But, as we hear, over 1000 people are stranded in Heathrow.