The BBC reported that bullfight supporters insist that the corrida, as it is known, is an important tradition to preserve.

Barcelona’s main bullring is one of the oldest in Spain, but support for the bullfight has waned with many saying that the only people who really watch are tourists.

Although the vote was put forth as an animal rights campaign, many believe that this ruling is a way for Catalonia to distance itself from the rest of mainland Spain.

The Canary Islands were the first to ban bullfighting in 1991.

Seventy-five per cent of MPs surveyed will be visiting short-haul destinations and about a quarter going to long haul destinations. The Mediterranean fared well as most popular for overseas holidays and Scotland rated top for domestic tourism.

91%  of peers said they took two or more holidays a year while half of them said they enjoyed three or more!

57% of MPs said they took two or more holidays, which is slightly below the national average.

ABTA chairman John McEwan said: “Our first ABTA Parliamentary Holiday survey clearly shows that a summer break and other holidays throughout the year, are as important for our political representatives as for the rest of us.

“ABTA is calling on Government to recognise this importance and cancel the planned drastic increase in Air Passenger Duty this November which will see a family of four paying £360 in tax for a flight to Florida at a time when family budgets are already under severe pressure.”

The union will meet with BA for talks at ACAS next week. This follows the rejection of the airline’s latest offer by BA cabin crew.

Conversely, in a statement relating to the rejection, BA said: “We are encouraged by the result of this ballot which shows that 73 per cent of our cabin crew did not reject our offer. The result shows that Unite does not have a clear mandate and we would urge them to come back to the table to sign the agreement and end the dispute.”

In a more recent statement Unite joint general secretaries Derek Simpson and Tony Woodley said: “Unite remains determined to secure a settlement to this dispute acceptable to cabin crew. Until such an agreement is secured, we will continue to support our members financially and legally.”

The union says it is preparing to provide extra assistance to strikers who have suffered particular financial hardship.

Over 40% of the respondents to lastminute.com’s survey said they are now confused by new rules on taking bags onto an aircraft, and a fifth said they had been caught out by new regulations and been fined accordingly.

Have any of you been caught out by the new rules and regulations? We’ve tried to cover news of such regulations on the blog as they come to light to prevent travellers from being stung by avoidable fines. A blog that continues to be relevant includes recent airline price hikes and also tips to beat or lower them, view the full blog here.

Below is a chart showing the average costs of carrying a single bag within the hold on a low cost airliner (flying short haul) sourced from MoneySupermarket.com April 2010. The figures are for return flights.

Jet 2 £24

Thompson £23

Flybe £20

Easyjet £18

Monarch £26

Aer Lingus £8

Thomas Cook £16

BMI Baby £28

Ryanair £40

Average £22.55

WTTC president and CEO Claude Baumgarten said tourism represents a similar share of GDP to the financial and business services sector.

“But while the latter received a bailout to the tune of £850 billion and still struggles in its lengthy recovery, the government appears to be actively working to stagnate growth in Travel & Tourism,” he said.

He warned that the government’s pledge to stop Heathrow expansion, its overreaction to the volcanic eruption, unfair taxation from Air Passenger Duty to a VAT increase, and the continuing challenges of visa processes and procedures will all damage tourism.

“If it continues down this path, the UK will quickly lose its competitive advantage and find itself fall from the top ten league of international destinations,” said Baumgarten.

“We are not asking for a handout, but the private sector needs this government to implement policies that will help it thrive and quickly create new employment opportunities to help bring the UK further out of recession.”

This comes as independent research by Deloitte and Oxford Economics shows that Britain’s tourism economy will grow faster in the next decade than retail, chemicals, transport, and manufacturing. However, the report highlights that this growth is only possible with help and cooperation from the government. See the full blog on this report at our sister site, HolidayCottages.

The WTTC plans to meet with the Prime Minister to increase his understanding of the potential of the Travel & Tourism industry and the challenges it faces.

Fancy a cheap jaunt to Paris? Picture by Flickr User Timothy E Baldwin

Eurostar has put on 20 extra trains during August to meet a rush for seats to Paris.  There will be 4 additional services each weekend, for which tickets went on sale today – each of the additional 15,000 seats are priced at £69 return.

