Category: Holidays

  • ICTP supports Myanmar’s bold new tourism leap

    The International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) supports Myanmar’s bold new tourism leap and requires green growth leadership. ICTP is a quick growing Hawaii, Brussels and Seychelles-based global alliance of greater than 100 tourism destinations, associations and personal stakeholders as members.

    Attending the area Economic Forum’s East Asia Summit today, Professor Geoffrey Lipman, President of ICTP and a Member of the WEF’s Global Agenda Council complimented the govt. of Myanmar on its newly-released Tourism Master Plan.

    Presenting “Sustainability Principles” on behalf of the Forum’s “High Level Travel&Tourism Meeting” to U Atay Aung, the Union Minister of Hotels and Tourism Lipman said that “We all believe enthusiastically in Myanmar’s vision and strategic planning to spice up tourism as a crucial tool for development, job creation and nation building – we also believe that with our continuing collective support, embodied within the se “Guiding Principles for Sustainability” in the sector, it is possible for you to to place green at the same page as growth.”

    Lipman, who will moderate the Forum’s Travel&Tourism session also released an entire supportive statement from The International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) as set out below.

    Travel&Tourism – Shaping a Green Growth Roadmap for Myanmar

    Myanmar is at a very important crossroads in its economic and social re-awakening. That’s among the many real examples in our lifetimes of a rustic with an opportunity to head rapidly and constructively from the backwaters into the mainstream of worldwide affairs, and to deal positively with its own transformational challenges and opportunities, while dealing with those of the hot orient centric, BRICS buoyant, hyper-connected world into which it’s emerging.

    It is obviously greater than symbolic that the area Economic Forum is holding its East Asia Summit in Nay Pyi Taw – the fashionable regenerated capital of an ancient community, which has always been on the crossroads of Asia’s turbulent growth. It’s an indication of real confidence inside the country and its socio-political evolution, from the worlds’ top business, government and civil society leaders who should be present.

    Given the Summit’s theme of “Courageous Transformation for Inclusion and Integration,” there’s arguably not more relevant and challenging issue on its agenda than travel and tourism. This cross-sectoral, transformational activity has emerged prior to now decade as one of several new change agents for economic and social inclusion and a pillar of the advance framework.

    Travel and tourism has become essentially the mostsome of the most dynamic drivers of the worldwide economy, accounting directly and indirectly for five-10% of world GDP, jobs and trade. It tracks closely the ebbs and flows of national and regional economic patterns and is far prior to the curve in the case of today’s pivotal job creation focus. Simultaneously it’s an activity that each year moves billions of individuals across the planet domestically and internationally, with important carbon footprint, capacity impact and resource consumption dimensions.

    Here then is a key challenge for the recent Myanmar, which has jumped up every traveler’s “must visit” wish list and, in fact, is a large growth opportunity for the travel industry and the entire other sectors which are cross fertilized by it. balance the capability positives for trade, job creation, nation building and community well-being, with the possible negatives of congestion, exploitation and resource depletion Methods to do that in a coherent, measured way that’s within the vanguard of socio-economic transformation while ensuring that environment, human and climate impacts are kept within tolerable limits Primarily, a way to do that while safeguarding the authenticity and sweetness, that is the essence of the rustic and its people

    Fortunately Myanmar is setting up a plan for the progressive long-term sustainable development of the world. With the support of the international finance and development community, in addition to the active encouragement of the Forum’s Global Agenda Council, the Minister of Hotels and Tourism, U Htay Aung will unveil a primary draft of a master plan for the arena, in the course of the East Asia Summit. This can be a welcome and timely initiative. And likewise a courageous sign of the vision of the govt. to put out its plans for open discussion of a central development issue for public peer review and input before not after the choices were made.

    As President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners – a grass roots organization of tourism destinations and stakeholders committed to green growth and quality – and as a participant within the Forum’s Travel and Tourism Summit, I welcome the foresight and leadership of the govt of Myanmar. We glance forward to a plan that starts by putting green at the same page as growth and commits to pursuing both goals in harmony and on the same pace.

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  • International image campaign benefiting for British tourism

    Latest figures from VisitBritain show that Britain’s global appeal as a tourist destination is profiting from its biggest ever image campaign, leading to a possible £200 million of extra visitor spending inside the UK over the subsequent two years.

    The £25 million GREAT image tourism campaign – which targeted 14 major cities in nine countries – is performing well at the international stage, especially when benchmarked against competitor tourist boards with substantially larger budgets.

