Press News & Releases

Latest travel sector NEWS from TravelMole

Recent NEWS releases.

October 2008
from the CANARY ISLANDS opens exhibition at
the EMIRATES STADIUM

The Canary Islands Tourism Vice-Minister, Maria del Carmen Hernandez Bento, will visit and present to the British media, the exhibition ‘The 3 Stadiums of Happiness’ being held in the Emirates Stadium. London, November 19th 2008.- Canary Islands Government has launched an impressive European promotional campaign under the name ‘The Three Stadiums of Happiness’ to present the Archipelago as much more than a sunny & beach destination. The 14-day exhibition will showcase life in the Canaries to Londoners. The exhibition has been launched following the sponsorship of the football match between Arsenal and Manchester on November 8th, which reached 500 million potential tourists through global match TV ratings and has been further promoted by a comprehensive advertising campaign through conventional and ambient media. The Tourism Vice-Minister of Canary Islands, Ms. Maria del Carmen Hernandez Bento, who showcased the exhibition to key UK media, commented: “The Canaries has always been a popular destination with the British holidaymakers especially given our winter sun and fine beaches, however, the new exhibition presents an opportunity for the islands collectively to highlight another side to holiday-makers and for us to present a range of other activity options too.” The exhibition that will take place from November 17th until next December 3rd 2008 and will be open daily from 10:00 h to 18:00 h with something for everyone including families, children, youth, elder people, single travellers, couples, business people, the travel industry and much more. Special activities in the exhibition of 3 Stadiums of Happiness at Emirates Stadium: o Relaxation Set: During the 14 days of the exhibition there will be located 2 MedyJet Massage System that provides a soft hydro-massage using a patented water-trough-water system. o Wellness for Women: From December 1st to 3rd, the exhibition will hold special activities for women such as make-up sessions, facial treatments, massages and beauty advising will be done by beauty experts to the feminine public. o Gastronomic Days: German Blanco, from Amura Restaurant located in Lanzarote, and Aaron Espinosa, from La Maceta Restaurant located in El Hierro, are the two chefs invited by Canary Islands to participate in the exhibition. As two of the best and well known chefs of the Islands, both will show during December 1st, 2nd and 3rd at 11:00 h and at 16:00 h, how to cook the best Canary dishes, advising about the delicacies of Canary gastronomic recipes and which food visitors should use to elaborate them. London restaurants will be invited to visit the shows through the telemarketing campaign. With the huge investment, around 1,5 million euros, and the execution of this campaign in the U.K. market, the Canary Islands Government’s main objective is to increase the number of British tourists to the Archipelago and position the range of varied products and holiday options the Canary Islands afford the British holidaymaker. Ends

19th November 2008 For further media information, please contact: Russell Stenhouse/Andrew Ward Millennium Public Relations Tel: 020 7401 8400 Email: canaries@millenium-pr.com

HolidayNet offers FREE Destination & Resort Videos to Tour Operators & Travel Agents

HolidayNet.com, the holiday & travel information site, is offering travel video clips to travel agents and tour operators for their own online marketing campaigns, with no up-front cost.

The company, which was the first to offer an online brochure distribution service for tour operators, is making available hundreds of video clips from its library of over 2500 hours of professionally filmed footage of worldwide destinations, resorts and holiday experiences. Video clips are available on a licence-free basis.

The original made-for-TV video content is edited and optimised for internet use. It is supplied free without end user branding, or with operators’ branding for £25 per clip and a CPM charge.

Video is proving to attract more visitors to web-pages and increase bookings conversions. According to TIA, the page visits where video is present increase by 29% and conversions to booking by an average of 26%

This offer is a logical extension of HolidayNet’s services to travel sector clients because it owns a video production company. It also enjoys preferred partner rights, for the travel industry, to use the FORscene video publishing technology. This enables hosting and serving of online video content, on the web and to mobile phones.

Nicholas Rogovsky, travel film director and MD of HolidayNet, said:
“Video clips and travel are both now commonplace online, and many experts agree that featuring the two together is the inevitable face of future travel marketing. Our independently produced video content allows all tour operators and travel agents easy access to video for their own product marketing”.

HolidayNet.com delivers the entire package, including video production, publishing for the web and mobiles, hosting and serving from secure servers and provision of user data - making the company well placed to supply much-needed video content.

HolidayNet has videos from over 80 destinations and resorts. Eventually a total of up to 500 video clips may be made available from existing library content. In addition, the company is actively producing more travel content worldwide.

HolidayNet has been producing travel videos and broadcast TV shows for over 25 years and is the preferred travel sector partner for FORscene, the world’s most advanced web based video production and publishing innovator.

