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  • Unprecedented 5.7% rise in visitors from UK to Germany

    Destination Germany remains on track for fulfillment, with excellent growth inside the volume of overnight stays by international visitors providing much of the momentum. In 2012 the German Federal Statistical Office recorded in far more than 68.8 million overnight stays by visitors from abroad in accommodation establishments with greater than ten beds, a rise of around 8 per cent at the previous year. “We have exceeded, by a transparent margin, the forecast volume of 400 million overnight stays from Germany and abroad. This emphatically underlines the massive acclaim for Destination Germany, that’s becoming increasingly attractive to people from other countries,” says Ernst Burgbacher, Member of the German Parliament, Parliamentary State Secretary on the Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology and Federal Government Commissioner for SMEs and Tourism.

    Europe and the BRIC countries go from strength to strength

    The German Federal Statistical Office recorded a complete of 68.8 million overnight stays by visitors from abroad in 2012, up 8 per cent at the previous year.  The united kingdom market (visitors from the united kingdom to Germany) alone rose by 5.7%. “The European source markets and the BRIC countries are going from strength to strength they usually have played a primary role on this new record result for inbound tourism in Germany. If the most important source markets continue to accomplish strongly, we shall be on course to pass the 80 million mark in international overnight stays by 2020,” says Petra Hedorfer, Chief Executive Officer of the German National Tourist Board (GNTB). In response to a UNWTO survey, growth in inbound tourism for Destination Germany remains well above the worldwide and European average.

  • News: IATA reports 2012 best in history for continuous safety improvements

    The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that the 2012 global accident rate for Western-built jets was the bottom in aviation history.

    The 2012 global Western-built jet accident rate (measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jets) was 0.20, the equivalent of 1 accident every 5 million flights.

    This represented a 46% improvement over 2011, when the accident rate was 0.37, or one accident for each 2.7 million flights.
    IATA’s 240+ member airlines recorded no Western-built jet hull losses in 2012.

    “The industry’s 2012 record safety performance was one of the best in history. Every day approximately 100,000 flights arrive safely at their destination. Airlines, airports, air navigation service providers, manufacturers and safety regulators interact to confirm every flight is as safe as possible. Their dedication and cooperation has made air travel remarkably safe. Nevertheless, there’s still work to do. Every accident is one too many and every fatality is a human tragedy. The primary commercial airline flight befell on 1 January 1914. Since then the first actual flight the airline industry has made continuous improvement in safety its top priority,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.

    Safety by the numbers:
    *  On the brink of 3 billion people flew safely on 37.5 million flights (29.8 million by jet, 7.7 million by turboprop)
    *  75 accidents (all aircraft types, Eastern and Western built), down from 92 in 2011
    *  15 fatal accidents (all aircraft types) versus 22 in 2011
    *  6 hull loss accidents involving Western-built jets in comparison to 11 in 2011
    *  3 fatal hull loss accidents involving Western-built jets, down from 5 in 2011
    *  414 fatalities in comparison to 486 in 2011
    *  Fatality rate slightly increased to 0.08 per million passengers from 0.07 in 2011 in line with Western-built jet operations
    *  IATA member airlines outperformed the industry average for accidents of all aircraft types (0.71 accidents per million flights in comparison with 2.01), accounting for 13 of the 75 accidents

    IOSA
    Airlines at the IATA Operational Safety Audit Registry (IOSA) experienced no Western-built jet hull loss accidents. The complete accident rate (all aircraft types) for IOSA registered carriers was 4.three times better than the speed for non-IOSA carriers (0.96 vs. 4.11). Today 381 airlines are at the IOSA registry (www.iata.org/registry). For IATA’s 240+ airlines IOSA is a demand for membership within the association. That some 140 non-member airlines are at the registry is a transparent indication that IOSA has become the worldwide benchmark for airline operational safety management.

    “IOSA again demonstrated its positive impact on aviation safety. Carriers at the IOSA registry recorded an accident rate that was greater than four times better than their non-registered counterparts. Not just did IOSA registered carriers have a lower accident rate however the accidents were less severe with regards to fatalities and damage to aircraft,” said Tyler.

    During 2012, IATA continued its work with airline members to develop the improved IOSA. Enhanced IOSA adds another dimension with a focal point on airlines’ internal quality assurance program to implement self-auditing methodology in response to IOSA principles.

    Regional highlights—Western-built jet hull loss rates
    *  The subsequent regions outperformed the worldwide Western-built jet hull loss rate of 0.20: Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (0.0), Europe (0.15), Middle East and North Africa (0.0), North America (0.0), and North Asia (0.0)
    *  The subsequent regions saw their safety performance improve in 2012 in comparison to 2011: the CIS (from 1.06 to 0.00), Latin America and the Caribbean (from 1.28 to 0.42), Middle East and North Africa (from 2.02 to 0.0) and North America (from 0.10 to 0.0).
    *  Right here regions saw safety performance decline in 2012 compare to 2011: Africa (from 3.27 to three.71), Asia-Pacific (from 0.25 to 0.48) and Europe (from 0.0 to 0.15).
    *  Latin America and the Caribbean posted a second consecutive year of improvement (0.42 vs. 1.28) however the region’s rate was still higher than the arena average.
    *  Africa registered a better rate, from 3.27 in 2011 to three.71 in 2012, and this is still the worst performer by a huge margin.

