As holidaymakers around the world continue to show growing dislike to online hotel reviews made by the hotel itself, the European Union makes it illegal.

From April 6 EU’s Unfair Commercial Practices Directive comes effective. It makes it illegal for companies to write blogs or reviews about themselves, or to pay anyone to do so.

This practice is known as commercial blogging, or flogging.

The new EU law covers misleading practices and aggressive practices. The unfairness of the practice is evaluated based on whether or not it has affected the consumer’s decision to purchase.

Dubai will be hosting the Global Travel and Tourism Summit April 20-22. The summit will see industry experts and government representatives come together to discuss important issues in tourism.

Tourism and travel employ 231 million people around the world, 10% of the global GDP comes from tourism. A major issue in tourism today is sustainable development, which will be one of the topics at the summit.

The Dubai department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing, Jumeirah group, Emirates, Nakheel and the World Travel and Tourism Council are hosting the summit in Dubai.

BAA’s plans to fingerprint all passengers travelling through Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 have been put on hold after concerns were raised about the legality of the security measurement.

UK’s data protection watchdog, the Information Commissioner, is investigating the plan after a complaint by a privacy campaign group.

As arriving and departing passengers from both domestic and international flights are mixed on arrival to Terminal 5, the BAA decided to take fingerprints of all passengers on check-in desks and at the departure gates to ensure those checked in are boarding the plane.

But there are concerns that taking fingerprints is an invasion of privacy.

A BAA spokesman said: “We will be working closely with the Information Commissioner and the Home Office over the next few weeks to agree the best approach going forward.”

Facebook is taking over every area – holidays and travel included. American Airlines has announced a new application that uses the Facebook platform.

The airline is launching Travel Bag on Facebook; the application will allow people to exchange their travel experiences easily – including reviews and comments on shops and restaurants.

Travel Bag links to the American Airline’s website AA.com, where users can search for flight deals.

American Airlines is the first major airline to launch a travel related application on Facebook, which has 67 million active users.

“At American Airlines and AA.com, we know that one of the great pleasures of travel is being able to share your experiences and knowledge with others, and our new application on Facebook Platform makes that easy, convenient and fun,” said Derek DeCross, Managing Director – Interactive Marketing at American.

Tourism Australia is hoping that a new blockbuster movie filmed entirely in the country will boost the number of people deciding to take a holiday in Australia.

Baz Luhrmann’s movie Australia is an extended advertisement of the country, Tourism Australia believes. The romantic epic has been filmed in the Australian outback, starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.

The movie tells the story of Lady Sarah who owns a cattle station in Australia before World War II, with the help of Hugh Jackman’s character they run the cattle across the Top End but end up in Darwin during the Japanese bombing.

Tourism Australia managing director Geoff Buckley believes the movie will a great asset to the country’s tourism.

“The potential is huge, we know that,” he told AAP.

“There aren’t many times when you have a potential blockbuster movie named after your brand. Having some bits and pieces of scenes it will be fabulous in terms of its appeal, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.

“Certainly Baz talks about it as being a romantic adventure and it’s about transformation - about people being transformed by Australia, its land and its people, which fits in with our brand.”

Cruiselines are set to step up their training on being environmentally friendly this year in an attempt to become greener.
The Association of Cruise Experts have stated that its training will encapsulate what cruise ships can do to become greener, such as the use of on-board recycling.

The director of business development Andy Harmer commented: “It is an issue we have to confront and we will add it to our training this year. This will prepare agents for when they have clients who want to know about [ship’s practices].

“As customers become more aware of the environment they will ask more questions. The cruise industry is working very hard on this recycling on ships is superior to that of most hotels.”

During the 2008 ACE Convention 580 delegates from the Cruiseline industry will receive this instruction on environmental training. The convention is to take place in Southampton in May, and has already sold out.

Close to opening Terminal 5 is promising to be a bright new future for BA. British Airways will move into the terminal overnight, in preparation for their opening to passengers on 27th March.

The Terminal has the capacity to see around 30million passengers fly using BA every year, and has also been designed to ease congestion as well as to be as environmentally-friendly as possible.

British Airways have said that 85% of the water that falls onto Terminal 5 will be collected and reused, and that natural light will be as used as far as possible.

As well as its environmental concerns, the terminal is also set to look after those who love retail therapy. There will be a Harrods department store, as well as large retailers from Dior to Dixons.

