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ABTA has concluded its pilot tour of University campuses this June as part of its activity to boost brand awareness amongst 18-34 year olds. The events at Portsmouth, Nottingham and Warwick Universities attracted more than 10,000 students with thousands participating in the activities at the ABTA stand, speaking to ABTA staff and Members. Additionally the tour has reached over 24,000 people online via the ABTA Facebook page.

During the events students were invited to take part in fun experiences such as a climbing wall and having their picture taken with the ABTA logo in the background, the images were uploaded to ABTA’s new Facebook page and have gone viral with over 98,000 views to date. In addition a Tipi provided a unique area for students to engage and to learn more about ABTA and Member brands.

ABTA Members Real Gap, Tucan Travel, eufest, STA Travel and Best of Britain Holidays got involved with the campaign by offering fabulous competition prizes and attending the events.

Lisa Crowther from STA Travel commented “From our perspective, the ‘Love Summer Love Travel’ campaign allowed us to engage with young people in a more relaxed non-sales led environment. Feedback from the students was incredibly positive with many saying they felt inspired to travel the world.”

Victoria Bacon, Head of Communications ABTA said: “This is the first time ABTA has done a tour of this kind and the results have been very promising. It has been a fantastic opportunity to speak to lots of students face to face and to raise the profile of the Association among this age group. It has shown an appetite for holidaymakers in this age group to engage with us and we will now be looking at ways to build on the programme next year.”

Destination Greece has updated its website with a new section to address travel agent concerns about recommending or booking their clients to Greece. Topics and questions covered include...
Is it safe to travel to Greece in view of the financial situation the country is in?

Yes, it is as safe as traveling in any European Union country. The financial state of affairs does not have direct impact on tourism. Having local presence in Athens, Greece we have first hand experience of the life in the country and we can attest to the safe conditions in Athens and beyond. Having said this, and independent of the travel destination, we always suggest our clients stay abreast with the latest US Department of State travel news.

Is it a good time to visit Greece now?

It most definitely is....

GREECE is offering holiday discounts of up to 25 per cent this European summer in a desperate bid to entice tourists to the crisis-hit country.
Operators such as Olympic Holidays are slashing their prices on holiday packages as the peak-time tourist season begins,The Daily Mail reports.
The debt-ridden nation faces an exit from the Eurozone, with Greeks heading to the polls this Sunday.
Olympic Holidays' commercial director Photis Lambrianides told the Daily Mail discounts of this size were not normal but had come about by the different set of circumstances his country faces at the moment.

"Although some commentators have quite rightly been pointing out that there’s never been a better year to go to Greece, people are still rather uncertain," he said.

"We have started tactical...

The latest phase of Tourism Australia’s global marketing campaign, There’s nothing like Australia, has been launched today in China - Australia’s fastest growing and most valuable overseas tourism market.

New broadcast, print and online advertising materials were unveiled in Shanghai by the Minister for Tourism, the Hon. Martin Ferguson AM MP alongside Tourism Australia’s Chairman Geoff Dixon and Managing Director Andrew McEvoy.

Tourism Australia will spend approximately A$180 million over the next three years rolling out the evolving campaign in its key international markets and in Australia. It expects to achieve a total investment of A$250 million by securing up to A$70 million in additional funding from industry partners to support joint marketing activities, aimed at...

As part of National Travel and Tourism Week, the Obama administration on Thursday announced plans to boost tourism in America by attracting almost twice as many foreign visitors over the next decade.

“Tens of millions of tourists from all over the world come and visit America every year,” President Obama said in a statement. “They stay in our hotels, they eat at our restaurants, they visit our attractions, and they help create jobs. At a time when too many Americans are still looking for work, we need to make it easier for more people to visit this country and keep our economy growing.”

Commerce Secretary John E. Bryson and Interior Secretary Kenneth L. Salazar outlined for reporters the White House’s new National Tourism and Travel Strategy, calling the plan a...

In the Florida Keys, things happen a bit differently than they do in the rest of the world and that includes music festivals. Surrounded by the sea, the 120-mile island chain has staged one of its signature musical events underwater since 1985. The 27th annual Underwater Music Festival is set for 9 July 2011 at Looe Key Reef, an area of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary located approximately six miles south of Big Pine Key.

Each year, the subsea songfest draws as many as 600 divers and snorkelers to explore the colourful diversity of marine life that characterises the continental United States’ only living coral barrier reef. The marine musical event is staged by Keys radio station WWUS 104.1 FM, locally called US 1, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Music is broadcast...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has a well-deserved reputation as host of the biggest carnival celebration in the world. Nowhere else on Earth is this gloriously wanton Christian holiday of feasting before fasting quite as grand in scale. In fact, all over Brazil, wild and massive celebrations compete for the carnival spotlight. This makes it easy to forget that carnival is celebrated with the same passion and gusto in many other parts of the world as well!

Here is the selection of five great places for a carnival carouse outside of Brazil.

MALTA AND GOZO

Costumes are key in the carnival celebration on the Maltese island of Gozo. Some take the disguise aspect so seriously that they will conceal their identities completely by remaining silent.

The central Mediterranean island of Malta...

