OK, so I am really comfortable with email. I have been an Outlook user since I beta’d the first office suites when I was at Microsoft with the Office 1997 version. So here we are more than ten years later and I still prefer it over all the other tools I have tried and abandoned. Now its Office 2010 beta. It’s pretty useful and has some nice new features.... Read More

PhoCusWright announced today that it would be undertaking a special report called "When They Get There (And Why They Go): In-Destination Events, Attractions & Activities". To my knowledge, this is the first research report of it's kind focusing on the tour & activities market. For the most part, industry research has been targeted at the mainstream segments of the travel industry including air, hotel, car rental, and most recently vacation rentals.... Read More

Just how open is the OpenTravel Alliance? And, how much free stuff can a not-for-profit standards' body give away while remaining independent and, well, open for business? These questions were batted around a bit on Twitter -- and likely elsewhere -- as OpenTravel earlier this week introduced the OpenTravel Forum. The forum, built on the phpBB platform, is designed as a resource for people implementing OpenTravel schema in the hospitality, transport, travel services, and tours and activities realms, and is moderated during work hours by Bonnie Lowell, the OpenTravel specifications manager and a former Starwood exec.... Read More

Tnooz will continue to operate throughout the Christmas and New Year break, but here are some items to ponder for those heading off for a well-deserved break to recharge the batteries. In less than three months Tnooz has produced almost 450 articles from its group of editorial nodes around the world. Here are 20 of the best:... Read More

Interesting initiative from UK tourism agency VisitBritain which has produced an iPhone app solely for film lovers touring around the British Isles. The app is free from the iTunes app store and allows users to find locations where some of Britain's most famous movies have been shot over the years. Each destination includes background material about the film as well as details for how to find it.... Read More

The fast pace of change in social media tools and the travel market in China are combining to inspire a search for the best way to reach China’s increasingly affluent, increasingly independent travelers. The future of social media’s role in China’s travel market was a hot topic at the recent China Travel Distribution Summit at the OCT Interlaken Resort in Shenzhen. Online travel agencies such as CTrip and E-Long, as well as hotels, airlines, and travel meta search sites—all kinds of companies effected by online travel research and booking—are looking for the best ways to use social media to connect with travelers... Read More

If technology providers have their way, we would have zero human interaction when we travel. I think we’re halfway there already in Europe. Arriving in Berlin at zero degrees close to midnight, after a long flight, there was no time for niceties. The taxi pulls up, the driver takes my suitcase and I throw myself into the car. Other than telling him my destination, not a word is exchanged between us.... Read More

A website is for life, not just Christmas: Work on the website doesn’t end once the site is built and homepage optimised.... Read More

Despite protests to the contrary, the move by Carnival Corp.'s brands in North America to bar travel-agency partners starting Jan. 1, 2010, from participating in keyword bidding on the lines' trademarks likely comes down to an economic decision. You know, in these things, you have to follow the money. It likely has become so expensive for Carnival to bid on keywords in the Google, Bing and Yahoo search engines and then to consummate a booking that it is tempting for the cruise company to try to swat away the bids of those online travel agencies and other cruise sellers that it can pressure to bow out of the process. Carnival's decision has created an uproar in the ranks of some major online cruise sellers.... Read More

The widely praised augmented reality iPhone app Sekai Camera has launched globally after a hugely successful introduction to the Japanese market. Named the best app of 2009 by Apple Japan, Sekai Camera is the brainchild of the Tonchidot Corporation in Tokyo and throws location-based AR functions against social elements such as trip and point sharing and text/video communication. Users are able to identify and obtain information about existing tourist sites and other locations on their iPhone, similar to existing AR tools on the market.... Read More

MarketWatch reports that major online travel agencies, plus ASTA and the U.S. Tour Operators Association, filed a lawsuit against New York City over its new law that holds intermediaries responsible for the tax on the retail rate when they sell hotel rooms using the merchant model. This marks the first time that tour operators have taken sides in the OTAs' national battle with cities and counties about the hotel tax issue. The law, which went into effect in September 2009, says "room remarketers" are responsible for the full rent, meaning they would remit tax on the net rate to the hotels, as OTAs customarily do, and then pay tax on the remaining rent, including service fees, directly to the NYC tax commissioner.... Read More

Finland is the latest destination to try a quirky web-based promotion in the hope that it will be another stroke of viral marketing genius along the line of the Best Job campaign in Queensland, Australia. The campaign asks for users to upload their wackiest travel-related photograph to the new VisitFinland website and let other visitors to vote on the best (or worst?!) one. Launched this week to coincide with the new VisitFinland website, each photograph is also stamped with a "I Wish I Was in Finland" motif.... Read More

Spread the word: So you’ve built a lean, mean impactful website with great landing pages - now you need the customers. Spread the word through social media websites. Ensure you post relevant news, offers and updates to these sites.... Read More

Some developments in the ongoing FlyGlobespan saga with the administrator asking for under-pressure technology provider to place the £34 million it allegedly owed the airline in a special account. PricewaterhouseCoopers says discussions between it and the credit card processing firm have taken place but "progress has been limited". EClear is being urged to place the disputed £34 million owed to the collapsed airline in a joint account immediately.... Read More

U.S. airlines took in some $2 billion in fees for ancillary services in the third quarter, a 36.4% increase over the same period in 2008, and Delta Air Lines clearly was the most aggressive carrier in its fee-collection activities. The details, from a report by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, show that Delta's ancillary revenue efforts, which brought in $447.5 million, had no serious competition. American Airlines came in second at $261.2 million for the quarter. Plus, when you take into account that merged airlines Delta and Northwest Airlines reported their numbers separately, then their combined $670.8 million in ancillary-fee revenue stands out as even more impressive -- or notorious, depending on your perspective.... Read More