AVIATION

Financial Year 2006-07
An Excellent Performance in the First Half
• Operating income up 30.5% to 979 million Euros
• Adjusted operating margin1 of 9.1%, up 1.2 points
• Free cash flow of 0.5 billion Euros
Very Good results in Q2
• Operating income up 7.8% to 568 million Euros
• Adjusted operating margin1 of over 10%
Objective for Full Year 2006-07 Maintened

Click here to download the results in PDF.

---

Virgin Atlantic Creates New Role Of Sales And Marketing Director     
Virgin Atlantic, Britain's second largest airline, said today it had appointed Paul Dickinson to the newly created role of Sales and Marketing Director. Paul, who joined Virgin Atlantic in November 2001, will oversee Virgin Atlantic's global Sales and Marketing teams. In his new role Paul will be responsible for sales, marketing, Virgin Atlantic’s Flying Club loyalty scheme, customer relations, contact centers and e-commerce.

---

Massive Airbus A380 Makes China Southern Visit
GUANGZHOU, China - November 22, 2006 - China Southern Airlines,
- www.cs-air.com/en - served as a host today to the massive Airbus A380 which is making its first technical proving run through Asia.
China Southern Airlines will be the nation’s launch customer of the superjumbo aircraft and is slated to take delivery and operate five of the aircraft in its fleet - the largest in China.

---

Accra, Brazzaville, Malabo Royal Air Maroc breidt bestemmingen Afrika uit Amsterdam, 22 november 2006 - De Marokkaanse luchtvaartmaatschappij Royal Air Maroc (RAM) breidt momenteel het aantal bestemmingen in Afrika met drie uit: Accra, Brazzaville en Malabo. Lees meer.

---

American Airlines Introduces International Self-Service Check In
New Automated Feature Enhances Customer Experience at the Airport
FORT WORTH, Texas, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Airlines, the world's largest airline and a founding member of the global oneworld(R) Alliance, is introducing international check-in capabilities using airport Self-Service machines. More than 365 of these check-in devices, for use by American and American Eagle customers, are now equipped with passport readers that can help ease the travel process by speeding up check in for customers traveling from the United States or traveling to/through the United States from an international location. Read more.

---

	JAL’s First Boeing 737-800 Next Generation Arrives in Japan Tokyo, Tuesday November 21, 2006: JAL today held a ceremony at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to formally welcome the first state-of-the-art, single-aisle Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (JA301J) to its fleet.
	This more fuel-efficient, environment-friendly, small size 165-seat aircraft will be used initially on Japan domestic routes from March 2007, operating between Tokyo’s Haneda airport and cities in west and southern Japan. The new aircraft is the first of 30 B737-800 models ordered by JAL, which will be delivered to the airline over the next five years.

The new aircraft is the first of 30 B737-800 models ordered by JAL, which will be delivered to the airline over the next five years. JAL also has options for another 10 aircraft.
The B737-800 has been created using leading-edge technology and design, providing increased performance when compared to other aircraft from the B737 family.

---

Regional Thai airline Bangkok Airways is expanding internationally with two new destinations: Fukuoka (3 flights/week) in Japan, and Male in the Maldives (2-3 flights/week). The airline hopes to launch a Bangkok-Ho Chi Minh City daily flight in March 2007 and a Kuala Lumpur-Samui flight.

---

Continental Airlines propose désormais l'enregistrement sur internet au départ de Bruxelles
BRUXELLES, le 17 novembre 2006 -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) a annoncé la mise en service sur son site internet de l'enregistrement en ligne pour les passagers voyageant avec un billet électronique au départ de Bruxelles. Ce nouveau service, qui est disponible aussi bien pour les vols internationaux que pour les vols nationaux à travers les Etats-Unis, offre aux clients le confort d'obtenir leur carte d'embarquement depuis leur domicile ou leur bureau, ce qui leur permet de se rendre plus rapidement au contrôle des passeports à l'aéroport. En savoir plus.

---

The Lufthansa Newsletter. Join the Lufthansa Christmas Party on 14th December in Brussels. Click Here.

---

New airports in Ecuador
Quito, capital of Ecuador, is due to get a new US$550mn airport in 2009, only 24km from the city. Important in operational terms is that the airport site is 500m lower than the existing airport, and its runway will be 3600m, 500m longer than the existing one. This will reduce the need to impose special weight restrictions on aircraft.

