ACTIVITIES ABROAD LAUNCHES DEDICATED WINTER WEDDING WEBSITE

Winter weddings have long been popular, but activity breaks specialist Activities Abroad have really put the ‘WINTER' into winter weddings by announcing the launch of a dedicated website promoting an expanded line of trips to unique and romantic arctic destinations in Finland, Sweden, Norway and Canada.

Imagine being whisked away to a romantic winter wonderland location for your magical wedding celebration, and then enjoying a range of exhilarating winter activities like snowmobiling, dog sledding, cross-country skiing and ice-fishing. This is the experience being offered by the new winter wedding trips from Activities Abroad.

There is a choice of both modern and traditional venues for the wedding ceremony including the Ice Chapel (made purely of ice) at the world-famous ICEHOTEL in Swedish Lapland, or the more intimate traditional wooden chapel at the Snow Chapel and Igloo Village some 250 kilometres north of the arctic circle.

Other venues include the Northern Lights Chapel where a wedding can be combined with an opportunity to lie on a reindeer skin in the middle of a frozen lake and experience the incredible Northern Lights. After the wedding, guests are transported by sleigh or sleds pulled by snowmobiles to a snow restaurant for a wonderful wedding feast cooked on an open fire.

The new www.winterweddingcompany.com website has been designed to enable the wedding organiser to research and plan the whole event from start to finish, including the honeymoon. Expert staff are on hand to walk the customer through the whole process as well as handle all legal paper work and administration.

"Our winter wedding product line has become so successful that we quickly realised we needed a dedicated website in order to do justice to the expanding number of destinations and services that we now offer" says Stephanie Eddy, Marketing Manager for Activities Abroad. "We designed the new website to be the perfect one-stop resource for anyone planning their dream winter wedding" says Eddy.

Winter wedding trips are available from December to April. After the special day the happy couple have the option to stay for their honeymoon and enjoy a huge variety of exhilarating winter sports and activities.

THE TOP 50 TRAVEL BLOGS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED

Rick Steves: Blog Gone Europe, Hole in the Donut and Everything Everywhere have been named as three of the most influential Travel blogs. This is according to the Top Independent Travel Blogs and Bloggers report. The report is designed for Travel companies, PR agencies and Ad agencies that use blogs and social networks to promote their Travel brands.

Using blogs for brand promotion is extremely powerful. The total combined audience for the top 150 independent travel blogs is over three million visitors a month. “That is a huge number of visitors, who read more than seven million pages a month” says Mathew Ryder, the Communications Manager at Konector. “What is even better is these visitors have made an active decision to read the blogs. They have a genuine interest in the content and are often themselves seen as influencers, continuing to spread the word. Travel companies can position their brands in front of these targeted consumers, all 3.2 million of them. They can then monitor the conversations, gather all the feedback and measure the success of the campaign”.

Although the number of visitors is important, it is not the only requirement to make the Konector list. “When ranking the blogs we focus on three main criteria - reach, frequency and interaction,” says Kingsley Maunder, a Director at Konector. “We therefore use our proprietary Online Impact Factor to measure how many people visit a blog, how often they visit that blog, the time spent on the blog and how active they are once they get there.”

So what separates the top Travel blogs from the others?

Konector found many different types of travel blogs, ranging in style and content and identified that the more influential blogs focused on a particular element of the travel experience. Examples of such are Upgrade: Travel Better, aimed specifically at business and frequent flyers, GoBackpacking, which is the “go to site” for budget travelers and students, and Travel Savvy Mom for the family friendly destinations and hotels. Alternatively Go Visit Hawaii, Knowing Rome and India Travel Blog focus on particular destinations.

“Permanent tourist style blogs such as Hole in the Donut and Heather on her travels also ranked highly in the report,” says Maunder. “They connect on a personal level, both blogger and reader together in ways that glossy brochures and highly produced travel commercials can’t possibly match. Bloggers offer inspiration, travel tips, destination advice, travel news and beautiful photos. It is this immediacy and intimacy that makes this particular style of blog a very effective and highly influential medium for brand communications. Bloggers can interact and share their experiences with brands in “real time” influencing their readership and others to engage with a brand.”

Konector also learned that the top bloggers use all possible means to promote their sites and spread the word. “The majority of them use Twitter while some, like Where I’ve Been, 501 Places and My Itchy Feet, also use Facebook” says Ryder. “In addition several of the leading travel bloggers use rich video content to great effect, as shown by Heather on her Travels and Europe A La Carte. The huge advantage of this is that travel companies can also work with bloggers to promote their products on blogs and on popular social networks, significantly increasing brand awareness.”

About the Top Independent Travel Blogs and Bloggers report:

The Top Travel Blogs and Bloggers will give you a detailed analysis of the travel blogosphere and help you understand:
• Which blogs have the most impact in travel
• Which bloggers have the most impact on your audience
• Which bloggers have a captive audience most suitable for your target market (by demographic and location)
• Which bloggers promote and review products and services most suitable for your brand
The Top Independent Travel Blogs and Bloggers report will also give you insight into promoting your brand on social networks, including YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, giving you an opportunity to increase your exposure to this wider audience.

