Economy can Lead to Great Travel Deals

ALBANY, GA (WALB) - Need a vacation? Right now during the economic downturn might be the best time to get a good deal.

Southwest Georgia Regional Airport leaders say you should shop around. Many travel agencies, airlines, hotels and tourist attractions are hurting for business and are reducing prices.

Fares to the top ten destinations from Albany are down as much as 10-percent.

"We usually check them once a month just to see how we compare with the cities around us like Valdosta, Dothan, Columbus and also the Atlanta fares. Right now we're finding out that all of us have about the same fares except for Atlanta of course but we're also all competing for the same people because not that many people are flying right now," said Southwest Georgia Regional Airport Director Yvette Aehle.

Some pricey hotels in New York City have lowered prices as much as 50-percent.

Good travel deals during bad economic times - WALB.com News, Weather and Sports for Albany, Valdosta and Thomasville. Leading the way for South Georgia. |

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United Offers Reduced Fares to Twitter Users

Like many other types of brands, airlines have embraced Twitter (Twitter reviews) as a medium for communicating with customers. One of them – JetBlue – is actually one of Twitter’s most popular users.

Now, United Airlines is getting in on the action, offering what they call “Twares,” which, you guessed it, are special fares being made exclusively available to followers of the company’s Twitter account. Earlier today, they made the first such offer available – a $63 each-way fare between Washington DC and Chicago.

Read more: Twares: United Airlines Offers Special Fares to Twitter Users

Technorati Tags: twitter, united airlines, airfare, travel deals, travel

Travel to the ends of the earth with Cheesemans' Ecology Safaris!

Cheesemans'Ecology Safaris is a family-owned and operated safari company founded in 1980. After decades of teaching zoology and ecology at the college level, Doug Cheeseman now leads trips full time to almost every corner of the earth. He is joined by his wife Gail and his son Ted who are also wildlife experts. Cheesemans' has remained small in pursuit of quality over quantity, and have tailored all their safaris to provide the maximum wildlife and birding experience. Providing the most in-depth wildlife trips has always been a priority, with knowledgeable, friendly, and fun guides. The Cheesemans use their safaris as a way to encourage and support wildlife conservation in the richest ecosystems on the planet.

Antarctica, South Georgia, and the Falkland Islands
The Cheesemans' itinerary is now well known as the longest, most in-depth way to see Antarctica. With more time on shore plus amazing zodiac and ship cruises, you'll see the best this region has to offer. Imagine yourself among a colony of over 100,000 King penguins, or among Rockhopper, Gentoo, Macaroni, Adelie, and Chinstrap penguins and their young. Along the Antarctic peninsula, Humpback and Minke whales make appearances, joined by Leopard seals, Southern Elephant seals, Weddell seals, and Fur seals. See the itinerary here: http://www.cheesemans.com/antarctica_sg_dec09.html


South Georgia
Ted Cheeseman is a South Georgia specialist. One of the most remote islands in the Southern Ocean, This is where Sir Earnest Shackleton landed after his harrowing Antarctic journey, and where he is now buried. In addition to being a place of historical significance, South Georgia is a wildlife paradise. Known as "The jewel of the Southern Ocean", you can observe massive colonies of King penguins, and over four species of Albatross. See the itinerary here: http://www.cheesemans.com/a_south_georgia_oct09.html

Africa
Doug and Gail Cheeseman have been leading trips to Africa since 1978. Their personalized attention, and knowledge of African Wildlife makes each safari especially rich. Experience "The Great Migration" across the Serengeti and all of the amazing wildlife that the Rift Valley has to offer. They offer annual trips to Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, Zambia, and Rwanda (to see the mountain gorillas). See the itinerary here: http://www.cheesemans.com/africa_tk_feb10.html

Other Cheesemans destinations include: Australia, Alaska, Bhutan, Madagascar, Peru, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Panama, and the Galapagos.
More information is available on their website: www.cheesemans.com
Or call (800) 527-5330, info[at]cheesemans.com

Voyij - Travel Deal Search

Voyij: Best Deals for Travelers With an Open Calendar

Voyij is a new travel site that launches today with a focus on aggregating tens of thousands of current deals and sales on hotels, flights, and vacation packages, for travelers that want to go where the best travel deal takes them (ie. plans not set in stone).