    GREAT tourism activity continues to accomplish high levels of reach and recall – 72% of the audience in target cities recall seeing the good campaign. It also continues to extend the selection of people actively considering visiting the united kingdom within the next year due to VisitBritain ads – 23 % of these who recall the campaign plan to go to within the next year rather than 11% of these who don’t recall the campaign.(1)

    The national tourism agency estimates that its GREAT image activity helps drive uplift within the variety of people worldwide seeking to come to experience the perfect of what Britain has to supply. This increased intention to go to then feeds into VisitBritain’s partnership marketing – offering great deals with commercial partners corresponding to British Airways to encourage bookings. The findings are a lift for the organisation because it fights to extend visitor numbers in a very competitive marketplace.

    Analysis of the primary year of VisitBritain’s GREAT activity has revealed that it has potentially delivered another 422,000 visits from the objective cities.(2) This potential return from visits means the tourism part of the good campaign has achieved a return on investment of 8:1.

    The findings also indicate that the campaign helps to showcase the entire of england. Across all the survey cities, people strongly agreed that the promotional work made them would like to visit places outside of London.(3)

    Sandie Dawe, Chief Executive of VisitBritain said: “In 2012 Britain became the 1st Olympic host since Sydney to work out a rise in inbound tourism within the year of the Games.

    “The GREAT campaign is playing a big role in our efforts to draw a better variety of overseas visitors, with those seeing our images increasingly more likely to visit the united kingdom within the following couple of years. It’s essential that we continue to deliver this campaign in our high value tourism markets and the expansion markets of the long run if we’re to boost overseas perceptions of england as a must see destination.”

    Culture Secretary Maria Miller said: “The GREAT campaign have been fantastic, encouraging overseas visitors to return and experience the best of england. We have to sustain the momentum, and continue to extend both the collection of visitor numbers and the amount of cash they spend here. The tourism industry has a key role to play in delivering economic growth and the good campaign remains on the heart of the sector’s strategy.”

    In 2012, the united kingdom welcomed 31 million overseas visitors spending a record £18.6 billion within the process. By 2020, VisitBritain believes the united kingdom could welcome 40 million overseas visitors a year, contributing £31.5 billion annually to the economy.

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  • International image campaign reaping rewards for British tourism

    Latest figures from VisitBritain show that Britain’s global appeal as a tourist destination is making the most of its biggest ever image campaign, leading to a possible £200 million of extra visitor spending within the UK over the subsequent two years.

    The £25 million GREAT image tourism campaign – which targeted 14 major cities in nine countries – is performing well at the international stage, especially when benchmarked against competitor tourist boards with substantially larger budgets.

    GREAT tourism activity continues to accomplish high levels of reach and recall – 72% of the audience in target cities recall seeing the good campaign. It also continues to extend the selection of people actively considering visiting the united kingdom within the next year due to the VisitBritain ads – 23 % of these who recall the campaign plan to go to inside the next year in place of 11% of these who don’t recall the campaign.(1)

    The national tourism agency estimates that its GREAT image activity helps drive uplift within the collection of people worldwide seeking to come to experience the most effective of what Britain has to supply. This increased intention to go to then feeds into VisitBritain’s partnership marketing – offering great deals with commercial partners which include British Airways to encourage bookings. The findings are a lift for the organisation because it fights to extend visitor numbers in a particularly competitive marketplace.

    Analysis of the 1st year of VisitBritain’s GREAT activity has revealed that it has potentially delivered a further 422,000 visits from the objective cities.(2) This potential return from visits means the tourism element of the good campaign has achieved a return on investment of 8:1.

    The findings also indicate that the campaign helps to showcase the full of england. Across all the survey cities, people strongly agreed that the promotional work made them like to visit places outside of London.(3)

    Sandie Dawe, Chief Executive of VisitBritain said: “In 2012 Britain became the primary Olympic host since Sydney to peer a rise in inbound tourism within the year of the Games.

    “The GREAT campaign is playing a prime role in our efforts to draw a better variety of overseas visitors, with those seeing our images increasingly more likely to visit the united kingdom within the following couple of years. It’s far essential that we continue to deliver this campaign in our high value tourism markets and the expansion markets of the long run if we’re to boost overseas perceptions of england as a must see destination.”

    Culture Secretary Maria Miller said: “The GREAT campaign have been fantastic, encouraging overseas visitors to return and experience the absolute best of england. We have to sustain the momentum, and continue to extend both the selection of visitor numbers and the amount of cash they spend here. The tourism industry has a key role to play in delivering economic growth and the nice campaign remains on the heart of the sector’s strategy.”

