Transaero, Russia's biggest private airline files for bankruptcy

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has given the green light to begin bankruptcy proceedings for Transaero airlines, according to sources cited by online newspaper Gazeta.ru. Negotiations on a takeover of Russia's second-biggest carrier by Aeroflot have been deadlocked. According to sources, Aeroflot took a hard line refusing the Transaero consolidation.

“The process has taken the toughest turn,” the media cites a federal official present at the meeting as saying. "The bankruptcy will proceed according to Russian law,” he added.

The technical details of the bankruptcy procedure are currently being worked out, another source told the newspaper.

"There are two considerations: first, who will inherit Transaero's [$4 billion - Ed.] debts and how much of them, second, how it will affect the airline's smaller creditors, the passengers and airline employees," the source said.

Russia's federal aviation service has told Transaero to stop all ticket sales, TASS reports.

According to the Russian Interfax news agency, all the negotiators have acknowledged bankruptcy as the only possible way out. A source close to the deal told Interfax there are three reasons for that.

First, the airline's shareholders have not been able to consolidate 75 percent plus one share that were expected to be transferred to Aeroflot.  Secondly, Transaero creditors refused a debt restructuring model, proposed by Sberbank that is overseeing the deal.

And the final reason was the Russian Ministry of Finance’s reluctance to give state guarantees of 85 billion rubles ($1.3 billion) for the restructuring of Transaero, which  was promised in the early stages of negotiations.

The banks are opposed to the bankruptcy, but Aeroflot says they should have better assessed the risk when they gave loans to Transaero. According to Aeroflot, the airline had an extremely risky strategy in staying afloat.

Transaero is in such financial straits that it can’t refuel its planes, which is now done by Aeroflot. It said it would stop refueling Transaero planes on September 30, but First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov asked Aeroflot to move the deadline to midnight October 2, Russian business media RBC reported.

Shuvalov has promised the government would help the 10,000 Transaero employees who may lose their jobs as well as passengers that had pre-purchased tickets.

At the beginning of September, Aeroflot said it intended to acquire a 75 percent stake in Transaero, which has about a $4 billion debt. Aeroflot's main shareholder is the Russian state, which owns 51 percent stake in the carrier.

Breastfeeding mums stage a protest at Claridge's hotel in Mayfair

UK mothers have staged a mass “nurse-in” at London’s five-star Claridge’s hotel in Mayfair, after a woman was told to cover up while breastfeeding her child at the property.

The disgruntled protesters want the hotel to issue an apology and change its policy on breastfeeding after a woman was told to cover her baby’s head with a napkin while dining at the hotel’s restaurant, to avoid offending other patrons, Sky news reported.

According to the paper, Claridge’s later said it “embraces” breastfeeding but wants mother’s to be “discreet toward other guests”.

The UK organisation Free to Feed launched the breastfeeding protest outside the Mayfair hotel last week, which then sparked a national debate with one UK political figure, Nigel Farage, saying mothers could “sit in the corner” in restaurants to avoid upsetting people.

Matador community the biggest travel site is shutting down all it's blogs

Who doesn't know the Matador Community on the net?

How many times we spend hours and hours reading about travel tips, where to go and what to do when travelling abroad? 

I am a traveller not a tourist was their motto but not any more. The Matador Community is shutting down. 

Bellow is the email that we received from Ross Borden CEO of  Matador.   

"Dear Matadorian,

First, I'd like to personally thank you for the stoke and energy you have put into our community over the years. We have grown from our (very) humble beginnings in 2006 to become one of the world's largest travel publishers and one of the Web's biggest travel sites, now reaching more than 6 million people per month. 

Along the way we have evolved away from a "social network for travelers" and towards a professional publication working with hundreds of talented journalists from around the globe. 

We also launched our travel journalism education platform at MatadorU...we were excited to launch 4 new courses last week - and we're offering everyone a $150 discount if they enroll now before Dec 1st. Learn more here.

We're now working on a number of new projects and products that we think you'll love - powerful apps and content that will help you explore the world better and document your travels better too. And in order to launch these new products we need to shut down old ones that are fast becoming outdated, obsolete, and sadly, under siege from SPAM. 