---

New owners plans for London City airport
Following the purchase of London City Airport - by a consortium that includes AIG, Credit Suisse, and GE Infrastructure - the airport is negotiating with its major airlines. It wants them - Air France, KLM, Lufthansa, and VLM - to increase frequencies and add more routes.
Private-jet business, which has been growing at 40%, is another focus for growth.
Passengers handled at the airport totalled 2mn, up 19%, in 2005. The upward trend continues this year; first-half total was up 17%, faster than the 13% growth in flight numbers. Routes added this year include Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, Newcastle, Nuremberg, Stockholm, and Stuttgart.
The airport's master plan calls for 3.5mn passengers in 2015 and 8mn in 2030, but expansion will take place without a new or longer runway or the introduction of night flights.
Existing runways will be better utilised, and airport management will work with airlines to increase flight load factors. New aircraft parking stands are planned and the passenger terminal will be extended, with improved check-in and retail facilities.

---

More KLM Flights To Moscow
AMSTELVEEN, November 17, 2006 - KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will begin operating a second daily roundtrip between Amsterdam and Moscow when the summer schedule commences on Sunday, March 25, 2007. The new flight, KL905, will depart from Amsterdam in the afternoon, returning from the Russian capital as flight KL906 in the early evening, arriving at Schiphol just before 20:00 hrs.
The new flight supplements the existing roundtrip, KL903/904, that departs from Schiphol in the morning and returns from Moscow Sheremetyevo in the afternoon. Read more.

---

---

---

TAM Receives New Airbus A320; Fleet Totals 94 Aircraft

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Nov. 17 -- TAM S.A, today received another Airbus aircraft A320 that starts operating today November 17. This is the 13th Airbus A320/319 family incorporated this year into TAM's fleet, bringing the total to 94 aircraft, of which 72 are Airbus models -- 14 A319, 48 A320, and 10 A330. TAM expects its fleet to achieve 96 airplanes at the end of 2006.
The aircraft is part of contracts that still foresee the acquisition of 60 Airbus aircraft -- 15 A319, 39 A320 and 6 A330 -- to be delivered until 2010. The contracts include the option of an additional 20 aircraft. TAM also announced the acquisition of 4 Boeing 777-300ER with another 4 options to be delivered in 2008. TAM's strategic plan foresees an operational fleet of 132 Airbus aircraft by the end of 2010.

---

Marseille airport has opened a US$19mn terminal for low-fare-airlines. Ryanair will be the main user, opening its first hub in France. Marseille estimates 1mn passengers will use the terminal during its first year. However, prospects seem mixed. Singapore's purpose-built LFA terminal, opened six months ago, is still under-utilised, with only one of three LFAs based in Singapore using it.

---

Airbus delay will affect London routes
As deliveries of Airbus's double-deck A380 are delayed now by two years from the initial delivery dates, there is likely to be a shortage of capacity on some routes.
The most likely to suffer is the London market - as most of the early A380 customers such as Emirates, Qantas, and Singapore Airlines planned to operate their A380s to the UK capital.
The aircraft is ideal for the crowded London airport market as it would have added capacity without increasing the number of flights.
Given the length of the delay, some airlines may consider operating into one of the other London airports (there are four apart from Heathrow). But in the meantime, air fares are almost certain to increase - to reflect higher passenger load factors.

---

Aviapartner start met een systeem voor internet check-in en een gemeenschappelijke "drop off point" waar de bagage kan afgezet worde
Brussel, 17 november 2006 - Aviapartner, de belangrijkste Europese vliegtuigafhandelaar, meldt met fierheid dat de ontwikkeling van een systeem voor check-in via het internet met succes werd voltooid. Ook werd er een gemeenschappelijk systeem opgezet voor een “drop-off point” waar de reizigers, die via internet hebben geboekt, hun bagage kunnen achterlaten. Dit systeem werd vooral ontwikkeld voor de chartervluchten en de LCC's (low cost carriers = lage kost vliegtuigmaatschappijen). Lees meer.

---

Maxjet, the US-based all-business-class airline, has launched London Stansted-Las Vegas twice-weekly nonstops. The UK is Las Vegas' second most important market, claims Maxjet. Although not a business route, it has good meetings and conventions traffic - in addition to the leisure traffic.

---

UK airline BMI has launched a daily flight London Heathrow-Moscow Domodedovo in A320s. The service is in partnership with Russian airline Transaero - which has been flying this route into London Gatwick but will now transfer to Heathrow.
Moscow is the first in BMI's plan to develop medium-haul destinations; it plans to add soon Cairo, St Petersburg, and two other Russian cities.

---

---

Rethink in Vienna
Following the cancellation of the contract for Vienna Airport to manage the neighbouring airport of Bratislava (in the Czech Republic) the airport authorities will need to speed up the development of alternatives.
Bratislava airport is becoming a major low-fare-airline hub in the region, thanks to the presence of the low-fare-airline Sky Europe. Vienna's deal with Bratislava was a good opportunity to transfer most of its low-fare traffic to Bratislava, only 60km away from the Austrian capital.
Vienna airport is currently building a new terminal, Sky Link, due for completion in 2008, and it might now accelerate the construction of a third runway.

