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1998
Does anybody know if anything happened in 1998 in the travel and tourism industry? i.e. Airlines went bust etc
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Not easy information to pin down! Have a look around this site: http://www.waksberg.com/
JANUARY
LEADING ITALIAN operators Francorosso and Alpitour merged to form one of the top ten European travel groups.
European operators at the ASEAN Tourism Forum in the Philippines made some of the best deals in years, thanks to the devaluations in Asia.
UK operator Thomson bought Scandinavian Fritidsresor for US$430 million, and Airtours took over Belgian operator Sun International for US$87 million.
Gay travellers were asked to boycott the Cayman Islands after a Norwegian Cruise Line ship, chartered by a US gay travel specialist, was refused permission to dock.
FEBRUARY
AGENTS AT the UK's Business Travel '98 hit out at airlines over electronic ticketing, accusing them of saving money at agents' expense.
Portugal announced a shake-up of its tourism industry after a report blamed poor marketing and a failure to upgrade facilities for an average hotel occupancy rate of 41 per cent.
MARCH
FERRY OPERATORS P&O and Stena Line gained permission to merge services on English Channel routes.
Air France and Alitalia joined the growing band of European airlines cutting commissions. Air France moved to seven per cent on international services and 6.5 per cent on domestic flights. Alitalia announced a cut in domestic commissions to five per cent.
APRIL
GREECE PREPARED for a summer of disruption as workers at airlines, ferries, airports and railways threatened strikes. Olympic Airways was forced to cancel 30 flights in April, alone.
Airports in Greece, Portugal and Spain were branded fire-traps by a German consumer association. Almost a third of 34 major airports were found to have unsatisfactory fire prevention and evacuation procedures.
Swissair, Austrian Airlines, TAP Air Portugal, Turkish Airlines and AOM of France joined the Qualiflyer Group alliance.
MAY
SCANDINAVIAN AGENTS suffered a serious blow as SAS announced a second commission cut, to four per cent on all routes, from the start of 1999. Rolf Forsdahl, general manager of the DNR agents' association of Norway, said: The days of smaller agencies are numbered.
Thousands of European holidaymakers were airlifted from Indonesia after rioting. Packages to the country were cancelled. Germany, the UK and Denmark warned travellers to stay away.
JUNE
ITALIAN AGENTS refused to sell Alitalia tickets for two days in protest at the carrier's planned cut in commission. A separate one-day boycott was supported by 80 per cent of members of agents' association FIAVET.
The German car drivers' association ADAC slammed Europe's ferries, especially those in the eastern Mediterranean, for a lack of safety measures.
Agents faced losses of millions of dollars after 30,000 tickets for soccer's World Cup in France failed to arrive.
JULY
THE UK's biggest operator, Thomson, announced a commissions shake-up aimed at gaining access to agents' client databases. It offered 12 per cent commissions if agents passed on their databases and boosted Thomson's direct-sell operations.
German Ticket Service Exclusive Reisen closed down under pressure of debts following the World Cup ticket fiasco.
AUGUST
TWO ADVERTISING slogans advising people to ignore agents sparked outrage. Low cost carrier Easyjet launched its Greek services with a campaign proclaiming: Forget your travel agent. Italian mail order company International Consulting declared: Bypass the travel agent and enjoy your holiday without nasty surprises.
SEPTEMBER
THE CARIBBEAN was left reeling by Hurricane Georges. Up to 250 people were killed and hotels in the Dominican Republic and Antigua were forced to close for months.
UK travel giant Airtours announced plans to turn its German operator FTi Touristik into a travel group, with the launch a short-haul airline and its own hotel chain.
OCTOBER
MORE THAN 3,000 independent agents united in a pan-European lobbying group called E-Star, in an effort to resist the process of consolidation squeezing them out of the market.
British Airways and Lufthansa became the first major European airlines to announce cuts in commission outside their home markets. BA said it would pay seven per cent on tickets sold in Scandinavia and Iceland from April 1999. Lufthansa said it would match rates paid by other airlines in their home markets from January.
REPORTED IN DECEMBER:
Thomas Cook-owned Sunworld bought the Flying Colours group in June.
French holding group Vivendi has admitted plans to sell off its Libertel and Westin Demeure hotel chains.
Eurocamp has been rebranded as Holidaymaker in a move to introduce a new group corporate identity.
British Airways Holidays has reintroduced Egypt in a second-edition Worldwide brochure after an absence of more than a year.
Global Travel Group has persuaded three more agency chains to join its new consortium for ABTA members, Independent Options. Twenty-six branch Apollo Travel, which recently bought 20 Woodcock Travel outlets (TTG November 25), has agreed to sign up to the group.
Flying Colours Airlines is replacing four of its Airbus aircraft with Boeing 757-200s as it strives for standardisation with Airworld.
Continental Airlines has taken delivery of its first Boeing 777 in Europe and announced an order for 10 767s to develop services from the UK and Europe. The 10 new aircraft are part of a replacement and expansion plan which will see the average age of Continental's fleet fall from 12 years to 7.2 years by the end of 1999.
Air Canada claims to be the first airline to offer ticketless travel between Heathrow and Canada. The E-ticket service paves the way for its launch across Air Canada's network next year.
Canadian charter carrier Royal Airlines is to move some of its flights from Gatwick to Stansted because of the growth in charter activity at the Essex airport. It will also offer passengers the chance to check in by phone, avoiding the need to arrive at the airport three hours before flying. The service starts in mid-January.
Hilton Hotels Corporation opened properties at Mexico City Airport, Guadalajara and Ciudad Juarez this year.
ALSO REPORTED IN DECEMBER:
The year has seen a slew of acquisitions of UK ski operators. Thomson has now seized the top spot following its acquisition of Crystal, giving it a combined share of some 42.1 per cent in October.
ABTA has stepped up its fight against Customs & Excise over value added tax refunds. The association decided to seek legal advice after Customs & Excise reversed a decision to pay an estimated #20 million in tax refunds to the trade (TTG October 14). Earlier in the year, it ruled that the industry was unfairly charged VAT on discounted holidays sold to European Union destinations. ABTA said it would contest the U-turn through the VAT tribunal process.
Security upgrades of are top priority for P&O Cruises in the wake of the discovery of US$2 million worth of heroin on board the company's Pacific Princess. Greek authorities detained the ship and its scheduled 14-night Mediterranean cruise was cancelled. Company officials say the 600 passengers aboard the ship will receive full refunds.
HELSINKI Finnair was due to announce yesterday (December 9) that it will join the Oneworld airline alliance headed by British Airways.
Trouble with raising the $2 million it needed to take care of its immediate bills has forced Swiss World Airways to go out of business. The decision comes barely three months after the airline's first flight. Swiss World Airways was founded by private investors to serve the Geneva-New York route, but was able to sell only a quarter of seats on average. It launched its maiden flight on Sept 10, 1998.
in 1998 the average wage from 1945 had risen by 135.3% meaning that people had more money to spend on leisure activities such as travelling abroad and domestically on holiday, also the number of cars per household rose and in 1998 it was reported that 22.8 million households had more than one care meaning that it was easier for them to actually get away, even if one partener was working. also the domestic tourism numbers had declined in 1974, but by 1998 they were back up meaning that domestic tourism in britain had retained its share of the holiday m,arket. it went from 40.5 million domestic tourists in the 70's to 41.9 million in 1998.this is because people could now afford two holidays per year, one aborad, and one domestically, because of the increase in wages, hope this helps, i gather you are doing ivestigating travel and tourism for a level. i have just done it!! hope it helps! x
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