Travel news in brief

Carole Nash Urges Bikers To Back Charity Riders.
Carole Nash is urging bikers to back two charity rides being organised this summer in support of the Make-A-Wish Foundation and St. John’s Ambulance.

The motorcycle insurance specialist has thrown its financial weight behind the One Way Round France and The Longest Day charity challenges. The company has become major sponsor of both events, providing much needed cash to fund logistics. Now it’s asking bikers to dig deep to make a difference.

The Longest Day kick-starts the fundraising on June 20th, taking advantage of the year’s longest day to journey from Edinburgh to London by, of course, the long way. So far 34 riders have signed up for the 700-mile, 24-hour, non-stop challenge in a bid to raise £5,000 for Make-A-Wish which grants wishes to children and young people fighting life-threatening illnesses. The event will be a capital day out, starting as it does in Scotland’s first city before journeying via Belfast, Dublin and Cardiff to London.

This year’s event follows the success of The Longest Day 2008 which saw 40 adventure riders raising £15,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support after completing a gruelling, 970-mile journey from John O’Groats to Lands End.

Just six days later 12 bikers will embark on the One Way Round, a 4,000 mile endurance ride kicking off in Wrexham . The doughty dozen will ride through the UK and then bike around the outside of France and back in a bid to raise £15,000 for St. John’s Ambulance. Last year One Way Round raised £4,000 for the first aid charity after two riders completed a 3,000 mile trek around the outside of the British mainland.

GREAT IMAGES DESERVE GREAT REWARDS: The 2009 Travel Photographer of the Year competition opens for entries.
Entries are now open for the 2009 international Travel Photographer of the Year competition (TPOTY). This year’s competition has more categories and awards than ever, giving amateur and professional travel photographers worldwide even more chances to win great prizes, and the prestige of winning a TPOTY title.

With a new sponsor line-up, the TPOTY prize package is impressive. TPOTY 2009 winners will go to some highly photogenic locations, traveling to China, Costa Rica and Morocco with Intrepid Travel and to Slovakia’s Tatra Mountains with Mountain Paradise.

They’ll also receive some great equipment prizes. These include a 26” NEC Spectra View monitor, an Apple MacBook Pro with Aperture 2 software, Wacom Cintiq 12WX interactive pen display and new Intuos4 pen tablets, Adobe CS4 Web Premium, Photoshop CS4 and Lightroom software, a total of £1,000 to spend with Jacobs Digital Photo & Video, Plastic Sandwich leather portfolio books, HARMAN PHOTO and ILFORD PHOTO paper, prints and darkroom products, LEE filters, Lexar CF cards and card readers, Photo Iconic photo courses, and £300 to spend with Linhof Studio.

TPOTY 2009 features three portfolio categories - Homeland, Natural Wonders and People of the World, and a One Shot category, on the theme Festival, Fiesta and Celebration. In addition, it features New Talent, the award for those who want to start a photographic career, the First Shot beginners’ single image category, and Young TPOTY (for kids with cameras)

Entry is via print submission or online image upload through www.tpoty.com, and entries close on September 22nd, 2009. Entry fees start at £10, and entry to Young TPOTY is free.

M&S Travel Money report reveals popularity of non-eurozone resorts continues. 
A new survey by M&S Money has revealed that more than a third of British travellers (36%) take into account the strength of a country's currency in relation to the pound when planning their holiday abroad. It's not surprising, therefore, that holiday resorts outside the eurozone continue to increase in popularity as Brits look for the best value destinations.

According to the M&S travel money survey, Egypt and Turkey - two of the most popular destinations in 2008 - are set to be firm favourites again this year. Sales of the Egyptian pound and Turkish lira have increased by 20% and 46% respectively in Q1 compared to the same period in 2008.

M&S bureaux staff have also reported increased demand for the Kenyan shilling. The Kenyan government is keen to boost tourism in the country and recently announced that Visa rates would be cut to make the country more appealing to visitors. For travellers seeking a short-haul destination, Iceland is set to be a popular option this year. British travellers now get much more for their money when visiting Iceland - the strength of the krona against the pound has dropped by 65% compared to March 2008. Year-on-year sales of the krona have increased by 32%.

The long-haul destinations of South Africa and Mexico are also enjoying increased interest from UK holidaymakers.

James Yerkess, M&S Travel Money Manager, said: "The falling value of the pound in the past year means that holidaymakers are looking around for resorts where they are getting more for their money. Brits still want to enjoy a holiday, but they are being more selective about where they go."

The effect of climate change on adventure tourism 
According to a recent report, adventure destinations and tour operators, with their reliance on natural resources and product offerings including trips in extreme environments, are experiencing the effects of climate change already, well before many mainstream tourism businesses. As such, they are well positioned to begin anticipating and preparing for the effects of climate change on their businesses. The report provides recommendations for modifying adventure tourism business models to incorporate sustainable practices and reviews new industry methods for measuring sustainability and quantifying tourism’s economic benefits.

Which countries will be affected?
As our climate changes, travel patterns will too. Popular tourist destinations such as Greece, Jamaica, and Thailand, for example, all of which are largely dependent on tourism, will face rising temperatures and water shortages, requiring new approaches to adventure product development and resource management.

Research provided states that tourism in Northern-Hemisphere countries is likely to increase while Southern-Hemisphere countries will need to start anticipating and shaping their tourism policies and products to manage the effects of climate change.

Will people continue to travel?
It is unlikely that climate change will affect the amount of tourism in the future – but it will affect where people choose to go and what they choose to do. Anticipating changes to adventure tourism resources and laying the foundation for new markets with new policies and adventure products will allow the adventure industry to continue to thrive as traditional tourism markets evolve.

Fly for Good in 2009.
Altruistic adventurers hoping to give their time (and money) to volunteer overseas in the New Year, could now benefit from their good intentions with a new online booking service offering low cost airfares to volunteer travellers.

Fly for Good offers would-be volunteers a unique discounted travel service by working with over 26 airlines around the world to offer rock bottom fares, exclusively to those looking to do something worthwhile with their time overseas.

Voluntourism has become hugely popular with travellers, from gappers to retirees alike, but with a growing number of paid for volunteer programmes costing in excess of £1,000 plus flights, the financial cost of an altruistic escape can be high – more so now than ever in light of the current credit crisis.

By using the Fly for Good service and providing details of the planned project, provider and destination, volunteers from around the world could benefit from up to 30 percent off published airfares, as well as more flexible rules and regulations – ideal for longer or multi stop trips.

Fly for Good spokesperson, Ryan Skoog comments, “Many major international airlines already offer humanitarian discounts for volunteers, which many travellers simply aren’t aware of. We are the first to combine all of these discounts into a comprehensive online booking engine and hope to make the volunteer travel process as low cost and straight forward as possible.”