The site flies into the already densely populated online travel space, but with a team of seasoned competitors. In an interesting twist of fate, Voyij’s taking flight courtesy of SideStep alums, who managed to sell their travel search site to Kayak in late 2007, and are now essentially positioning themselves as a new challenger to Kayak.

On the surface, Voyij doesn’t appear to be anything more than a standard travel search site, but behind the scenes, the site is actually serving up some of the most comprehensive listings of discounted travel fare available.

The open-minded traveler just inputs their departing city, enters general travel dates (ie. this weekend, July, after August, etc.), and clicks to explore deals. Initial results are displayed on a summary page, where users can see the lowest price available for flight, hotel, and vacation deals in North America and the Caribbean.

Technorati Tags: voyij, travel deals, discount travel, discount fares, budget travel

The Economic Impact on Travel Trends

Travel Trends: Who's going where ... and how : Travel : Memphis Commercial Appeal

In terms of destinations, 12 percent of those planning a trip said they would stay in their home state, 67 percent will go to another state and 19 percent will travel outside the U.S. The poll also found that 20 percent of those planning a trip this summer will stay closer to home this year due to economic worries, while 23 percent will save money by staying with friends or family instead of a hotel.

Despite the downturn, travel bargains are tempting a small number of people -- mostly upper-income -- to

take bigger and better trips. Seven percent of all Americans and 18 percent of those earning more than $100,000 said they would take more elaborate trips than usual because of lower prices.

Technorati Tags: travel trends, economy, travel, budget travel

International Travel Trends

The future of tourism includes ultra-health-conscious hotels, a surge in river cruises, abundant choices for medical trips—and sky nannies.

Are you looking to get healthy while enjoying a nice getaway? More and more top-flight hotels—ranging from yoga retreat Kamalaya in Thailand to the fitness-oriented Rancho La Puerta in Mexico—are offering wellness expertise alongside the chance to coddle yourself.

Care to take it a step further and actually undergo a medical procedure? The burgeoning field of medical tourism has little or nothing to do with spas and inner peace and everything to do with surgery—albeit surgery in a beautiful destination with hospital accommodations to rival those of a four-star hotel.

Or maybe you’re a traveler who wants to get on the water but has no interest in joining the crowds on behemoth cruise ships. In that case, head for the river, whether you want a modern boat on the Rhine or something more offbeat, like Volga River itineraries on decidedly proletarian Soviet-era ships. One of the newest riverboats is the Mekong Sun, a 28-passenger Laotian-built vessel that follows a formerly inaccessible stretch of the Mekong River from Vientiane, past the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang, and into the Golden Triangle.

Read more: The Hottest New Travel Trends - International Business Times

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Where to go this Summer?

When it comes to choosing an international travel destination for leisure or family vacations this summer, Western Europe continues to dominate the top 10 locations, according to 2009 data by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA).

International travel by Americans represents a significant market for the travel destinations selected. Roughly 25 million Americans traveled internationally during the summer of 2008 and spent about $30 billion, according to AAA.

However, projections for 2009 will be lower in both travelers and revenue because leisure travelers who tend to spend more on travel (i.e., international travel) will decline more rapidly this year than those leisure travelers who tend spend less on travel, says Carroll Rheem, director of research for PhoCusWright, Sherman, CT, USA.

So where do Americans plan to travel for the summer in 2009? ASTA identifies them as follows:

1. London, UK
2. Rome, Italy
3. Paris, France
4. Cancun, Mexico
5. Punta Cana, Mexico
6. Puerto Vallarta, Mexico
7. Barcelona, Spain
8. Venice, Italy (tied with Barcelona)
9. Florence, Italy
10. Amsterdam, Netherlands (tied with Florence)

Top 10 Popular International Summer Destinations for 2009 / Travel News / Business Travel Blog / Travel Community / Business Travel Destinations - Business Travel - International Travel - Online Travel Guides

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Florida Travel Guide

Our free Florida Tourist Guide offers a comprehensive listing of ways to get the most fun at the cheapest cost from your Florida vacation.