So I am writing to you to give you a heads up: on December 5th 2014, we will be closing the old Matador community profiles and shutting down all of the blogs. If you have content on these sections of the site that you want to save, you have until 12/5 to migrate or back it up somewhere else.

Ross Borden
CEO, Matador"

Hajj 2014: Mecca hotels see a drop in bookings

Hotels in Mecca are cutting room rates for stays after Ramadan as a reduction in pilgrim quotas and concerns about the Mers virus hit visitor numbers.

Saudi Arabia is expected to issue a similar number of visas for Haj pilgrims as last year as it continues renovation work on the Grand Mosque.

Last year, 1.3 million international pilgrims and 600,718 domestic pilgrims performed Haj, down from 1.7 million and 1.4 million respectively in 2012.

The Haj dates this year fall between October 3 and 9, but the season extends between September 20 to October 15.

In the kingdom, 282 people have died from Middle East respiratory syndrome, or Mers, since it was first detected in September 2012, according to a health ministry survey announced last month. As of last week, the number of confirmed cases was 688.

Tour operators expect about 1.5 million international and domestic pilgrims this year.

Haj quota cuts and fear of Mers have had a strong negative effect on the tourism industry, primarily affecting the religious cities of Mecca and Medina, and to a lesser extent the Red Sea city of Jeddah, said Rashid Aboobacker, a senior consultant with TRI Hospitality Consulting.

“Some of the luxury hotels are reporting a further decline in demand from independent travellers, such as wealthy individuals, this year presumably due to the Mers virus scare, which hit the country earlier during the year,” he said. “This year, hoteliers in Mecca are expecting further pressure. Although tourism operators had projected huge potential losses due to the government visa cuts, we believe the effect may have been lower due to the increase in Umrah visas during the off-peak periods,” Mr Aboobacker said.

During the first five months of the year, average room rates in Mecca were down by 10 per cent to 15 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to TRI data.

Haj quota cuts have resulted in significant losses, according to Khalid Saad Al Kalashany, the revenue manager of Mawasim Tours. The Mecca-based company organises Haj and Umrah tours.

“We sell the rooms for very low prices and we still have a lot of rooms empty that are not bought,” he said. “This year is poor, so we have had around 90,000 [Haj and Umrah] pilgrims.” That is down from 150,000 pilgrims last year for the operator.

Mers fears have also kept away pilgrims, especially those in the luxury category, he said

At the 700-room Mecca Hilton, rooms are available for 600 riyals (Dh587) at the beginning of September. The same rooms start at 1,950 riyals in October.

“There are a number of international and local chains of hotels that market competitive rates to attract business,” said Mahmoud Mokhtar, Hilton’s vice president of operations for Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia had 35,587 rooms under development last month, which would eventually increase its overall room count by 60 per cent, says the consultancy STR Global.

International arrivals are expected to recover in 2016 when infrastructure improvements are completed, Mr Mokhtar said.

Read more: http://www.thenational.ae/

Southern Cross Travel went bankrupt

One of the largest travel agencies in Russia, the Southern Cross Travel, announced last night that they went bankrupt. 

On the website of the Southern Cross Travel there was the following message this morning.


IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR TOURISTS AND TRAVEL AGENCIES
Due to our inability to meet its obligations to the tourists and customers on contracts sale of the tourist LLC "Southern Cross Travel" is forced to announce the suspension of its activities. The suspension of activities is due to a strong decline in demand for tourism product on the background of the bankruptcy of a number of other largest tour operators.


According to info released by the president of the Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises, Andreas Andreadis, right now in Greece there are more than 3,600 Russian tourists who had traveled with Southern Cross Travel.

Mr. Andreadis said that this new incident highlights the urgency to create proper measures and policies in order to handle this crisis and facilitate the return of all the Southern Cross Travel Russian tourists back home.  

At the same time he said that the vicious cycle of bankruptcies of Russian travel agencies have not closed yet. Based on initial estimates, the Russian tourists that have moved during this period abroad by the Southern Cross Travel can reach 10,000 with the possibility to be a lot higher. 

The Association of Russian tour operators felt that many thousands of Russian tourists will see their forthcoming trips cancelled as they will not be able to fly abroad with Southern Cross Travel.  

