Island Routes Caribbean Adventures is proud to announce a myriad of recent adventures in Grenada, the eighth Caribbean island to host Island Routes’ award-winning adventures. Grenada is called the ‘Spice Isle’, not only as a consequence of its mass exportation of nutmeg, but its rich cultural heritage, endearing locals and its eclectic village life make it one of the vital authentic places within the Caribbean. 
Category: Holidays
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Island Routes expands into Grenada
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ABTA reveals what Brits imagine themselves abroad
Over 18 million Brits will leave the rustic for his or her holidays this summer, with Spain, Greece, Turkey and North Africa amongst the preferred destinations. We know the stereotypes about Brits abroad, but do they still ring true a brand new poll from ABTA highlights just what we predict about ourselves on holiday.
The usual stereotypes are upheld with two thirds of Brits (65%)* unwilling to benefit the local language and believing that the British holidaymaker speaks English to locals. Over half (55%) also consider the British holidaymaker to be guilty of rowdy drunken behaviour and 38% consider Brits to be badly dressed when on holiday.
There is a few excellent news however, a 3rd (32%) of Brits call to mind themselves as polite and 42% folks consider ourselves as friendly abroad.
Regional differences
In general, people inside the North East have one of the most positive view of the British holidaymaker with almost two thirds (63%) pointing to our friendly behaviour and one in five (20%) stating we’re willing to profit the local language.
Some regions however, consider us to be particularly badly behaved and the table below reveals which regions think the worst of the British holidaymaker:
Perception of British holidaymakers Region National average
Extremely badly dressed (22% – East of britain) 13%
Extremely bad tippers (22% – Scotland) 14%
Very unwilling to take a look at new things (32% – Northern Ireland) 15%
Very rowdy and drunken (53% – Northern Ireland) 27%
Rude (41% – Yorkshire) 31%
Speaking English to locals (77% – East) 65% -
Abu Dhabi hotels report record April
Abu Dhabi’s 142 hotels and hotel apartment had their best April on record last month with rises in most key performance indicators, consistent with figures just released by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority (TCA Abu Dhabi).
During the month some 236,704 guests checked into Abu Dhabi accommodation – a 20% rise on April last year – with guest nights jumping by almost a 3rd to 738,797.
“One of the foremost encouraging results is the progress we’re making, with our partners, in expanding the common-length-of-stay of Abu Dhabi’s hotel guests and this may remain one in every of our key deliverables inside the coming months,” said HE Mubarak Al Muhairi, Director General, TCA Abu Dhabi.
The average-length-of-stay of hotel guests during April was 3.12 nights, a growth of 8% at the same month last year.
During April, Abu Dhabi’s occupancy rate climbed 12%, revenue rose 18% to AED 468,474,193 (US $127.6 million). Room revenue was up 21% to AED 238,135,624 (US $64.8 million) while F&B turned in another stellar performance rising 16% to AED183,853,608 (US $50 million).
During April there has been a slight dip of 6% inside the average room rate which stood at AED453 (US $123.3).
“There were a number key events in Abu Dhabi during April – the hosting of the area Travel & Tourism Council Global Summit and Abu Dhabi International Book Fair among them – and these can have delivered enhanced performance and demonstrate the significance of industrial events and exhibitions within the tourism mix,” added Al Muhairi.
April continues a month-on-month upward trend in guests, guest nights and average-length-of-stay for Abu Dhabi that’s this year targeting an annual hotel guest performance of two.5 million.
Performance for the 1st four months of this year shows 10% growth in hotel guests to 868,121, a 25% uplift in guest nights to two.9 million, a 13% rise in average- length-of-stay to a few.29 nights, a 9% increase in occupancy to 73% and a 16% surge in total revenue to AED 1.9 billion (U $517.4 million) with a slight dip of three% in average room rate to AED480 (US $130.7).
Domestic tourism remains solid with 283,856 guests from in the UAE delivering 649,114 guest nights within the first four months of this year with an ordinary-length-of-stay of two.29.
On the international front, the united kingdom remains the emirate’s largest overseas source marketplace for hotel guests with some 54,050 Britons staying in Abu Dhabi’s hotels within the first four months – a ten% rise at the same period last year. They stayed on average, 4.71 nights – up 11% at the corresponding period – and accounted for 254,768 guest nights – up 22%.
India is the second one largest overseas marketplace for hotel guests. a complete of fifty,057 Indians checked into Abu Dhabi’s hotels from January to April this year – an 18% lift at the same period last year. They accounted for 228,410 guest nights – that’s up 51% year-on-year – and stayed an ordinary of four.56 nights.
