Tourists being killed does seem to bring out the worst in people in our tourism industry.

Egypt’s tourism minister Hisham Zaazou is a case in point, claiming that the recent cancellation of all UK flights into and out of Sharm El-Sheikh by our Government is “unjustified”. The emergency and completely justified move follows the crash of Russian Airbus A321 in Sinai on Saturday October 31st shortly after leaving Sharm El-Sheikh for St Petersburg, killing all 224 passengers and crew on board. Concerns that a bomb might have been secreted on the flight have led to completely understandable concerns about security at Sharm El-Sheik airport, hence the cancellation of flights, for the ultimate safety of passengers, until this can be assessed by experts. Currently the flight recorder has recorded an explosion on board. Continue reading →

Criticism of the way Thomas Cokk handled the deaths of two of its young customers by carbon monoxide poisoning at one of its chosen hotels in Corfu continues to damage the tour operator’s reputation.

Christi Shepherd, 7, and her brother Bobby,6, died at the Louis Corcyra Beach Hotel in 2006 after fumes from a faulty boiler leaked into their room. (See Event Organisers Update, June, THOMAS COOK PROBE) The inquest earlier this year recorded a verdict of unlawful killing and that the tour operator had breached its duty of care. Continue reading →

Meanwhile some other tourist economies are seriously under threat down on some of the lovely beaches of the Caribbean, where unusually large amounts of dirty-brown sargassum seaweed has been washing up this summer and decomposing in the sun, along with the dead fish and turtles caught up in it.

In Antigua the pile of the stuff grew to more than 4 feet high, and in Mexico a team of 5,000 labourers has been employed to rake the sargassum from 100 miles of beach in Quintana Roo, carting away more than 1,000 lorry-loads from one stretch. The Mexican beaches at Cancun and Tulum have been hit, as have those in Barbados and Belize, and a natural disaster has been declared in Tobago.

One recent development that could make flying less of a depressing experience, and travel more of an incentive for VIP groups, is a private jet service to Paris for £363 plus VAT one way.

This is offered by Le Jet and launches November 23, with up to eight travellers taken to Biggin Hill airfield in Bromley, Kent by Mercedes people-carrier for their 45-minute flight to Paris, where they are met and taken to their final destination. Check-in can be up to 10 minutes before departure.

Currently Le Jet offer two flights per day each way, and comparison prices of a business class service one way are up to £350 on British Airways and £275 for last-minute business premier tickets on Eurostar.

One recent development that could make flying less of a depressing experience, and travel more of an incentive for VIP groups, is a private jet service to Paris for £363 plus VAT one way.

This is offered by Le Jet and launches November 23, with up to eight travellers taken to Biggin Hill airfield in Bromley, Kent by Mercedes people-carrier for their 45-minute flight to Paris, where they are met and taken to their final destination. Check-in can be up to 10 minutes before departure.

Currently Le Jet offer two flights per day each way, and comparison prices of a business class service one way are up to £350 on British Airways and £275 for last-minute business premier tickets on Eurostar.

Excursions 2016, the exhibition of options for those organising group travel takes place at Alexander Palace, London, on Saturday January 23 2016.

This is the 40th presentation of the event and visitors are invited to enjoy a celebratory ruby red gin anniversary cocktail, or its mocktail equivalent.

web: excursions2016.com

An example of a film that was higher-rated by the public than the critics was the 1967 John Schlesinger adaption of Thomas Hardy’s rural novel of comely and modern Wessex woman Bathsheba Everdene. This, and this year’s remake, both view like a superior soap-opera.

Everdene, a headstrong, independent and attractive miss inherits her uncle’s farm and decides to run it herself. Two men fall in love with her. One is a dependable and talented sheperd, Gabriel Oak, whose proposal of marriage she once rejected and who now, sportingly, looks after her sheep, farm and income. The other is William Boldwood, a wealthy middle-aged land-owner and confirmed bachelor to whom she sends a very ill-considered Valentine card with, as a joke that is sadly taken seriously, the words MARRY ME. Continue reading →

A cocktail containing liquid nitrogen cost an 18 year-old her stomach in 2012, and the wine bar in Lancaster that served it a fine of £100,000 last week.

Gaby Scanlon was given the drink at her birthday celebration at Oscars Wine Bar and drank it while it was still smoking with evaporating nitrogen. This effectively caused instant freezing of internal organs and her perforated and frostbitten stomach had to be removed to save her life. Scanlon claims she asked someone in the bar if the trendy Nitro-Jagermieste cocktail was safe to drink while the nitrogen was still evaporating and was told it was. Three years on she still suffers considerable pain and finds no joy in eating. Continue reading →

A director of Edinburgh chauffeur firm Chauffeurline(UK) Ltd has been banned from operating passenger vehicles or acting as a transport manager for three years, for illegally running the business without a licence.

The company operated a fleet of 19 luxury vehicles, including six Jaguar XJL’s and three 16-seater Mercedes minibuses, and had contracts with a number of Scotland’s luxury hotels as well as the BBC, British Airways, P&O and Balmoral. Continue reading →