INSIDE THIS
WEEK Contents
NEWS Hot Stories
Security fears ruin Egypt’s winter market; ‘Britons would pay for better security’; Tunisia extols safety advances to UK; Abta dismisses consumer portal tie-up; Midcounties adds Florida-themed areas
WIN!
Round-up Operators eye rise in West Africa sales 08 New SPAA chief focuses on ‘harmony’ Royal revamps Guatemalan call centre
One of 10 places on a Holland America fam trip to Amsterdam to see Koningsdam page 38
Talk Back ‘Shun direct-sell firms’; Heathrow; fees
NEWS YOU CAN USE Product Railbookers, G Adventures
15 04
10 12
19
Operators Trafalgar, Wendy Wu, Cook 20 Cruise Crystal, The River Cruise Line
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World Travel Market Cruise: Celestyal Cruises, Pandaw
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Destinations: South Africa, Brand USA 28 Technology: Hotelbeds, Traveltek
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FRONTLINE Comment Amanda Matthews
Readers’ Lives Cover Star Phil Hindle Mystery Shopper Homeworkers
DESTINATIONS
Escorted Tours 10 of the Best: tour and cruise combos 44 Norway rail: on track across Arctic Circle 53
COVER STAR
Phil Hindle of Midcounties Co-operative Travel, in Boston. Photo: Steve Hockstein page 40
Indian Ocean Active Mauritius: Golf, kitesurfing, diving and canyoning beckon the energetic
BUSINESS NEWS Round-up Etihad, Amadeus, Disney
WHAT
LUCY DID THISWEEK
60 NOV 12 70 Lufthansa Strike hits 113,000 passengers 72 1
2 3
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
from the Egyptian tourism minister landed in my inbox. It expressed his confidence in the recovery of tourism in Egypt and stressed that all Red Sea resorts were open. Hisham Zaazou called for continued cooperation between Egypt and its travel partners around the world to resolve the current situation, which is crippling the country. Tourism contributes more than 12% of Egypt’s gross
Egypt needs decisive action A
s the Travel Weekly news team was finalising reports on the situation in Sharm el-Sheikh this week, a statement
domestic product and employs one in 10 people – and probably nine in every 10 in Sharm itself. But with flights into Sharm from Britain, Russia, Ireland, Germany, Ukraine and Switzerland all suspended as I write, the immediate outlook looks bleak (pages 4-5). In the past, even after terrorist attacks in the capital Cairo, Sharm, which is more than 200 miles away, had remained relatively unaffected. Now it is empty – or as one agent put it this week: “Egypt is now completely off the map.” It’s fantastic that the tourism minister is so confident in
Egypt’s resilience, but it’s going to take more than discounted rates and marketing campaigns to bring people back. EasyJet’s call for added security at ‘high-risk’ airports will do nothing to help combat the understandable sense of fear, given the circumstances – fuelled by headlines of fast-track routes bypassing security and fake explosives scanners at the airport. The coincidence that the crisis was unfolding
last week as the world came to London to WTM to sell its tourism wares (pages 26-33) went unremarked in the mainstream media. But today, despite the optimism that such an
36 40 42
exhibition generates, clear action must now be seen to guarantee security for travellers. Only then can Sharm be truly open for business.
Lucy Huxley Editor-in-chief @Lucy_Huxley
Was proud to see features editor Joanna Booth honoured at the Travel Media Awards for her Aspire feature on gorilla-watching in Rwanda.
Had a great meeting with Google marketing chief Nishma Robb to plan lots of exciting collaborations for next year.
Turned green with envy as our 2016 Cover Stars were treated like celebs in Miami and the Bahamas, thanks to Norwegian Cruise Line.
12 November 2015
travelweekly.co.uk 3
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