TRAVELHotNews.com Magazine

HURTIGRUTEN - NORWAY'S BEAUTIFUL COAST

Agent seminar on Hurtigruten cruise line - “world’s most beautiful voyage” to Norway, Antarctica, the Arctic and Greenland
Charmaine Pang

Roger Halfacre, Sales Manager; Julian Wong, Product Manager, GLP Worldwide

Last Thursday, GLP Worldwide Expedition Travel & Tours hosted a breakfast seminar for travel agents wishing to learn more about the Norwegian cruise line, Hurtigruten. Roger Halfacre, Sales Manager for GLP Worldwide, presented a quick overview of the Hurtigruten product. Hurtigruten means ‘fast route’. There are 16 ships in the fleet, with over 100 years of service; the ships used on the Norwegian coastal voyage were originally used to deliver mail to villagers whose towns are not accessible by land or air. The other type of voyage that Hurtigruten offers is its series of expedition voyages on purpose-built ships. The expedition ships are smaller, and hold from 150 to 600 passengers. Read on for more. [Full text and pictures]

BOOMERANG’S SOUTH PACIFIC BROCHURE

Winning South Pacific brochure cover has been chosen; winner of trip to Sydney will be announced this week!

The ballots are in and Boomerang Tours has chosen its new South Pacific brochure cover with the help of the retail travel industry! The contest, conducted in partnership with TRAVELHotNews.com, ran from March 24th to April 4th and gave agents the opportunity to win a trip for two to Sydney, Australia. Boomerang Tours will be announcing the winner of the contest this week. “We ran the contest last year and it was extremely well received,” said Philippe Blain of Boomerang Tours. The brochure will be available this month and agents will be able to order it through Contac Travel, visiting the Boomerang Tours website or the Boomerang Reservations team. Read on for more details about the new brochure. [Full text and pictures]

SUNWING SEAT SALE

5,000 seats available at $50 each – sale continues until Apr. 25

Sunwing Airlines has just made it a whole lot easier to see Canada – and the Sunshine State. They’ve put 5,000 seats on sale at just $50 one way when you book a roundtrip flights on the carrier’s Coast to Coast and Florida flights on selected dates. The sale is in effect for bookings taken between April 12 and midnight April 25 – or as long as seats last. It applies to flights taken between May 11 and June 21 as well as September 5 to October 31. Applicable routes include Toronto to Orlando, Florida; as well as all flights on Sunwing’s newly-expanded domestic service linking Toronto to 11 cities across the country from Victoria to St. John’s. Flights between Montreal and Vancouver are also on sale. Sunwing Airlines offers complimentary in-flight entertainment with yours-to-keep headsets as well as light lunches. Florida-bound travellers also enjoy a complimentary glass of champagne. On all flights over 3 ˝ hours, passengers also receive a complimentary meal including a choice of hot entrees served with red or white wine.

HOLA SUN’S 2008 PRICE MATCHING POLICY

Tour operator to Cuba announces summer and fall price match policy

Hola Sun Holidays has just announced their price match policy. Price Matches must be based on a NET to NET difference maximum of $100 difference per person excluding taxes. The price match is valid only for ITC & ABC products departing from Toronto (YYZ) for travels on or between May 1 – Dec 14/2008. Departure dates must be either the same day or only on weekend flights (Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays). Information must be the same: duration, gateway, resort, meal/service plan/room type plus the package must be available to book at time of price match request. Continue reading for more information on how to request a price match. [Full text and pictures]

VARAPLAYA TOURS’ NEW E-TICKETING POLICY

In advance of new electronic ticketing, Varaplaya Tours requires agencies to register on their new temporary website. For the new database, please fill in the blanks under “register your agency," and Varaplaya Tours will reply back with a confirmation via e-mail. Choose an access code which will allow agencies to retrieve their electronic documents, which will begin from May 1st 2008. Visit the agent website (English-language) at http://demo.varaplaya.com/en/agents_insc.php to register.

CATHAY LAUNCHES NEW YYZ-HKG ROUTE

Ten weekly flights now available between Toronto-Hong Kong with CX

Philippe Lacamp, Tony Tyler, James Barrington & Alan Wong of Cathay Pacific Airways toast the crowd

Cathay Pacific Airways Chief Executive Tony Tyler and James Barrington, Director of Sales and Marketing, were guests of honour at a gala celebrating the launch of non-stop service between Toronto and Hong Kong Thursday night at Toronto’s Park Hyatt Hotel. Cathay Pacific now offers more direct, same plane service between Toronto and Hong Kong than any other airline. Government officials, media, members of the travel industry and business executives joined the Cathay Pacific VIPs and Toronto sales team to celebrate the airline’s recently enhanced flight schedule and newly redesigned and upgraded First, Business and Economy class cabins. [Full text and pictures]

…AND ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

Frontier Airlines becomes latest U.S. airline to file for bankruptcy protection
Canadian Press

Frontier Airlines sought bankruptcy protection Friday, the fourth U.S. carrier to do so over the past several weeks as exorbitant fuel prices eat into earnings and a weak U.S. economy keeps more people grounded. Frontier says it will continue operations as it reorganizes. Frontier Airlines Holdings Inc., the low-fare carrier's parent, said it was forced into bankruptcy after its principal credit card processor announced it would begin withholding a greater share of proceeds from ticket sales. Denver-based Frontier said it will continue to operate a full schedule of flights, pay suppliers and employees as it reorganizes. [Full text and pictures]

CAYMAN ISLANDS AT LIFEFEST

Cayman Islands sponsors speaking engagement with Trudeau women

Lisa Pisaturo and Laura Wilfred of the Cayman Islands with Justin Trudeau, on hand to support his wife Sophie

The Cayman Islands Department of Tourism recently sponsored a speaking engagement with Margaret Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau earlier in the month at LifeFest, Canada's largest trade show on health and beauty for women. The Trudeaus spoke about the challenges of balancing work and family, keeping healthy, and the importance of giving back. Both are involved with humanitarian work abroad, and advocate for issues that touch them personally. Margaret works with Watercan, a Canadian NGO that helps the poorest people of the world access clean water, and as an advocate for mental health issues. Her daughter-in-law, Sophie Grégoire-Trudeau, is a spokesperson for the BACA Foundation, which supports the BACA eating disorder clinic in Québec.