Onboard dating: matches in the sky February 7, 2012
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: dating, flying, Travel
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It seems many an airline traveller takes a fancy to the person in the seat next to them.
Hundreds of people have left their details on a new website that aims to reunite people who have met on plane journeys. In its first few weeks, wemetonaplane.com has had more than 20,000 page views, as people search for that attractive someone with whom they never traded numbers.
Stories have been logged by people from all over the world, leaving the flight number, date and other details of the flight to help identify the person they are trying to find. A search algorithm is used to find any stories posted by other passengers from that flight, in the hope the attraction was mutual.
The site, which is the brainchild of Sydney businessman Will Scully-Power, is yet to declare a match but he says (more…)
Chip fat to fuel our planes? January 23, 2012
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: airlines, aviation, biofuel, green travel, Qantas, Travel, Virgin Atlantic
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If there’s something we can expect to see a lot of this year, it is airlines talking up their green credentials. From chicken fat to algae, carriers are busy looking for new ways to fuel their planes and reduce their emissions.
Several airlines have already claimed “world-first” initiatives such as the first commercial biofuel flight, the first scheduled biofuel flight and the longest distance biofuel flight, and Qantas has announced its intention to operate Australia’s first biofuel flight early this year.
IATA has declared work on biofuels to be a major priority for the industry in the year ahead, with the association’s chief executive, Tony Tyler, saying it is “one of aviation’s great challenges” to reduce its carbon emissions. ”Sustainability is our licence to grow,” Tyler says.
The problem with biofuels and other green initiatives is that they… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
Top travel trends for 2012 January 17, 2012
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Hotels, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: American Express, Carlson Wagonlit, China, Facebook, Frommer's, near field communication, Travel, travel technology, travel trends, Twitter, voluntourism
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In a fast-changing world, here’s five things you’ll need to keep up with in 2012.
1. Prices are rising
We’ve had a fantastic run with cheap travel in the past few years but expect to pay a bit more in the next 12 months. Strong demand for business travel is expected to drive up prices of both airfares and hotels.
American Express predicts economy class airfares will rise between 6 per cent and 10 per cent on short-haul routes and 5 per cent to 9 per cent on long-haul routes, despite airline competition and the growth of low-cost carriers.
Hotel rates are also on the rise, with American Express predicting mid-range hotels will increase their rates by 3 per cent to 8 per cent and upper-scale hotels will add between 6 per cent and 10 per cent to their prices.
Global forecasts by Carlson Wagonlit Travel show we can also expect to pay more at overseas hotels, with modest increases in North America, Europe and Africa and increases of about 10 per cent in Latin America.
2. Channels are changing
Travel deals and information will be released in different ways as social media and other technology-based channels continue to grow. Hot deals are increasingly being sent out through… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
Space travel: don’t start packing just yet November 28, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Adventure travel, Airlines, Hotels, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: KLM, space hotels, space tourism, space travel, Travel, Virgin Galactic
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We seem to have been hearing about space travel for a long time and the stories keep getting better. Space flights, space “hotels” and the ability to zoom from one side of the planet to the other in a matter of hours are all being promised as entrepreneurs fight to be the first to bring “space tourism” to the people.
The executive chairman of the CAPA Centre for Aviation, Peter Harbison, says it’s “definitely going to be the latter for quite some time”.
“It is not something that is going to be commercially viable in the short term,” he says. ”Quite probably by 2030 or 2040 we will be starting to see some [wider] consumer benefits from it but it’s highly unlikely it will be before then.”
One of the big talking points of space travel has been its ability to get travellers from Sydney to London in less than two hours. It was this concept that made the headlines when the formula one racing tycoon, Michiel Mol, recently announced his aim to launch sub-orbital flights in three years. Mol, who has teamed up with the Dutch airline KLM, expects the first flights to take off in 2014 with a price tag of £60,000 ($94,000).
The bigger picture is… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
What’s new in travel apps? November 8, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Hotels, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: apps, Hotels.com, Travel, travel apps, travel technology, TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon, Webjet
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From a trickle to a torrent, the release of new travel apps has become such a regular occurrence, it is hard to keep up. Destination information, booking services, trip planners and niche travel apps are lining up to challenge App Store favourites such as TripAdvisor, Urbanspoon and Webjet.
