How to Take a Cheap Vacation

I can't think of many people that don't like traveling. Most of the people that I run across are planning vacations, enjoying their down time, and exploring the world. That's how I am. I love exploring new places and getting around to different places.

What I don't like is paying for the experience. Regardless of where you travel, vacations are going to be a huge financial commitment. No matter what you do, you're almost always going to spend more than you originally plan.

There's really no such thing as a cheap vacation but, there's nothing wrong with taking steps to reduce the price. Here are some of the things that you can do to get the most inexpensive vacation possible.

Be Flexible With Your Dates

There's a huge benefit to being flexible with your dates. If you're looking at getting an airline ticket, then the prices are going to fluctuate depending on the season. However, if you're just looking at a hotel it can benefit you as well. If you're flexible with your days you'll be more open to different discounts that hotels might offer. They might offer a discount for certain days, or give lower unpublished rates. Either way, it creates more opportunities to save money.

Plan Something Close

The farther you travel, the more expensive your vacation becomes. If you plan a weekend getaway a couple of hours from where you live, then you'll end up paying a lot less than what you would have paid otherwise. Look for something a couple of hours away that you've either enjoyed in the past, or never done before.

Avoid Heavily Visited Areas

Heavily visited areas usually cost more. When you're planning your trip you should try to find something that people don't usually do. Look for something that's going to be fun for your family, yet cheap at the same time,

Get Creative

Think about the things that your family enjoys that you've never really tried before. Maybe you've never gone horseback riding, or hiking, or windsurfing. Look for something fun that you can plan a vacation around.

Plan With a Coupon Book

Coupon books can be great vacation planners. Why? Because they give you different ideas for fun activities, and a lower price at the same time. You can also try using a website like Groupon to get even better deals. Groupon is a great website for finding fun things to do because so many companies use it to announce discounts.

Follow the Tips in the "Money Saving Travel Guide"

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7135828

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Tourism in the UK contributes more to GDP than automotive manufacturing

The Travel & Tourism industry in the UK is nearly five times the size of automotive manufacturing and supports almost as many jobs as the financial sector.

This is according to new research from the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) sponsored by American Express.
The research, undertaken by Oxford Economics, shows that the sector’s direct contribution to the UK GDP is £35 million which is almost five times the GDP of automotive manufacturing and larger than chemical manufacturing and the mining sector.

Travel & Tourism’s total contribution to GDP in the UK was £101 billion in 2011, or 6.7% of total GDP. This compares 2.3% for automotive manufacturing, 1.9% for mining and 4.1% for chemicals.With 2.3 million direct, indirect and induced sustained jobs in the UK, Travel & Tourism directly supports nearly as many jobs as the financial service sector in the UK.

The new research also showed that Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP is faster than most other sectors in the UK. It will grow by 4.1% over the next ten years, a faster growth rate than the total economy and all other industries presented in this study.It also highlights that Travel & Tourism is a significant source of exports for revenue for the UK. In 2011, visitor exports totaled £25 billion which was 13.2% of all service exports and 5.1% of all exports including goods and services.

The study compared the effect of Travel & Tourism spending on GDP and the wider economy.Every £640,000 (US$1 million) of Travel & Tourism spending:

• Generates £830,000 (US$1.3 million) in GDP which is roughly the same impact as the financial services and communications sector
• Generates £76,000 (US$119,000) of gross value added in the real estate sector and the wholesale and retail sector gains £86,000 (US$135,000)
• Supports 18 jobs, compared to 13 jobs in the financial sector, 12 jobs in the communications sector and 11 jobs in automotive manufacturing.

David Scowsill, President & CEO, WTTC said: “These numbers are extremely significant. For over 20 years, the World Travel & Tourism Council has spearheaded global and regional analysis of the economic impact of Travel & Tourism. WTTC has now taken this research one step further and assessed the role Travel & Tourism plays in the economy of the UK in comparison to other economic sectors and also how this looks like on a regional level.
The results are extraordinary. Within our industry we have always known that Travel & Tourism is a vast contributor to economic growth and job creation. These figures bear out just how significant our industry is for the UK.

2012 is an important year for the UK’s tourism industry. The Golden Jubilee and Olympics are a prime opportunity to showcase the country’s tourism product and capacity to host major events. However, government support after 2012 will be equally important to ensure that the industry can build on the legacy of these events, and continue to create jobs and growth around the UK. Air passenger duty and high rates of VAT on hotel stays are making tourism in the UK uncompetitive, and costing the economy jobs and GDP. Now is the time for the government to sit up and take notice of the industry and its potential.”

Bill Glenn, President Global Corporate Payments and Business Travel, American Express said: "With each release of regional data from the latest WTTC research, we continue to see the value that travel can bring to GDP, job creation and other economic factors. We are pleased to sponsor this research and provide the industry with another valuable asset to use to promote the benefits of travel."

At WTTC’s Global Summit in Tokyo in April, WTTC’s research revealed that Travel & Tourism’s direct contribution to world GDP US$2 trillion or 2.8% is more than double the GDP of automotive manufacturing and one-third larger than the global chemicals industry. Travel & Tourism generates roughly the same GDP as the global education and communications sectors, and about half that of the global banking and financial services industry.

read more: http://travelandtourworld.com/news/newsTour.asp?newsID=12086

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Abu Dhabi launches consumer focused online offering

Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority has launched an upgraded version of its official destination website, supported by a wide array of social media channels.

Conceived with travellers’ needs in mind, the refreshed website is designed as a one-stop-shop for tourists who want to explore the emirate, giving them easy access to interact, in any of eight languages, with extensive, dynamic information on Abu Dhabi’s attractions and experiences, culture and heritage, and events and recreation activities.

The new content and functionalities are available Arabic, English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Japanese and Chinese.

The website’s new hotel search option, which aggregates live deals and room availability from over 50 booking engines, allows visitors to find real-time information prior to their decision to book.

This innovative approach to hotel and restaurant data is also designed to benefit hotels which should expect higher online sales, due to traffic coming to the booking engines via the destination website’s new search facility.

The site provides the filters and the search, and leaves the consumer to decide who they want to actually book their stay with.

Hotels make the rooms available online, with their preferred booking sites.

The new consumer-orientated website also acts as a base for the launch of the destination’s social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Google +, and Pinterest), inviting travellers to become active contributors to the destination, to post, comment, get inspired and share their experience.

During June, visitors to the can enter an Abu Dhabi 360⁰ competition when they subscribe to the website’s planned e-newsletter.

By joining the registered users’ club, visitors can stay in touch with all that is new in Abu Dhabi, find out more about what to see and do, where to stay and eat and get the chance to win a holiday of a lifetime.

Read More : http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/abu-dhabi-launches-consumer-focused-online-offering/

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