The Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) is predicting an 11% growth in cruise holidays in 2007. This is a higher growth than previously predicted by the PSA.

Overall 1.35 million people will take a holiday by the sea in 2007. The PSA estimated earlier this year that in 2008 there will be 1.55 million people taking a cruise holiday.

The cruise holiday industry has boomed in recent years. Cruise lines are looking for new destinations and catering for very specific needs to attract more and more people on board.

Bill Gibbons, director of the PSA says: “The cruise industry has been growing impressively for years and the predictions for 2007 show that this growth is continuing. There is truly a cruise for everyone.”

The number of lost baggage during flights has almost doubled since last year according to research by the largest UK travel direct insurance company Insure and Go. The company’s figures show that the one in 10 adult passengers have lost a baggage in the last two years. It also showed that one third do not trust baggage handlers.

There have been several studies and investigation lately to baggage handling, all showing an emerging problem for passengers.

The Association of European Airlines’ figures show that one million bags from BA flights alone have gotten lost during 2007. There is also a growing problem of theft at British airports by baggage handlers, according to a BBC investigation.

Insure and Go managing director Perry Wilson says: “We began to notice a problem last year. Claims for lost luggage had gone up some 85 per cent year on year. We realised there was a major problem with the airlines and the baggage handlers.”

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympics Winter Games (VANOC) have revealed the mascots for the Olympic Games.

Quatchi, Miga and Sumi are three creatures greeting and entertaining people coming to the games. The design team have put much thought into the mascots, wanting to make sure they appeal to children all around the world, represent the people, geography and spirit of Canada and the British Columbia.

The VANOC describes the mascots:
Quatchi is big, gentle and shy; Miga is small, mischievous and outgoing; and Sumi is a natural born leader with a passion for protecting the environment. The mascots are mythical creatures from local legends.

Click here to see the mascots

Tunisia is trying to attract more holidaymakers to the country, by promoting alternative holiday types. Tunisia holidays are known for the sun and sea, but now Tunisian tourism officials want to attract holidaymakers to the Sahara desert, golf courses and thalassotherapy.

Tunisia is trying to market those areas that separates it from other North African holiday destinations. Tunisia doesn’t have any cheap airlines operating to the country, as there is no open skies policy yet. But Tunisia is looking into the area, and is negotiating with Ryanair at the moment.

Mr. Khelil Lajimi, Tunisia’s Minister of Tourism said at the UN WTO assembly in Colombia: “Our 6.8 million arrivals that we expect until the end of 2007 is a great number for a county with a population of 10 million.”

To help you out in choosing the best possible accommodation while on holiday in Budapest, the Guardian’s Kate Connolly has listed the 10 best Budapest hotels. There’s something for every budget for a city break in Prague.

Under a tenner: Mandragora Hostel
This friendly hostel could not be more conveniently located – behind the national museum, close to the famous Gellert thermal baths and near to an underground station. Suitably geared up for the young traveller, the Mandragora offers guests free broadband access, as well as hammocks and hot chocolate.

Soak up the atmosphere: Hotel Gellert
You won’t do better than the Gellert, one of the oldest hotels in town with a wonderful tiled Turkish steam bath and spa, on the banks of the River Danube in the Buda district. With its art nouveau interior and high-domed ceilings, you can steep in the atmosphere of the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Roaring Twenties: The Cotton House
This throw-back to the 1920s and 30s is a charming and quaintly kitsch establishment as well as being reasonably-priced. Choose your room according to your favourite film star, from Charlie Chaplin to Audrey Hepburn, Ginger Rogers to Johnny Cash.

Arty gem: Art’otel
Four Baroque townhouses have been craftily knocked together to create this quirky find on the banks of the Danube, on the Buda side of the city. Lavender and cerise dominate the colour scheme and the artworks throughout are those of the American painter Donald Sultan.

Boutique: Hotel Zara
Right in the centre and close to the Danube, Zara, which was opened last year, is one of the few such hotels in the city, offering something intimate and chic, rather than the historic. It’s on the elegant Vaci Street with its boutiques and coffee houses.