The Russian agency attributed the bankruptcy to the sharp drop in tourism demand.  

The bankruptcy of the Southern Cross Travel comes after another major Russian Tour operator went bankrupt (Solvex Tour) 4 days ago, which left in Greece around 3000-4000 tourists.  

Already the Russian embassy in Greece has begun repatriating Russians tourists with flights departing or planned to depart from Heraklion, Rhodes, Zante, Kos, Corfu, Kavala and other Greek holiday resorts.


From 16th of July at least 13 major tour operator and travel agencies have gone banckrupt in Russia.

Southern Cross Travel website

Russian Tour operator Solvex suspended activities

One of major tourist companies in St. Petersburg Solvex-Tourne suspended activities on Monday, the Russian Union of Tourism Industry reported on Monday, referring to the company’s head Tamara Khaletskaya.

About 9,000 clients of the company are abroad now. Most of them stay in Greece and Bulgaria. About 8,600 clients have paid for tours due within several next months, even on Christmas.

Medvedev to hold conference on protecting tourists from unscrupulous tour operators

Russia’s Orenburg Airlines announced earlier it may cancel from September 8 serving Solvex-Tourne, as the tourist company had informed the carrier it might suspend its activities.

The Union of Tourism Industry says tourists staying in Bulgaria will not have any problems, as the company undertook the accommodation expenses. “Besides, the suspended activities will not affect tourists, who plan to travel to Bulgaria up to September 26 by Bulgaria Air flights. Those flights are paid for, and accommodation is covered by Solvex Bulgaria,” the Union’s representative Irina Turina said.

Three insurance companies are bearing financial responsibility of 450 million rubles (about $12 million) for the tourist operator. “Thus, a compensation for unused tours will make 150 million rubles (about $4 million),” the representative said. “As not all the tours are fully paid for, tourists will be able to receive, we estimate, 70-80% of the money paid for the trips.”

The tourist company’s head Tamara Khaletskaya said the complicated political and economic situations have lowered the demand for tourism, and the chain of bankruptcies in the tourism market had affected trust for the business, and thus sales slumped.

“Unfortunately, not all foreign counterparts agreed to optimize programs, did not cut on commitments at hotels. As we had to observe the obligations in filling hotels, we could not cut on air tickets. Thus, with the lack of sales, our debts started growing,” she said explaining why the company suspended its activities.

The Union said the Solvex-Travel Company working in Moscow continues its operations without changes, as it has only the same brand with the company in St. Petersburg.

Situation in the Russian tourism industry

Sovex-Tourne is a part of the Solvex Group of Companies, which is represented in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Minsk and in Bulgaria’s Sofia and Varna. The Solvex brand has been in the market for over 20 years. Solvex-Tourne is a tourism operator in international and domestic tourism, sightseeing, ski and leisure tours. Solvex-Tourne has been serving annually dozens of thousands tourists to Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Hungary, India, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Italy, Spain, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic, Montenegro, Croatia and Tunisia. The company’s revenues in 2013 made 4.55 billion rubles (about $123 million).

Association of Tour Operators of Russia: more tour operators may quit market soon

In summer 2014, Russia’s tourism sector has witnessed a chain of bankruptcies. From mid-July, 16 companies closed due to financial problems. Most affected tourists were clients of Neva (17,000) and Labirint (40,000 people). The companies explained the situation by the sanctions introduced by the EU, currency rates’ fluctuations and banned foreign trips for law enforcers. However, experts said the tourism companies, which had been working as financial pyramids, simply wanted to escape responsibilities. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered inspections and was expecting suggestions on reforming the sector.

In 2013, Russia ranked third among European countries, where citizens made most trips abroad: 32 million trips, the World Travel Monitor reported. Most Russian tourists visited Turkey (4.3 million), Germany (2.1 million) and China (2 million). Of all the trips Russians made, 27 million were private trips, and 12.5 million trips were targeted at spending time by the sea. Sightseeing tours attracted 3.8 million tourists, and traveling the world - 1.3 million. About 51% tourists spend around 1,200 euro per person, which is comparable with tourism expenses of most Europeans

Airfasttickets suspended by international air transport authority

Airfasttickets has been the target of Greek and international media accusing the fast-growing online travel agency for unfair competition and bringing to the spotlight complains that include non-refunded tickets after they were cancelled by the company.

