Older holiday-makers curb spending

Whilst the family holiday remains a necessity for younger holiday-makers, the older generation can remember a time when travel was a luxury and are proving more cautious. The travel industry predicts a decline in spending in this particular demographic. Younger families may still put the yearly vacation abroad in a higher priority position than for example, new furniture and fittings.

This trend will have an impact on the various travel sectors with there being a greater drop-off in holidays that suit the older person, and less of an impact in the traditional family holiday sector. Presumably though, if the current financial crisis continues unabated, eventually this lack of consumer confidence will filter thorough to the younger generations.

Camping in France

I have experienced a few holidays in France and I have stayed in quite a few different types of accommodation on the various trips that I have taken. I have 'enjoyed' some low budget hotels, some higher-end hotels, some delightful and extraordinary Bed and Breakfast places and have enjoyed Camping france holidays too.
I have been a fan of camping since childhood and it still offers a freedom not afforded by more formal accommodation. There are few restrictions on your coming and going, you can dress exactly as you want and the whole atmosphere offers more a more relaxing experience in my opinion.
Camping in France is very well organised and is well-established, there are places where you can take your own tent, caravan or motor-home as well as those places that offer ready-pitched tents for hire or mobile homes which offer facilities to rival a small hotel (often offering two bathrooms in the bigger units!).
Without exception, holidays in the great outdoors offer more relaxation and are particularly ideal for those who want to go home with some great photography of the flora and fauna of France. French camping venues are naturally in quiet rural spots which will also have some fantastic places to eat and drink at a fraction of the prices you would pay in a hotel or in a busy resort. There is no doubt that the French really know a thing or two about how to have a good evening out with good food and wine. A rural setting will give you great value for money when it comes to eating out, and if you want to cook for yourself (another advantage offered by a camping holiday), the local supermarche will be able to provide you with great food and an abundance of wine at reasonable prices. You can even seek yourself out a local 'cave' to experience local wine actually purchased from the vineyard.
Worth noting that often this local wine does not travel well, so unfortunately you will be better off drinking it all while you are still enjoying your holiday to avoid disappointment!!

XL failure consequences

XL air failed a few months ago at the height of the holiday season leaving many of it's clients stranded abroad without a flight home. This has not gone unnoticed by the holidaying public who are now understandably nervous about shopping for their own flights on the internet. Up until this incident, the internet was squeezing the gap between airline and client, and it was the agents who were being squeezed out. What the internet-browsing holiday makers had failed to appreciate is that an agency brings with it safeguards and insurances that a direct customer does not get...
This Summer's collapse has helped to fully illustrate the dangers of holidaying without the safeguards of an ABTA/ ATOL membership, or without adequate holiday insurance offering a rescue package to stranded clients.
A surge in agency holiday take-up is now expected along with a decline in direct client-ordering from airlines via the internet. This is an understandable reaction, but internet shopping with the right safeguards can still get you a good 'safe' deal.

Travel Advertising

It's difficult not to be drawn to Travel Advertising like a moth to a flame... It only takes a picture of clear blue skies, silver sands, the open ocean, or a busy metropolis for us to be scrabbling for our passports and credit cards.

Brits I feel are particularly susceptible to this type of imagery; exotic locations, fascinating foodstuffs, romantic scenery and the promise of unlimited shopping take us right out of our normal environment and persuade us that it is our destiny to be permanent travellers in search of warmer climes, better food and bargain purchases. We only need to open a travel brochure and we are there, on the veranda of a Spanish hideaway, sunning ourselves on a deserted beach or strolling through downtown Manhatten.

In days gone by, the need to save up for a holiday would lessen the immediate impact of travel imagery, but in the age of the credit card and internet purchasing the thought process from advert to purchase can be shortened to minutes rather then months. It is certainly true that the credit card has opened up foreign travel to a far wider client base. Even in these days of belt-tightening and credit-crunching, the family holiday is still an absolute necessity, we are still suckers for travel advertising.

Airlines suffer oil-price volatility

This summer has been a nightmare for airline fuel pricing with prices reaching $150 a barrel. Many operators chose to fix prices with their suppliers and 'hedging' has become the sport of the season for airlines. For example Ryanair hedged at $124 and would have been pleased to see the market price at $130, not quite so pleased to see it then decline to the $100 mark. This combined with the strengthening dollar price has created mayhem for those reponsible for airline cashflows. British Airways has done better with it's hedging having secured a price of $96 per barrel for 80% of it's fuel requirement for the third quarter of 2008. The drop of sterling against the dollar however threatens to negate any gains made through shrewd fuel trading.

Travel resources within the UK

I thought I would provide some links to some of the valuable travel resources that I regularly use when travelling within the UK:

Multimap - finds a map location from a post-code or partial address - also offers aerial views and map overlay for most parts of the UK. A handy route planner is also available on the same site.

AA Roadwatch - offers up to the minute traffic news and reports for all major routes throughout the UK. The AA site also has a section for finding all sorts of accommodation ranging from small B&B's to top hotels wherever you travel within the UK.

The good old BBC also offers a site with all the latest traffic problems and hold-ups in case you need a second opinion, and the BBC is a site that is constantly updated.

London Credit Cards

New London credit cards have just been launched by HSBC and Barclaycard. These cards have been specifically designed to enable quick payments and easy travel within the City of London.
The barclaycards feature 'touchless' payment, incoporating the Oystercard system into two credit cards, one with cashback, one with balance transfer. The HSBC card offers the same facility on a standard credit card.

As well as being a touchless system, the deal offered on the Barclaycard OnePulse with Cashback credit card includes a huge 5%(!) cashback on London Travel and 0.5% on purchases everywhere else. You can use the touchless Oystercard system on many of the buses, tube, and trams within London.

When it comes to credit card comparison, bear in mind the added value of these new cards launched and make sure you take advantage of the facilities offered to enable quick and easy traveling through one of the busiest capital cities in the world today.