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Fascinating Holidays offers Ultimate Experience online
Fascinating Holidays will soon launch www.ultimate
experience.travel, a dedicated website offering customised,
ultra-luxurious vacations for “those who are willing to pay for
exclusive holiday experiences”, president and CEO, Mr. David Teo, said.
He added: “Clients can tell us their dream vacations and we will try to
make it happen. We can arrange for them to travel by private jets, sail
on private yachts, travel to space or stay at unique hotels.”
The agency is now selecting a range of products and services from around
the world to be included in this website.
“They must be very high-end, very hip, very uniquely designed or have a
rich history”, Mr. Teo said. (TTG)
United puts Tokyo
on sale until October 15
For a limited period only, United Airlines is offering a special promotional
fare from Bangkok to Tokyo-Narita of just 9,500 baht* round trip (not including
Tax and surcharges).
The special United Economy class fare is valid for travel commencing August 27,
2007. Return travel must be completed by November 15, 2007.
United serves Tokyo’s Narita International Airport from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi
Airport with a daily departure at 06:50 that lands at 15:00. The return flight
departs 18:30, allowing travelers to make the most of their last day, and
arrives back in Bangkok at 23:10.
For more information regarding the full terms and conditions, surcharges and
local taxes, you can contact United’s reservations desk on 02 253 0559.
Saving the earth Thai-style
Thailand’s Ministry of Tourism (MoT) is launching a series of
green tourism activities to combat global warming.
Tourism minister, Dr Suvit Yodmanni, said the activities were also to cope with
changing trends in travellers’ behaviour, especially those from the UK, US,
Canada and New Zealand, where tourists were becoming more keen to help reduce
energy waste.
The first activity will see the MoT and the Tourism Authority of Thailand
launching a campaign promoting a “Thai way of travel” at a pilot site - UNESCO
world heritage site Sukhothai Historical Park - at the end of this month. Local
and international travellers will be encouraged to take part in a one-day rally
that will feature a green itinerary and tree planting activities near the park,
aimed at reducing pollution around the site.
The campaign will also be introduced at other UNESCO world heritage sites,
including Ayuthaya Historical Park, Baan Chiang archaeological site, Khao Yai
National Park and Huay Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary.
The MoT is also planning to expand the Green Leaf standard to other tourism
industry sectors from just the hotel industry at the moment, and to encourage
local stores popular with tourists to replace the use of disposable plastic bags
with ones made of fabric. (TTG)
Brits behaving badly: Prague heads list of ‘tourist trouble’ hotspots
“Whenever I am abroad I am embarrassed to be British,” is a statement you
may not be unfamiliar with. Now the massive influx of UK stag and hen
parties to Prague have made the Czech Republic a hotspot for British
travellers in trouble, figures suggest.
A Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) report says Britons visiting the
Czech Republic need a “disproportionate” amount of consular assistance.
More Britons lose their passports, get arrested or taken to hospital in the
country than some more popular places.
Those in India, Thailand and Australia also need a large amount of
assistance.
More British tourists are taken to hospital in the Czech Republic than in
Germany, which receives more than three times the number of Britons, the FCO
figures from April 2005 to March 2006 show.
The number of Britons who lose their passports in the Czech Republic is also
higher than in Greece, even though Greece has three times as many British
visitors, the ‘British Behaviour Abroad Report’ says.
Foreign Office research last year suggested 24% of people on stag and hen
parties faced problems abroad.
The Latvian capital Riga is among places which have become more popular with
British tourists, partly as a result of improved air links to Eastern
Europe.
Mike Johnson, an American who runs Patricia Tourist Office in Riga, told BBC
Radio Five Live that local people were not keen on some of the visitors and
bad behaviour by some was affecting tourism.
“Latvia is a very quiet, shy country - the people are very calm. They teach
their children, for example, not to speak in a tram as they ride,” he said.
“And so to have a bunch of loud-mouthed boys come here and drink, take off
their shirts, run around the streets and scream and pee on our monuments,
it’s not very well-received.”
Top of the list of countries where Britons require consular assistance is
Spain - also the most popular holiday destination.
A total of 13.8m British travellers visited Spain in 2005/06. During that
time the country had the highest number of deaths (1,325), the most lost or
stolen passports (6,078) and the most arrests (1,549).
Overall, Britons in Spain also had the biggest number of serious cases
needing consular assistance (5,627).
India, Thailand and Australia appeared in the top 10 countries requiring
consular assistance despite not being among the most popular destinations.
This could be because while Britons are becoming more adventurous, they are
not taking adequate precautions, the FCO said.
FCO minister Meg Munn said many problems faced by British holidaymakers
could be avoided.
“Simple precautions like researching your destination, getting comprehensive
travel insurance, checking out medical requirements and taking copies of
important documents could help avoid common travelling traumas, risks and
dangers in the long-run,” she said.
The FCO advises travellers to visit its website www.fco. gov.uk/travel
before heading abroad. (eTN/bbc.co.uk)
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