Historic: Hotel Pest
This lovingly-restored hotel, with its 18th-century stone walls, is one of the oldest buildings in the historical district of Budapest and simply oozes “times past” charm. The rooms are light and airy, the prices extremely reasonable and the breakfast is a feast-like buffet.

B&B of suburbia: Hotel Beatrix
A hideaway in a leafy part of the city, the Beatrix has won several awards and has also earned a mention in the Good Hotel Guide. There are singles and doubles as well as an apartment which sleeps up to four.

Budget: Green Bridge Hostel
Close to all the important sites, including the Gellert spa, the Danube and a large local market, the Green Bridge Hostel is an unpretentious and convenient place to lay your head. In addition to comfortable beds, the friendly Australian-Hungarian couple who run it also offer bottomless coffee throughout the day and a free wireless internet connection.

Palatial and posh: Corinthia Grand Hotel Royal
The Grand in Pest is one of the places to be seen and once again will transport you back to a bygone era. It was opened for the Millennium Exhibition of 1896 when one of the guests was singer Josephine Baker.

No frills: Oktogon – easyHotel
EasyHotel has recently expanded into the Hungarian capital with its capsule-style rooms. You’ll find this hotel on the Pest side of the city, not far from “Big Boulevard” (Nagy korut), which has a run of bars and a 24-hour supermarket, The hotel is decidedly no frills, just like the company’s aeroplanes — there’s a €10 charge to get your room cleaned, for example, towels are €1 and there’s no breakfast— but it’s clean and central.

Source the Guardian

UNICEF and British Airways have teamed up again this year for Christmas charity campaign. All British Airways planes have an envelope where passengers can donate money. Donations can be made in any currency and all money goes to the Change for Good campaign.

For the second year running the donations will go to Vietnamese children and preventing AIDS and HIV. British Airways partner airlines are also taking part in the Change for Good campaign. Finnair will donate all money reserved to Christmas cards and presents to the Change for Good campaign, in addition to having the envelopes on its planes.

In the 12 years the campaign has been running it has raised more than £23 million with BA alone.

Colombia is expecting to have 1.3 million visitors by the end of the year. The country is trying to tempt people on holiday in Colombia by promoting its regions historical cities, adventure and ecotourism.

From January to September there were 781,000 visitors in Colombia, up 14,2% from the same period last year.

With a bad reputation for cocaine dealing, Colombia is doing everything it can to attract tourists.

“The country is outside the points of normal tourism, so we are focusing on certain elements,” the minister of industry, commerce and tourism, Luis Guillermo Plata told reporters at the beginning of the UNWTO general assembly in Cartagena, Colombia.

“Security is a reality to bring tourists in…we know that there are areas where tourism is not safe, and we will not promote these areas until they are,” he explained.

The number of tourists on holiday in Colombia has grown steadily recent years.

Cruise holidays are receiving most bookings for the summer 2008 season, online holiday booking agency www.holidays-direct.co.uk reports. Cruises are proving to be the most popular choice with British holidaymakers ahead of traditional European holiday destinations like Majorca and Cyprus.

In recent years, cruise holidays have become more and more popular with British holidaymakers. It is estimated that 1.5 million Brits will take a holiday by the sea in 2008, compared to 1.2 million in 2006, according to Passenger Shipping Association (PSA).

The online holiday booking agency www.holidays-direct.co.uk offers holidays around the world and has a site specialising in cruise deals. Customers can browse for their ideal cruise holidays at www.cruise-bargains.co.uk. They offer bargain cruises all around the world.

The destinations on offer vary from Alaska to the Mediterranean, Caribbean to Scandinavia, and Asia to Hawaii. You can even go around the world cruising for a whole month. The cruise specialists at www.cruise-bargains.co.uk offer cruise deals to suit any taste.

Jon Pearce from holidays-direct.co.uk says: “The cruise holiday industry has expanded in recent years with more options in destinations, activities and types of ships. There are now more bargain cruises available.