---

Air Kenya Express, which flies into Kenya's main national parks, has introduced scheduled flights Nairobi-Mombasa. The airline already flies to the coastal towns of Malindi and Lamu.

---

New resort routes for Koreans
At the end of last month, Korean Air added two significant routes in Malaysia and Thailand from Seoul. Read more.

CRUISES & FERRIES

---

NCL (Norwegian Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Star Cruises) has ordered two 4900-berth ships costing US$2.8bn. The first is due end-2009, the second in 2010, and if it orders a third, that could be ready in 2011.

---

Royal Caribbean is adding its Voyager-class ships (which can have capacity around 4000 berths) in Europe. One is based in Barcelona. RC plans Caribbean cruises with a ship based in Dominican Republic. This enables non-American passengers to avoid the need for a US visa; most Caribbean cruises sail from Miami.

---

---

Cruise line Royal Caribbean plans to return to Asia cruising in late 2007, with cruises from Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Singapore. The 2435-berth ship, Rhapsody of the Seas, will be based in Asia - location not yet decided.
Before, RC had cruise operations in Asia 1999-2002, but stopped these as a result of business fall following 9/11.

---

Holland America, for its 2007 cruise season to Alaska, plans 156 departures on eight ships. This autumn, a US$225mn refurbishment programme on its fleet is due to be completed.

---

Casablanca wants to become a prime cruise shipping destination. An agreement has been signed between the ministry of tourism, Casablanca, and the port, to create facilities for the cruise industry.
Currently some 100,000 travellers visit Casablanca on a cruise. The target is 500,000 in 2015.

DESTINATIONS

---

Lebanon conflict affects travel patterns
With visitor arrivals in Lebanon up 49% January-April 2006, the hope was to attract 1.6mn over the whole year - which would have been 6% growth.
But the conflict with Israel in the summer made this target almost impossible. Hotels in Beirut saw occupancies plummet from the high 90s to less than 10% after the start of major hostilities.
Lebanon has been a favourite short-holiday destination, particularly for Gulf Arabs. For instance, Lebanon counted took 5-10% of outbound summer traffic from Oman; that business seems to have been diverted mostly to Australia (replacing America), Malaysia, Thailand, Turkey, as well as the main summer destinations such as London and Paris.

---

Tourist Visits to Slovenia in First Eight Months According to preliminary data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, the first eight months of the year recorded a total of 1,720,294 arrivals, representing a 1% increase over the same period last year, and 5,557,024 overnight stays, equaling last year’s figures.

Domestic arrivals remained at the same level as last year with 596,005 guests, and the number of overnight stays has fallen by 1% to 2,324,868. However, there has been an increase in foreign tourist visits, representing 1,124,189 arrivals (2% more than the same period last year) and 3,232,156 overnight stays (1% more than last year). Read more.

---

Slovenia adds an island
Slovenia plans to build an artificial island off its Adriatic coast. Construction, starting 2013, would finish in 2020.
The US$125mn island would measure 30,000sqm and would have beaches, marina, bars, restaurants, and a health centre. The cost will be shared by Slovenia, the European Union, and private investors.
International arrivals to Slovenia increased 9.2% in 2004 then 3.5% in 2005 to 1.6mn. Over January-August this year, there was a 2% increase, and visitor overnights grew 1% to 3.2mn.

---

Slight Rise in Tourist Traffic
According to preliminary data from the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia, the first seven months of the year recorded a total of 1,369,250 arrivals and 4,341,275 overnight stays, representing a 1% increase over the same period last year. This growth was achieved with the number of arrivals and overnight stays by foreigners increasing by 2% while domestic tourism remained on the same level as last year.

---

Slovenia: The Safest Mediterranean Country
According to a survey by the Croatian monthly Turist plus, Slovenia is the safest country in the Mediterranean area, ranking above Croatia, Malta, Tunisia, and so on. Safety was also one of the most important factors in the 2005 STO survey of choice of tourist destination; 26% of the tourists polled ranked safety as “very important” and 45% as “important” among the factors they considered when they decided to visit Slovenia.

---

France's visitor business slow to grow
Guest counts from hotels in France for the first half-year indicate that visitor arrivals in France were flat. Overnights in hotels grew just 0.2% - but with overnights from domestic travellers increasing 1.5%, that means foreign overnights fell 2.1%.
A few European markets are down - Netherlands (8%), UK (6%), Italy (5%), Switzerland (4%), and Germany (2%). However, Central/Eastern Europe grew 21% and Spain by 8%.
But the biggest declines were from Japan (down 16%), and Middle East (12%). Overnights from the US fell 4%.
Within France, Paris and the surrounding area increased overnights by 1%. But the country's other main visitor region - Provence-Alpes-French Riviera - was down 2%. Others with declines were Rhone-Alpes (2%) and Alsace (4%); showing growth were Corsica, up 7%, Aquitaine (4%), Nord-Pas de Calais (3%) and Midi-Pyrenees (3%).