Amid the high tourist season, Airfasttickets has been on the spot of attention, after several Greek electronic travel agencies such as pamediakopes.gr, viva.gr, airtickets.gr and travelplanet24.gr, filed a suit against the company for unfair competition practices and selling tickets at lower than wholesale prices.

The Greek-owned company was recently awarded by the Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry as the most rapidly developed SME in Greece. However, the founder and alleged chairman of the company, Nikos Koklonis, did not attend the ceremony.

Furthermore, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has blocked the company from all ticket services in Greece, Germany and the United Kingdom saying AirfastTickets owes money to the Airline companies.

“Thousands of holidaymakers who booked with a discount online travel agent are being urged to check directly with airlines that their tickets are valid,” warned BBC.

Airfasttickets has definitely  created a brand after running a very aggressive advertising campaign in key places around the world. In case you visit the New York City subway or the London Cube, it is impossible not to see one of the company’s advertisements. The dynamic startup company has made its appearance in the market two years ago, by offering fares at the lowest prices in the market.

The company’s about statement speaks to a traveler’s heart noting that the founder himself was an unsatisfied customer of travel agencies and decided to start Airfasttickets.

“One day in 2009, Nikos Koklonis, was planning a trip. After spending many tiring hours researching and booking his trip, Nikos had become frustrated with the whole process. Filled with passion, he vowed to create a better way. So on the flight home with only a napkin, a pen, and a dream, he plotted a travel revolution that would empower consumers and businesses across the world. Soon after, he founded AirFastTickets, and the adventure had begun…”

And the adventure continues…

Greek newspaper “To Vima,” in a critical article that poses serious questions on the way Airfasttickets operates says the company has offices in the United Kingdom and the United States.

“In the US however, there are three different companies under the same name (airfasttickets Inc.) in three different states: Florida, New York and Texas. It seems though that there is no evident correlation among them and no correlation with the UK airfasttickets Inc. company. This means that—in legal terms – the term ‘group of companies’  is false.”

The company’s initial share capital is 60,000 euros and from 2012 there has been no recorded capital increase, which raises the question as to how the company would be listed in Nasdaq, as it has been announced.

Airfasttickets sells tickets in very low prices, lower than any other rival company and often lower that the airlines’ websites. After IATA blocked its access, Airfasttickets continued to make ticket bookings through other travel agencies. The outstanding debt of the company to IATA is estimated at more than 45 million euros. If this debt is not paid back, then IATA will request the “freezing” of all its bank accounts.

IATA has issued a warning to all travel agencies in the UK to avoid transactions with airfasttickets, after several passengers complained that they did not receive a refund when they had to cancel their tickets.

Moreover, Greek courts have ruled in favor of the Greek travel agencies’ suit and have issued a temporary order that suspends airfasttickets activities in Greece.

A search in online forums shows customers posing major complains about the company, often talking of ticket cancelations after they were booked and not being given the advertised prices by the site.

A Greek Reporter employee trying to book an airfare to New York was not able to buy the advertised ticket price after 16 failed attempts to book the ticket. The site would always give out a warning and offer a much higher price to the user after clicking the ‘buy’ button. An Airfasttickets customer service representative said that this was caused because the system is updated every 15 minutes by the airlines and within that time window this price difference may occur. Ten hours later the website was acting in the exact same way.

On the other hand there are also happy clients of Airfasttickets, including a frequent traveler from London to Athens who said that ” I am very happy with them. I have been using the site for the past year and never had a problem.”

Greek Reporter has contacted the company’s USA office and we were told that Airfasttickets will offer us a statement on the matter within 24 hours since the company’s CEO was in Greece and out of reach.

Source: Greek Reporter 

Airflights Direct UK Ltd owner of www.airflights.co.uk & www.airholidays.co.uk has gone into administration.

A WESTCLIFF travel agents has shut up shop, leaving holiday makers’ travel plans in tatters.

Airflights.co.uk has called in administrators Valentine & Co.

The business had traded from offices in Halmet Court Road for 18 years, but got into financial difficulties after travel agent Robert Oppenheimer took over in July 2012.