Detailed profiles of the blogs and bloggers are also included in the report. These will give you an idea about the person behind the blog and the most appropriate way to approach them. Where possible we have included the blog history and future plans, to give you insight into the stability and potential growth of the site.

UK holiday spend to be slashed “by as much as 50%” this year

One in four Brits are looking to spend less on their holidays by as much as 50% this year.

And almost half of people (48%) are more likely to shop online to capture the best deals to save money, according to a new study.

The majority (87%) of the 2,028 consumers surveyed in the first week in January had held off from booking holidays during the Christmas period when travel companies traditionally start advertising early booking discounts.

The online travel sector has witnessed the biggest growth in bookings across the retail sector, according to a recent survey conducted by eDigitalResearch.

It found that 12% more people booking travel products online this year than last.

With more people moving online, customer expectations are growing as a result of the increased convenience and control that the online space affords them, the research company claimed.

Read more at Travelmole

BLUE STAR INFOTECH LAUNCHES ACCELERATOR FOR MOBILITY-BASED GROUND TRANSPORTATION SEARCH AND BOOKING SOLUTIONS

Leading Travel Distribution Solutions specialist, Blue Star Infotech announced the availability of a mobility solution accelerator for the ground transportation industry. This solution will be demonstrated at the upcoming Travel Technology Show, London, 9 – 10 Feb ’10.

The accelerator enables ground transportation services providers and other intermediaries to provide their customers with the ability to search, book and track ground bookings (car, taxi, limo services) via their iPhone or Blackberry devices.

Read more at TravPR.com

A NEW DESERT RESORT WELCOMES VISITORS

The first luxury resort in UAE with villa concept is just launched in Ras Al Khaimah. Everyone wishes to stay there to experience lavish treatments

Banyan Tree Al Wadi is just inaugurated in the desert of Ras Al Khaimah. This new resort has become one of the attractions for tourists. Many guests have planned to stay in this resort while they are on their Dubai Tour. The sophisticated facilities which are offered at this resort appeal to many locals as well as visitors.

Read more at TravPR.com

30% HIKE EXPECTED IN CRUISE TOURISM

Arabic heritage has always shared special relation with cruises. Since ancient times traditional cruises have played pivotal role for Arabs. Previously Dubai dhow cruises were used for trading and now they are one of the important factors to increase tourism in Dubai.

Read more TravPR.com.

SAM'S TOURS BRINGS WORLD RENOWNED SHARKSCHOOL TO MICRONESIA

The waters of Palau are legendary for their all-year resident shark population. Perfect conditions to host an education program on shark behavior and provide a platform for shark-human-interaction. For the first time, SharkSchool, a unique shark-human-interaction program, will take place in Palau in September 2010 with Sam's Tours as their exclusive host.

Read more at TravPR.com

TOP TIPS FOR TRAVELLING WITH THE UNDER 5'S

Gone are the days of wandering aimlessly around airport shops, relaxing on the aeroplane, in flight movies, snoozing on a sunlounger etc etc (the list is seemingly endless!). But, if like us, you love travelling and feel brave enough to give it a go with the kids in tow, here are some top tips we have learnt along the way while travelling with our little angels:

Read more at TravPR.com

EXOTIC JOURNEYS ANNOUNCES LUXURY WILDLIFE SAFARIS TO INDIA

Exotic Journeys, the Chicago based tour operator is offering a new luxury wildlife safari to the finest Tiger Reserves & National Parks in India with upscale luxury hotels and jungle lodges in 2010.

The “Luxury Wildlife Safari with Taj” is a 14-day tour that will specially appeal to wildlife enthusiasts. The luxury hotel chain, Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, has launched all inclusive luxurious lodges in tiger preserves in India and by far, these are the best. Travelling on this wildlife safari in India makes tiger sighting, among other animals, highly possible. Visitors stay two nights each at Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai, Taj Pashan Garh in Panna, Taj Mahua Kothi in Bandhavgarh, Taj Banjaar Tola in Kanha, Taj Baghvan Jungle Lodge in Pench and Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai. Detailed tour itinerary is available at Wildlife Safari with Taj@Exotic Journeys or call 1-800–556–6342/312–475–0655

This all inclusive tour includes private and personalized escorted airport transfers, luxury hotels & jungle lodges, all meals, city tours in Mumbai, Khajuraho and Delhi, private and personal English speaking tour guides, multiple jungle safaris, bird watching and nature walk with expert resident naturalists, all taxes and entrance fees. This tour is priced at $6,750.00 per person double occupancy. Estimated domestic airfare is extra $650.00 in economy class.

The current airfare from New York, Newark, Washington, DC and Chicago is estimated to be $900.00 in economy,
$3,200.00 in business and $5,600.00 in first class. Taxes are extra.

For a wide selection of luxury and deluxe wildlife tours of India, visit www.exoticjourneys.com/ or call 800-554-6342 for printed brochures.

Source: TravPR.com

Travel websites “overtaking" guidebooks

Traditional guidebooks have been overtaken by travel websites when it comes to user satisfaction, according to the results of Wanderlust magazine’s annual travel awards.