---

Italy benefits from Olympics
Figures from the World Tourism Organization indicate that the Winter Olympic Games in Turin at the start of this year had a positive impact on Italy's visitor arrivals count.
In the first quarter of the year, arrivals increased 4.6%; in 2005, the count fell 1.5% to 36.5mn, which followed a 6.4% fall in 2004. The risk, however, is that some travellers may have brought their trips forward to visit the Olympics - which could then mean a relative fall over the rest of the year.
European markets performed particularly well for Italy in Q1 2006, but longhaul sources such as the China, India, Japan, and US also recorded increases.
Although the research is often mutually contradictory, Italy is said to be rated by Chinese as their favourite destination in Europe, or, for those who have not yet visited Europe, as top of their European wishlist. Italy is also said to be Japan's favourite European destination.

---

Noël 2006 en Alsace Chaque année, au retour de l'hiver, un monde de légendes, de rites, de mythes, de senteurs et de saveurs se déploie en Alsace. Toute la région s'anime dans une douce atmosphère d'enchantement, dès le début du cycle de Noël le 25 novembre, jour de la Sainte Catherine, et pendant les 4 semaines qui précèdent Noël - le temps de l'Avent - jusqu'à l'apothéose de Noël, et finit en douceur début janvier à l'Epiphanie. En savoir plus.

---

Vienna adds 'Lebenslust'
Austria's capital city Vienna is redefining its tourist image. The current slogan 'Kunst und Genuss' (Art and Pleasure), used since 2002, now also gets 'Lebenslust'.
The result - 'Lebenslust & Kunstgenuss' - means Living Fun and Pleasure for Arts, but obviously a publicist is needed to create an English-language version of the slogan.
The city targets 10mn overnights in 2010. It counted 6.8% more visitor-overnights over January-September, which is expected to result in 9mn overnights for the whole year.
Results for 2006, designated Mozart Year, are already regarded a success, but will the city be able to sustain growth once the Mozart promotion is over?

---

Léopold et l'Europe à Cobourg
Montgolfiade au bord du lac de Tegernsee
Le Weissenhofmuseum dans La Maison Le Corbusier à Stuttgart
Plaisirs de la promenade dans le Naheland
Exposition Angkor à Bonn
Les voies du ciel en Saxe-Anhalt
Bamberg à prix réduit
Picasso à Düsseldorf

En savoir plus.

---

Cuba expects continued growth
Over January-August, Cuba counted 1.6mn visitors and expects the whole-year total will reach 2mn. That would represent a 3-4% increase over 2005. Canada is the main market, followed by the UK and Spain.
Canada is expected to remain on top, partly because Canadians are the only nationals that are allowed up to a six-month stay on the island. And so Cuba encourages long-term stays for Canadian 'snowbirds' - residents who fly away from Canada's snow-bound winter.
The ministry of tourism says it has made major investments over the past year in new hotels and in refurbishing existing ones - although no details are revealed.
Cubatravel, the tourism office, will be using 'Viva Cuba' as its campaign theme starting 2007, encouraging visitors “to come, see, live and enjoy the Cuban people, country and traditions”. The campaign is expected to roll out before the end of this year.
Cubatravel also wants to promote the country's diving destinations. It lists 551 dive sites and 150 certified guides.

---

Martinique is back
France's Caribbean possession of Martinique recently revamped its website - martiniquetourisme.com - to improve trade needs. Travel agents can now book tourist products as well as download documents.
After stagnating for many years, visitor projections indicate growth. This year officials expect 500,000 visitors from overseas and France, which would represent 3% growth.
Air access has improved with more flights from France, and Delta is due to start an Atlanta-Fort de France weekly from next month. New accommodation includes the Club Med's pirate-themed Buccaneer's Creek Resort; it opened last year.

---

Kerst in Denemarken 2006

Tønder: historisch grensstadje met veel kerstsfeer
Kerstverkoop vanuit een Deense molen
Kerst zoals vroeger in het oudste stadje van Denemarken
Verrassende kerst in Horsens
Kerst onder de gaslantaarns in Århus
Hans Christian Andersen kerstmarkt
Gedekte kersttafels pronken in Kopenhagen
Grote kerstmarkt in Tivoli
Kerstkunst van Jette Frölich
Kerst Design Markt
Kerstmarkt met een oud-Hollands tintje
Kerstsfeer bij Karen Blixen
Kersthandel in historische ambiance in Helsingør

---

Singapore sets its sights
Singapore targets to increase its number of visitors from 8.9mn in 2005 to 17mn in 2015; that represents an average annual increase of 7% - which is a hard-but-reachable target.
Read more.