Paul Napper and partner Julie Brown told the Echo they flew to Egypt last Thursday to celebrate her 50th birthday.

When they got to the Sea Breeze resort at Sharm El Sheikh, they found their hotel had not been paid for, despite paying Airflights in full.


Steven Lamb, a friend, has been trying to deal with the problem back home as they are still away.

He said: “The transfer was as booked, but they had to pay for the hotel again when they got there. I have tried to contact Airflights, but it goes to answer phone and no one rings back.”

The website was down yesterday and when an Echo reporter visited the office, he was allowed in by a receptionist from a separate company on the floor below.

She had no idea the travel agents had closed.

The office of Airflights on the second floor was still fully furnished, but completely deserted.

An announcement about the administration was posted on its website yesterday afternoon.

The Echo spoke to a senior employee, who would not be named, who confirmed the around ten staff, including an accountant, had not been paid for the month of September.

She said: “Robert told us over a week ago we may go into administration and that was the last anyone saw of him.

“Next we heard was from the administrators asking for the list of all customers.”

The business was set up by Peter Cole, 72, of Hayes Barton, Shoebury, but he allowed Mr Oppenheimer to take over last year due to family illnesses.

Mr Oppenheimer set up a new limited company for the takeover, but kept the same trading name and Mr Cole was also a director until resigning at the end of August, as he claimed he could see what was coming due to financial problems. Mr Cole spoke of his shock at Mr Napper’s hotel not being paid for.

He said: “I was not a shareholder and only remained a director so Robert could get his ABTA registration because he could not afford it.

“I wanted to retire last year, but wanted the business to continue with its staff and client base, so allowed Robert to have all the office equipment.

“When I was running it at one stage we turned over £30million.”

The Echo tried to contact Mr Oppenheimer via the office number of a London travel firm he runs, plus we tried his e-mail and mobile number, but got no reply.

If you are a client or employee affected by the closure e-mail, jon.austin@nqe.com or call him on 01702 321152.

Source: http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/10716156.Holidaymakers_hit_by_travel_agents_collapse/

Crete: in Europe's 10 hottest destinations for 2013

Crete

It may be one of the largest islands in the Mediterranean, but Crete offers plenty of intimate experiences, plus plenty of reasons to party -- the island is celebrating a century of union with Greece in December 2013.

Away from the blissful beach resorts, still extremely good value thanks to the country's recent economic woes, chilling of another kind is in full swing.

Crete is developing a reputation as one of the region's finest wine producers, with a growing catalog of extremely drinkable native grape varieties: Vilana and Vidiano, Dafni and Kotsifali, Mandilari and Thrapsathiri.

The best bit? Many of the vineyards are wedged between languid towns where predictably good tavernas dish up uncomplicated, but classic, Cretan fare for a handful of euros

Source:  http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/04/travel/europe-top-destinations/index.html

German tour operators optimistic for summer 2013

The German tourism industry is cautiously optimistic about stronger demand for Greece this year after the slump in 2012 and is expanding capacity.

Greece hopes for sunnier times this year. Many Germans stayed away from the Mediterranean destination last year due to concerns about safety and transportation services. German arrivals in Greece dropped nearly 8% to 1.55 million as a result, according to fvw figures. Michael Karavás, head of specialist tour operator Attika Reisen, said the 2012 season was “a catastrophe” while TUI ended with a single-digit fall in bookings. Overall, however, rising numbers of Turkish, Israeli and Russia holidaymakers helped save the season for Greece.

Now German tour operators are hopeful about a turnaround this year and are expanding capacity to drive demand. FTI, for example, has expanded its flight capacity to the islands of Corfu, Crete and Rhodes by about 55% and added a large number of new hotels. Attika Reisen has expanded its offering to some 780 hotels.

TUI is expanding its portfolio of own branded hotels, including two new resorts on Kos, for its third most important destination (after Spain and Turkey) while in-house carrier TUIfly has expanded capacity. “We see a good chance for the country to make a comeback,” said Markus Bruchmüller, TUI Germany’s head of product management for the eastern Mediterranean. “Although hoteliers are battling with rising costs, we have managed to keep prices stable for 2013 with their support.” Budget brand 1-2-Fly has even reduced prices for Greece.

