News & Stories
Istanbul. Istanbul, the Turkish metropolis, is booming. Amongst the businessmen and developers in the 14 million strong city on the Bosporus, the gold-digger mood is showing no signs of waning. On the hotel market too, the stream of development has swelled to a river. Currently, alone in Istanbul, 70 new hotels with 50,000 beds are in the process of construction. Renowned chains are already represented on site and new ones are arriving all the time. The Arabs are also very much present in Turkey - Emaar, for example, with a huge residence project. Where the bed-giants are though, there are also alternatives: cosy little boutique hotels.
Frankfurt. With respect to conference and congress meetings, Germany is market leader in Europe, as a recent study once again underlined. For the fourth time in succession, Germany attained first place in a European wide comparison and was placed second in the world. Spain, last year in fifth position, climbed up the ladder this year displacing England and France to take third place.
Salzburg. The annual Elvia Mystery Check this time not only undertook its holiday accommodation search in writing, but also tested tourist information services by means of anonymous call - sometimes with mysterious results. Elvia Versicherung and IRS Consult employed a call centre worker to call 300 tourist destinations. Results ranged from good, through middle to poor quality in all three German speaking countries, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. One third of all calls received no answer, a clear case of "no holiday at this number".
Madrid. So what, if anything, is true of the rumours of Hesperia`s takeover of NH Hoteles? What countries are the Spanish chains attempting to conquer? Their advance into Europe and Asia is slowly becoming obvious; the times when Spanish chains concentrated foreign activity on South America are finally over. The most recent strategies and news were to be heard at the FITUR tourism fair in Madrid. A summary of the current activities of the Spanish chains.
Frankfurt. The main reason for business travel in the year 2007 is surprising: As the current "Loves and Hates" study conducted by American Express shows, most staff travelling in the year 2007 did so in order to take part in training events. Client appointments made a close second. In comparison to the previous year, 92 percent of German business travellers travelled just as much or more this year. The significance of travel management thus continues to grow. Sustainable management, increased costs and new information technology have had no impact in this regard.
Frankfurt/M. In Germany, domestic tourism reached another high in 2007. For the first time, the Federal Statistical Office recorded more than 307 million domestic room nights in accommodation businesses with more than nine beds and on camping sites, according to the preliminary figures of January to December. This is the highest level that has ever been registered in the Federal Republic of Germany.
Duisburg. "byebye" is the name of the new company recently founded by alltours Flugreisen. The Duisburg based tour operator is now attempting to integrate current flight rates into package deals. Hotel services are purchased in accordance with pre-determined quality criteria.