“India have been performing particularly well and we anticipate further growth from this market with Etihad Airways’ recent equity purchase in Jet Airways opening up additional Indian destinations to us and the launch of Jet Airways of a regular Kochi to Abu Dhabi flight,” added Al Muhairi.
German came in at third place with 44,033 German nationals staying in Abu Dhabi’s accommodation – a 22% rise at the first four months of 2012. They accounted for 201,573 guest nights – that is up 30% – and stayed on average for 4.58 nights.
Russia turned within the biggest percentage growth over the four months with 10,101 Russian nationals staying inside the emirate – a 66% increase on last year – which translated into 62,281 guest nights, which was up 73% year-on-year. Russians also are proving to be the emirate’s longest stayers, averaging 6.17 nights.
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Tunisia tops holiday destination for 2013
Members of the sales team from loveholidays.com travelled to Tunisia this spring to benefit more concerning the destination which the corporate is tipping to be the end seller for 2013.
Al Francis, MD of loveholidays.com said “With good rates of exchange, low costs of living while there and a few excellent deals on flights and accommodation, Tunisia is showing itself to be among the many top selling destinations for 2013. We needed with the intention that our team has the absolute best knowledge of the destination so we sent off two of them to the rustic to be told more about what Tunisia can offer our customers.”
The team are actually ready to offer the correct advice and assistance for any travellers trying to visit Tunisia this summer.
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Weak stirling means British holidaymakers will feel the warmth this summer
Millions of Britons heading overseas this Bank Holiday and summer will face higher holiday costs, as research finished by foreign currency echange specialist Moneycorp shows the Pound has lost value against almost 80% of the tip global currencies before twelve months.
Moneycorp checked out how Sterling has fared against the 50 global currencies since last May. The research revealed that the Pound has weakened against 38 out of the 50 currencies previously year.
What it means is that British holidaymakers heading to popular destinations akin to Australia, the usa and mainland Europe, will feel the financial pinch of the weaker buying power of the Pound this summer.
British holidaymakers must head much further afield, akin to the Far East and South America, to get real value for money. The Pound has strengthened almost 15% against the Japanese Yen since last May. That suggests for each £500 converted into Japanese Yen, that’s an additional £74 in comparison to exchanging the same quantity year ago.
And Brits hoping to make their holiday money stretch further will probably want to consider South America, where the Pound is 11% stronger against the Argentinean Peso and three% stronger against the Brazilian Real. With the Pound also strengthening against the Peso and Real between May 2011 and 2012, by 7.1% and 17.4% respectively, Sterling is eighteen.8% stronger than the Peso and 20.7% stronger than the genuine in comparison to two years ago.
On the flip side of the coin: Australia has long been a fave long-haul destination with the Brits, however the strength of the Australian Dollar is probably going to have eliminate many holidaymakers this year. The buying power of the Pound Down Under has crumbled in past times four years, almost 30% weaker against the Australian Dollar (28.3%). Even before 365 days, Sterling has lost 4.7% of its value against the Australian Dollar.
Matthijs Boon, Moneycorp’s Director of Travel Money, comments: “The weak performance of Sterling over the last year means our summer pounds aren’t going to stretch quite as far this year as they did last year.
“For more adventurous holidaymakers, one strategy to get well for money this summer is to observe long-haul destinations corresponding to Argentina, South Africa and Brazil. However, cheaper destination costs might want to be weighed up against the upper price of flights to get there, in comparison to hopping on a plane over to mainland Europe.”
Moneycorp the best way to make your travel money stretch further this summer:
1/ Once you haven’t booked your summer holidays yet, then consider picking a destination where the local currency has actually weakened against the Pound – there are some!
2/ Don’t use a mastercard to withdraw money from an ATM abroad as you’ll be hit not only with the bank’s exchange rate, but additionally a currency trading fee and an ATM fee. Plus, the sum you’re taking out will even start accruing interest immediately.
Instead, use a pre-paid currency card, inclusive of Moneycorp’s Explorer card (which permits users to load as much as 14 different currencies on one card). Since you load the cardboard up before you allow, you won’t pay a foreign currency echange fee if you withdraw cash from an ATM, and you’ll also get a greater exchange rate.
Also, attempt to withdraw money from ATM machines in main banks instead of from machines in shops, as bank ATMs are less more likely to charge withdrawal fees.
3/ Take a mixture of money and cards on holiday to hide the primary few days of your holiday. It really is worth having some cash for situations where a card isn’t accepted akin to taking a taxi from the airport or tipping in restaurants.
4/ Order you travel money online to get one of the best exchange rates. That you would be able to then have the currency dropped at your house address or to a bureau on the airport you’re departing from. Moneycorp has bureaux at Gatwick, Stansted, Southampton & Southend Airports and throughout Central London.
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