    Safety in Africa
    Africa’s Western-built jet hull loss rate showed a much better rate versus 2011 (3.71 vs. 3.27). The region’s accident rate for all aircraft types greater than doubled (12.44 accidents per million flights from 6.17 in 2011), with 13 accidents in 2012 (up from 8 accidents in 2011).
    African airlines at the IOSA registry had no accidents.

    “Africa is a continent divided on performance. Airlines at the IOSA registry are functioning at or above industry average rates. However the continent’s performance is much from satisfactory. It’s going to be as safe to travel by air in Africa because it is in every other portion of the realm,” said Tyler.

    In May 2012, IATA, with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and a number of alternative organizations, committed to an Africa Strategic Improvement Action Plan aimed toward addressing safety deficiencies and strengthening regulatory oversight inside the region by 2015. The Plan was endorsed as component of the ‘Abuja Declaration’ by the Ministerial meeting on Aviation Security and safety of the African Union in July and endorsed on the Assembly of the African Union in January 2013.

    “Stakeholders are united of their commitment to bring all of Africa to world class safety levels in the course of the adoption of worldwide standards. Passage of the Abuja Declaration is a key step along this path,” Tyler said. Critical to the success of this plan is mandatory adoption of IOSA by African states.

    Accident analysis
    Runway excursions, by which an aircraft departs a runway during a landing or takeoff, were the most typical variety of accident in 2012 (28% of total accidents). Most (82%) of runway excursions occur following a stable approach where the aircraft floated beyond the traditional touchdown point, or braking devices didn’t activate in a timely manner, or because directional control was not maintained after landing.

    This kind of accident continues to offer challenges for the industry. Despite a rise within the runway excursion accident rate in 2012, the five-year trend in actual accidents remains downward (2008:28, 2009:23, 2010:20, 2011:17, 2012:21). In 2013, IATA will continue to work with industry partners to support regional runway safety seminars and to update the IATA Runway Excursion Risk Reduction (RERR) toolkit. Furthermore, IOSA now requires that airlines utilize Flight Data Analysis (FDA) programs that may help identify precursors to runway excursions.

    Loss of control in-flight
    Loss of Control In-flight (LOC-I) isn’t essentially the mostsome of the most common accident categories (In 2008 there have been 14 LOC-I accidents followed by: 2009:9, 2010:10, 2011:8, 2012:6). However, LOC-I accidents bring about the foremost fatalities (43% of all fatal accidents and 60% of all fatalities from 2008-2012). IATA is operating with industry partners to implement an international LOC-I prevention program a good way to assist operators to grasp the standards fascinated about these events. Moreover, this program will provide guidance for an enhanced pilot training and establish a process for feedback into the IATA Training and Qualification Initiative (ITQI).

    Sharing information
    Data sharing is essential to identifying trends that may indicate a possible safety issue. In 2009, IATA launched the worldwide Safety Information Center (GSIC). This incorporates operational and safety information fed by seven different databases. These are accident data, operational safety reports, IOSA and IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) audit findings, Flight Data eXchange (FDX), an aircraft ground damage database and a brand new cabin safety operational report database. Greater than 460 different organizations around the world are already submitting information to GSIC. Continuing with the work started with GSIC, IATA is introducing the recent operational data management initiative, incorporating GSIC and expanding data management into other arenas similar to operations and infrastructure.

    “Data collection and analysis underpins all safety efforts. The more we understand about how accidents and incidents occur, the higher equipped we’re to spot the danger factors. This permits us to take mitigation steps long before risks become a security issue which could contribute to an accident”, said Tyler.

    “In a bit multiple lifetime, aviation has gone from being a high risk activity to a routine portion of everyday life. As commercial aviation prepares to go into its second century, we must live as much as the ideals of our industry’s pioneers and recommit ourselves to creating aviation ever safer,” said Tyler.

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  • Thomas Cook to slash thousands of jobs

    U.K. travel organisation Thomas Cook plans to chop approximately 2,500 jobs and shut down 195 retail travel agencies.

    The job cuts would amount to a 16% reduction in Thomas Cook’s 15,500-person workforce.

    “It isn’t easy to make decisions that impact directly on our people, but we also owe it to our customers to shape the business effectively and confirm that after they book their holiday with us, our administrative costs are as little as possible,” said Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser.

    “Even after these changes, we can still have among the many largest retail networks in U.K. travel.”

  • IHIF: Worldhotels expands portfolio of branded hotels

    Worldhotels, a number one global group for independent upscale hotels, is growing its branded soft franchise solution because the ideal alternative to conventional franchising.

    The offer is terribly competitive, as costs to owners are based purely on brand performance in total net room revenue delivery.

    Since introducing the hot business model in 2011, Worldhotels has already branded 15 hotels and plans to feature another 20 by 2014.