If you are still using a local travel agent to put together a Florida holiday package it may be costing a lot more than you would imagine.

By viewing this Florida Tourist Guide site and making use of the links and money saving advice you could make enormous savings on Theme Park & Attraction Tickets, Florida villas, hotels, car hire, fishing, golf course fees and much more. Why pay a Travel Agent to put together a holiday package when you can do exactly the same thing yourself by making use of our Free Florida Travel Guide and thereby save on commission? A few minutes of viewing a site like this is all it takes to organise your dream vacation.

http://www.hotfloridainfo.com/

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West Sussex Travel Guide

West Sussex has a thriving tourism industry and rightly so. The county of West Sussex boasts breathtaking natural beauty, miles of coastline, stately homes, country gardens and so much more.

Our free West Sussex Travel Guide outlines things to do in W. Sussex, accomodation, sussex attractions, stately homes to visit and much more.

http://www.westsussexinfo.com/

Technorati Tags: sussex, uk, travel, guide

CKN Holiday Homes

CKN Holiday Homes provide static caravan holidays in West Sands, Selsey, West Sussex. West Sands holiday park forms part of the Bunn Leisure Complex. The holiday park consists of  three sites, Green Lawns, White Horse and of course West Sands, where our private static caravans are situated. West Sands is the liveliest and most popular of the three static caravan parks and provides excellent facilities to suit all the family, whatever their age or fitness level may be. All three caravan parks can be used by our guests and a free courtesy bus is provided by Bunn Leisure although all parks are within easy walking distance

http://www.cknholidayhomes.com/

Technorati Tags: west sands, caravan park, sussex, uk, holiday, travel

Travel Agent Central

Travel Agent Central offers travel agents worldwide the most complete web resource available. Here, agents can access web-exclusive content, inclusive of video, audio, and community-based tools. Additionally, agents can log onto our other products in the portfolio including, Travel Agent University. Travel Agent University has graduated more specialists than any other agent education program and is the industry's largest on-line travel education site.
Travel Agent Magazine is the leading publication serving travel professionals and has been the established leader in the travel trade for almost a century. By keeping in touch with agent needs, and boasting the largest circulation of any trade magazine, Travel Agent has consistently evolved and led the way for readers and marketers alike. Publishing every two weeks in print, supplemented with substantial daily, and weekly online delivery of news, supplier profiles, destination guides, marketing/sales programs, and educational material, Travel Agent's portfolio of print and online products provide agents the tools in ways agents can use to sell more travel, more effectively.

Travel Agent Magazine is the preferred trade publication of the agent community*  and boasts not only a powerful readership but one that's active and engaged.Its readers are responsible for driving nearly half of all agent bookings! Because of its reputation in the industry, Travel Agent Magazine has become the publication of choice for agents nationwide.

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Traveling as a Single Parent

Travelling as a parent can be difficult itself, but as a single parent it is even more difficult. I have found a web site with many tips on single parent travel. The site also offers single parent trips. From their site:

Single Parent Travel was born out of a need by Brenda Elwell in 1983.  As a single mom with a love for travel and two rambunctious children (at the time), Brenda decided to share her knowledge of traveling as a single parent with children with the world.

Today, Single Parent Travel is a multi-faceted organization. First and foremost, we are a resource for advice and opinion. On our site, you can find:

• Travel Tips
• Parenting Tips
• An Informative Blog
• Our Monthly Newsletter
• Our Single Parent Trips

In addition to the web resources we provide, we have a monthly newsletter. There is no cost and this newsletter will keep you up to speed on our current trips, general information, travel and parenting tips, and much much more. We value and respect your privacy and will never sell, rent or loan out any information you have given us in confidence.

Finally, we travel! Yes, we love it! Yes, our kids love it! Why not do it together. Check out the trips section and find a perfect trip for you and your family. We offer weekend getaways as well as longer cruises and tours. From the seemingly mundane to the exotic, Single Parent Travel likely has a perfect trip for you.  And if you are unable to join us on one of our trips, we would be happy to lend a hand planning any of your other trips.

http://www.singleparenttravel.net/