---

Malaysia celebrates 2007
In 2007 Malaysia will be celebrating a golden jubilee - 50 years of independence from the UK. A new 'Visit Year Malaysia' will be linked with this, and tourism officials hope the destination will count 20mn visitors.
Compared with the 17mn expected this year, that would be a hard-to-achieve 17.7% growth. However, officials have been curiously conservative with this year's forecast growth - only 3.5%.

---

London on the mend
Tourism is recovering in London, where the impact of the 7/7 (July 2005) bombings was felt most strongly. In the first seven months of 2006, international visitors increased 6%, with spending up 8%. The total was 13.9mn in 2005.

---

San Francisco Presents HolidayFest Through January 1
San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau and Visa Present Plethora of Big City Holiday Fun Through Jan. 1, 2007
San Francisco’s HolidayFest is a collection of more than 100 events taking place through January 1, 2007. True to the city’s “Only in San Francisco” nature, the events range from classical to campy, ethnic to edgy. All the dates and details are posted on www.onlyinsanfrancisco.com.

Read more.

---

Libya gets back into tourism
Libya, after 35 years of isolation, is moving to develop a tourism business. The oil-rich country has established the Libyan Tourism Development Authority and introduced new laws to encourage international investment on the country's long Mediterranean coastline. And local investors are also being offered credit for tourism projects. Read more.

---

Bulgaria counted 2.8mn international visitors, up 5%, in the first seven months of 2006.
The UK market is ahead of that, up 12% to 250,000.
The marketing focus in 2007 will be on Bulgarian Spa resorts and hotels both at the Black Sea and up in the mountains, along with the ski resorts of Bankso, Borovets, and Pamporovo and some coastal towns along the Black Sea - where some British are investing in holiday homes.

---

Hungary's national tourist office is promoting a winter deal that offers guests four nights in Budapest hotels for the price of three.

---

Visitportugal newsletter. November, 2006 Click here

---

According to FBI statistics, New York was again named the safest of the 10 largest cities in the US in 2005, followed by San Jose and Los Angeles.

---

Morocco recorded 6% growth in total overnights January-July this year, with foreign overnights up a faster 7%. Agadir and Casablanca recorded the fastest growth, 11%, followed by Tangier 4% and Marrakech 3%. However, Ouarzazate and Fes recorded no growth during this period.
Morocco's major inbound markets registered strong growth, except France (up 1%). The UK increased 40%, Italy 15%, Belgium 13%, Spain 11%, and Germany 8%.

---

Guadeloupe's difficulties with tourism were recently detailed at an official conference. Problems include high prices (particularly when compared with low-cost neighbours such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic) and accommodation (hotel capacity fell by 750 rooms in 2005).
A new tourism strategy includes: involving the local population more; integrating cultural and sport events; improving the quality of accommodation; involving municipalities in a beautification programme.

---

Scotland pitches for more US visitors
A major new campaign aims to increase US arrivals in Scotland by almost a third to 450,000 in 2010, generating some US$470mn (£250mn) in visitor spending.
The wide-ranging initiative follows a 15% decline in visitors from the US in 2005 - in part a result of London's terrorist bombs in July 2005.
The campaign aims to stimulate US travel by broadening business communications between the two countries, by sharing more scientific research, and encouraging more Americans to study at Scottish universities (the target is 4000 US students by 2010; today, there are under 1000).
VS will also continue to encourage the Scottish diaspora in the US to search out their ancestral history in Scotland. Golf will remain a major draw - around 10% of US visitors come to Scotland to play golf, but they contribute twice that in US tourism spend in Scotland.
Also, lobbying airlines to provide more trans-Atlantic direct air links will be a priority.
Every £1 that VS spends on marketing in the US currently generates £70 for Scotland, it says. It spent about US$2mn (£1mn) in North America marketing to consumers, and the same amount marketing to the travel trade. It anticipates an increase in marketing budget in order to implement the new campaign, though details have not yet been finalised.

---

Berlin adds two new museums to its already impressive list of 175. 'Ostalgia' - a word created to describe nostalgia for the now-defunct East Germany - has its own DDR Museum. This shows the daily life in East Germany. Visitors can walk through a typical East-style apartment, look at an original Trabant car, and rediscover over 10,000 items from that era. And last month, the Bode, an impressive neo-renaissance building opened in 1904, reopened after five years of reconstruction.

FAIRS & EXHIBITIONS

---

WTM 2006 Raises Quality Of Business Audience World Travel Market 2006 has succeeded in substantially raising the quality of business visitors to this year’s event with an expected increase in the amount and value of business conducted during the four days. Read more.

