Speculations are rife that travellers would move away from airlines as the wait times are getting astonishingly large due to security and other logistical reasons. Coventry airport is set to negate the effect by offering the best (shortest) wait times.

According to an online poll conducted by Travel Counsellors, passengers have highly rated the airport for its wait times.

According to the poll, on an average, the security checks are completed within 2 minutes; and upon arrival, there is no waiting need for immigration checks.

Any poll would reflect the best and worst of the item under scrutiny. While Coventry won accolades for short wait times, Manchester Airport was found staring at the other end of the line. It was voted as the airport with the longest wait times.

On an average, Manchester Airport ate 23 minutes for security checks and further 44 minutes for passport clearance.

The age-old traditional way of booking holidays through agents is beginning to see light as the trends suggest that travellers are opting for one-stop shop rather than booking their own air tickets, hotel rooms among others.

The first 9 months of 2006 netted 15.3 million holidays in UK while the first 9 months in 2007 has seen a slight gain with 15.4 million. Before the popularity of travel websites, in 2004, the total number of holidays is estimated to be at 19.8 million and the following year it dipped to 18.9 million.

According to some, there is too much risk involved in booking over the web. The risks start with credit card frauds and could extend up to the confusion of booking airline tickets, hotel rooms and getting a reliable feedback on attractions and hotels.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) spokeswoman Frances Tuke said - “If you had booked a flight to Australia and a separate tour at the other end, it’s your problem if BA cancels the flight and you miss the tour. If you book a package, the tour operator will sort you out.”

Such instances also indicate that travellers do not want to own the responsibility of the itinerary and the means of getting there; they rather enjoy the holiday as a guest and put the onus on a real person, a travel agent. If the trends are to be believed, traditional travel agents will be back in action full swing while travel websites might have to rethink their strategy.

via icWales

Tourism in the Northumberland is a flourishing business and the figures are suggestive of the fact.

The figures released from International Passenger Survey shows that Northumberland has seen tourist spending increase a third, year on year. Tourists spent £14m in 2005 and it dramatically rose to £19m the following year. Similar rise is expected for 2007 as well.

The county seems to have attracted international visitors more than the domestic ones. It recorded 74,000 last year as compared to 56,000, the year before. It included 344,000 overnight stays last year which is an increase of 11%.

The county’s tourism stands on quite a few attractions which are finding popularity among thousands of visitors. Some popular ones include Alnwick Castle and Garden, Bamburgh Castle, Farne Islands, Hadrian’s Wall among others.

Tom Wright, VisitBritain’s CEO said - “Despite competition from overseas destinations, Northumberland’s tourism businesses can be rightly proud of this magnificent achievement. The key thing is to build on that success. Tourism is tremendously important to the county’s economy, and local businesses need to do all they can to maintain and sharpen their competitive edge.”

A survey conducted by Alliance & Leicester has found that over-50s are more enthusiastic and eager to travel long distances than any other age groups. It has been surveyed that 50% of them would like to undertake long haul travel and have a lifetime experience. They usually prefer to stay in other countries.

Statistics show that a third of people travelling abroad are over 50. This could be attributed to disposable income and most of it is spent towards travelling outside UK. One in 3 over-50s has visited at least 20 countries, survey adds.

Survey statement read - “The older generation is changing the face of the UK travel market. This age group has travel in their DNA.”

Survey also adds that three quarters of people who are over-50 are getting adventurous with their choice of destination.

Travolution, a leading travel magazine in the UK has pulled up top travel websites in the country for not building websites that makes browsing friendly for the disabled. This, in effect, is a direct violation of 1995 Disability Discrimination Act and could be a punishable offence if upheld.

There are around 10 million people who suffer from various disabilities which include partial to complete blindness, hearing problems, inability to move arms and fingers, cognitive impairments and learning difficulties among others.

The analysed websites fail the accessibility criteria for the disabled in various quarters. Heavy usage of graphics and flash objects make it impossible for those who make use of synthetic speech software that transforms text into audible synthetic speech to browse websites. Also, the inability to access the links through keyboard due to the use of javascript navigation makes it a sad picture for physically challenged. Some of the fonts and colours used, make it hard or impossible for the partially blind to navigate accurately.

At the end of the day, it’s these websites that are on the losing side; not because of the violation but for the business they lose by serving the normal person alone. As a business strategy, glaring colours and attractive fonts could work for the majority but businesses should remember that every penny counts, even if it means to have a separate website for the disabled.

The capital of Scotland, Edinburgh has been voted as the best city in a survey conducted by Wanderlust magazine. The city was awarded at Destination Travel Show held in London late last month.

