Beach

Being in Europe is already an advantage. For most British travelers, they are simply going to spend their European holidays at the comfort of their home country this summer. This is based on the recent survey released by Sainsbury’s Travel Insurance.

About 63 percent of the British respondents said that they will just stay in the United Kingdom while 14 percent will still go abroad but with budget restrictions. Most of those who preferred going abroad for summer said that they’ll just go by themselves rather than with family in order to save up on expenses and simply just having that much-needed alone time.

The research broke down the holidaymakers most likely to stay in UK. At the top of the list were travelers from East Midlands followed by Yorkshire and Humberside.

The reason with the rise of budget-conscious travelers is due to the financial crisis that affected the world. Most are saving up in order to buy what is really needed rather than splurging the money at these tough times. Despite this fact, the survey participants said that they can still visit a lot of great places in United Kingdom which means that spending the summer vacation doesn’t have to be very expensive.

A head teacher from a West Midlands school was reportedly accused of spending school funds for lavish trips such as Caribbean holidays. The disciplinary panel is currently deliberating on this case.

Reports stated that Susan Duncan, a former head teacher at The Meadows School in Oldbury, West Midlands, made false expense claims in order to hide her trips to Jamaica and Antigua. A fellow teacher, Margaret Simcox, was also accused.

Both teachers denied the multiple charges of professional misconduct filed against them.

The General Teaching Council, the panel deliberating on the matter, has yet to make a decision and will resume hearing by next month. The council heard allegations that Duncan made claims of purchasing items such as scuba diving gear, swimwear, handbag and computer equipment.

Both Duncan and Simcox are no longer connected with the school but could still be charged and may affect their employment in other schools.

Duncan affirmed that she and Simcox did go to the aforementioned islands but these trips were for “risk assessment” duties and not to spend the vacation. However, GTC panel presenting officer Andrew Faux said that even if the trip was job related, Caribbean holidays is still a vacation.

Europe-based holiday homes provider Interhome has secured an exclusive and lucrative partnership deal with Easyjet, a British low cost airline and also the fourth largest carrier in Europe. According to the deal, Interhome’s holiday home and apartment deals will now be featured on Easyjet’s magazines that are usually read by the passengers. The products and services will also be featured on the carrier’s websites as well. The partnership covers Switzerland, Germany, France and Britain.

Customers from the four countries can easily book their flights from Easyjet online and at the same time have the opportunity to search for holiday homes and apartments on the same site. This strengthened booking system has been implemented already in Britain and it will follow suit soon in the other three countries.

Simon Lehmann, Interhome Chief Executive Officer, said that he’s glad that the company is teaming up with a popular airline carrier because these days vacationers are looking for budget-friendly package deals during their travels. Having a “one-stop” shop for airline tickets and holiday home deals is a big boost on both companies’ businesses. He also noted that there’s a growing need for holiday homes due to expensive rates in hotels.

Package holidays are losing popularity among British vacationers due to the economic crisis.

According to the study made by Post Office Travel Money Card and Foreign Exchange, about 72 percent of the people in Britain are now packing their own food in their baggage in an aim to spend the saved money on other expenses.

Despite this development, it is still good to note that Britons are still spending on holidays despite the crisis. The study revealed that about 30 percent of the respondents said that they are willing to bring food from home to their travels. About18 percent of the participants said that they will cut down on alcohol intake to save money.

Popular food items stored in travel bags include tea bags, corn flakes, jams and junk foods.

Interestingly, more than 40 percent of the respondents admitted getting and hiding food from the breakfast buffet from the hotel in order to consume it during their activities later on. However, only less percentage of people ages 25 and below admitted doing this deed during their vacations.

Post Office is a travel company that provides preload cash cards for purchases abroad.

Celebrity couple David and Victoria Beckham celebrated their tenth wedding anniversary with a luxury romantic holiday in Seychelles, a tropical island located in the Indian ocean.

The couple was seen walking holding hands and having a great time during their vacation. David Beckham also practiced his photography skills by taking pictures of his stunning 35-year old wife who wore a tank top, black bikini bottoms and a straw hat.

The 34-year old football superstar did not mind being the man behind the camera.
As for their three children (Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz), they were left under the care of Posh Spice’s parents while the couple enjoyed some quality time celebrating a 10-year long marriage, considered very long in the world of showbusiness.

The resort that they stayed in reportedly costs £2,000 a night and several staff members were hired to exclusively cater to their needs.

The couple got married in Ireland at the Luttrellstown Castle. The ceremony costs £500,000, which is a huge amount of money at that time. Since then, the couple has graced several magazines, gotten lucrative endorsements and many more.

The couple was seen this week in the latest Armani underwear ad.

The tourism authority in Vietnam is making efforts to sustain the struggling travel industry due to the global financial crisis. This is in the form of continuing with the luxury holidays packages to local and foreign tourists.

According to local reports, there was a decline of 22 percent in the number of foreign travelers in the country for the past six months. Despite these disappointing figures, there was an upward trend on domestic. These figures were provided by Pham Ha, the CEO and Founder of Luxury Travel, a luxury holiday provider.

He said that luxury holiday packages are still attractive especially to high end customers because these clients prefer quality service. He added that they are willing to shell out extra money in exchange of memorable experiences during the tour.

As of now, Ha said that most of the popular destinations/resorts in the country are offering attractive packages for tourists. Others even slash off room tariffs to encourage both foreign and local tourists to visit their place.

Luxury Travel is a privately-owned company in Vietnam that provides tourism products and luxury holiday packages to tourists all over the world.

The recent surge of the British pound against the U.S. dollar brought a positive development on Florida as tourists from Britain have started considering spending the holidays in Florida.

The reason behind this is that the expenses are now more affordable. Co-operative Travel, a leading UK travel agency, reported there’s a 48 percent month on month increase from June last year to the same month this year. There was a decline last May due to the pound’s decreased value of $1.48. Now that it is back to $1.65, more and more tourists are loosening up their purse strings a little.

The travel agency added that Florida has become a favorite for tourists wanting a memorable vacation without spending too much money.You can now afford to spend a week on the florida beaches in your favorite Panache bikini.

Co-operative Travel Retail Distribution Manager Trevor Davis said that the financial crisis has challenged the holidays market to come up with attractive deals and adjustments to the fluctuation in the exchange rates. He added that if the pound continues to surge against foreign currencies then they’re seeing a continuing upward trend in bookings.

Other areas noted to have been preferred by British tourists include Turkey and Egypt.

A new report surfaced this week revealing that there were more than five million British travelers who went on a singles holiday vacation abroad.

This only stresses the fact that singles holiday vacations are still a hit despite the global economic crisis.
The report was released by research company Mintel this week. The vacations are usually made by the travelers who search for adventure and experience abroad.

The figures provided were five percent higher than last year. The increase has been noted for the past five years. In 2004, there were 4.9 million British travelers availing of the singles holiday packages while last year it increased to 5.1 million.

About a third of the figures are individuals below the age of 65. The countries targeted by solo travelers are Africa, Australia and Southeast Asia (Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines).

Mintel travel analyst Tom Rees said that there are growing numbers of people having the means to spend on a holiday where they can just be by themselves.

The aforementioned singles holiday travels don’t mean that these people are solely searching for romance in their trips. According to travel analysts, a lot of Britons simply want to be in a tropical country and unwind from the stresses of work and family among others.