Issue No. 1,307 Week of 27 November 2017 /stanselections

Serving the Scottish travel trade for over 26 years

HighlightsThis Issue:

Date-A-Base 2

News from Valencia 4

Photofile – SPAA Awards party 8

Thank you messages fromyour favourite suppliers

Super Break adds toIceland packagesSuper Break has added two new products to the exclusive charter to

North Iceland direct from Edinburgh. The Ski North Iceland Pack-age starts from £819 per person flying on Monday 15th January forfour nights with skiing on Tuesday and Thursday. The ski area is openfrom 1300 to 1900.

The cost includes return flights, 20kgs luggage and 5 kgs hand luggage,return transfers, 3 or 4 nights accommodation in a Standard Studio in4* Saeluhus Akureyri and skis provided in resort.

The North Iceland Value Package starts from £599 per person andincludes flights as above, return transfers, 3 or 4 nights accommodationas above and access to a variety of excursions

Fritz WilsonThe funeral took place this week of Fritz

Wilson who recently died. Fritz was wellknown in the Scottish travel industry havingbeen a prominent member of Scotway inthe 1980s and 1990s. His travel business,In Travel, had offices in Lochee, BroughtyFerry, Arbroath, Forfar and Perth.

Latterly Fritz was a homeworker withBarrhead Travel and many of his customersdated back to his In Travel days.

Agents from StewartTravel, BarrheadTravel, KennethMacleod Travel,Connoisseur Travel,Exclusively Scotlandand Hayshomeworking inScotland participatedin a two night fam tripon board the exclusiveHebridean Princess.

The Winner of Avis Budget Group’s agent incentive to win a Fiat 500, as featuredon its new agent platform 'Beep', is Travel 2’s Esmeralda Downes. Esmeralda ispictured here, second from left, with Avis Budget Group’s internationalcommercial manager Maria Pierce, Travel 2’s reservations manager GillianFrench and Avis Budget Group’s Global Travel & Partnerships Sarah Walters

Ian Donaldson of Ramsay World Travel in Lochee recently travelledon a Fam trip with CMV on board the lastest cruise ship Columbus.Since coming back to his branch office he has secured a bumper£30K Round the World cruise booking on board the vessel.Pictured is Ian Donaldson with CMV’s Business DevelopmentManager Karen Delorme enjoying the moment. CMV has recentlyannounced opportunities in 2018 to CMV ships whilst in portaround Scotland.

2 Scottish Travel Agents News: Issue 27 November 2017

190-194 Main Street, Glasgow, G78 1SL Editor: Susan Harris Tel: 07710 533902 Email: susan@stannews.co.ukFor subscription information contact the above address.Published by S&G Publishing (Scotland) Ltd and delivered to every ABTA, IATA, non ABTA, agency in Scotland as well as to home workers,telesales agents, and principals based in Scotland.Printing & Typesetting: Armstrong Printing (Alloa) Ltd, 75-77 Alloa Business Centre, Whins Road, Alloa FK10 3SARegistered as a newspaper with the Post Office.The editor and publishers cannot be held responsible for any views expressed or for any mistakes or misprintsthat may occur. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the publishers

2017

Dec 07 SPAA Christmas Lunch, Glasgow

2018

May 06 Magellan ship visit, Dundee

Jun 21 Columbus ship visit, Invergordon

Jul 13 Columbus ship visit, Greenock

Oct 08-10 ABTA’s The Travel Convention, Seville

Date-a-baseHurtigruten revealsnew sales teamHurtigruten has revealed a restructure of

its UK sales team in a bid to increaseawareness of Hurtigruten amongst trade andconsumers in the UK.

The team will be tasked with; increasingdirect national sales across all productsparticularly explorer, encouraging growth amongst key partners, arrangingtrade and consumer events and running training sessions to educate onthe Hurtigruten proposition.

As a result of the new appointments Danny Giles (pictured) has beenappointed National Explorer Manager. The role is to increase nationalsales on all explorer products with new routes to market as well asincreasing sales from current partners. Danny will also offer in-depthtraining from his extensive destination experience.

Cirque du Soleil launches onlinetraining programmeCirque du Soleil is celebrating the launch of its new travel trade online

training programme “Discover Cirque”.

With seven distinct shows permanently based in Las Vegas, Cirque duSoleil has remained a leader in Las Vegas’ live entertainment landscape.As each show is more unique and different than the next, Cirque hasidentified the most effective way to educate and train their globalindustry partners -- through vibrant imagery and educational videos.

By logging onto the website, participants will be able to discover theworld of Cirque du Soleil Las Vegas shows through a series of questionmodules and videos that will test the users Cirque knowledge.

Oman and Hawaii to welcomeG AdventuresSmall-group tour operator, G Adventures, has released its 2018collection of Classic trips featuring 34 new itineraries, includingOman and Hawaii. This is the first time the company has offered trips tothese two destinations.

The introduction of Oman comes as G Adventures has experiencedincreased demand for trips to the Middle East, citing 86 per cent growthyear-on-year for bookings from the United Kingdom.