HOTELS

President Bush congratulating both teams

Hanoi Sofitels Combine to Welcome APEC Heads of State Bangkok, 23 November 2006 – World leaders, prime ministers and politicians including George W Bush, Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao enjoyed the culinary talents of Accor’s two Sofitels in Hanoi during the recent APEC Summit. Read more.

---

Shangri-La's Phuket Resort And Spa To Open 2008 Featuring Shangri-La's First Residential Spa
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, Asia Pacific’s leading luxury hotel group, has signed an agreement with Durham Holdings (Thailand) Limited, an affiliated company of PT Jan Darmadi Investindo, to manage Shangri-La’s Phuket Resort and Spa, opening at the end of 2008. Read More.

---

---

Over 10,000 new hotel rooms could open in the UK by end-2007, says the British Hospitality Association, with an estimated investment of US$2.3bn (£1.3bn). Half would be budget level, with the two big players in this sector - Travelodge and Premier Travel Inn - adding 3,300 between them. Boutique hotels in city centres are growing fast, with 20 in the pipeline to open before the end of 2007, according to BHA's research.

---

Joel Eisemann

Cornell's Center For Hospitality Research Partners With Marriott International, Inc Ithaca, NY, November 17, 2006 — Cornell University and Marriott International, Inc. announced today that Marriott has become a partner with the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research. As a partner, Marriott will participate in the Center’s Advisory Board, Industry Roundtables, and other activities in support of the Center’s industry-focused research agenda. As part of the partnership, Joel Eisemann, executive vice president, Owner and Franchise Services, Marriott International will be joining the Center’s advisory board. The partnership continues Marriott’s long-standing support of Cornell, which includes providing the naming gift to open the J. Willard Marriott Executive Education Center at the School of Hotel Administration.

“Becoming a partner with the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research is a logical extension of Marriott’s overall commitment to supporting research and education for the hospitality industry,” said Joel Eisemann. “Our company is pleased to be part of this initiative, which combines the best of industry and academe.”

---

New Sofitel Adds European Touch To Chian Mai
Sofitel Riverside Chiang Mai captures the magic of city’s ‘Lanna’ heritage
BANGKOK, 20 November, 2006 – Accor is to open a new boutique Sofitel in the popular northern Thailand tourist centre of Chiang Mai next month. Read more.

---

New Starwood brands
Starwood Hotels is introducing a new extended-stay hotel brand - Element. The new brand is described as “smart design, modern style”, and providing a “social” environment with design features inspired by nature, where guests can be “in their element”. Read more.

---

Spanish hotel chain Iberostar plans to open 10 resorts next year. Six would be in Europe (Bulgaria (2), Greece, Italy (Sardinia, 2), Turkey), three in North America (Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico), and one in North Africa (Tunisia).
By early 2007, the group expects to have 100 hotels open.

---

Conrad renovates in Hong Kong
The Conrad hotel in Hong Kong is in the middle of a 2-year renovation that is due to be completed next September. This will be a comprehensive new look, but there are no planned changes in outlets, room numbers or type.
The hotel has been climbing back rapidly - although, like many hotels in Hong Kong, is rates are still below those achieved 10 years ago, in 1996. That was the hotel's peak year - it reached US$347 (HK$2700) average rate. This year it has been climbing rapidly, to around US$283, and management thinks it could be back at that 1996 rate next year.
The hotel has strong business traffic. It has five business floors, where rates are about US$77 higher, and occupancy is also higher.

---

Hilton has signed a management agreement for a 250-room Hilton Dhaka, Bangladesh, due to open late-2009. Other international groups in the city are Pan Pacific and Sheraton

---

Fairmont/Raffles has increased renovation investment by US$10mn to US$35mn to refurbish its Kenya resorts. Renovations at The Ark in the Aberdare Highlands, and The Mara Safari Club in Masai Mara, are due to be finished by year-end. Work at The Norfolk in Nairobi (costing US$10mn) and Mount Kenya Safari Club (US$17mn) are due mid-2007. Spa facilities are planned for the safari club in 2008.

---

Marriott plans expansion
Marriott expects to be adding 85,000-100,000 rooms worldwide between 2007 and 2009 - which would be an annual growth of 5-6%. By the end of 2009, its portfolio would then be almost 600,000 rooms.
Growth is expected to be quicker outside North America, with 30,000 more rooms being added in the 2-year period - 9-10% annual growth. That would give it about 120,000 rooms outside North America by end-2009.
Of the 30,000 outside North America, Marriott's EMEA division (Europe, Middle East, and Africa), would account for 12,000 - from 48,000 to 60,000. Asia Pacific growth would be 11,000-12,000 more rooms - an impressive quarter of those likely to be under its Ritz-Carlton brand. For Marriott's Caribbean/Latin America division, there are expected to be 4,000-5,000 new rooms in the next two years.