For those wanting to eat in the terminal, diners will be able to enjoy eating at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant Plane Food, which will have a menu based around the Boxwood Cafe. There will also be many sandwich boutiques and cafes.

Ryanair is to begin flights from Manchester to Barcelona, Bremen, Marseille and Milan during April.

The budget flight company’s director of scheduled revenue, Sean Coyle, commented that the new services “are great news for Mancunian passengers”.

Birmingham, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Manchester and Newquay are among the many UK cities that are expected to reap the benefits from the route expansion.

These new routes are part of Ryanair’s expansion during 2008, which will also include around 50 new routes and three new airports in Angouleme in France, Arad and Constanta in Romania.

Ryanair will be celebrating their expansion in 2008 by offering two million £10 seats until midnight on Thursday March 27th.

For those travelling on a golfing holiday this year should make sure that they and their equipment are properly insured.

Graeme Trudgill, the technical and corporate affairs executive for the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba) commented that travel insurance policies can vary in the specifics of what they actually cover.

It is therefore important that holidaymakers carefully consider exactly what equipment they are taking with them, and to make sure that they are sufficiently insured, Trudgill stated.

“Golf clubs can be valuable, so look at what the limit is on your travel insurance to see whether it covers the golf clubs,” he stated.

Also, the reason that your trip may affect your cover may be because those playing golf in a competition may require a more specialist insurance, Mr Trudgill added.

The research conducted by Biba recently found that less than half of golfers taking insurance out from their travel agents or tour operators were given specialist advice about hazardous sports.

Most Brits see taking a holiday as a necessity, according to a brand new report that was published by Thomas Cook.

The tour operator showed within its report called ‘Money Matters’ that 59% of holidaymakers are so keen to get away they pay for their holidays with a financial card, although around one third still pay for their holidays with cash.

The financial services managing director of Thomas Cook, Mark Nancarrow, stated that ‘”For most of us, a holiday from our busy lives is a necessity and not a luxury.

“As we continue to travel, budgeting will become more important than ever during what is seen by many as a current period of instability.”

However, according to the Thomas Cook report, there are around ten million holidaymakers who still do not set themselves budget when booking a holiday, although it is women who are better at keeping costs down then men.

The report also found that 12% of people who travel overseas do so without taking out any insurance while another 1.3% said they did not even know whether or not they were insured.

This month has seen comments on travel agents, as it is considered that cancelled or delayed holidays should be refunded or rearranged.

One expert, from the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba), has commented that the responsibility is that of the travel agent, as this should be one of the benefits of booking your holiday through an agent

Graeme Trudgill, the technical and corporate affairs executive for Biba, has stated that certain insurance policies may also cover travellers who find themselves in situations that prevents them from taking their holiday,

He stated: “With skiing you do get cover for piste closure. For piste closure you usually get around £300 a day. For an unused ski pack you can get up to £500 for your holiday.

“That is why you have a specialist winter sports holiday policy, because you can get cover for piste closure.”

However, he also added that if the reason for a ruined holiday was a factor such as “the wind not being in the right direction for hang gliding”, then the insurance would not cover it.

Two new flight services have been introduced from London Luton Airport by easyJet. The two new services will fly to Jersey and Pisa, and the airline expects to carry around 100,000 passengers on the two routes in the next twelve months.

David Osborne, the general manager of easyJet UK, claims that these two popular destinations will offer “something for everyone”.

There will be a daily service to Jersey, which is the largest of the Channel Islands. It will give travellers the perfect opportunity to discover the coastline as well as the duty-free shopping in St Heliers.

Pisa is easily recognisable for its leaning tower, but it will also be a great gateway for those travelling to Tuscany and Florence, as well as the stunning costal villages of Liguria.

Passengers on the initial Jersey flight will be greeted at check-in by both the staff, as well as the orange easyJet ‘Jersey Cow’.

The ski resorts within Europe saw freezing temperatures as well as a large snowfall over the weekend, which is the ideal conditions for anyone considering a last minute ski holiday.

The wintry blast over the Easter period delivered fresh snow, as well as a good powder on the upper slopes.

The Austrian ski resorts have some of the best skiing conditions following the Easter weekend.

Within France, Meribel is ever popular, and heavy snow falls fell over the weekend after a a period without much snow fall.

Val d’Isere is also reporting 152cm of snow fall on the lower slopes as well as 180cm on the highest slopes.