G Adventures is also expanding its offering in the United States,introducing tours to the volcanic archipelago of Hawaii.River Duoro cruise from

GlasgowRiviera Travel’s Douro, Oporto and Salamanca River Cruise

now has Glasgow departures with a convenient departuretime of 1025. Available from August to October, the eight daycruise with flights from Glasgow is priced from£1,829 per person.

Commencing in the Roman city of Oporto, Portugal’s river Dourohas been tamed by locks into resembling a series of Finger Lakes.The destination is the higher reaches of the valley to visitSalamanca home of one of Europe’s oldest universities, two of itsfinest cathedrals, one of Spain’s finest city squares and theInquisition.

The fully escorted price also includes a guided tour of Oportowith visit to Port Wine cellars, a full day excursion to Salamancawith guided tour and Flamenco show, tour of the medieval villageof Castelo Rodrigo, traditional music recital with dance display,guided tour of Mateus Palace and gardens, dinner at a typicalPortuguese quinta, visit to the picturesque town of Lamego and itsSanctuary of Our Ladies of Remedy church, lunch at AlpenduradaMonastery overlooking the river and services of a Riviera Travelcruise director.

Singapore Airlines celebrates ayear of Manchester-HoustonSingapore Airlines has celebrated the one year anniversary of itstransatlantic Manchester to Houston route which allows aconnection from Scotland with the partnership with Flybe

Launched on 30th October in the year that Singapore Airlines alsocelebrated 30 years of flying from Manchester, the route is the firstand only transatlantic flight that the airline has ever operated from theUK and helps demonstrate its long-term commitment to the North-West region.

Stephen Turner, Commercial Director for Manchester Airport, said:“It’s fantastic to see Singapore Airlines celebrating the first anniversaryof its route to Houston. Direct flights to the US and Singapore arehugely important to the 22 million passengers in our catchment area.

“As the only UK airport outside of London to offer direct flights toboth Houston and Singapore it cements our position as the UK’sglobal gateway in the North.”

follow the tag #attractionpacked

YOU GUYS OFFICIALLY

ROCK!

You sure do. Thank you a million times for voting for us as

Holiday EssentialsSupplier of the Yearat the 2017 SPAA Awards

4 Scottish Travel Agents News: Issue 27 November 2017

With daytime temperatures of more than 20C, winterstill seems far away but we are already planning forspring, as that is the time when our city truly comes tolife.

Book now for Las Fallas Festival, 15-19 March 2018

Las Fallas is Valencia’s most international and colourfulfestival, declared Intangible Cultural Heritage ofHumanity by UNESCO last year.

Every year, hundreds of giant paper-mache monuments -the fallas - are set up in squares and crossroadsthroughout the city. They are true works of art, oftenpresenting a satirical view of current affairs and famouspersonalities. After a few days on display, they are burntin spectacular bonfires at midnight on 19 March, in acenturies’ old tradition to welcome spring.

Things you should know about the Fallas:

The festival officially starts at the end of February withthe Cridá, when the Fallas Queen calls out for everybodyto come to Valencia

Every day from 1-19 March, at 2pm, crowds gather at thetown hall square for the nosiest, craziest of fireworksdisplays: the mascletá

Thousands of men and women in traditional costumesparade through the city for two days to bring flowers toOur Lady of the Forsaken

Only one single sculpture is saved from the flames eachyear, by popular vote.

There are also amazing street illuminations, concerts,street food (try the typical buñuelos) and more…

Top tips:

Bring comfortable shoes and be prepared for late nights

Book early, Valencia gets very busy these days!

Don’t forget you can fly to Valencia directly from Glasgowand Edinburgh with Ryanair.

For those who can’t go in March...

The Fallas Tour, available on www.visitvalencia.comoffers a glimpse into the festival, and includes a visit tothe Fallas Museum, where the sculptures saved from thefire are kept.

David GomezUK & IrelandMarket ManagerValencia Tourismdavid.gomez@visitvalencia.com

TIPTO boosts membershipwith Railbookers

Bookabed newpartnershipwith UniversalOrlandoResortsWholesaler Bookabed is the

first in the Irish industry topartner with the UniversalOrlando Resorts with a direct liveinventory feed.

The direct connect access toinventory allows access to some ofthe most sought after hotels inOrlando; Loews Portofino BayHotel, Hard Rock Hotel, LoewsRoyal Pacific Resort, LoewsSapphire Falls Resort, Cabana BayBeach Resort; and the latest toopen in the summer, Universal'sAventura Hotel. The connectionwill allow up to same day arrivalavailability and rates in all roomcategories including high end suites.

Colleen Butler Worldwide ProductManager at Bookabed says“ This isone of the many new excitingproduct developments that helpsus to further meet the demands ofour agents and deliver up to datetechnology with continued im-proved product offering ongoing.We will be announcing furthernew partnerships and connectionsin the coming weeks."

Gold Medal invests over 350kto ensure agents have thetools ready for PeaksGold Medal has added over 250 new properties and 50 new

tours to its 2018-19 brochure portfolio.

