Bad day for monster lovers...

This is not some kind of wierd love story, but instead the reported demise of "Monster Travel.."

TravelMole's Bev Fearis reports that "ABTA has issued a warning to agents who are advertising for customers to rebook following the cessation of Monster Travel.

It reminded agents that because Monster Travel was a managed branch of The Freedom Travel Group, Freedom will be honouring all bookings.

"If members encourage customers to rebook they will have been double-booked and may look to the member for recompense," it warned.

On Facebook and other social media websites, some agents criticised rival companies for acting like vultures by being so quick to place Google ads.

They also expressed their sadness for the staff of Monster Travel, particularly for those who had joined the company after losing their jobs at Freedom Direct.

Online and call centre travel agency Monster Travel ceased trading yesterday after just over two years in business. The company, part of the Freedom Travel Group, employed 94 people. Only last April the company had a major recruitment drive for an extra 40 staff. Some of those who got the jobs were ex-employees of Freedom Direct Holidays, which had ceased a week earlier.

Ironically, at the time the Monster managing director David Hawke, said it was a "sad indictment of the times" that the firm had received 500 applications in just three days for the new jobs.

Hawke, formerly head of call centre business for TUI, founded Monster Travel with his partner Julie Gilmore.


Jane Atkins, managing director of The Freedom Travel Group, said: "The business was a Freedom Travel Group member that sold package holidays and also from time to time repackaged holidays under our ATOL bond.

"Under our managed agent agreement with ABTA we will take on all forward bookings, ensuring that customers travel as planned and that trade suppliers are paid.

"We are very disappointed and saddened that Monster Travel is no longer in a position to trade.""

Yet more signs of the times from what many within the travel industry percieved to be a confident and forward planing company, and continues to show the ongoing effects of both the global ressesion as well as the British Governments push for the family "Staycation" that, although of great benefit to the local British towns and seaside resorts, is having a detrimental effect on other British businesses..

For more of this story, and a good chance to express an opinion, please go to


Barticus.

"Less Euros equals less travelling..."

More bad news for British "would be" travellers today, with the release of figures from hotel price comparison site www.trivago.co.uk. that show how the falling British Pound has a direct impact on the equivalent prices of hotel rooms around Europe...

Phil Davies reported for Travel Mole that "Prices in many tourist capitals have increased over the past month. A hotel room in Rome (£103) costs 13% more than in February; in Vienna (£105), the price has gone up by 19%...

Increases have also occurred in Amsterdam (£106), Athens (£84) and Barcelona (£93), with all three cities seeing increases of nine per cent from February to March...

The opposite is true in Denmark and Sweden, though prices in both countries are still far higher than the European average, according to the study...

Hotel rooms in Copenhagen (£118) and Stockholm (£122) have dropped by six per cent since February..."

With the Nordic states still very expensive, and the rest of Europe on the way up and up, it looks like the Brits will be forced into another year of staycations...

Barticus.

"Brits go for a quick one..."

Holiday break that is...

This follows the release of a recent YouGov report that shows that the idea of the British "Staycation" looks set not just to continue, but to grow over the coming months with Brits opting for more "bite size" getaways than traditional one or two week holidays...

Dinah Hatch reports that "Brits are taking more holiday “snacks” and less vacation three course meals, according to a YouGov poll and Hoseasons booking patterns.

The operator asked YouGov to sample survey 2361 adults online and ask them about their holiday plans for 2010. It found some 30% indicated they are more likely to go on a short break in the UK in 2010 compared to last year.

Hoseasons' own data shows that short break holiday bookings are already 25% up in 2010 while 2009 Christmas shortbreaks soared by 68%.

Hoseasons chief executive Richard Carrick said: “Over the last 10 years we have seen a big shift in the number of holidays people take, but during this time holiday entitlement has stayed broadly static. We’ve therefore had to find ways of fitting in more breaks, and more often than not people are using their weekends to boost their holidays by tagging on an extra couple of days.”

“Last year had a big impact on peoples’ views of the UK as many rediscovered Britain. This newfound love, combined with an increasing reluctance to fly and a tightening of holiday budgets, means that the UK is become the default destination for many short break holidaymakers...

Carrick said that the British mood for avoiding flights, saving money and staying on home shores had been underpinned by the media’s current focus on staycationing holidays. He added: “This reflects the way the media, through programmes like the BBC’s Coast and Rivers series, and ITV’s Islands of Britain, fronted by Martin Clunes, has supported and showcased Britain’s diversity and history to new audience...

“All this strongly points towards the rise of the ‘holiday-snacking’ and more frequent shorter breaks to enable holidaymakers to make the most of their time and budgets in 2010..""

For more on this and other news and trends, please go to http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1140889.php?mpnlog=1&m_id=s~bvs~bm

Barticus.

"Sorry Mr B, but that didnt work..."

Bad news in todays Telegraph for PM Gordon Brown that despite last years push for British "Staycations" with promises of "Barbecue weather" all summer long, a total of 47 hotels stopped trading as Brits headed for self catering options instead..

They write that "According to the accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), 47 hotels in Britain ceased trading during the final three months of last year – 28 more than in the third quarter of 2009 and 18 more than in the same quarter of 2008..."

The substitution of hotel visits for 'staycations' and camping has taken its toll on hotels, particularly in the provinces," said David Chubb, a partner at PWC. "The advent of upmarket campsites and the squeeze on consumer spending have driven a cyclical and short-term shift to self-catering, camping and caravanning."

A survey carried out by PWC last year revealed a 12 per cent increase in the number of Britons forgoing an overseas holiday or a stay in a British hotel in favour of a break at a campsite or holiday park. This has been supported by research released this week by BDRC Continental, a market research agency specialising in tourism, which found that a quarter of those who intend to take a domestic break this year are likely to opt for self-catering accommodation, while a further 16 per cent are planning to take a camping or caravanning holiday.

Mr Chubb added that the hardest-hit hotels have been those not affiliated with a major brand. He said the number of insolvencies could continue to rise in 2010.

So even though many Government officials keep telling us that we are past the worst of the economic downturn (politic speak for crash) the tourism industry obviously still has a long way to go before there is signs of recovery..

Follow more on this story at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/7101409/Hotels-go-bust-as-Britons-opt-to-self-cater.html

Barticus.

"Brit's don't go..."

This follows the news that Outbound International tourism has fallen 14% (which is nearly 10 million actual trips) in the year so far from the UK...

Inbound tourism fell as well, but not by as much with actual income down only 1%...

But why the surprise? With the value of the tourist pound falling through the floor, threats of redundancies looming, and the promise of a "barbecue" summer, the "staycation" was the only option available for many...

With the promise that inbound tourism will be the foundation for economic recovery in the UK, these figures will only make sense when evaluating what the Brit's spent on domestic tourism for the same period...

To follow this, and try to evaluate your own findings, go to http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1139543.php

Barticus.