Stephen Streater, CEO of Forbidden Technologies, commented on this innovation: “Forbidden's FORscene editing customers have enjoyed access to part of HolidayNet's wide ranging and professionally shot video library for a number of years. With both the web and video on the web becoming increasingly critical for business, this new service provides an invaluable resource to the travel industry”.

Contact details:
nicholas@holidaynet.com or tim@holidaynet.com

Nicholas Rogovsky or Tim Floyd
HolidayNet.Com Ltd
020-8390 9909
www.holidaynet.com

Stephen B. Streater
Forbidden Technologies plc
020-8879 7245
sbs@forbidden.co.uk
www.forbidden.co.uk

other...

July 2008

Strong early bookings and rise in luxury spending as skiers buck the trend.. Crystal Ski Industry Report 2008

In 2007/8 the total ski market grew by 3% across all sectors despite depressed early sales caused by challenging snow conditions in Europe the previous year. It was the seventh successive year of growth, during which the total number of skiers travelling abroad rose from 921,000 to more than 1.22m, showing that Britain’s love-affair with skiing is healthier than ever. Most encouragingly the schools market rose by 5% attributable to the two half-term holiday weeks and an early Easter.

The 2008/9 season undoubtedly faces serious challenges due to the economic uncertainty, high fuel costs and exchange rate pressures, plus a late Easter and only one half-term holiday week across the UK.

However, the Crystal Ski Industry Report finds that ski holidays are so far bucking the trend with ski holiday bookings for 2008/09 to date ahead of those at this time last year. Family and luxury holidays are so far the strongest sellers, with demand high for key holiday dates.

For some customers it seems the main ski holiday remains an unmovable fixture in the calendar. However, we do expect customers to become more selective, which may have an impact on ski weekends, and also even more value conscious.

Some of next season’s bookings are driven by groups and families taking advantage of attractive early-booking discounts. There is also an expectation for next season that customers will book through large-scale operators who can deliver good value, or through small, niche companies, offering a focussed product range.

Other encouraging factors are the continued growth in the luxury market, last season’s great snow which has undoubtedly left a feel-good factor and ski resorts continuing to invest in infrastructure and sustainable tourism.

There is speculation in the ski industry that there will be further consolidation. Low cost airlines are expected to suffer and some carriers are reducing their flights to ski relevant destinations, which could have an impact on the independent sector.

Last season, the independent travel sector continued to grow, accounting for 384,000 skiers. But the tour operator sector also saw its seventh successive rise, growing by 3%.

The top six operators observed their market share slip by one point to 73%. Crystal strengthened its market leadership by 0.7% and Inghams, though losing share, are still comfortably ahead of the pack in the number two slot with a share of 17.1%. First Choice enjoyed a great season adding 1.2% to share equal 4th place with Neilson who delivered a flat performance in overall terms. Thomson reduced its share following capacity reductions and because its product portfolio contained two underperforming destinations, Andorra and Italy.

Italy’s fall, by 1.8%, was a result of the poor snow hangover from the previous winter whilst Andorra, which dropped from taking 11% of skiers to just 7%, suffered both from poor snow and its continuing attempt to reposition itself from a budget to a quality destination. Bulgaria’s growth has also stalled, but the small countries sector rose by 1.8% reflecting the rise in popularity of Slovenia and Finland.

North America remained static despite another season of positive snow reports and the weakness of the dollar. North America may face similar challenges this season with capacity constraints on flights and potentially further rises in the cost of transatlantic travel deterring passengers.

A difficult start to last season encouraged skiers to go to higher resorts, favouring France. France continues to be the most popular country taking 37.5% share of holidaymakers last season, reflecting the enduring popularity of chalet and club hotel holidays. Switzerland, which also benefits from high resorts, continued to edge up its share and Austria more than recovered last season’s losses reaping the benefit of the first reports of consistent early snow and an early Easter.
The ski and snowboard overview amalgamates information from tour operators’ own statistics, CAA published statistics, tourist office figures and travel agency feedback.

For further information contact Marion Telsnig, Head of PR
t: 020 8939 5027, e: mariontelsnig@s-h-g.co.uk

Nicholas Rogovsky aims to publish in excess of 100 video clips by January 2008 and sees a great advantage for retail travel agents to as well as tour operators to buy a link button from the video page. "The instant oppportunity to capture customer interest for holiday booking is very real. A single click link to the operator or agent who can provide the type of holiday the customer is exposed to through the video, is of great advantage to the sponsoring operator or travel agent" Links can be bought for 3 months or longer, very suitable for set campaigns or longer e.marketing. Cost per link from £15 per month. Find out more: 020 8390 9909 . Several HolidayNet video clips are now published also on YouTube..

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