---

More hotels in Majorca
Two new properties are joining Kings of Majorca, a hotel association of 32 independently-owned hotels:
- The Son Jorda, a 20-room rural hotel located in a 15th-century building in the village of Ruperts, 24km from Majorca's airport.
- The Son Corb, set in a 17th-century building in a large estate on the east coast near Son Severa, 73km from Palma.
Kings of Majorca - whose members range from a 13th-century farm complex, and small family-run seaside hotels, to boutique town houses in the centre of Palma - has noted strong growth in demand for top-end accommodation.
Short-break visitors, taking advantage of low-fare-airline flights, tend to spend more on high-quality cuisine (Majorca has six Michelin-starred restaurants) and searching out unique 4-star-plus hotels.

MICE

Click here for more information

---

MITM Says: MICE Travel Exhibiting Or The Disappointment Of Not Having Apointments

Charo Trabado, Commercial Director of MITM, Meeting and Incentive Trade Market, claims that “MICE exhibitor are happy because they got 10 appointments with buyers arranged by the “very important” MICE trade exhibitions either in Barcelona or Frankfurt.  Well, 10 appointments per day are not many out of the thousands of professionals hosted by the exhibitions.  But still exhibitors can be mildly satisfied”, she says. Read more.

---

A Runaway Hit with Online Mice Bookers Meetings at Meritus
Singapore, 21 November 2006/eTN - Fresh from its recent launch a month ago, the online extension of Meetings at Meritus has been warmly received by meeting planners with the highest number of online MICE leads from its website www.meritus-hotels.com/meetings for the month of October 2006. Read more.

---

Baltics business

The meetings industry business was a major contributor to growth in visitor arrivals in Latvia (29%) and Lithuania (up 16%) in the first four months of 2006.

Latvia, with recent growth in flights (mostly by low-fare-airlines) is gaining a higher profile in west European markets. Arrivals increased 3% in 2005 to 1.1mn, according to World Tourism Organization figures.

Lithuania, however, says it has strong growth from central and Eastern Europe. Its arrivals grew 21% in 2004 to 1.8mn (2005 figures are still not available).

However, Estonia, the other Baltic state, experienced a 4% drop in visitors in the first four months, following 9% growth in 2004. Main reason for this is a decline in its main source market Finland, which comprises over half of all visitors.

---

The northern Greece city of Thessaloniki has set up a new organisation to promote the city as a short-break destination and a MICE venue - mainly targeting the UK and German markets.

---

Rimini Riviera in Italy is building two new congress centres
- The Palazzo dei Congressie in Riccione, due in 2007, is located close by the sea, and will have a plenary hall with 1,500 seats, exhibition space, a terrace restaurant for gala dinners and parties, boutiques and a multiplex cinema. The town has 460 hotels with 1,800 4- to 5- star rooms - many within walking distance of the new centre.
- Following on in 2008 is due to be the Rimini Palacongressi, located in a part of Rimini that is being converted into a 30,000sqm park. This would be largest congress facility in Italy, with a 1,600 seat auditorium a 5,000sqm plenary hall and maximum capacity of 42 rooms and 9,300 seats.

---

New York upgrades convention centre
The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's West Side is due to undergo a major expansion. Upon completion in 2010, its exhibition space will be 45% bigger, but its meeting room space will increase 600% - from 2,800sqm to 19,500sqm.
The NYC & Company - the city's tourism marketing organisation - has already booked nine new conventions potentially representing 310,000 hotel roomnights, equivalent to about US$228mn in earnings.
When the extension work is complete, the centre is expected to generate more than US$1.1bn in revenue annually for the city, compared to its current earnings of US$97mn. The city itself hopes to count 50mn visitors by 2015.

ORGANIZATIONS

---

Focus on..... Finland By Dave Richardson Finland's role as a bridge between east and west has been established through the centuries, but has gained renewed importance over the last decade with the liberalisation of the former Eastern bloc. New EU member Estonia is only 80 km from Helsinki by sea, and warmer relations with Russia mean more travel to and from St Petersburg and Moscow by rail, sea, road and air. Read more.

---

Nouvelles de l'Organisation mondiale du tourisme (OMT)

---

UNWTO Executive Council: Tourism Fosters Trade And Development     
20 Nov 06 -- The UNWTO Executive Council meeting in Algiers for its 79th session, with the attendance of 38 Ministerial Delegations from around the world, welcomed the estimated 4.6% growth of international arrivals in 2006. This market strength is forecast to continue through 2007, at around 4% - the fourth year of sustained growth in international tourism and in line with UNWTO's long-term vision. Read more.

