p5 News Feb19 17/2/10 20:55 Page 5
ttglive.com
news
In brief
■ Eurostar services suspended until Monday
‘Ops over-pricing
Eurostar will be unable to resume services to
Brussels until February 22 at the earliest following
this week’s crash just outside the city. No services
will start while investigations continue into the
commuter train accident, which killed 18 people.
A Eurostar spokesman said no guarantee could
World Cup hotels’
be given about this date.
■ Corfu reps trial adjourned until March 4
Gary Noakes.
packages to contact properties which
The trial of two Thomas Cook reps over the CAPE TOWN tourism officials have had signed to the code of respon-
deaths of two children in Corfu in 2006 has been urged agents to book direct with sible pricing.
adjourned until March 4. It follows after another hotels for the World Cup after “We are encouraging
hearing on Wednesday when the police family claiming operators are inflating people to book directly. Many
liason officer, a receptionist who called the prices by as much as triple the people are booking packages,
doctor, and a maid who found the children gave peak season rate. but they are very, very expen-
evidence. Richard Carson and Nicola Gibson face Cape Town Tourism spokes- sive.”
charges of manslaughter by negligence alongside woman Skye Grove said some However, Thomson
nine Greek nationals after Christianne Shepherd, unscrupulous operators had Sport, one of the
seven, and her brother Robert, six, died of carbon packaged flights and accommo- tournament’s official
monoxide poisoning. dation and added a substantial operators, dismissed claims
margin. of over-pricing.
■ Lufthansa and Germanwings set for strike “There are people charging more “Hotel prices have risen
Lufthansa and its budget subsidiary Germanwings than 200% over and above the high and that has affected
face an almost total shutdown next week after an season rates,” she said. Thomson Sport, not the other way
overwhelming vote in favour of a pilots’ strike. The city’s tourism body has introduced a code round,” said a Thomson spokeswoman.
Around 4,500 pilots voted 93% in favour of striking of conduct for accommodation owners after find- She added: “The hotels that Thomson Sport use
between 11pm on Sunday and midnight on Thursday ing that some room rates were being inflated set the prices themselves, coach prices are set by
in a dispute over pay and job security. during the tournament, which takes place in the the coach companies, flight prices by the airlines.
country’s low season in June. “This is something tour operators can’t control
■ Elite launches hotel and cruise division But she said a survey of prices found that 75% other than by looking for the cheapest rate,
The Elite consortium has launched Elite Hotels of hoteliers in Cape Town were not charging which Thomson Sport does.”
and Cruise to its members, which it claims will more than the December and January peak
give them more wholesale rates for both products. season rates.
Check out Cape Town in TTG’s destination
Elite Hotels comprises 10,000 properties and gives Grove urged travel agents assembling
guides. See ttglive.com/destinations
members access to net rates and a wider choice.
Elite Cruise offers a search system with many
cruise lines and destinations at low prices, and
can demonstrate itineraries and cabin availability.
■ DTCM wins Investor in People Standard
The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce
Marketing has become the first national tourist
board in the UK to be awarded the Investor in
People Standard.
■ Meet the Ibiza tourism team at the Haymarket
The Ibiza Tourist Board is offering TTG readers
the chance to win one of 10 places at an event on
February 25 at the Haymarket Hotel in London.
Agents will meet the tourism team and represen-
tatives from hotels, bars and wellness companies.
To register, email kate@lotus-uk.co.uk or
call 020 7953 7686 by February 22.
CARNIVAL CAPERS: Captain Martin Forrest and Venice Carnival dancers greet passengers
ttglive.com
For the latest news, reviews and comment
on bmibaby’s sell-out inaugural flight from East Midlands airport to Venice. The airline will
from the travel industry, visit ttglive.com fly four times a week until October 30 with return fares starting from £50.
19.02.2010 05
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