Travel Insider Tips - June 2012

I can get as many as 1,000 emails a week on travel industry news and my plan is to pick out a few items each month which I think might be of interest to my readers covering all aspects of travel.

China could become top travel destination in three years

Sustained economic progress and development of hotels and other travel infrastructure could allow China to outstrip the U.S. as the top business travel destination by 2015, the Global Business Travel Association predicts.

Business travel returns but companies seek to rein in costs

Business travel is rebounding, but companies are trying to keep costs down. About 20 percent of companies have mandated travel programs which specify which airlines, hotels and car rental companies must be used. Travel agencies are being used to track expenses. If you book outside the policy, you often will not be reimbursed.

United Airlines withdraws pre-boarding privileges for families

 You must now board according to your seating assignment.

Singapore’s new cruise terminal to open in May

The multi-million dollar cruise terminal is capable of accommodating the world’s largest luxury cruise liners and this will allow Singapore to tap into Asia’s growing cruise industry. Four thousand passengers and 1,800 crew on each liner will bring in 13.2 million visitors this year.

Liverpool received cruise hub status

Liverpool on the River Mersey in Northern England has just been given the go-ahead to be granted “turnaround status” for cruises to start and end in the city, to the dismay of Southhampton, in Southern England. This will generate more traffic into Manchester airport.

Eurotunnel may be forced to limit bookings this summer

The problem is the lack of border control personnel. The airports have been hard hit, causing long lines at border control and now that is spreading to rail terminals. The company is reportedly slashing the numbers of bookings available for the car, lorry and coach shuttle service through the Channel Tunnel. The Sunday Times – London – has reported that delays as long as 4 hours can be expected. A major problem, people are missing their flights and trains.

Salvage experts outline plan for raising the Concordia – Italy

Raising the sunken Costa Concordia will be a joint effort by Titan Salvage, an American-owned specialist marine salvage and wreck removal company and the Italian marine contractor Microperi. They outlined their plan Friday to raise the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner from the sea floor off Italy in one piece and tow it from the disaster site. The operation is expected to start shortly, and take up to a year. The president of Titan Salvage said it was an unprecedented operation. The plan to re-float the hull in one piece gives top priority to minimizing environmental impact to protect the economy and tourism industry for that area. Costa Cruises stated that once removal is complete, the sea bottom will be cleaned and marine flora replanted. The operation will be divided into four basic stages, once the ship has been stabilized, an underwater platform will be built and watertight boxes, or platforms will pull the ship upright, helped by the weight of the caissons which will be filled with water. When the ship is upright, caissons will be fixed to the other side of the hull to stabilize it.

Finally, the caissons on both sides will be emptied after the water inside has been purified to protect the marine environment and filled with air. Once the giant ship has been refloated, it will be towed to an Italian port to be dismantled and disposed of.   Costa is now estimating the cost to be around $300 million

Fewer large ships visit Antarctica

Visitors to Antarctica are down as much as 22% as fewer large ships find it cost effective to sail in the region. There is now a ban on carrying or burning heavy fuel oil below 60 degrees south latitude that took effect last August.

This is the fourth year in a row of a decline in tourism. From 14,373 to 4,872 is a significant drop in visitors. Will we eventually see all cruise traffic banned.

- Maureen Jones

Maureen Jones is president of All Horizons Travel at 160 Main Street. Members of her staff are experts in business travel, cruises, and all types of leisure.