TECHNOLOGY

---

DINO 3.5 maakt gigantische stappen
Afgelopen donderdag werd tijdens een diner in Leuven DINO 3.5 aan de pers voorgesteld, met als thema ‘Een visuele aanpak vandaag met technologie van morgen’. De eer van de primeur viel echter de Franse markt te beurt, waar het systeem twee dagen voordien op de Belgische ambassade aan de verzamelde Franse pers en genodigden werd voorgesteld.
Lees meer.

---

Worldspan Hotel Select® biedt reisagenten nieuwe inkomstgenererende toepassingen en een ruimere keuze aan hotels

Brussel, 22 november 2006 - Worldspan L.P., wereldleider op het gebied van reistechnologie, heeft 'Worldspan Hotel Select' ontwikkeld, een groter en beter reservatiesysteem waarmee reisagenten over de grootste hoteldatabank via één enkele bron beschikken. Hotel Select werd verrijkt met nieuwe zoekfuncties en hotelleveranciers zodat agenten over een krachtiger tool beschikken om hotels te boeken en hogere inkomsten te genereren. Lees meer.

---

Following group purchase of UK-based Lastminute.com, US-based Travelocity earned 29% of its US$2.5bn bookings in Q3 2006 in Europe.

---

PhoCusWright - which is producing a report Corporate Travel Distribution: Key Markets - says online corporate travel is under 5% of total corporate travel in both Europe and Asia Pacific.

---

Travelocity plans a website with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation. Due this month, the site will allow users to book via Travelocity with Google providing the engine for Caribbean searches.

---

Online in Europe. The online travel market in Europe grew 49% in 2005 to US$35bn according to PhoCusWright. PCW reports slower growth for the UK market (about 33%, after 38% in 2004), but that is partly because it is more mature, at US$12bn in 2005.

---

Amadeus signs global technology deal to enable rail e-ticketing AccesRail’s customers will have access to the advanced Amadeus Electronic Ticketing Server

Vilvoorde, Belgium, 20 November 2006: Amadeus, a global leader in technology and distribution solutions for the travel and tourism industry, today announced it has signed a major global technology deal with AccesRail. AccesRail supports rail providers who wish to sell their products and services in the GDS principal displays, by taking responsibility for all associated administrative tasks to achieve that. In a phased approach throughout 2007, AccesRail’s customers will have access to the advanced Amadeus Electronic Ticketing Server, a solution to fulfil electronic document storage and data management needs. In addition, they will benefit from Amadeus’ multi-GDS e-ticketing solution. Read more.

---

24” iMac. Sneller. Groter. Helderder. Met zijn adembenemend alles-in-één-ontwerp is de nieuwe 24-inch iMac niet alleen knap, hij levert ook absolute topprestaties. Net als de 17- en 20-inch iMac is de nieuwe 24-inch iMac het middelpunt van je digitale leven.

Vanzelfsprekend kan je met de iMac ook naar hartelust surfen, e-mailen, thuisbankieren, chatten, gamen én documenten uitwisselen met Mac- en Windowsgebruikers. Met Intel Core 2 Duo processorsnelheden van 1.83 tot 2.33 GHz levert de nieuwe iMac turboprestaties waarmee je nu werkelijk alles haalt uit je digitale foto's, films, muziek en het internet. Verkrijgbaar vanaf slechts € 1.029.

TOUROPERATORS & TRAVEL AGENCIES

---

Nieuwbrief Summum Reizen. Hier klikken.

---

Marmara, le courrier des vacances. Cliquer ici.

VARIOUS

Du 6 au 20 décembre 2006
Canada @ Le Méridien
Dans un pays aussi vaste que le Canada, rien d'étonnant à ce que la cuisine soit riche et variée. Des pêcheries abondantes de Terre-Neuve aux vergers fertiles de Colombie-Britannique, le Canada jouit d'une véritable opulence gastronomique. En savoir plus.

---

Concert de Noël de Cappela Regia Praha
Chef d‘orchestre - Robert Hugo
 
le 7 décembre 2006 à 20h00 à l’Eglise des Minimes
(Rue des Minimes, 1000 Bruxelles)
 
Programme: Georg Friedrich Händel- Messiah
 
Renseignements : Pavla Vlkovská, Centre Tchèque, Av. Adolphe Buyllaan 150, 1050 Bruxelles/Brussel, T: 02/641.89.44, vlkovska@czech.cz, www.czechcenter.be

---

USP Marketing PR verwerft Eurocamp en Keycamp als klanten
Amsterdam, 22 november 20O6 - Na een uitgebreide pitch heeft het Engelse Holidaybreak USP aangesteld als PR bureau in Nederland. Per 1 november verzorgt USP alle PR werkzaamheden voor twee onderliggende merken van Holidaybreak: Eurocamp en Keycamp. De twee bedrijven zijn gespecialiseerd in het aanbieden van campingvakanties in compleet ingerichte bungalowtenten, luxe stacaravans en comfortabele chalets in diverse Europese landen.

---