The 2011 Seychelles "Carnival International de Victoria," due to be held in Seychelles between March 4-6, 2011, is acting as a magnet for African countries who recognize the many opportunities that the Carnival offers and who are eager to jump on the bandwagon and get involved.

Seychelles’ historical status as the "melting pot of cultures" has, over its two centuries of settlement, produced a harmonious, multi-ethnic society that has created of its very variety and diversity a strength which is now the bedrock of a vibrant, yet tranquil, Seychellois Creole way of life.

It is this very sense of harmony, stability, and unity that is captured in the spirit of the 2011 Seychelles "Carnival International de Victoria," which sets the stage for international participation over three days...

Myanmar has long been considered as a pariah state due to its harsh military government and its poor record on human rights. For years, most countries called to boycott Myanmar, and this was reflected by tourism figures. While other ASEAN countries prospered and enjoyed healthy growth in tourist arrivals, Myanmar continued to stagnate. Total arrivals reached over 792,000 in 2010, up from 657,000 in 2004 – when including cross-border tourism - representing a growth of 20.5% over this period. When looking at foreign arrivals at international airports, they grew from 2004 to 2010 from 242,000 to 311,000, a plus of 28.5%. Some would probably say that Myanmar did not do that bad. During the same period of time, arrivals to neighboring Laos more than doubled from less than 900,000 to an...

This year has been a bumper one for archaeology in Turkey with a number of new sites and finds unearthed. Highlights include newly discovered lost cities and significant artifacts from ongoing excavations.

The discovery of the lost city of Germenicia in Kahramanmaras with its many houses decorated with mosaics such as found in Ephesus and Zeugma.

The antique Roman city of Julianopolis close to Ankara during whose unearthing the ancient city of Parnassos was also discovered.

In Istanbul and its surrounds, findings include ceramics of the Roman and Byzantine period and a Roman tombstone at the ancient city of Bathoneia situated at the edge of Lake Kucukcekmece, Istanbul. A 60-metre section of a Roman road and a tunnel have been found in Kocaeli. A temple with statues of Aphrodite...

Rushing around is standard airport behavior, but surprising collections of art at U.S. airports offer a moment for reflection - for those who have the time.
Here are five airports where you can catch some art on the way to catching your flight.

1. Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, was one of the first airports in the United States to integrate art into its public spaces, according to its officials.
Some 30 permanent art exhibits are on display at the airport, including "Mustang," a 32-foot tall, bright blue, cast fiberglass horse sculpture with gleaming red eyes.
New Mexico artist Luis Jiménez created the 9,000-pound piece - the largest of his career.
Jiménez died while working on the sculpture in 2006 when a large section of the...

PHILOSOPHY BEHIND THE CARNIVAL IN SEYCHELLES

When the Seychelles islands were first settled, it was by a blend of individuals of different ethnicity, customs, and ways of life. Throughout its history and to this very day, Seychelles has continued to be a melting-pot of peoples from the four corners of the Earth who have each contributed their particular thread to the fabric of this vibrant yet peaceful society, adding to it and being, themselves, subtly transformed in return.

Against this background of multi-culturalism, diversity, and the coming together of peoples, it is fitting that Seychelles should be, once again, the focal point of an annual "Carnaval des Carnavals" – bringing representatives from the world’s carnivals to the islands to participate in three days of...

Zhong Xi, a Fudan University graduate, is eagerly anticipating the opening of the new Disneyland park in Shanghai, although work, which starts this month, is not expected to finish until 2014.

"I have called on my classmates to have a reunion on that day - five years after we graduate from university," Zhong said.

Many of her classmates are Mickey Mouse fans or enthusiasts of other Disney cartoon figures. They were all born after 1980, and Mickey Mouse clothes, Donald Duck stationery or Snow White dolls are part of their childhood memories.

It is reported that Shanghai Disneyland will include a Magic Kingdom-style theme park with characteristics tailored to the Shanghai region.

"I am wondering what the result of combining Western cartoon figures with Chinese elements will be...

People are rediscovering travel following the recession, according to data unveiled at the World Travel Market, the premier global event for the travel industry.

Latest figures from the World Travel & Tourism Council show that worldwide, travel and tourism’s gross domestic product is expected to rise by 2% this year, compared with a forecast in January of only 0.5%.

However, the WTTC has urged caution, pointing out this sudden growth spurt means that tourism GDP in 2011 will grow by only 2.7%, compared with 3.2% forecast in January.
Figures from the United Nations World Tourism Organization for the first nine months of this year confirm the progressive recovery of the industry with a 7% increase in international arrivals compared with the same period in 2009.

A high-profile...

The global economic crisis has opened up important opportunities for the tourism sector, but capitalizing on these requires a better understanding of the various governance roles within national tourism policy and decision making. This will be the main topic of debate among the ministers of tourism, parliamentarians, local authorities, and representatives of the private sector meeting at the upcoming Seventh Forum for Parliamentarians and Local Authorities (November 16-18, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico).

Given the horizontal nature of the tourism sector, all public policies have a significant impact on tourism activity, yet this is often not taken into account by legislators when it comes to decision-making. The forum will debate current challenges facing tourism governance, in particular...