    In 2012, the united kingdom welcomed 31 million overseas visitors spending a record £18.6 billion within the process. By 2020, VisitBritain believes the united kingdom could welcome 40 million overseas visitors a year, contributing £31.5 billion annually to the economy.

  • Resilient UK travellers still heading to Turkey

    “Given the new history of protests and civil war in different holiday hotspots in North Africa and the center East, it truly is understandable that UK travellers to Turkey may feel a touch unsettled by TV and media reports of demonstrations within the country.

    “As a result, and unsurprisingly, we’ve seen a slight dip in enquiries to the world but UK holidaymakers appear resilient and continue to enthuse concerning the country’s attractions and hospitality. Some new enquiries searching for alternative resorts which represent similar value, proximity to UK and culture and for that reason we’ve been touting Cape Verde and Egypt as popular alternatives.

    “At the instant the disruptions mainly focus around urban areas and cities so those travelling to holiday resorts are mainly unaffected. Obviously, we promote all travellers follow the recommendation given by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, available on their website, and we’re monitoring Turkey closely so if the placement changes we will contact our booked customers.

    “There aren’t any refunds available on trips already booked to Turkey while the placement remains safe.” says Maria Whiteman, CEO of Directline Holidays.

  • ITB Berlin: Holidays make one healthy and happy

    Holidays benefit people’s health and allow them to get over the tension in their day-to-day lives. a contemporary study has now confirmed what many travellers regularly experience. Dr. Jessica de Bloom, a piece and organisational psychologist on the University of Tampere in Finland, has examined how holidays benefit people’s overall healthiness and are available to a couple fascinating conclusions from which the tourism industry can profit. She presented her findings at a workshop organised by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Tourismusforschung at this year’s ITB Berlin Convention. In keeping with the study, holidays not just benefit people’s health but cause them to happier to boot.

    These latest research findings concerning personal happiness confirm that folk who spend their money on concerts, family trips or short breaks are happier than individuals who acquire material objects equivalent to jewellery, clothing and electronic devices. The explanation, in accordance with Dr. Jessica de Bloom, is they can’t be compared. “One can compare a designer suit with a dear watch, but not one’s diving holidays at the Red Sea and a colleague’s city break in Barcelona. What’s more, experiences don’t wear out over the years.”

    Switching off to close out stress
    Taking a break from everyday routines also benefits one’s health. Scientists and doctors conducting the Framingham Heart Study found that folks who don’t go on holiday for longer periods are at greater risk of turning into ill or maybe dying in advance of individuals who regularly go on breaks. Frequent breaks as opposed to extended holidays are crucial to maintaining good health. All types of holiday examined by the study, whether a brief break or a 3-week hiking trip, produced evidence of comparative benefits to people’s future health. Dr. Jessica de Bloom compares this with the consequences of sleep: “One cannot postpone one’s sleep or relaxation requirements. One long summer holiday cannot catch up on an entire year of exertions and overtime.“ So that you can remain healthy the key is to sit back frequently, she added.

    Freedom to make one’s own choices on holiday helps one to relax
    Whether or not a vacation is relaxing and remembered as such is determined by a number of factors. In line with de Bloom’s study, 17 per cent of individuals feel worse once they are on holiday than before they went. One of the reasons are negative events corresponding to travel stress or a sudden illness. Her study also confirms that, crucially, this is often influenced less by the kind of holiday activities people undertake than by them having the liberty to make their very own choices. Activities should satisfy people’s needs and it’s the holidaymakers who ought to be in a position to choose them. In other words, having the ability to make one’s own choices when on holiday is the foremost to an ideal break. Actually, activities play a good greater role as they influence people’s perception of ways long they were on holiday. Time simply flies for people who undertake various holiday activities. Afterwards, they remember having had a protracted holiday, unlike those that spend their time inside the hotel or at the beach. The last day on holiday can well decide how people remember their trip: “Packing suitcases and other unappealing activities are best treated an afternoon before leaving to make certain the last day on holiday could be enjoyed to the full“, advises de Bloom.

    Reducing stress factors and galvanizing happiness
    The findings of this study on holidays and relaxation may be of practical use to the tourism industry. In keeping with de Bloom, travel agency sales of holiday tours could improve a customer’s holiday experience, providing travel agents are familiar with the positive effects and the way to lessen stress. What’s more, tourism products must be further improved to make certain tourists enjoy maximum satisfaction when on holiday.

    Dr. Martin Buck, Director of Travel & Logistics, Messe Berlin: “These latest research findings give us a deeper insight into the purposes of today’s travellers. They give valuable inspiration for creating innovative tourism products and provides companies the decisive edge in a hotly contested travel market.“