There was a significant ‘satisfaction gap’ of more than 15% between the top guidebook series Lonely Planet, which scored 79% and the most favoured website wildfrontiers.co.uk, which scored 95%.

All of the top ten websites managed to exceed the 80% mark.

More than 2,000 readers of the magazine voted in the annual poll which measured people’s satisfaction ratings in different areas including their favourite travel guidebooks and websites.

Editor in chief Lyn Hughes said: “The pace of change in travel has never been faster and these results show traditional guidebooks struggling to complete with blogs and websites which can be updated dozens of times each hour.”

Namibia was voted top country while Colombia was the topemerging destination and Luang Prabang in Laos was top city.

New entries into the Top Country category include Botswana and Iceland in 8th and 9th positions. Monaco trailed in last place with a 40% rating.

The Met Office was given a special award voted by the editors for the Greatest Disservice to Travel for its wildly inaccurate forecasting, closely followed by Unite, the BA cabin crew union.

Scotland’s West Highland Line won the world’s best rail journey and Wolverhampton trailed in last place in the cities category.

From TravelMole

Tuscany Back In Vogue For Cottages To Castles

As the continuing economic downturn and strong Euro continue to impact on inbound tourist numbers to many regions of Italy, Cottages to Castles, a leading specialist in Italian vacation villas for 26 years, is experiencing a welcome increase in bookings for their rental properties in Tuscany.

In 2010 so far the company is reporting a 10% increase in bookings for their Tuscany villas as compared to the same period of 2009.

The region of Tuscany has been the most popular destination in Italy for self-catering vacations for decades and has been eulogized in several movies and books but, like many other tourist destinations in Italy, it has suffered from the recent decline in overseas visitor numbers.

However, the regions longstanding popularity, celebrated culture and high quality tourism infrastructure has engendered a market resilience that is unmatched by other areas of Italy – particularly those that have become more fashionable in recent years. Tourist numbers to Tuscany appear to be on the increase again as the region looks set to bounce back in style for 2010.

“Tuscany has always been a perennial favourite with our customer base, but over recent years we have introduced other less well known areas of Italy with great success.” says Jonathan Magoni, Director of Cottages to Castles. “However, when the market started to slow down it was Tuscany that weathered the storm best of all and now, with prices starting to come down, it’s Tuscany that is leading us into what we hope will be a much better year than 2009” says Mr. Magoni.

Cottages to Castles feature nearly 100 self-catering holiday villas in Tuscany with rental prices ranging from around £300 to over £5,000 per week. More information on all their Tuscany properties can be found at http://www.cottagestocastles.com/tuscany-villas.aspx. Alternatively, their expert team of consultants can be reached at +44 (0)1622 775217.

Travel Search Surges 21% for Google

Google has seen stronger growth in travel searches in January 2010 compared to January 2009, the search engine reporting a 21% increase in queries and a 7% increase in clicks. Travel queries in January 2009 saw only a 9% increase year-on-year.

Cost-per-click rates on travel keywords fell in 2009 with average CPCs now 7% less than this time last year following three years of CPC inflation.

Travel queries for 2009 were up 16% on the previous year with car hire showing the strongest growth of 25% followed by hotels at 19%.

The search giant has also reported branded holiday queries such as ‘Thomas Cook holidays in Turkey’ are growing at double the rate of non-branded.

The trend demonstrates how consumers are looking for the reassurance and security of long-standing brands when looking to spend their holiday money.

Growth rates for luxury travel queries have caught up with budget travel terms in the past year, according to the figures.

At the beginning of 2009, due to the economic downturn, queries for budget travel such as ‘no frills airlines’ and ‘all-inclusive holidays’ grew more quickly than searches for premium products.

The average length of queries, in terms of numbers of words, is increasing with consumers becoming more sophisticated and entering long tail queries.

From Travolution

New Italy Travel Guide Launched

A new Italy Travel Guide has been launched with the objective of providing informative and fun insights into getting the very best from a holiday in Italy.

The guide will include top places to visit, where to shop and eat plus many more features and articles.

The website can be viewed at www.travelguideitaly.com

PORT ANGELES BED AND BREAKFAST UNDER NEW OWNERSHIP

After months of research and development, a recently acquired Washington State bed and breakfast announces its new name: Sea Cliff Gardens Bed & Breakfast; and the launch of its new website: www.seacliffgardens.com

Read more at TravPR.com

CORONA HOLIDAYS INCREASES OFFERING OF 5-STAR HOTELS IN TENERIFE

The Tenerife Holidays specialist has announced the addition of the Grand Hotel Salomé to their offering of 5-star luxury hotels on Tenerife increasing their selection on the island to a total of 23.

The new 5 star luxury boutique hotel Grand Hotel Salomé is located in the resort of Costa Adeje on the south of the island of Tenerife and forms part of the highly popular Iberostar group of hotels. The hotel was formerly part of the Iberostar Grand Anthelia Hotel [recently refurbished and upgraded from a 4 star to a 5 star hotel] and offers “adults only” accommodation.

Enjoying panoramic ocean views, the hotel is set amongst 60,000 square metres of beautifully landscaped gardens creating a unique sense of privacy and calm.

Read more at TravPR.com.