ttglive.com In brief
■ Aerosvit to begin Gatwick-Kiev service Ukrainian carrier Aerosvit Airlines will start direct flights between Gatwick and Kiev next month. The five-times-a-week service will use an Airbus A321 with business and economy classes. The service will link with connections to Russia, Kazakhstan, the Balkans and the Middle East. Fares will start from £129 return.
■ Air Europa boosts Caribbean/South America Air Europa has increased frequency of flights to the Caribbean and South America for summer 2011. Flights to Havana, Cancun and Santa Domingo are now daily, and frequencies have been increased for Lima, Caracas and Salvador Bahia in Brazil. UK customers can connect from Gatwick through Air Europa’s hub in Madrid.
■ Ideal Cruising appointment for Trevis Ideal Cruising has appointed Claire Trevis as managing director. Trevis, currently aviation and cruise director at
lowcostholidays.com, has also worked at Royal Caribbean International and First Choice. She had also been tasked with integrating Ideal into the Low Cost Travel Group after its acquisition at the end of last year.
■ Kuoni top travel brand in consumer survey Kuoni has beaten Virgin Holidays and Tui to take top spot in a survey of consumers’ views of brands. The Swiss-owned operator was the top-ranked travel brand in the survey, by TNS Corporate Reputation. It was followed by Virgin Holidays, Thomson/Tui, Eurostar and Bmi. Kuoni came 16th in the overall survey, in which the top-ranked company was Google.
■ John Romo flies higher with Monarch Monarch Group has appointed John Romo managing director of its charter sales division, First Aviation. Romo has been with First Aviation since 2003 and two years ago became director and general manager of the company.
■ $25m revamp on cards for Crystal Serenity Crystal Cruises’ largest ship, Crystal Serenity, is to undergo a $25 million redesign. The revamp will take place in May, during the ship’s drydock at the Blohm and Voss shipyard, Hamburg. More than 400 technicians will work on the ship over 14 days. Serenity’s 531 staterooms, penthouses and penthouse suites, retail centres, outdoor pool deck and other design projects will be revamped.
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Inca Trail permits become a lottery
Rob Gill.
TOUR OPERATORS fear customers may not be able to walk the Inca Trail in Peru because of a new system that distributes the limited number of permits.
The permits were previously allocated in Cusco on a first-come, first-served basis, but now a lottery system has been introduced by the Association of Travel Agencies Cusco. This could mean operators will not be able to guarantee their clients can go on the iconic trail – one of the most popular attractions in Latin America – until a few weeks before departure. Ben McIntosh, communications coordinator at
Tucan Travel, said: “Until this year, the authority that issues permits has done so on a first-come, first-served basis. Although permits were not issued until February for treks that same year, those that put in requests the earliest were given priority. “This meant that by encouraging clients to book as early as possible, tour operators could be confident of getting permits for the dates of their tour.”
McIntosh said this year’s changes meant it was now harder to guarantee when customers booked they would be able to walk the Inca Trail. Under the new system, permits for the entire year are allo- cated in stages throughout February and March.
Tourists may find it harder to see Machu Picchu following the introduction of the lottery-style permit system
“None of the tour operators that offer the Inca
Trail are happy with this new system because it makes it impossible to guarantee that clients booked to travel this year will be able to get a permit,” McIntosh said. “Tucan Travel and others are doing every- thing they can to get the authority to revert to the old system, but in the meantime all operators must do the best they can within the new rules.”
The tourist board Prom Peru was not available for comment on the issue.
COOL CUSTOMERS: APT held its biannual APT & Travelbag Ambassadors day in London last week. There was a training session on all APT products before agents enjoyed drinks at the IceBar, then dinner at the Embassy London and dancing at Tiger Tiger. Pictured are: (back row) Syd Davidson, Sam Pryce, James Woodall and Steve Morris; (middle) Angela Waite, Nicola Wain, and Hugh Stanford; (front) Natalie McGuire, and Lockie Kerr.
18.02.2011 13
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