Travel Industry
Blame tax rises No-one likes paying tax. Let’s face it, we live in an economy that splutters along based on massive, widespread corporate tax avoidance. And when a tax goes up, it’s an easy whipping boy. The general line, it seems, is that if you make a business pay taxes, it can’t possibly be profitable. [...]
Continue reading about Time to start asking questions about tax
2012 should be a big year in travel – so I thought I’d join everyone else by making predictions for the forthcoming twelve months in the travel industry. These are based, naturally, on extensive research. 1. QR codes to catch on in a big way. Office watercoolers are likely to buzz with talk of [...]
Fair tax on flying campaign Yesterday, and with much fanfare, a travel industry campaign for a ‘fair tax on flying’ was launched. The consortium behind it is demanding that Chancellor George Osborne doesn’t include any increases in Airport Departure Tax in his next budget. Problems with Airport Departure Tax It’s fair to say that Airport [...]
Continue reading about Does the travel industry REALLY want a fair tax on flying?
A lesson learned Last November, I learned a valuable lesson. We were half-planning a Caribbean holiday, when we saw flights to the Seychelles for under £400. Figuring we’d never be able to get there as cheaply again, we snapped the tickets up and decided to take the opportunity to do a famous luxury destination on [...]
Continue reading about An important travel lesson: When good deals make for bad holidays
Reluctance to join Twitter I was extremely reluctant to join Twitter. As with many who have an antipathy towards it, I thought it was a place for self-obsessed morons to blather about what they had for breakfast. I didn’t know what it was for – and in a way I still don’t, but I have [...]
Continue reading about Twitter and the travel industry: Bringing the outsiders together
If Iggy Pop can advertise car insurance, Johnny Rotten can plug butter and Bob Dylan can be the voice of a Sat-Nav, why can’t other music legends get in on the self-prostitution act? The travel industry is clearly missing a trick here – why not get a few rock icons in to boost visitor numbers? [...]
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My little list of Top 15 Travel Twitterers seems to have got itself a fair bit of attention. Interestingly, a lot of comments have centred around my reasons for unfollowing someone. To summarise, if I find a Twitterer dull, irrelevant or overly irritating, then I see no reason to keep following them. Nothing personal – [...]
Continue reading about How to use Twitter effectively: Travel PR companies
Lists of Twitterers to follow If you want a list of people to follow on Twitter, then you’ll not struggle to find them. There are hundreds of such lists out there on the web. Alas, most aren’t very helpful. These Twitterer lists generally fit into one of two categories. Either they’ve got so many names [...]
Tipping for good service? Or all the time? I’m fairly sure that this one will open up a can of worms, but let’s run with it anyway. Cards on the table – I hate tipping, hate the fact that I’m expected to tip, and hate the attitude I’m given when I don’t. And yes, this [...]
My previous post on hotels and their attitude to providing internet facilities for guests drew quite a response. It seems as though it’s not just me that gets angry with this. Time for part two of the rant, then… Patchy WiFi access The second thing that infuriates me about WiFi in hotels is that [...]
Continue reading about Why hotels don’t get WiFi: 2 – Coverage