Holidaymakers
scored a victory over the British tour operator Thomas Cook
after falling ill at a Caribbean hotel.
More
than 500 people won compensation totalling more than £2.5million
two years after holiday firms continued to send clients to
Bahia Principe Hotel - in Dominican Republic as more and more
guests were contracting serious illnesses.
Twenty-nine needed hospital treatment
and more than 200 still suffer effects. Twelve couples'
honeymoons were ruined.
One plane flying returning the
Gatwick was quarantined while another at the same airport had
to be boarded by doctors.
The holidaymakers were represented by
solicitors Irwin Mitchell. Spokesman Clive Garner saidl: 'Day
after day, fleets of ambulances were ferrying people to
hospital and yet still tour operators carried on flying people
out there.'
Thomas Cook and MyTravel settled
before the claim reached court.
'Jaws' Attack
Sparks
Fear In Egypt
There's
a warning to tourists to be extra cautious swimming in the sea
after a woman was bitten to death by a shark in Egypt
The
tragedy happened in the Red Sea where sharks are common but
attacks have been quite rare.
The
woman jumped into the water for a closer look at what she
thought was a big fish approaching her boat. She was bitten on
the leg by the shark and is thought to have bled to death
before being pulled out of the water.
Sharks
are common in the area and often swim as close as 5 metres
from the beach where tourists take pictures, but attacks by
sharks are rare. The last person killed by a shark in Egypt
was snorkelling off the coast of Sharm el-Sheikh in 2004.
The
Red Sea is home to a variety of sharks, and some of them, such
as the powerful and quick mako shark, are regarded as
particularly dangerous for humans.
Swine Flu Not Scaring
Globetrotters
The
Mexico swine flu outbreak has failed to infect demand for
long-haul trips.
British
holidaymakers haven’t been scared off by the virus,
according to the travel operator TUI which has seen bookings
for long-haul holidays from the UK increased by two per cent
on the start of May last year.
When
flights to Mexico were grounded customers switched to other
Caribbean destinations such as Jamaica which is up 30 per cent
and the Dominican Republic which has seen bookings surge by 19
per cent.
In
the first three months of 2009, bookings fell by 17 per cent
in both Britain and the prospects for the coming summer are
looking equally downbeat, with sales down 9 per cent in
Britain. However those customers who are going on holiday are
spending more. The average selling price for a holiday bought
in Britain has risen by 10 per cent.
Cheap
Sun Lotion
Outshines The Dearest
One of the cheapest sun lotions on
sale in the UK provides better protection than some of
the dearest, a study's found.
Researchers for a Which? survey claim
a £3 bottle of Asda sun lotion gives a better defence than
brands which cost three times as much.
Which? investigators tested 14 of the
best-selling sun creams in the factor of 15 bracket and
say only five met its standards.
The study found the Asda cream
offered a protection rating of 24, nine more than stated on
the bottle.
Researchers have warned that
sunbathers could be putting their health at risk with
protective creams that fail to offer what they claim.
Rival companies such as Tesco, Marks
and Spencer and Wilkinsons insist their products live up to
their claims under their own independent tests.
Most products offer protection
against UVB rays which is linked to several types of
skin cancer.
Some products also claim protection
against UVA, which is also linked to some aggressive cancers
and ageing.
Flying From A
- Zzz in
Quieter Aircraft
Aircraft
travel will be quieter and cleaner in the next decade,
according to the world’s leading aviation chiefs.
Engine
maker Rolls-Royce plans to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by
30%, the company’s vice president Robert Nuttall told an
aviation and climate change conference in London.
The
conference heard aeroplane engine technology is able to
improve carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and noise as a
package.
Boeing’s
Roger Bone spoke of the role aviation was playing in reducing
emissions and noise and said: ‘"Technologies already on
the drawing board show potential to reduce carbon dioxide by
30%, nitrogen oxide by 60% and noise by 15 to 20 decibels by
2020."
Cheap Texting
Wherever
You May Roam
Brits travelling abroad this summer
will be able to text, call, and browse the internet at
cheaper rates, thanks to a ruling by the EU.
The European Commission is ordering
mobiles companies to slash charges across Europe, so
from from July 1st texting back to the UK from abroad
will cost no more that 9p (€0.11) as opposed to the 46p (€0.49).
The new rules also mean mobile
phone operators must provide clearer information on the cost
of using the internet on a mobile phone when abroad.
The rules, which will apply until
summer 2012, will also see the cost of roaming phone calls
fall to 38p (€43) per minute for an outgoing voice call.
Credit
Crunch Bargain
Busters
Bulgaria
has become a bolt hole for bargain hunters, according to a
holiday costs' survey.
Ten
typical holiday items and costs, including a meal out, set
tourists back just £42.23 in Bulgaria, the survey by the
British Post Office travel services found.
This
is two-and-half times cheaper than in Antigua, where the items
cost £108.70 , making the Caribbean island the most expensive
of the 18 destinations surveyed.
Turkey
and Croatia joined Bulgaria as the best places in Europe for a
bargain break, while France (£78.30) was the most expensive
eurozone country.
Spain,
at £67.08, was the best-bargain eurozone country, closely
followed by Portugal (#67.47)
The
survey showed that prices have dropped in Portugal as well as
in Greece and Italy, but have risen in long-haul destinations
Egypt rising nearly 47%.
Post
Office head of travel services Sarah Munro said: ``The
eurozone has taken a bashing this year, but our survey
suggests that tourist outlets in many resorts are taking
dramatic steps to encourage tourists.
``Despite
the weak pound, this means that UK tourists who shop carefully
could find that they get more than expected for their money.''