In 2017 Gold Medal saw brochure requests from agents increaseby over 170 per cent. This demand has spurred the operator toinvest over £350,000 into next year’s 10 brochures including fiveto North America (USA; Las Vegas, California & the West; Florida;Canada and the Caribbean & Mexico) plus Dubai & Arabia; theIndian Ocean & India; the Far East; Australia, New Zealand &South Pacific and Africa.

From 2018 Gold Medal will include Kanazawa in Japan and, inIndia, six new touring itineraries have been added with Goa andKerala now on offer.

Star Clippersintroducesnew themedcruisesStar Clippers is offering 19

themed sailings during 2018on board the company’s three tallships, in Thailand, Indonesia, theCaribbean and Mediterranean.Guest speakers include yogainstructors, wine experts, chefsand life coaches and two newsailings to include lectures oncreative writing and journalism.The guest speakers and practit-ioners will be hosting lectures,yoga and fitness sessions on boardthe line’s three vessels betweenMay and November.

Inghams launches Lakes &Mountains with 14 new resortsInghams has launched its Lakes & Mountains Summer 2018 mainedition brochure, with a vastly extended programme.

New additions include seven resorts in Italy, Austria and Norway, sevennew multi-centre holidays combining destinations in Italy, Norway,Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland, and a new programme to Portugal andMadeira.

To mark the launch of the new brochure, Inghams has also launched anew Lakes & Mountains video, to visually showcase its summer productin Europe:

Peter Traynor (Railbookers) and Jane Atkins (TIPTO Chairman)

TIPTO boosts its member portfolio to 24 suppliers by welcomingRailbookers. Providing holidays by train, Railbookers brings with it a widerange of rail holiday options, which extends the educational programmeTIPTO offers to agents.

Railbookers is a one stop solution for agents looking to provide theirclient with a fully protected, tailor-made, independent rail holiday.

Greetings fromsunny Valencia!

UK-EUROPEWDFDS.CO.UK/AGENT

THANK YOUFROM DFDS!We’ve been voted SPAA’s FerryCompany of the Year 2017!

We couldn’t have done it withoutyou, so we’d like to thank youfor supporting us.

Many thanks indeed to ourScottish Travel Agents for your

excellent supportWe are delighted you

voted for us asDomestic Airline of the Year

at the annualSPAA Travel Awards

7Scottish Travel Agents News: Issue 27 November 2017

Star Alliance launches dedicatedUKwebsiteStar Alliance is launching a new dedicated website for its customers in

the UK. The new website was officially unveiled last week at an eventfor UK travel trade partners in London, celebrating the 20th anniversaryof the Alliance, connecting people and cultures. The researchprogramme listened to the views and opinions of customers from acrossthe travel sector including frequent flyer programme members, corporatetravel managers, product managers and frontline travel agents, with theobjective of gaining a clear understanding of their perception of StarAlliance, its products and services.

Star Alliance used these insights to identify what customers value most,leading to a clear content strategy with the customer in mind. Keyfeatures of the new website include an illustration of how members ofthe frequent flyer programmes can earn and redeem miles across theworld’s largest airline alliance. The site also showcases key areas of thecustomer experience, such as lounge locations. It also highlights StarAlliance facilities at Heathrow where all 24 Star Alliance carriers servingthe airport are joined under one roof at the purpose-built Terminal 2.

Manchester Airport launchestrade incentiveManchester Airport is set to launch its biggest ever trade incentive to

mark its forthcoming 80th birthday.

The airport is offering travel agents who book flights and holidays fromManchester the chance to win one of five Minis and 250 bottles ofchampagne.

UK agents will be divided into five areas – including Scotland as one -with one Mini up for grabs in each location. One booking fromManchester Airport will equal one entry into the incentive.

Cayman Islands launches TVcampaignThe Cayman Islands Department of Tourism has launched its first

TV advertising campaign in the UK for twenty years. Based onthe theme of finding ‘the perfect escape,’ the 60-second advertfeatures a couple on holiday in the Cayman Islands, showcasing thedestination’s beaches, clear water and a selection of the activities onoffer to visitors.

The advert forms part of a wider advertising campaign which willalso see outdoor digital displays appear on the LondonUnderground system

British Airways flies to Grand Cayman four times per week fromHeathrow with a short touchdown in Nassau.

Riviera Travel launchesnew collectionRiviera Travel has launched its new Cruise Compendium Brochure,

which includes a new yacht and itinerary which is now available tobook for 2018 dates. The latest addition to the fleet is the MV Mare Blu.Set to launch in 2018 this brand new vessel is built specifically to cruisethe waters of the Adriatic and featuring the very latest safety innovationsand, at 52 metres, accommodates 38 passengers.

Thank you for voting G Adventures Your Touring & Adventure Company of the Year!

gadventures.com/sherpa

Partying at the SPAA Annual Travel Awards with a ‘silver’ theme

8 Scottish Travel Agents News: Issue 27 November 2017