“Cruises are popular because they offer luxury at affordable prices. And when you go on a cruise it saves you from choosing a destination as you can cover five to six ports in a week, while enjoying the fabulous accommodations on board.

“A holiday by the sea appeals to everyone, the young and old, adventurous and conservative, couples, families and singles.”

Cruises are not the top choice just for online bookers but also for people going to travel shops to do their holiday booking. Holidays-direct is a part of Midlands Co-Op Travel and they report that cruises are the top choice throughout the travel shops as well.

The booking pattern for cruise holidays is different from other holidays, as many cruisers tend to book as soon as the brochures come out to make sure they get their preferred cabins. But even at this early stage in holiday bookings, the cruises being number one choice is surprising.

The other holiday destinations in the top 10 for early bookers are popular European resorts.

Top 10 destinations:
1. Cruise
2. Majorca
3. Cyprus
4. Ibiza
5. Turkey
6. Algarve
7. Bulgaria
8. Greece
9. Benidorm
10. Tenerife

Instead of going to visit Santa Claus at the local shopping centre, British families are taking their children to his home to visit Santa Claus in Lapland. Online travel agency Holidays-direct.co.uk reports that more and more Brits are booking Lapland holiday deals to visit Santa and experience the magic of Lapland.

With Christmas closing in there has been a surge of interest in taking a one day family holiday to visit Santa Claus in Lapland. The online travel agency Holidays-direct.co.uk is receiving enquiring and bookings for Lapland holiday deals every day from families that want to give their children the ultimate Christmas present.

According to the Finnish Tourism Board, in the 2006-2007 winter season 200,000 British holidaymakers entered Finland. This is almost a quarter more than in the previous winter season. Over 80% of Brits entering Finland went to Lapland, most of them during the Christmas holiday season. These figures show that Christmas holiday break in Lapland is the main reason for Brits to take a holiday in Finland. The interest to meet Santa Claus in Lapland is ever growing.

The Christmas Lapland day trip packs all the action in just one day. Families on holiday in Lapland are greeted by Santa’s elves upon arrival, there are options to take part in winter activities like reindeer driving or snow walking – and every child gets to meet Santa, and get a present from him.

Jon Pearce from Holidays-direct.co.uk says: “It may seem odd that people are willing to spend on a one day family holiday in Lapland, but the experience is so powerful that it is worth every penny. You land in the heart of Lapland, with snow all around and the children’s anticipation in the air. Could there be anything more exciting for a child than to actually meet Santa?

“There is so much to do and see in the day, from seeing Santa’s home to going on a reindeer drive, that the experience will stay with you a long time after, for parents and children alike. And as there is very little day light this time of year, you have a good chance of seeing the Northern Lights too before your Christmas holiday break in Lapland ends.”

Christmas Lapland day trips are available at www.holidays-direct.co.uk. The online travel agency offers two types of trips to visit Santa Claus in Lapland; Santa’s Secret Grotto Day Trip where holidaymakers are flown to Rovaniemi, or Search for Santa Day Trip for which holidaymakers fly to Kittilä.

About Santa Claus in Finland:
Lapland covers the northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and some of Russia. Santa’s home is located on the Arctic Circle in Finland, where people can visit him any time of the year, December being the busiest time. There is an everlasting debate as to where Santa Claus comes from, but the Main Santa Claus Post Office in Finland’s Korvatunturi receives by far the most letters from children around the world.

Holidays-direct.co.uk:
Online travel agency www.holidays-direct.co.uk is part of the Midlands Co-operative Society Group and is a member of ABTA. They specialize in providing affordable flights and accommodation in the top holiday destinations around the world.
Midlands Co-op Travel, incorporating Ilkeston Co-op Travel, is the No 1 independent travel agent in the Midlands.

The British Airports Authority (BAA) has announced it will reduce the security check queues dramatically by next year. The BAA says 95% of passengers travelling through its seven airports will take less than five minutes to pass through security.