She
went on: ``Prices for eating out have shown some of the
biggest rises in this year's survey. In the US meals increased
by almost 49% and in Turkey they have gone up by over one
third.
``By
contrast the increase in Greece was just above 1%."
The
Airline's Luggage
Lottery
The world's airlines collectively
lost more than one million bags in 2007, according to a report
by the UK's Air Transport Users Council (AUC),
In the same year, it's estimated 47
million pieces of baggage were mishandled and it's getting
worse.
In 2006 the total was 34 million
while in 2005, the figure was 30 million.
The council added that on "too
many occasions" passengers were also not being fairly
compensated for lost luggage
The AUC chairman, Tina Tietjen, said:
"On too many occasions, passengers are not fairly
compensated for lost luggage, because they do not have
receipts for the items in their bag or because the airline is
taking into account depreciation of the value of the items.
And with delayed baggage, passengers are often out of pocket
because airlines will not reimburse them fully for expenses
they incurred buying essential items while they are without
their bag."
Budget Airline To Oz
A
new budget airline service connecting London with Asia’s
spreading a rare note of optimism amid the world-wide slump
AirAsia’s
no frills service to Kuala
Lumpur launched with with tickets starting from £149
and from there passengers can connect with the airline's
pre-existing services to Australia.
The
airline’s cutting costs by not offering food on demand and
charging for meals and inflight movies
Passengers
will notice Air Asia’s seat configuration is on its
new planes will have one extra seat in each row, going from a
2-4-2 configuration to a 3-3-3 set-up resulting in 1.25 inches
less in seat width per passenger.
Costa del Slump
The
number of Britons taking holidays in Spain has dropped to its
lowest since records began 15 years ago.
There
are 20.5 per cent fewer holidaymakers heading for the Costas
because of the credit crunch and the weaker pound, according
to the Ministry for Industry, Tourism and Commerce
In
January the Costa del Sol region registered a massive 26.8 per
cent drop on last year's figures.
The
Canary Islands which are popular as a winter destination for
Brits, slumped by 17.5 per cent, that's 47,000 fewer tourists
on the same month last year.
The
number of German, French, US and Italian tourists visiting
Spain was also down.
Thirty-six per cent of British
travellers take into account the strength of a country's
currency in relation to the pound when planning a holiday,
according to a survey published by M& S Money.
They say that's why destinations such
as Egypt and Turkey, which lie outside the eurozone, are
continuing to increase in popularity.
Sales of Turkish lira have jumped by
46 per cent compared with the same period last year, while
sales of the Egyptian pound are up 20 per cent, say M& S.
With
the UK now officially in recession and Brits making up more
than 50% of the tourist arrivals in Cyprus the outlook isn't
good.
Cyprus
tourism in 2008 suffered not only from a weak sterling, but
also from high airport fees as a result of the upgrade of the
two airports. Paphos was completed in November 2008 and
Larnaca will be completed in 2009.
Cuba Squares
Up To
The Credit Crunch
Cuba
appears to be bucking the trend of the global credit
crunch by breaking its record by tourist arrivals
The
Caribbean country welcomed close to 2-and-a-quarter
million visitors in 2008 , that’s a nine per cent
increase over 2007.
The record breaking performance occurred despite booking
cancellations, the closure of thousands of hotel rooms and
storm damage from the hurricane season.
The
figures are good news on the back of a warning from
the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America
and the Caribbean that Central America and the Caribbean
will be most affected by stagnation in tourism caused by
the financial crisis.
According
to the organisation about 75 per cent of tourists to the
English-speaking Caribbean come from developed economies
that are experiencing a recession.
Algarve
Bites Back At
Credit Crunch
Portugal's
tourism income for 2008 hit a record high in spite of the
economic crisis, the economy ministry said
The
revenues of 7.5 billion euros ($9.45 billion) is an
increase of 1.7 percent on 2007
Fewer
Brits are visiting the country due to the recession but
the number of French and Ditch visitors rose.
Meanwhile,
Faro airport in Portugal which serves passengers heading
for the Algarve is undergoing a major expansion
With
an estimated completion date of 2013, the multi-million
euro project will focus on improved safety and passenger
facilities
Malta
Hotel Tax
The Maltese Government's slapped
a €0.50 per night charge for people staying in
hotels and apartments.
The country's Finance Minister
Tonio Fenech said the payment tax would be used to
offset the incentives being paid to low-cost airlines.
Some of the money will go
towards €120 million spent on improvements to
attractions at St Paul’s Bay, Qawra and Sliema, Golden
Bay and Qawra.
Malta
'Safe Haven'
Meanwhile, Malta is one of the
safest destinations in the world, according to an
American study.
After the horrific double
murder in Antigua, crime abroad has become a major
concern for tourists and the US report lists the world's
safest destinations as Monte Carlo, New Zealand, Malta,
Switzerland and Singapore.
However, even in shooting
hotspots like Jamaica, it's extremely rare for
holidaymakers to be targeted and travel experts are keen
to point out that no where is crime-free.
Among the safest Caribbean
islands are; Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, and the British
Virgin Islands.
Malta set its stall out on
hooligans recently when five Croatians and an Australian
were told by a court they would never be allowed back
into the country.
They got their banning order
after causing trouble and clashing with the police
during a football match.
Disney
World Fans
Lost In Space
Disney’s
shutting down its world famous Space Mountain ride in Orlando
for refurbishment work through the summer (2009).
The
Magic Kingdom roller coaster is getting new track to enhance
the experience for thrill seekers, plus renovations to the
queuing area.
The
ride will be closed from April the19th after Easter but a date
for reopening hasn’t been confirmed
