England’s World Cup failure is the travel industry’s gain, as predicted in my previous blog on the subject.

Ryanair reported the best week of business at Liverpool airport last week after England were knocked out of the Cup by Germany. Bookings surged to all destinations – except, rather unsurprisingly, to Germany.

The low cost airline says week-on-week comparisons showed football fans made plans to leave the country in their droves as soon as England were defeated.

Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said: “English football fans sent our booking system into overdrive as soon as their football team crashed out of the World Cup with bookings soaring by 30% in just one week to destinations throughout Europe – except Germany.

“It is clear that football fans wanted to snap up one of Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares, before the national team returned to England, so that they could look forward to a great value summer holiday.”

Is this a representative number? Have any World Cup fans who read this blog done the same? Were you planning on booking a holiday anyway or did the defeat spark off the desire to fly away somewhere for a bit of R & R?

A Spanish festival designed to promote the country to potential visitors will be held in Regent Street, London on 6th June.

The “Taste of Spain” event will include giant paellas, flamenco dancers, medieval food markets and a range of participatory sports challenges. A dedicated ‘Hall of Spain’ will be a key feature for visitors to wander through 80 years of Spanish sporting history and experience the range of sporting activities available in the country.

In the interactive area, there will be an F1 pit-stop challenge that will give visitors a chance to carry out an F1 tyre change against the clock. An F1 simulator will feature the Montmeló FI track in Barcelona and state-of-the-art MotoGP simulators will transport guests to southern Spain to the popular ‘Circuito de Jerez’.

Football enthusiasts can take part in a kick point challenge, tennis players can compete for the fastest serve, basketball fans can try their luck in ‘shoot the hoop’ and golfers can participate in a ‘nearest to the pin’ contest.

Regent Street will be traffic free to allow for many other activities based on the different regions of Spain, including food, culture and music.

“A Taste of Spain” will take place on Regent Street from noon until 19.00 on 6th June.

World Travel & Tourism Council Logo

12 Judges for the 2010 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards run by the World Travel & Tourism Council have been unveiled. The organisation also seeks entries to be recognise best practice in sustainable tourism. The deadline for applications is 2nd December.

The judging process includes a thorough review of each application followed by an on-site evaluation of all finalists conducted by a global panel of experts in sustainable tourism.

The panel will review and select a shortlist of finalists in each of the four award categories to progress to the second stage of the judging process, during which on-site inspections will take place. Following the third stage of judging, a final panel will choose the winner for each category.

The judges on the Finalist Selection Committee for 2010 are:

• Tony Charters, principal, Tony Charters & Associates, Australia

• Jena Gardner, president, JG Blackbook of Travel, and President, The Bodhi Tree Foundation, USA

• Erika Harms, executive director for sustainable development, United Nations Foundation – World Heritage Alliance, USA/Costa Rica

• Marilú Hernández, president, Fundación Haciendas del Mundo Maya, Mexico

• Dr Janne J Liburd, associate professor and director of research, Centre for Tourism, Culture and Innovation, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark

• Mahen Sanghrajka, chairman, Big Five Tours & Expeditions, USA/Kenya

• Kaddu Kiwe Sebunya, chief of party, Uganda Sustainable Tourism Program, Uganda

• Mandip Singh Soin FRGS, founder & managing Director, Ibex Expeditions (P) Ltd, India

• Shannon Stowell, president, Adventure Travel Trade Association, USA

• Jamie Sweeting, vice president, environmental stewardship and global chief environmental officer, Royal Caribbean Cruises, USA

• Albert Teo, managing director, Borneo Eco Tours, Malaysia

• Mei Zhang, founder, Wildchina, China

Members of the winners’ selection committee are:

• Costas Christ, chairman of the judges, Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, USA

• Graham Boynton, group travel editor, Telegraph Media Group, UK

• Fiona Jeffery, chairman, World Travel Market & Just A Drop, UK

• Michael Singh, CEO, ministry of tourism and civil aviation, Belize

Christ said: “There is no doubt that what we are witnessing today may be the most significant transformation in the history of modern travel – the emergence of sustainable tourism principles and practices across the full spectrum of travel and tourism from small and medium-sized businesses to large-scale hospitality and travel corporations.”

He added: “At the heart of the awards is an expert judging panel representing countries from all around the world and an on-site evaluation process of award finalists to document their sustainable tourism practices in action.”

TTG On the Road Logo

I went to the Travel Trade Gazette (TTG) Roadshow in Manchester on Wednesday night at the Thistle Hotel. It was a good opportunity for agents to meet suppliers new and old to discuss products and developments within the industry over a drink.

Agents and suppliers seemed interested and were mingling throughout the night, especially over the wonderful Arabian inspired food paid for by Abu Dhabi, who had a representative give a presentation regarding the future plans Abu Dhabi have to develop as a number one tourist destination (of which I will write a little more in a future blog entry).

The TTG will be carrying its journey on across the country on these dates:

Exeter on the 20th October at the Rougemont Hotel

Portsmouth on the 21st October at the Hilton Portsmouth Hotel

Norwich on the 22nd October at the Holiday Inn Norwich North

Further information can be found at the TTG Website

Manchester city centre will be host to a festival of the Balearic Islands this bank holiday weekend. The festival celebrates Ibiza, Menorca, Majorca and Formentera — and it’s completely free.

You can find out more about the festival via the official festival website

There will be parades happening on Saturday and Sunday at 1pm (and Monday 11am) – finishing up at Albert Square.