The BAA also promised that only 1% would be stuck in the security checks for more than 15 minutes.
This year Britain’s airports have received a bad reputation for long delays, due to rising number of travelers and strict security policies.

At Heathrow airport new scanners and archers are being installed to handle the volume of people.
Mike Forster, strategy director for BAA says: “”Unlike the current systems, the new technology, which is called ATIX, can automatically detect explosives and liquids and it offers the security staff multiple viewing angles, so the margin for error or unnecessary hold-ups is even smaller.

“We also have a central control centre, which now gets updates on waiting times every 15 minutes, so we are able to put in extra staff or open new lanes to speed things up.”

The number of worldwide holidaymakers is expected to be nearly 900 million for the year 2007. This is a record high volume of tourists around the world.

The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) is meeting up in Colombia to discuss issues in tourism. The UN body estimates a 5.7% increase in the number of tourists visiting a foreign country compared to 2006. In January the growth was estimated at 4%.

China is emerging as the new favorite holiday destination, although France and United States still attract more visitors than China. WTO is expecting China to be more popular than the US this year or the next, and it will overtake France in popularity well before 2020, as was predicted before.

The cruise line P&O Cruises is looking for 12 families, couples or friends to test six of its cruise liners. The inspectors will get a free cruise holiday and £150-300 spending money (£300 for families.).

Only people who have never been on a cruise with P&O Cruises can win the opportunity to test the cruise holidays. The inspectors will get a free holiday, in exchange for giving their feedback on all aspects of the cruise holiday.

The line’s managing director Nigel Esdale said: “Despite the explosion in the popularity of cruise holidays and people becoming more aware of what is on offer in the market, there are still people that think cruising is not for them.

“We are prepared to put our money where our mouth is and offer free holidays to people who haven’t cruised with us before.”

People can fill in an online form to say where and on which ship they would like to take a cruise holiday. The closing date for entries is February 1 2008, and winners will be announced on February 28.

Volunteers can fill in the form at http://www.inspectorcruiso.co.uk/

Tanzania is planning to open a new national park, after pressure from environmental organizations to preserve the African wildlife. If a new park will be opened, Tanzania would have 15 national parks, the newest one covering 1,390 sq miles.

Protecting the wildlife of Tanzania would also benefit the country by drawing even more tourists to see the big five – lion, elephant, leopard, rhino and buffalo. Holidays in Tanzania are very popular as the country has such sights as Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti National Park.

Italian ski resorts in the Dolomites are opening the ski holiday season on November 24th 2007. The resorts have already been hosting pre-season training for many national ski teams.

Thanks to artificial snow making equipment and early snow fall, 90% of the slopes will be covered by snow for the opening weekend.

The two Italian ski resorts opening are Alta Badia and Plan de Corones, part of the Dolomites Superski area. It includes 1,200km of pistes, interlinked runs and 460 lifts, all available with the same pass.

100 million passengers fly from the regional airports in the UK. The growth in travel from the regional airports is much higher than the growth at London’s airports.

Since 1990 traffic at regional airports has tripled. At the moment regional airports handle 42% of all UK passengers, according to Civil Aviation Authority. Holidaymakers are taking advantage of the cheaper flights and more convenient locations of the regional airports.

International flights from regional airports have grown in volume. There are now daily flights to 12 or more international destinations from eight regional airports.

Travelodge has announced it will be expanding the hotel chain to Spain with a €1 billion budget to open 100 new hotels. Travelodge also says the new hotels will create 2,000 new jobs by the time they are finished in 2020.

Travelodge hotels will be opening in major Spanish cities like Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia first, after which hotels will be opening all over the country.

People on holiday in Spain can stay in the UK budget style hotels, with rooms from €20 online.

Travelodge chief executive Grant Hearn said: “We are very excited about our plans for Spain - an important part of Travelodge’s longer-term growth strategy. While there is a very strong growth outlook in the UK for the next 10-15 years, we have demonstrated through our pilot that the Travelodge model works in Spain and the time is right to capitalise on this demand.”