Rewe Touristik, which is offering the new LTI hotels on Rhodes and Crete as well as a new Primasol property on Rhodes, is seeing higher bookings for its top-selling hotels in Greece. “As long as the negative headlines stay away then we can catch up again compared to last year,” said tourism director Rolf-Dieter Maltzahn.

Similarly, Alltours, which has a strong Greece programme, is hopeful for a recovery this year. “We have expanded our programme significantly,” said Michael Nickel, responsible for Greece hotel procurement. Among German leisure airlines, Condor has added flights to Skiathos and Mykonos, but Air Berlin has reduced its Greece capacity for summer 2013 due to weak demand.

Meanwhile the new promotion organisation Marketing Greece is relying on the private sector to support its planned advertising activities due to the weak state of public finances in the crisis-hit country. The Greek tourism association SETE has raised about 85% of the funding for planned marketing campaigns that could be launched for the 2014 season. At the same time Hotels-fairy.com UK's biggest hotel price comparison website website has chosen Greece as it top destination for summer 2013.

Hotels-Fairy.com: Magical Hotel Price Comparison Website

Hotels Fairy 

Hotels Fairy finds you the best deals on hotels around the world by searching all of the leading hotel booking websites for you, potentially saving you as much as 70%.

Once you've selected your travel dates and destination, our fairy will bring you the best deals that are within your reach in a flash of a second!

Save money with Hotels Fairy now!

Try us out! http://hotels-fairy.com/

I AM GREEK AND I WANT TO GO HOME - Official Slideshow Trailer

AITO and ABTA open letter to save the Greek tourism industry.

16th  March, 2012

Open letter to

Mr Lucas Papademos, Prime Minister, Greece

Mr Evangelos Venizelos, Finance Minister, Greece

Mr Pavlos Yeroulanous, Minister of Culture and Tourism, Greece

Respective members of the Troika

Our three organisations represent the UK travel industry - 844 tour operators and 3,547 travel

agents.  Many of our members actively sell holidays to Greece and have known and loved

Greece for many years; some specialise exclusively in holidays to Greece.

You must be aware that, over the last eight weeks or so, there have been many negative and

irresponsible comments made around the world by politicians, financial pundits and journalists

regarding the future of Greece.  

On several occasions, the same people who have been

working to solve the country’s problems have also been responsible for off-the-cuff negative

comments which have served to undermine their own work to find a solution.  Very positive

progress has been made in order to put the financial rescue package in place, but any hope of

growth is constantly undermined by these thoughtless and continued negative comments.  

There is no doubt that Greek citizens are now having to shoulder a financial burden which

would strike fear into the population of any other European member state.  Fears are being

voiced that the very harsh measures that have been put in place in order to reduce the country's

debt will lead to further negative growth and a continuation of the recession that has gripped

Greece for the last five years.  The human cost is high:  this will cause a good deal of personal

misery for people who have lost their jobs, their pensions and perhaps also their homes, and

who see no future for their children.

Tourism represents 18% of the country's gross national product and, as the country’s biggest

export, tourism is the key sector of the economy which will be responsible for breaking the

downward spiral.  

However, as a result of the constant negative publicity focused on Greece (which consumers

see as not just Athens but the islands too), consumers in the UK are choosing alternative

destinations in which to holiday in 2012.  Such a large decline in visitors from a major market

will further damage recovery of the Greek economy.

Action must be taken immediately – and, when we say immediately, we mean in the next few

weeks - to unlock funds for the promotion of Greece in the United Kingdom.  We ask that the

normal, monumental  bureaucracy which surrounds Greek Governmental procedures iscircumvented in this instance so that a positive promotional campaign, pointing out that Greece

is safe and that it has so much to offer the holidaymaker, can commence immediately.

Our tour operator members ask you, please, to match funds that we have still to spend

on marketing holidays to Greece, euro for euro.  If you match our own promotional

spend, this will double the marketing effect of whatever Greece itself spends.  It is also

vital to appoint a public relations agency with a brief to change the perception of Greece

as an unstable destination to visit for holidaymakers.

