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| CUBA TOURIST BOARD APPOINTS NEW DIRECTOR |
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Outgoing Cuba Tourist Board director, Carlos Zambrano, hands over post to Elias Enrique Bestard Pavón
Charmaine Pang
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| Carlos Zambrano, outgoing director of Cuba Tourist Board, Toronto; Manuel Marrero Cruz, Cuba’s Minister of Tourism; Elias Enrique Bestard Pavón, incoming director, Cuba Tourist Board, Toronto | | A new face was introduced to tour operators, media and other travel industry partners at Bellini’s restaurant in Toronto yesterday. Carlos Zambrano’s term as director of the Cuba Tourist Board (Toronto) is up, and his successor has been announced as Elias Enrique Bestard Pavón. Those in attendance came from all over Canada and from Cuba, including Cuba’s Minster of Tourism, Manuel Marrero Cruz, representatives of major Cuban hotel groups, and the Cuba Tourist Board in Montreal. Zambrano will be leaving Canada with many fond memories, joking that “the cold that I have [come down with] will be my last memory of Canada”. Zambrano added that he would make sure to have a Tim Horton’s coffee on his last day.
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| AC COMPUTER GLITCH CAUSES DELAYS |
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Computer glitch disrupts Air Canada operations for several hours
Canadian Press
Frustrated travellers endured long lineups and short tempers Friday as a glitch with Air Canada's computer reservation system delayed flights and played havoc with the travel plans of roughly 1,000 passengers grounded at Canada's largest airport. The problem occurred at around 4 a.m., when the system experienced a communications error between the airline's central reservation system and computer systems at airports across Canada, said Toronto general manager John Segaert. While the problem with the system has been fixed, it caused flight delays of between 30 and 60 minutes, Segaert added. The airline predicted operations would be back to normal by Friday afternoon.
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| WHAT’S NEW AT WORLD TRAVEL MARKET |
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Muslim and green tourism seen as growth markets at London travel show
“Charmaine Pang, photos by Stephen Fountaine
The world's largest travel fair opened with a strong focus on green issues Monday, highlighting the ever-increasing pressure on the tourism industry to promote environmentally friendly ways of seeing the world. TRAVELHotNews.com was there, with exclusive pictures of the event. Other trends identified at the opening of the World Travel Market 2007 included the rise of tourism in the Middle East that follows Muslim precepts. Algeria and Libya were tipped as new travel hotspots, while Australia retained its crown as the world's top ``country brand'' for the second year running. Organizers of the four-day gathering in London's Docklands business district, being attended by tourism officials, government delegations, tour operators and airlines from more than 200 countries, put the focus squarely on the promotion of sustainable tourism.
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| ENCORE CRUISEESCAPES’ GROUP PROMOS |
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Great groups deals to be had for Europe/Alaska cruises, Regent Seven Seas cruises
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| Regent Seven Seas' Navigator | | Encore CruiseEscapes is currently offering two cruise groups promotions. Right now, when groups book a 2008 Europe and Alaska cruise plus air, on any cruise line, by Jan. 31, 2008 for travel by Oct. 31, 2008, the tour conductor flies for free. Valid on new bookings only, this promotion applies when a minimum of eight staterooms (16 guests, double occupancy) are booked along with Encore CruiseEscapes air (minimum 16 full paying seats, same flights, point to point, no deviations). Taxes on the free seat are additional. Another Regent Seven Seas promotion allows smaller groups to qualify. Clients only need to book a minimum of six staterooms (double occupancy) on any Regent ship to qualify as a group. What’s more, the 11th berth is free for the tour conductor, plus there are lots of bonus overrides. Read on for more details.
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| RCI ANNOUNCES FUEL SUPPLEMENT |
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Guests to pay $5 per day for sailings departing on and after Feb. 8, 2008
In an effort to deal with the sharp increase in fuel prices, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. has announced the implementation of a fuel supplement of $5 per guest per day for sailings that depart on or after February 1, 2008. The supplement applies only to the 1st and 2nd guests in each stateroom and will not exceed $70 per person per sailing. Travel agents will receive an administrative fee of $12 per existing booking to help offset cost associated with contacting guests and collecting payment for each booking.
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| HK WELCOMES 2.12M in SEPTEMBER |
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Canadian visitor numbers rise to 26,547, a 26.2% increase over previous September
The Hong Kong Tourism Board recently announced that Hong Kong welcomed 2,120,835 visitors in September of 2007. This figure is an increase of 15.9% over the previous September and raises cumulative arrivals for the January-September 2007 period to 20,363,764, a year-on-year increase of 9.6%. Canada contributed an arrival figure of 26,547, a growth rate of 26.2%. Mainland China enjoyed the greatest increase in arrivals (a growth of 22.1%) and double-digit growth was also registered from Australia, New Zealand & South Pacific (+18.8%) and from Europe, Africa & the Middle East (+10.2%). More than 1.23 million arrivals (58.3% of the total) in September stayed in Hong Kong for at least one night, with the remainder of over 885,000 (41.7%) classified as same-day, in-town visitors.
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| U.S. WILL ALLOW HI-TECH LICENSES AT BORDER |
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U.S. confirms high tech driver's licences will be allowed at border in years to come
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff confirmed Thursday that enhanced driver's licences will be accepted as passport alternatives at the Canada-U.S. border. Canada has been pushing hard to give travellers a choice, saying passports are expensive, harder to get and most people need licences anyway. Homeland officials have become increasingly comfortable over the last several months with high-technology driver's licences that will contain proof of citizenship like passports do. The final rule on the so-called Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, due soon, was expected to endorse them. The new security program is supposed to go into effect as early as next summer. Air travellers entering the U.S. already need passports.
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