Travel news
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Last Updated: Friday, 22 February 2008
Cheap flights as airlines go to war
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Jacqui Walker
Jetstar is offering discounts to passengers without check-in baggage, and Tiger Airways is selling 100,000 seats at $9.95 each.
The two airlines are competing for business in what analysts say is a softening market.
Under the Jetstar offer, Jetsaver Light, passengers without check-in luggage get a $10 discount on its cheapest fares and $20 off on international fares. The allowance for carry-on baggage has increased to 10kg from 7kg.
Jetstar chief executive Alan Joyce says he believes the offer will appeal to business and short-break travellers.
But if you change your mind as to what you’d like to bring home with you, you’ll have to pay the difference plus a $10 change fee. And the discount is not available for more flexible fares.
Subscribers to the Jetstar newsletter were also offered 5000 one-cent fares on six interstate routes.
Tiger offered 100,000 tax-inclusive one-way $9.95 fares on 12 routes, including 15kg luggage allowance.
Tourism hit by dollar
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Jacqui Walker
Confirmation that the strong Australian dollar has been bad news for tourism operators came yesterday with official figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
International arrivals increased just 2%, below the Federal Government’s forecast of 3.7% according to the figures released yesterday.
But the happy news was the big increase in Chinese and Indian tourists. The number of Chinese visitors increased 15.9%, Indians were up 13.6% and the Irish up 12.2%.
British visitors fell 6.2%, Japanese visitors fell 12% and the Koreana were down by 3%.
The strong dollar presents local operators with a double whammy as Australians chose to travel overseas. The number of Australians travelling overseas surged 10.6% in 2007, following 4% and 8.9% growth in two preceding years.
Hotel rates likely to rise
Thursday, 17 January 2008
Jacqui Walker
Business travellers could be facing double digit price rises for hotel stays in Australian cities, according to a survey released this week.
The American Express 2008 Asia Pacific corporate hotel rate projections and market forecast report predicts:
- Sydney hotel rates up 14%.
- Brisbane up 8.4%.
- Perth up 8.1%.
- Melbourne up 4%.
Rising demand and a failure of property investors fund more development is said to be the reason for the rate rises. The problem for the hotel industry is that hotel developments don’t stack up against residential and commercial developments.
Overseas, the biggest rises would be seen in India, with a 40% rate increase projected for Mumbai, 36% for Delhi and 25% in Bangalore.
Rates were expected to rise by 26% in Singapore, 21% in Beijing and 20% in Kuala Lumpur.
With rising travel costs, what can you do to save? See our story that tracks down ways to find the best possible rate for your next business trip: Smart business travel.
Where the bloody hell are the tourists?
Thursday, 3 January 2008
The high Aussie dollar is upsetting the tourism industry, encouraging Australians to travel abroad and making Australia more expensive as a foreign tourist destination.
These holidays, Australians are heading overseas in unprecedented numbers. And worse could be coming, reports The Australian Financial Review.
University of NSW tourism academic Roger March says it is conceivable that by the end of 2007 Australia could be in the position where it farewells more Australians than welcomes foreigners. He says in 2000 foreign arrivals exceeded residential departures by 1.43 million. By 2005 that had halved to 743,000 But for the first nine months of 2007 the gap is just 100,000.
While the increase in tourism numbers in the last nine months seems positive, it raises concerns, he says. Two of the most critical markets, the US and Britain, registered no growth for the first nine months, but healthy numbers from the low spending New Zealanders and the Chinese propped up overall figures.
Travel site merger
Friday, 7 September 2007
Amanda Gome
Internet ticket reseller, Webjet, has made a $42 million cash-and-scrip friendly takeover bid for competitor travel.com.au.
The merger will create a giant online ticketing and accommodation reseller that will shake up the industry and take on Wotif, an online site that sells distressed inventory on behalf of hotels all around the world.
The merger is an attempt to consolidate and lower costs in an industry that is facing pressures from more aggressive moves by airlines to sell tickets directly to customers through their web sites.
Both companies in the merger have declared a trading halt.
New breed of road warriors
Tuesday, 4 September 2007
Amanda Gome
Technology to assist business owners and their staff work remotely is booming. Phones and devices that allow entrepreneurs to access and respond to email are substantially changing the way entrepreneurs work. Many businesses are now providing staff with internet enabled phones and expect people to constantly be on-call.
A recent report from Sensis on the online experience of 1800 small and medium businesses shows that the use of internet phones has doubled in the past year, with 36% of businesses now owning them.
Interestingly, the penetration has been considerably stronger in medium-sized businesses (35%) than small businesses (10%).
About one-fifth of the SMEs polled have an in-car or hand-held satellite navigation device. And VoIP (voice over internet protocol) is used by 17% of SMEs.
The business owners say the new devices allow them to better balance work and life and have flexibility outside the office. Half say they would never give them up and they never turn them off. BlackBerrys are particularly popular with the young but taper off for people over 40. Owners of internet phones say the two primary reasons they use them is to respond to emails and to work away from the office.
The big drawback is that it intrudes on people’s personal lives.
When asked about the drawbacks of BlackBerrys, 20% complained that it cut into their personal life and 11% did not like the constant calls and emails.
See today's Top Story: Technology and the business traveller
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