TM Insider 203

The TravelMole Insider – Issue 203
ISSN 1474-2292
14 May 2002
http://www.travelmole.com

LATEST PRESS POSTINGS
120 more travel agencies adopt RWA’s booking engines
Altavista UK helps Australian online accommodation provider
expand into Europe
Call-link installs its 2000th Magic Desktop portal
http://www.travelmole.com/news/press

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
1. New industry lobbying force planned
2. TravelMole Interview: Mark O’Brien, Rosenbluth International
3. Virgin denies GBP10 web discount is bad news for agents
4. Lastminute reaches profitability in the UK and France
5. English tourism to undergo “radical change”
6. Decline in UK inbound tourism slows
7. Travel industry pay lags behind national average
8. BAA sees April traffic figures fall
9. Rosenbluth seeks to reduce its own travel spend
10. EU works to build common tourism framework
11 WTTC to develop world vision for travel and tourism
12 The state of the Caribbean hospitality
13. No Carlson Wagonlit staff involved in Potters Bar crash
14. Site of the Week: Virgin-express.com

Tourism Distribution Channels:
Strategic Developments and Exploring the Future
Wednesday 12th June 2002, 15:00-20:00, University of Surrey,
Guildford. Distribution Channels of Tourism are becoming one of
the most critical factors for the competitiveness of tourism
organisations and destinations. This meeting will explore the
entire range of issues related with distribution and will seek
to identify suitable actions for the profiting in the future.
http://www.tourismsociety.org/media/DistributionTS12June02.pdf

EDITOR’S NOTE
Does the travel industry need a more effective lobbying
organisation? Rosenbluth International’s Mark O’Brien certainly
seems to think so. He argues that an executive body is needed
that is capable of influencing government policy and which
doesn’t present just one particular industry viewpoint – such as
that of agents or travel managers.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80677

While it may be difficult to get different groups to sing from
the same songsheet on every issue – for example members of the
Guild of Business Travel Agents are unlikely to have backed the
decision to take British Airways to the OFT over agent payments –
there is still lots of common ground. Transport infrastructure,
aviation taxes and industry pay rates are just some of the
topics that such an organisation could try to tackle.

Best wishes

Richard Hammond
mailto:[email protected]

LATEST INDUSTRY NEWS
Breaking Stories: http://www.travelmole.com/news/index.html

1. New industry lobbying force planned
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Travel management firm Rosenbluth International is spearheading
an initiative to establish a top-level travel industry body that
is capable of influencing government.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80677

2. TravelMole Interview: Mark O’Brien, Rosenbluth International
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rosenbluth International has won more new business in the UK in
the first quarter of this year in the whole of 2001 according to
the company’s UK director Mark O’Brien.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80686

3. Virgin denies GBP10 web discount is bad news for agents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Virgin Atlantic general manager of sales Paul Wait has denied
that the GBP10 online booking discount introduced by the
airline last Thursday (May 10) is a “direct sell tactic”.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80448

4. Lastminute reaches profitability in the UK and France
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lastminute has narrowed its losses for the second quarter of the
year and reached operational profitability in the UK and France.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80428

5. English tourism to undergo “radical change”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has outlined plans to reform
English tourism, which will include the formation of public-
private coalition that will market England to the UK market and
develop e-tourism.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80743

6. Decline in UK inbound tourism slows
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Latest figures from the International Passenger Survey released
today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the
decline in tourism to Britain from overseas is slowing.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80648

7. Travel industry pay lags behind national average
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pay levels across the travel industry are still 15% lower than
the national average, according to ABTA’s latest pay and
benefits survey.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80611

8. BAA sees April traffic figures fall
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BAA’s traffic figures fell by 4.5% in April, partly because
Easter fell early this year.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80434

9. Rosenbluth seeks to reduce its own travel spend
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rosenbluth International is using an online meeting tool so that
its employees in different countries can work through the same
training programmes without having to travel.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80582

10. EU works to build common tourism framework
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The European Union has begun to craft a common framework on
tourism across its 15 member countries.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80462

11. WTTC to develop world vision for travel and tourism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced that its
2002 Annual General Meeting will focus on developing a clear
vision for the future of the industry.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80567

12. The state of the Caribbean hospitality industry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The latest Global Hotel Network Report takes a look at the the
state of the Caribbean hospitality industry from the perspective
of John Bell, Director General and CEO of the Caribbean Hotel
Association.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80745

13. No Carlson Wagonlit staff involved in Potters Bar crash
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
No Carlson Wagonlit Travel staff were involved in Friday’s train
crash at Potters Bar, the travel management company has said.
http://www.travelmole.com/item/80564

14. Site of the Week: Virgin-express.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TravelMole’s reviewer, Adrian Mann, says: “As you’d expect from
a no frills airline, it’s a no-frills functional site.
Everything performs well, and there were no bad links or missing
images found. All the pages appear quickly, the searches and
bookings performed without much waiting, and the information
provided is adequate. Site quality leaves a little to be desired
in places – image quality is variable, alignment of items is
occasionally off, and there’s a general lack of consistency in
the formatting of the text, but nothing that could be classed as
a ‘show stopper’. Read his full review:
http://www.travelmole.com/featured_sites.html

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CAREERZONE
This week on TravelMole there are 89 travel-related job
vacancies, all listed at:
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If you want to be the first to know about a new vacancy that
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http://www.travelmole.com/cgi-site/tmjprofile.cgi?action=insert

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