Around 3000 people voted in a survey conducted by the magazine since 2001. There were 612 other contenders in the race from other places around the world. Luang Prabang in Laos was adjudged the best city in the world followed closely by Santiago de Compostela in Spain.

In October last year, Edinburgh was awarded the best city in the UK by Channel 4. Putting the Scottish city in the top ten affirms the liking people have towards it. At the same time, the crowning puts a doubt on people’s mind as the sample size considered is tiny.

Here’s the top ten cities:

1. Luang Prabang, Laos
2. Santiago de Compostela, Spain
3. Venice, Italy
4. San Francisco, USA
5. Sydney, Australia
6. Hong Kong, China
7. Lhasa, Tibet
8. Dubrovnik, Croatia
9. Cusco, Peru
10. Edinburgh, Scotland

Majority of UK tourists used to hit beaches in Northern Africa and Southern Europe in summer. According to the latest trends coming in, people are more interested in venturing into places that have scarce population and offer more than just lying down.

The Holiday Which? magazine carried an article talking about the latest trends in UK travel. According to Claire Lilley, people from UK are looking out for places that still have the reminiscence of natural beauty and those that aren’t thickly populated. Lying down on the beaches has become a thing of the past and now people look forward to doing something more physical.

Places in Eastern Europe like Bulgaria and Turkey has been a top favourite among travellers in the past year. Travellers look to embark upon places that have less prominence.

While it all comes down to the activities done at the destination, horse riding along with bungee jumping and sky diving are hot favourites.

The change in trend could be largely possible as people in UK are taking multiple vacations a year rather than one big break.

London has had a mixed bag in the tourism industry. It was voted as the top destination but poorly on the airport charts as was in the rest of UK. Now, there is something more to cheer about with Chesterfield Mayfair Hotel in London hitting the top ten list of best hotels.

The Chesterfield Mayfair was placed at nine. It was described as “exquisite”, “beyond expectations”, “spotless”, “great value”, and a “peaceful retreat” in a “perfect location” with “first class service”.

The awards were announced following a survey conducted by a travel website, Tripadvisor.

The Chesterfield Mayfair had a few other accolades as well. It was rated as the fourth best luxury hotel in Europe, sixth best in the top 25 favourite locations and the sixth best for service among hotels in Europe.

Other UK hotels in the fray were the Rudding Park Hotel in Yorkshire, the Atlantic hotel, in Jersey, Hotel 41 and the Draycott Hotel in London and the Summer Lodge Country House Hotel in Dorset.

via The Press Association

It has been researched that an average Brit has helped in creating around 650 kilograms of carbon-di-oxide (CO2) over three days around Christmas this year. The carbon emissions were helped by massive travelling undertaken along with tons of food wastes.

Researchers from York University’s Stockholm Institute conducted a detailed study based on inputs from airline bookings, groceries sold and other items that could contribute towards emitting carbon.

The entire UK community has been estimated to have travelled around 3 billion miles during Christmas for various reasons. So, on an average, every Brit would have travelled 121 miles during Christmas; that’s a lot of travelling. And, this is only UK we are talking about; imagine the intensity for the entire Christmas celebrating folks in other parts of the world.

While travel has contributed tons and heaps, food hasn’t left itself too much behind. The Christmas dinner alone has contributed to a mountain of waste which included peelings from 240 million sprouts, 105 million potatoes and 20 million carrots. Adding and calculating the law of averages from the mountain of waste, an average Brit has contributed to 26 kilograms of carbon over three days. It would make an interesting comparison on the carbon contribution scale for a regular meal.

All the pollution mentioned above is just for one dinner; I am afraid to extrapolate it for the holiday season. We humans pollute our atmosphere in almost everything we do. Gosh!

via BBC

After being scathed away for intolerable traffic and busy airports, London has got a feather in its cap. It’s been named as the Destination of the Year- 2007 at the World Travel Awards.

There were fifteen finalists which included the likes of New York City, Sydney, Barbados and Maldives among others. A constant flow of events and openings of tourist centered attractions seems to be have done the trick for the UK capital.

World Travel Awards is the most prestigious recognition in the tourism industry. The awards are conferred after a vote out by over 167,000 travel professionals around the world.

Here is the list of openings and events held in the year 2007 which ensured that London got the top prize:

• Wembley Stadium (March)
• London Zoo’s Gorilla Kingdom (March)
• The O2 (June)
• Royal Festival Hall (June)
• The Tour de France Grand Départ (July)
• India Now! (July)
• China’s Terracotta Army at the British Museum (September)
• American National Football League (October)
• St Pancras International (November)
• Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs (November)
• London Transport Museum (November)