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www.Buy2Greece.com – Travel industry buyers attending WTM London are responsible for deals worth a massive $22.7 billion
Travel industry buyers who attend World Travel Market London are responsible for deals worth a massive $22.7 billion (£15.8bn), with an average purchasing responsibility per buyer of $3.1 million (£2.2m).
When registering for WTM London, delegates who are given WTM Buyers’ Club status are asked their level of purchasing responsibility. One third (35%) of buyers are responsible for signing contracts worth more than $1 million, including 13% which have a purchasing responsibility of $10 million or more.
W
TM London is the event where the travel industry conducts its business deals, facilitating $3.6 billion (£2.5bn) in industry deals from 865,500 high-level business meetings with 4,610 exhibitors.These figures demonstrate that WTM London continues to attract the most relevant and senior international buyers from the world’s largest and most important travel companies, including Tui, Dnata, Kuoni Group, Low Cost Group, Thomas Cook, Secret Escapes, Monarch Holiday, Teletext Holidays, Cox & Kings, Wendy Wu Tours and Virgin Holidays.
WTM London, Senior Director, Simon Press, said: “WTM London has been the event where the industry conducts its business for almost four decades. WTM London attracts the global travel and tourism industry’s top buyers with the greatest purchasing power looking to sign deals with the exhibitors in attendance.
“A purchasing power of approaching $22.7 billion reinforces that WTM London Means Business.”
WTM London 2016 will be revamped as a three-day event from Monday 7 – Wednesday 9 November, with opening hours extended from 10am – 7pm for all three days.
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www.Buy2Greece.com – IATA report suggests flying getting safer
The Inte
rnational Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for the 2015 safety performance of the commercial airline industry.- The 2015 global jet accident rate (measured in hull losses per 1 million flights) was 0.32, which was the equivalent of one major accident for every 3.1 million flights. This was not as good as the rate of 0.27 achieved in 2014 but a 30% improvement compared to the previous five-year rate (2010-2014) of 0.46 hull loss accidents per million jet flights.
- There were four accidents resulting in passenger fatalities in 2015, all of which involved turboprop aircraft, with 136 fatalities. This compares with an average of 17.6 fatal accidents and 504 fatalities per year in the previous five-year period (2010-2014).
- The 2015 jet hull loss rate for members of IATA was 0.22 (one accident for every 4.5 million flights), which outperformed the global rate by 31% and which was in line with the five-year rate (2010-2014) of 0.21 per million flights but above the 0.12 hull loss rate achieved in 2014.
- The loss of Germanwings 9525 (pilot suicide) and Metrojet 9268 (suspected terrorism) that resulted in the deaths of 374 passengers and crew are tragedies that occurred in 2015. They are not, however, included in the accident statistics as they are classified as deliberate acts of unlawful interference
“2015 was another year of contrasts when it comes to aviation’s safety performance. In terms of the number of fatal accidents, it was an extraordinarily safe year. And the long-term trend data show us that flying is getting even safer. Yet we were all shocked and horrified by two deliberate acts–the destruction of Germanwings 9525 and Metrojet 9268. While there are no easy solutions to the mental health and security issues that were exposed in these tragedies, aviation continues to work to minimize the risk that such events will happen again,” saidTony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
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www.Buy2Greece.com – HMS Travel Group, Food & Wine Trails merge with Adelman Travel
Adelman Travel announced that Santa Rosa, California-based HMS Travel Group has merged with Adelman Travel. Included in this merger is the award winning organization of Food & Wine Trails, a provider of upscale culinary and wine-focused travel. This merger further expands Adelman Travel’s venture into the affinity tour market and supports their commitment to increase the products offered to their current customer base.
“Adelman Travel is continually looking for opportunities to enhance and expand our tour business offering so we may provide these products to our Adelman Vacations and Adelman corporate customers,” said Bob Chaiken, Adelman Travel CEO. “Food & Wine Trails is highly regarded and has an award winning reputation in the industry for providing exceptional food and wine excursions, making their products a great option for those groups of travelers seeking unique epicurean tours.”
In recent years Adelman has expanded their consumer travel brands through the 2012 acquisition of Great Southern Travel, the 2013 acquisition of Chamber Discoveries, and the 2014 acquisition of Plaza Travel. The addition of HMS creates more capacity for luxury travel needs, while Food & Wine Trails responds to the rapidly growing demand for international wine and culinary experiences.“There are definite synergies between Adelman Travel and our organizations,” said Larry Martin, president of HMS and Food & Wine Trails. “We pride ourselves on providing our guests with a unique combination of value, quality, authenticity and access. The merger with Adelman will increase our buying power, allowing us to expand into new markets while continuing to provide a consistently superior experience to our tour clients. Additionally, many of our tours offer an educational element, making them a great fit for Adelman’s affinity tour base.”
Martin, along with the rest of their staff, will remain at the HMS/Food & Wine Trails office located in Sonoma County. They will continue to specialize in cruises, group tours, and custom trips with a food and wine focus. The company designs highly-rated travel programs for enthusiasts, top food magazines and wineries, and their programs are led or organized by recognized local wine and culinary experts. HMS/Food & Wine Trails partners with leading food and wine organizations, and they maintain a vast network of experts around the world.
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www.Buy2Greece.com – Israel issues travel ban against Turkey after killing of Israeli tourists in Istanbul
Israel has issued “high concrete threat” against travelling to Turkey warning its citizens to leave Turkey as soon as possible and avoid any traveling there.