If funds for PR and promotional activity are not immediately forthcoming, then flight and

accommodation capacity will be cancelled by UK tour operators because they are currently

simply unable to sell the normal volume of holidays to Greece.  They will risk their own

continued existence if they don’t take such difficult steps speedily.

Greece needs positive promotion now and not in three months’ time, when it will be too

late.

This open letter asks you take immediate action if you really wish to safeguard the future of the

Greek people and of Greece itself.

Yours faithfully,

MARK TANZER                                                     DEREK MOORE

CHIEF EXECUTIVE                                               CHAIRMAN
ON BEHALF OF ABTA & FTO                              ON BEHALF OF AITO

Beautiful Greece - First Lights

Chania has been voted as one of the top 12 vacation destinations in theworld for 2012 by TripAdvisor!!

Chania is among the top 12 destinations for 2012 proposed by the Austrian website for traveling, TripAdvisor. The 15 authors of the online travel magazine predicted the trends of users for the destination of their holidays next year, and the result is an eclectic mix of resorts that offer culture, sea, or both. "These 15 destinations are definitely on the rise.

More and more travelers of TripAdvisor provide feedback on our site for them" said Dirk Loesch director of the site.

Chania according to Tripadvisor, is chosen for its quiet old town, restored Venetian mansions, the traces of a small mosque that add to the charm of the landscape and of course for the top sandy beaches.

In the remaining options is some former Eastern bloc countries, such as Moscow, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius but also Bordeaux and Lyon, Austin of Techas, Seminyak of Bali, Chaweng oinThailand, Mendoza in Argentina, San Sebastian in Spain, Essaouira in Morocco, Zurich and Fethiye in Turkey.

Thomas Cook in trouble

The tour operator Thomas Cook lost two-thirds of its market value after it admitted dire trading had forced it back to its banks for more financial help.

The dramatic slump came during a steadier session for the FTSE 100 Index, which declined 2% on Monday following the failure of a cross-party committee of politicians to agree a reduction in the US budget deficit.

Despite the deadlock in Washington, Standard & Poor's reassured markets that it had no plans for a further downgrade of the US credit rating. That shored up the FTSE 100 Index, which was up 41 points at 5263.6.

However, the focus in the City was on Thomas Cook shares, which have now fallen by 93% since the start of the year. They dived by 66% - 27.2p to 13.9p - to give it a market value of just £120 million.

Thomas Cook's stand-in boss insisted the company was "robust" but investors were spooked by its need for an additional £100 million in funding headroom over December and January - just a month after a similar request to banks. Rival operator TUI Travel was impacted by the update, with its shares down by 7% or 10.2p to 140.4p.

German tour operator TUI forces Greek hotel owners to accept payments in Drachma!!!

The last couple of weeks German Tour operator TUI has been sending out letters to Greek hoteliers on the island of Crete notifying them that in the event of Greece leave the EURO, TUI will be paying the hotel owners in the new Drachma!!!

A copy of such a contract has been provided to us and the outrageous clauses have been highlighted bellow.

Greek hoteliers defrauded on the island of Crete by Polish tour operator.

Αξιότιμοι Ξενοδόχοι , Ξενοδοχειακοί Διευθυντές , Υπεύθυνοι κρατήσεων.

Νομίζω ότι το θέμα τα λέει όλα .

Επιτρέψτε μου να κρατήσω την ανωνυμία μου , έτσι ώστε να μην κατηγορηθώ για δυσφήμιση.

Αρχικά θα ήθελα να σας προειδοποιήσω κοινοποιώντας σε όλους εσάς την επικινδυνότητα της αναξιοπιστίας και παράνομη παράλληλα δραστηριότητας του

ΠΟΛΩΝΙΚΟΥ Τουριστικού Πρακτορείο 7ISLANDS με υπεύθυνο τον MICHAL GLOWA και PATRYK NOWAK.