    Ingo Guerges, vice chairman global hotel development at Worldhotels explained why the hot model was created:

    He said: “Hotels kept asking us for a better level of partnership – without the high operational interference of traditional upscale franchises.

    “So we prepare an answer that follows our motto of ‘If you own a hotel, it will feel such as you own a hotel.’”

    Worldhotels’ soft franchise solution focuses purely at the commercial side of the business, to generate and capture opportunities for room revenue growth from all segments and all distribution channels.

    The model doesn’t require any hardware standards, as Robert van der Graaf, Worldhotels’ newly appointed regional vp full licence Europe, Middle East and Africa, illustrates.

    “We’ve always said that standards don’t must mean standardisation,” he stated.

    “Our role is just to ensure the logo and supporting systems deliver the very best results for our hotels, without interfering inside the actual delivery of an authentic upscale hotel experience.”

    The model is built on over 40 years of successes of Worldhotels’ affiliation model and makes a speciality of three areas – to begin with full commercial support to maximize the hotel’s exposure under an international brand, secondly increase hotel market share through total brand performance, system delivery and at last distribution cost control to ultimately achieve a really healthy return on investment for hotel owners.

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  • News: London Marriott Hotel County Hall announces partnership with The Prince¹s Trust

    The 5* London Marriott Hotel County Hall today announces growth of its partnershipwith leading youth charity The Prince’s Trust, providing training and training opportunities for teenagers keen to develop a career within the hospitality industry.

    2012 saw youth unemployment reach a record high, over 1.2m inside the UK. The Prince’s Trust and Marriott hotels has been working together nationally, to offer opportunities for disadvantaged youngsters and the London Marriott Hotel County Hall hotel has recently taken on two employees from The Prince’s Trust Fairbridge programme.

    Located within the heart of Westminster the London Marriott Hotel County Hall has worked with The Prince’s Trust and its Fairbridge programme since 2011, supporting the ‘Employ Me’ course which offers disadvantaged youngsters the chance to realize an insight into the area of labor. The course concentrates on key employability skills for children who would not have access to education, employment or training with work experience opportunities in quite a number hospitality roles including front of house, housekeeping and food and beverage.

    The London Marriott Hotel County Hall ‘Housekeeping Challenge’ is a piece experience activity, enabling teens to place hospitality theory into practice. The hotel’s Executive Housekeeper Vince Castronovo briefs students at the features, facilities and steps all for preparing a room fit to the 5* standard for guests. The adolescents then give you the chance to go back a ‘distressed’ room back to its perfect state. Their efforts are filmed and evaluated by the manager Housekeeper before the gang is then offered the opportunity to undertake five hours of supervised work experience on the hotel in a department in their choice with a purpose to then securing a freelance of employment to further develop their careers. So far the London Marriott Hotel County Hall has held threeHousekeeping Challenges offering career, support and coaching to twenty youngsters with ambitions to double this support in 2013.

    Manuel da Costa and Jonathan Zepeda are two teens who’ve taken part within the ‘Employ Me’ programme on the London Marriott Hotel County Hall.

    Sixteen-year-old Manuel da Costa from Waterloo began with the Fairbridge Programme by joining the math and English courses. Manuel then joined the London Marriott HotelCounty Hall as component to the ‘Employ Me’ course working with a team of Marriott chefs to benefit more about careers inside the culinary and hospitality industries. Following the course Manuel now works part-time within the hotel’s kitchen under the guidance of Executive Chef Gareth Bowen whilst continuing his studies and has ambitions to 1 day open his own restaurant.

    Seventeen-year-old Jonathan Zepeda from Vauxhall is now employed on the hotel as a member of the Housekeeping team. Learning the best way to work as a team in addition to the most important elements of purchaser service and adhering to the hotels’ strict, 5* standards have enabled Jonathan to develop his self-confidence. He now has ambitions to develop his career to Housekeeping Supervisor and sooner or later work as a manager.

    Commenting at the partnership, Theresa Maw General Manager for the London Marriott Hotel County Hall said, “It is really inspiring to look youngsters realise their career ambitions with the guidance and support of both the team on the hotel and on the Prince’s Trust. As a Marriott hotel we’re committed to ‘give something back’ and dealing directly with the local people to support and develop the potential for those keen to develop a career within the hospitality industry.”

    Alex Dimsdale, Director of Human Resources for the London Marriott Hotel County Hall added: “We have partnered with The Prince’s Trust since 2011 and feature been overwhelmed with the passion, commitment and professionalism of the scholars that we’ve got worked with. The Housekeeping Challenge have been developed specifically to practically realise this commitment and we glance forward to developing opportunities foreven more students in 2013.”

    Dermot Finch, The Prince’s Trust Regional Director for the South added: “We are hugely grateful to the team on the London Marriott Hotel County Hall for the support and opportunities they’ve provided our teens.Working with an organization that has any such strong reputation means our kids have a chance to forge the beginning of a promising career with an industry leader.  We glance forward to growing and developing this chance toeven more students in 2013 and beyond.”

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