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Travel News
Riviera Travel New River Cruise Brochure
23rd May 2013
Riviera Travel has issued its latest brochure of four- and five-star European river cruises ... read more
Aegean Launches New Route from Manchester
22nd May 2013
Greek carrier Aegean Airlines will introduce new direct twice-weekly flights between Manches ... read more
P&O Cruises New Short Break Opera Cruises
22nd May 2013
P&O Cruises has announced two new short break cruises in autumn 2013 featuring performac ... read more
Articles
Austria - What Is It Good For?
In the first of an occasional series of country snapshots, here are reasons to visit Austia, ... read more
UK Bank Holidays in Short Supply?
Recent research by hotel booking specialist by Hotels.com has ascertained that the UK has th ... read more
New Compensation Rules for Airline Companies
It has been announced that the European Commission is making positive new amendments to the ... read more
Low Cost Travel & Holiday Features
Take a look at some romantic holiday ideas for couples looking to grab some quality time together away from the usual home routine.
Last minute travel tips to ensure you save money before emabrking on your next holiday
Looking for an affordable package holiday? Jet2 Holidays offers a wide range of destinations at prices you can afford and with arrangements you can trust. Take a look now at their late deals and their year-round offers from your local UK airport.
Holiday flights to Greece, Spain, Egypt and Cyprus are all available via Fly Thomas Cook. The company offers flight deals to short haul destinations in Europe such as the Canaries, Turkey, Greek islands and even long haul flights to Dubai and Australia. Check the special offers, year-round.
Florida is as diverse as it is fabulous! Not just the entertainment capital of the world, it is home to beautiful beaches, historical cities and lively coastal towns. Head for the sunshine state on a Florida package holiday with Virgin Holidays.
Check out some top camping destinations in the uk, including great spots for families, couples and outdoors adventures
See our tips to help you find a base in London
London after the Olympics? Here's an idea for London visitors
Parking at UK airports is made easier with a comprehensive selection of on- or off-airport car parks here. Offers include hotel arrangements which allow customers to park their vehicles at the hotel for the duration of the holiday.
Jobs and Careers in Worldwide Tourism
In these days of austerity and squeezed economies, it is heartening to know that the tourism sector continues to deliver huge benefits for individuals and governments. Here are some telling statistics:
The Remit of International Tourist Offices
Over time, and with the development of network technology in the past two decades, the role of international tourist offices in the UK has undergone big changes. The customer-focussed brochure distribution and counter services offered by the tourist offices of the major destinations for UK tourist - and many of the smaller countries also - have virtually disappeared. In their place are easy-access online facilities delivering detailed destination information and a platform for video and image-rich presentations for potential customers to enjoy at their leisure.
It was already clear in the early days of the evolving Country Connect relationship with UK-based tourist offices, that the focus was very much shifting. The preferred role was in building press and tour operator contacts, where knowledge of the attractions of individual countries could be cost-effectively disseminated in newspapers, magazines and the brochures of the major sellers. Coupled with this were programmes of "meet the public" holiday fairs and of course, a presence at landmark industry Travel shows including the embryonic World Travel Market which was growing apace in the late 1980's.
During this time, and before the arrival of the world wide web, the use of technology to deliver information in the UK was limited in a way which is almost incomprehensible today. The available platform to reach the consumer from the early 1980s was BT's Prestel system, which never reached a userbase beyond 90,000 due to in part to the sheer cost, the difficulties of dealing with a monopoly supplier in the early days, the limitations of the viewdata technology it employed; and last but not least, the knowledge gaps amongst tourism management chiefs.
But it was always clear, with reduced budgets in the early 1990s, that the old model of direct customer focus was impossible to maintain without technology, and tourist offices increasingly placed themselves higher up the pyramid of consumer networking, relying on press, tour operator and travel agency partnerships to deliver their message. At the same time, viewdata technology had found great favour with tour operators and ferry companies.Thus from a few early adopters in the mid 1980s, viewdata ( with text and bizarrely-limited graphics capability) became the platform of choice for tour operators to deliver reservations and product information facilities to the UK travel agency network.
It was on this network that tourist offices were first able, through pioneering work done by Country Connect amongst others, to deliver its destination information to a receptive travel industry audience through the viewdata interface. Ideas of information delivery through technology thus became firmly established during these years, ensuring beyond doubt that the future remit of tourism information delivery to the holidaymaker was going to move away from dedicated print to online resources as soon as the technology allowed.
Featured Travel Websites
Germany Christmas Markets: A short guide to the best of the traditional Christmas Markets in Germany.
About Country Connect Tourist Office Directory
We research our information through direct mailings, through contact with each office, and through contact with the individual Embassy representing each country in the UK.
Country Connect initially started working with UK-based national tourist offices in 1989, and since that time has established regular news-feeds for timely distribution to the UK travel industry via closed, managed networks. Elements from these feeds are made available to the public via this website, and comprise regular updates on travel offers, new airline routes, new holiday programmes from tour operators and much else of interest to the UK-resident world traveller and holidaymaker.
In addition to the contact information, Country Connect offers a country-by-country link to official government travel advice, BBC climate statistics, as well as to the Word Travels destination guide and even the CIA factbook for in-depth country profiling.
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