Πρέπει δε να σας αναφέρω ΣΥΓΓΕΚΡΙΜΕΝΑ ότι ΟΙ ΙΔΙΟΚΤΗΤΕΣ του πρακτορείου 7islands είναι ΙΔΙΟΙ και ανήκουν στον ΙΔΙΟ Πολωνικό Όμιλο εταιρίας με αυτούς που πριν λίγα χρόνια άφησαν ξεκρέμαστους και απλήρωτους δεκάδες ξενοδόχους στην Κρήτη αλλά και γενικότερα σε όλη την Ελλάδα . Μόνο στην Κρήτη άφησαν απλήρωτα χρέη ύψος περίπου 2 δισεκατομμύρια σε δραχμές τότε .

Εδώ ταιριάζει η γνωστή ρήση (Άλλαξε ο Μανολιώς και έβαλε τα ρούχα του αλλιώς).

ΠΡΟΣΟΧΗ ΣΕ ΠΕΡΙΠΤΩΣΗ ΠΟΥ ΕΧΕΤΕ ΕΙΔΗ ΣΥΝΕΡΓΑΣΙΑ ΜΑΖΙ ΤΟΥΣ ΑΚΟΥΣΤΕ ΠΡΟΣΕΚΤΙΚΑ :

Αυτοί οι <<ανώνυμοι ιδιοκτήτες >> μαζί με τον MICHAL GLOWA πρόεδρο του 7islands βρήκαν ποιο ευρηματικές - <<νόμιμες>> λύσεις για να αποσπούν μεγάλα Χρηματικά ποσά από συνεργάτες τους ξενοδόχους.

Όπως :

διαβάστε πίσω τα μικρά γράμματα των συμβάσεων allotment ότι δηλαδή σε περίπτωση που δεν πληροίτε η κατηγορία σας από τον ΕΟΤ (πχ. λόγου ανανέωσης ) αποσπά απροειδοποίητα το 30% του συνολικού τζίρου που έχετε διανύσει κατά την θερινή σεζόν.

Επίσης σε περίπτωση OVERBOOKING αποσπά υπέρογκα ποσά που δεν τα βάζει ο νους σας για παράδειγμα ενός ξενοδόχου που εδρεύει στα Χανιά -Κρήτης Και συγκεκριμένα τα Group Hotels Delfina SA (ΔΕΛΦΙΝΑ ΜΠΙΤΣ ΑΕ ) που τα στοιχεία τους είναι γνωστά απέσπασε περίπου 23.000€ τάχα λόγου overbook ορισμένων δωματίων (7) που έγινε σε άλλα ξενοδοχεία ίδιας και ανώτερης κατηγορίας.

Επίσης στiς συμβάσεις allotment αναγράφει πίσω ότι σε περίπτωση διαφωνίας μπορεί να προσφύγει και σε πολωνικά δικαστήρια. Ο νοών νοείτω….

Βρίσκομαι στην δυσάρεστη θέση να σας αποκαλύψω ότι το εν λόγο πρακτορείο προωθήθηκε στο νησί μας το 2008-9 δυστυχώς από επώνυμο πράκτορα του Creta holiday(Ηρακλείου-Κρήτης), και από πρόεδρο συλλόγου Ρεθύμνου . Επίσης προωθήθηκαν και από άλλα μεγαλο-στελέχοι του τουρισμού μας και σε αλλά νησιά όπως Κω, Ρόδος , Κέρκυρα .

Δεν τους κατηγορώ αυτοί απλά την δουλειά τους ΚΑΝΑΝ δηλαδή και αυτοί αμείβονταν σε ποσοστό από τυχόν κρατήσεων ή εκδρομών που προέκυπταν από τα ξενοδοχεία σας .

Πιστεύω ότι στην τόσο δύσκολη περίοδο που διανύουμε όσον αναφορά τον τουρισμό είναι σκόπιμο να ξε-μασκαρώνουμε αυτούς τους απατεώνες έστω και ανώνυμα δια μέσο του διαδικτύου η συλλόγων.

ΟΣΟ ΚΑΙ ΝΑ ΜΗΝ ΘΕΛΩ ελπίζω και στον μέλλον να υπάρξουν και από εσάς τέτοια μηνύματα με σκοπό την προειδοποίηση όλων μας.

Σας ευχαριστώ για τον χρόνο σας

Με εκτίμηση

Ανώνυμος ξενοδόχος

Ruby Love Greek Bouzouki Cover by Jack Brett!!!!

Jack Brett

Sky News special: Greece and financial crisis 2