The La Plagne/Les Arcs regions is also looking great, with reports of snow fall at about 210cm at 2,000m and 280cm on the top of the mountain pistes. This region is one of the largest ski areas in the world, which has over 420km of piste.

So this shows that the ski season is no where near over.

After purchasing any valuable souvenirs or presents on holiday, travellers are being warned to carry these items within their hand luggage.
Frances Tuke, a spokesperson for the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA), has commented that travellers who go to the Middle East, Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong often buy electrical items, as well as larger more expensive souvenirs.

The ABTA spokesperson advises that people should ensure that they do not place anything of “high value” into their luggage that is to be checked-in.

“It’s important that you take that in your hand luggage really because it’s not necessarily safely insured in your checked-in luggage,” Ms Tuke commented.

Also suggested by TheSite.org is a growth in inexpensive airfares, which have seen a large growth in people deciding to shop overseas, especially for larger items.

The site also suggests that around one quarter of all Britons do their Christmas shopping abroad.

As well as travelling abroad, many Britons also choose to spend their money on overseas websites and mail order companies, TheSite.org also noted.

Just before the Easter Break, Nationwide bank is suggesting that the many Britons who are planning to fly off on holiday can save money by using their credit cards. Nationwide are telling people to stop wasting money on exchanging their spending money but to use their credit cards abroad instead, but they are still warning of these hidden costs.
Nationwide noticed that UK holidaymakers spend around £650 million on foreign exchange currency loading fees in 2007 whilst using their credit cards to make purchases abroad.

Jeremy Wood, the divisional director at Nationwide, stated that anyone who returns from holiday to find huge bills from using their card abroad gives “enough to drive anyone hopping mad”.

“People who are planning to go abroad this Easter should be aware of the hidden charges that most card providers impose, which are both costly and unnecessary,” he suggested.

Earlier in March, Mark Bowerman, a spokesperson for the UK’s payments association Apacs, also suggested that people should not “confuse” overseas credit card protection with travel insurance.

Travellers flying from Manchester Airport will be happy to know that flight options will be broadening from 2007, with many new services around Europe as well as to London Stansted.

The two new routes that have been planned for 2008 by bmibaby are Lisbon and Madrid, and these will open in the summer.
Later on in September, there will also be a new service, travelling four times a week to Barcelona.

The new flights to the Portugese capital of Lisbon will begin on17th June, and the brand new Madrid service will fly from 16th June, 2008.

Tim McDermott, the airport’s director of aviation development, is very excited about these new flights that add to Manchester’s already varying schedule.

“Manchester airport now offers 226 destinations worldwide - more than any other UK airport,” he said.

As well as the exciting European destinations, there will also be improved connections between Manchester Airport and London Stansted. These flights will commence in April, as Eastern Airways introduces these additional flights.

Easter Airways will increase their flights from three to four every weekday from 7th April, 2008.

The amount of passengers that travel through all UK airports was up by just 2.4% in 2007, which was the smallest rate of growth within the last decade.

A study undertaken by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been recently released, and shows that 2.5million passengers travelled through all UK airports last year. It also highlighted that 58% of these passengers were travelling from London airports.
The smaller, regional airports saw a larger growth, which was 2.9% of travelers, around 101 million travellers.

This study also highlighted that the regional airports are growing not only in passenger numbers, but are also providing a wider range of amenities. More specifically, nine of these local airports take through five million travllers each every year.
The largest percent of travelers from all of the UK were travelling to or from Europe, and the 139.0 million people took the figures up 3.1% from 2006.

The destination that saw the largest increase in passengers was Poland, with a 30.7% rise on people travelling to the country. Italy also saw a 6% rise, and Spain 1.8%, both steady growths.

A hiking trail has been opened by Shania Twain on her New Zealand property in accordance with new requirements for overseas buyers.

The Canadian country singer owns a 24,700 hectare property in the South Island, half of which is above the snow line. New Zealand has been worried that rich foreigners will buy the best of the country, and exclude locals and tourists from the areas.

In order to secure the lease for the property, Shania Twain and husband Robert Lange had to agree to build a hiking track crossing their land, as a part of a nationwide trail. The couple has worked with the Department of Conservation to build huts and other facilities on their property, so people on the trail can rest.

The land has been leased for 33 years with a price tag of $17.5 million. The scenery of New Zealand’s South Island is known from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.