The train operator saw a 6 per cent increase in demand during the first half of this year, pushing revenues up 18 per cent to £404 million. The rise in demand was partly due to the ash crisis, but Eurostar claimed it was also down to an increase in the business market and a strengthening of business and leisure travel.

Chief executive Nicolas Petrovic said: “Over the last six months, we have delivered strong growth in both business and leisure bookings.

“As the economic environment has strengthened we have seen an uplift in the business market and an overall increase in the number of passengers travelling.

“Forward bookings are looking strong and with the increasing appetite for high speed rail travel in Europe, the trend looks set to continue.”

Now the US Department of Transportation has granted them anti-trust immunity, they are free to collaborate on fares, schedules and frequent flyer programmes.

In a joint statement, the carriers said: “This now frees oneworld to compete on a level playing field with the other global alliances – enabling oneworld’s carriers to implement their plans to strengthen competition across the Atlantic with easier, more seamless and more convenient travel opportunities to more destinations with better connections, improved flight schedules, and enhanced frequent flyer benefits.

“British Airways, American Airlines and Iberia plan to launch their transatlantic joint business this autumn, co-operating on flights between Europe, the US, Canada and Mexico. They say they will ‘provide more frequent and convenient schedules than any of the three carriers could offer on their own’.

“By working together, the airlines will expand customer choice by supporting routes that would not be economically viable for any of them individually,” said a oneworld spokesman.

“Customers will also benefit from greater access to discounted fares and expanded opportunities to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles and elite tier benefits on flights.”

British Airways chief executive Willie Walsh added: “This final approval is fantastic news for all three airlines and the oneworld alliance. We’ve waited 14 years to bring the benefits of the transatlantic joint business to our customers and level the playing field with the other two global alliances.Last week, the European Commission also approved the British Airways merger with Iberia, which the two airlines are aiming to complete by the end of this year.

Picture by Flickr User Pex Cornel

If Easyjet doesn’t improve its punctuality within the next 90 days, its founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is threatening to take the airline’s name away.

In a letter sent to the airline, Sir Stelios said he would withdraw Easyjet’s brand licence if it failed to make improvements. This comes as a response to reports over the weekend that more than half of Easyjet’s flights from London Gatwick were late. Sir Stelios blames a shortage of staff and bad management.

In the letter, sent via Easygroup’s solicitors Bird & Bird, he said: “I have been receiving many unsolicited complaints from members of the public and even Easyjet pilots about the degree that the airline is short of crew to operate the flights it sold to its customers.

“Unless Mike Rake (the chairman) and Carolyn McCall (the new chief executive) do something to improve the situation for the sake of the travelling public, I am left with no option but to terminate the brand licence.”

Earlier this year I wrote a blog detailing the high court battle between Sir Stelios and the airline over revenue issues and the founder’s desire to set up a new company using the Easyjet name. See the full blog here.

A crisis centre for customers has been set up in Turkey, the company’s specialist area. The Governorship of Mugla is instructing holidaymakers to call +90 (0)252 214 1234 or from Turkey call the Mugla Call and Information Centre by dialling 179 from any landline.

The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism said the crisis centre is designed to ensure holidaymakers can continue their holidays in Turkey and return home at the end of their stay. It will give customers the latest information about hotels that have been booked by Goldtrail customers and can advise travellers on how to proceed.

Information desks have been set up at all airports in the affected region and the CAA is making arrangements for customers abroad to travel home at the end of their holidays. The majority of flights from Turkey are expected to operate as planned.

Unite is to ballot more than 6,000 members based at BAA airports: Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. It has accused BAA of offering a “paltry” pay offer for 2010 after a pay freeze in 2009.

BAA issued a statement today saying: “We are disappointed that Unite is to ballot members across its UK airports for strike action.

“During recent discussions with Unite, we proposed a conditional 1.5% pay increase. We believe this to be a reasonable offer at a time when BAA and its airline customers are seeing a decline in passengers due to the impacts of recession and volcanic ash.

“We regret Unite’s decision, which will cause unnecessary concern for millions of our passengers and damage Britain’s reputation around the world.”

The strike ballot will open next Friday,23rd  July, and will close on 12th August 2010 and will include security staff, engineers, firefighters and support staff.