Great Hotels Organization has recently launched Luxotels, the exclusive GDS reservation service that provides essential elements to give four- and five-star hotels a powerful e-distribution edge over their competitors.
There is no doubt that people are spending more money online with luxury products being one of the fastest growing areas. Luxotels not only embraces this trend, but also takes it to another level in advanced reservations services.
According to British tourism authorities, London is quickly returning to normal following the bomb attacks on July 7 which left more than 50 people dead and 700 injured.
As of today, nearly 90 per cent of the London underground (subway) infrastructure is back in operation -although certain lines remain suspended- and leisure industry experts have begun to assess the impact of the attacks.
School is out for the summer and people are on the move. Though vacation plans are widely varied, there are some trends in how and where people are getting away this season. And this is not exactly welcome news for many travel destinations in the Caribbean that bank heavily on the flow of American trekkers.
The Consumer Preference Index (CPI) shows longer trips are out this year. Only 8 percent of American would-be travelers polled by experts say they plan to vacation for two weeks or longer during the summer months. Seventy-two percent plan to holiday for only three to seven days.
Amid corruption scandals, political crises and other bad news coming from Latin America and the Caribbean these days, there is a bright spot that has gone almost unnoticed: tourism.
The region is benefiting from a worldwide tourism boom. Last year, the number of international travelers grew by a 20-year record of 10.3 percent, and the number of visitors to Latin America and the Caribbean grew by about the same percentage, according to the Madrid-based World Tourism Organization (WTO.)
Now that Canada has passed its controversial same-sex marriage bill, some players in the country´s tourism industry are counting on the legislation to attract more gay and lesbian couples from around the world.
Parliament approved the highly controversial Bill C-38 last Tuesday night, bringing Canada one step away from becoming the third country in the world to officially recognize same-sex unions, after Belgium and the Netherlands.
Tourism officials in Aruba are reeling from the heavy negative publicity brought about by the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, who had come to the island along with 124 other American students to celebrate their graduation from Mountain Brook High School in Alabama.
Holloway vanished in the wee hours of May 30 after leaving an Oranjestad nightclub in the company of three men. Meanwhile, as officials continue their search for Holloway, they have come under fire from many in the travel industry over the way the case in being handled.