The “high concrete threat” is the second-highest warning level that Israel can issue. It raises the directive issued after three Israeli tourists were killed in an Istanbul suicide bombing earlier in March.
The National Security Council advised on Monday that “the risk of additional attacks from terrorist organizations is rising, with an emphasis on the Islamic State, on tourist destinations and in general Israeli tourists,” using a different name for ISIS.
Israel has the same level warning as Turkey for Tunisia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. It has given the highest warning levels for Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Somalia, Sudan and Libya
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www.Buy2Greece.com-UnionPay global acceptance network expanded to 157 countries
Ge Huayong, Chairman of China UnionPay, attended the ATM acceptance launch ceremony jointly held by UnionPay International and Central Bank of the UAE. He disclosed at the ceremony that UnionPay acceptance network has expanded to 157 countries and regions worldwide. And within this year, the UAE will become another overseas market where UnionPay cards are fully accepted at all ATMs and POS terminals. H.E Mubarak Rashed Al Mansoori, Governor of Central Bank of the UAE attended the ceremony, with the presence of representatives of several domestic commercial banks.
Over the years, UnionPay International has kept improving its overseas acceptance network according to the trend of international tourism and cardholders’ payment needs, and has made breakthroughs in many overseas markets. Now, UnionPay cards are fully accepted in Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, and Cuba in general, and will be fully accepted in Jordan within this year. In South Korea and Pakistan, almost all POS terminals accept UnionPay cards, while in Switzerland, Austria, the United States, Thailand and Burma, UnionPay cards are accepted at almost all ATMs. In the next two years, the acceptance scope of UnionPay cards in Australia, Turkey and Russia will expand substantially.
Currently in the UAE, UnionPay cards are accepted at all POS terminals and about 50% of ATMs. Through its cooperation with UAE SWITCH, a local switch network subordinate to Central Bank of the UAE, UnionPay International will enable the full acceptance of UnionPay cards at all local ATMs by this May. Then, UnionPay cards will be comprehensively accepted in the UAE. UAE SWITCH is the only local ATM switch network in the UAE whose members cover all the 45 local institutions with ATM business.
Ge Huayong said, with a strategic vision of building a “Global Network, and International Brand”, UnionPay is not only optimizing its acceptance in the Chinese mainland, but is also devoting every effort to expanding its overseas acceptance network, improving its acceptance environment, enhancing its service capability, and optimizing its global cardholders’ card-using experiences. Now, UnionPay has generally built an extensive, secure and convenient international acceptance network. UnionPay will continue to expand its acceptance footprint. The UAE is a significant market to which we pay high attention. Based on our acceptance advantage in the market, we will promote large-scale card issuance as well as our innovative products and services, to better support the communication and cooperation between China and the UAE.
H.E Mubarak Rashed Al Mansoori said, the cooperation with UnionPay International is critical to pushing forward the cooperation and exchanges between the UAE and China. It will support the travel and business exchanges between the two countries and will bring convenient and cost-effective payment services to UnionPay cardholders visiting the UAE.”
On the same day, UnionPay International also issued the first local UnionPay chip card with MINT, a local financial service group. The two parties agreed to issue hundreds of thousands of UnionPay cards in the next three years. These cards all are international payment cards that are accepted by UnionPay’s global network including the UAE. In the future, more and more local residents will be able to enjoy the safe and convenient payment service provided by UnionPay.
To date, UnionPay cards are accepted at about 34 million merchants and over 2 million ATMs across the world. In the meantime, cardholders are able to enjoy abundant UnionPay value-added services, including global hotline, emergency cash assistance, global tax refund, cross-border remittance, as well as global assistance, global concierge and airport VIP lounge which are exclusive for premium cards. Besides, UnionPay provides preferential privileges covering various fields of travel, airport, accommodation, shopping, catering, leisure and entertainment.
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www.Buy2Greece.com – Global events drive changes to holiday plans for British tourists
Fears that recent global events would have an impact on the British travel market were confirmed this week by travel management software specialists Multicom.
The Bristol-based online travel software business, recently acquired by Swedish firm Paxport, reported sales in January showed a decrease in bookings for the Eastern Mediterranean of 40% year on year.
Egypt, Turkey and Greece are the main destinations to suffer from the drop in confidence in the region report Multicom.
In the same period bookings to Western European destinations including the Balearics, Spain and Portugal have noticeably picked up and appear to be the beneficiaries of the downturn further east.
Additionally, some holidaymakers are making later decisions about their overseas trips with bookings for breaks within 30 days before departure increasing.
Shorter length breaks booked during the period are also up year on year reflecting a further shift in consumer’s behaviour.
Multicom Head of Business Delivery & Operations Chris Nourse said: “British holidaymakers are clearly taking a more cautious approach when planning their holidays this year.
“Over the years they have shown they can be very resilient when faced with the threat of disruption to their travel plans or an increased risk to their safety for whatever reason.
“However, the increased threat of global terrorism in light of recent events in Tunisia and Sharm-el-Sheikh and the appalling attacks closer to home in Paris has noticeably heightened concern among consumers.
“We can already see the impact on bookings made through FindandBook and we expect confidence will be slower to return than we have witnessed previously, it is likely that the continuing threat will affect the balance for the longer term this time round.”
Paxport is a leading ancillary merchandising and passenger management partner, enabling airlines and travel resellers to grow their ancillary revenues and provide a world-class travel retail experience for their customers.
Source: Multicom
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