Apps for booking
Hotels.com recently launched a user-friendly iPad app that allows travellers to search and book about 140,000 hotels around the world in a choice of more than 30 languages.
The free app provides fast access to about 20,000 last-minute deals, more than 2.5 million user reviews and last-minute bookings based on location, so it should prove a strong rival to other hotel booking apps.
The emerging trend for hotel booking apps is… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
Is there no end to TripAdvisor’s influence? October 7, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Hotels, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: GPS, TomTom, Travel, travel technology, travel tips, TripAdvisor
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From this month, users of selected TomTom navigational devices will be able to look up TripAdvisor reviews as they travel, helping them find the most highly recommended hotels, restaurants and attractions in the local area.
TripAdvisor, which claims to be the world’s largest travel site, now contains more than 50 million reviews posted by travellers (and the odd muckraker) and is widely regarded to be one of the most influential factors in travellers’ decision making.
TomTom says it is the first time TripAdvisor content has been provided on a navigation device and it represents “a new level of connectivity to drivers by providing information in the most effective platform”. A recent survey by the company found the majority ofTomTom users were already using their unit to (more…)
Wellington rolls out free wi-fi September 30, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in NZ & Pacific Islands, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: New Zealand, smartphones, Travel, travel tips, Wellington, wi-fi, wifi, wireless internet
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Travellers wandering around central Wellington, NZ’s capital city, can now get free wi-fi internet access (cbdfree.co.nz) for smartphones and computers.
Travellers usually rely on finding free hotspots at fast-food chains and coffee shops but in Wellington they can pick up free access almost anywhere in the city centre. ”Free wi-fi is now available in outdoor areas from the stadium to the Embassy cinema, encompassing the waterfront, the Golden Mile and Cuba Street,” says the Wellington City Council, which has partnered with an NZ bank to provide the service.
With studies showing that
rapidly increasing numbers of travel searches are being carried out on mobile devices, it’s a smart move for tourism, as well as benefiting local businesses and residents.
Many cities across the world have started offering wi-fi, although they often (more…)
How to get hot travel deals first August 30, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: online travel, Travel, travel deals, Zuji
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Zuji Australia says it can get travel deals to consumers faster than any of its competitors, thanks to new technology that cuts out the middleman. The online travel agent has introduced automated technology that feeds deals into website banner advertisements the instant they are released, rather than waiting for them to be manually uploaded.
The head of marketing for Zuji, Katie Malone, says it would traditionally take up to 24 hours for a deal to make it onto the web, having gone through a product manager and various marketing processes. The new technology, previously only used in North America, can calculate the relevant taxes and get sale fares in front of consumers instantly – and also target customers’ specific preferences.
A consumer who had previously searched for fares to London would be shown the best London fares, while one who had shown an interest in certain hotel deals would be shown those.
Those who haven’t previously used the Zuji website will be (more…)
What’s hot, and not, in online travel July 6, 2011
Posted by janeefraser in Airlines, Australia, Hotels, NZ & Pacific Islands, Travel, Travel technology, Travel tips & trends.Tags: online travel, PhoCusWright, Travel, travel research, travel trends
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Online bookings account for more than a third of all leisure travel bookings in Australia and New Zealand, according to research undertaken by the travel analysis company PhoCusWright. The online share of the market is expected to reach 38per cent next year, up from 28per cent just three years ago.
The PhoCusWright report says the Australia-NZ market is now almost on a par with the US and Europe in terms of maturity and is ahead of the rest of the Asia Pacific region in terms of penetration. Online booking growth is consistently outstripping overall market growth, with an estimated 12per cent increase in online bookings in Australia and New Zealand this year and a further 9per cent anticipated next year. (These figures include leisure travel and ‘‘unmanaged business travel’’, or business travellers who make their own bookings and therefore cannot be tracked.)
PhoCusWright says the economic downturn of the past few years has accelerated the trend, with consumers going online to hunt for deals and suppliers turning to online travel agencies to help bolster sagging sales. Online channels made ‘‘remarkable’’ gains even when the overall travel market was in decline, the report says.
However, all is not equal in the field of online travel bookings, with some sectors surging ahead and others languishing. Those who book their car rentals online may be surprised to discover… (click here to keep reading this article by Jane E. Fraser)
