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Europe Travel Continues To Recover

EUROPE TRAVEL CONTINUES TO RECOVER

According to the quarterly report “European Tourism Trends & Prospects” by ETC, travel demand throughout the continent is robust and is expected to continue in 2024. The report highlights that the recovery is primarily driven by strong intra-European travel, especially from Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Long-haul travel has also recovered, although slower and with significant variations between regions, such as Asia-Pacific and North America.

Low-cost Destinations on the Rise

According to the report, European travel remained stable in the final months of 2023. Two-thirds of the destinations reported a complete recovery or recorded arrivals and overnight stays within a 10 percent variance from pre-pandemic levels. Southern European travel destinations remained popular, favored by the favorable weather during the low season. Serbia recorded the most significant increase in arrivals (+15%), followed by Portugal (+11%), Montenegro (+10%), Turkey (+9%), and Malta (+8%).

Other countries also witnessed significant growth compared to 2019. Iceland recorded a 12 percent increase in arrivals despite a volcanic eruption. In comparison, the Netherlands experienced a 16 percent increase in overnight stays, indicating longer stays, despite a minor 2 percent increase in arrivals.

In contrast, Eastern European destinations bordering Russia experienced a slower recovery. Countries like Lithuania (-32%), Latvia (-29%), Estonia (-27%), and Finland (-24%) fell short of their 2019 figures.

Inflation Is Not without Impact

The European travel industry is experiencing a recovery in arrivals and overnight stays. However, both the industry and tourists are affected by the inflation rate. In the last quarter of 2023, the inflation rate rose to 23% compared to 2019. The rise in inflation has led to an increase in tourism-related spending, such as international flights (+49%), package holidays (+47%), and hotel prices (+35%). These higher prices hurt the financial situation of households. However, it did not stop the majority of people who were willing to travel. Experts note that price pressures have slightly eased in the last months of 2023, but they remain significantly higher compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Chinese Remain Hesitant

Chinese tourists accounted for 13% of long-haul arrivals in Europe in 2019. However, their return has been slow since China reopened, with Chinese arrivals in 2023 being 67% below pre-pandemic levels. Despite capacity constraints, Chinese travelers have focused more on domestic travel and remained risk-averse over the past year. For 2024, European destinations can expect a further recovery of this market, which is expected to be 39% below the figures in 2019.

The ETC predicts generational change and the influence of social media to increasingly change Chinese travel preferences, leading to a shift towards luxury and more authentic experiences.

In contrast, North American markets, such as the United States and Canada, have recovered significantly. Two-thirds of European travel destinations have seen increased arrivals and overnight stays from the US. Moreover, American and Canadian airlines announced the development of combined flight and rail booking systems for Europe, providing a more sustainable way to travel in the region.

#Europe

Thanks to https://www.tourism-review.com/

https://www.traveljunkies.com

 

Stand Out & Get Found

Getting found isn’t difficult.

It isn’t hard to find something if you search for the right keywords.
So why is it you sometimes can’t find what you’re looking for?

This happens when whoever wrote what you’re looking for didn’t include the keywords you would use. And it happens a lot.
Take the word travel. A Google search for travel finds 9.6 Billion results.
Not much use is it?

In Traveljunkies we think we’ve overcome the problem of not being found and it’s quite simple, but for it to work for you, it’s when you write an advert.

In your advert use relevant words that describe what you offer. Use your Tagline and create a unique keyword or code.

It works in Traveljunkies because every word is a keyword in Premium Adverts.
So when someone searches for a word, or even a part of a word that’s in your advert, you will be found even when they aren’t looking for you.
And it works the other way. You’ll be surprised at what interesting things you’ll find.

This unique search method is what makes Traveljunkies different and helps people find you because it stands out. It used to be called your USP.

But a word of warning.
Don’t stuff your advert with irrelevant words and lots of tags. People will recognise what you’re doing and you’ll be seen as a spammer.

Free Advert

Start with a free advert (also called a listing) to see how it works and decide if it’s for you.  It only takes 5 minutes and your free listing will be displayed 24/7 in Traveljunkies.com without you having to do anything more.

This isn’t a one-month free trial at the end of which you get charged.
It’s completely free for as long as you want.
Only when you’re completely happy and you want to grow should you think about buying a Premium Advert.

So pop over to www.traveljunkies.com and get your free advert now.

Cliff Chapman
Traveljunkies 

Get found with your free advert in Traveljunkies

Why it’s women who make swimming pools dirty.

What do you mean I’m dirty?

Girl in pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A survey back in 2006 found that the biggest pollutants of swimming pools is the stuff women put on their bodies to make them the beautiful creatures they are.
Yep it’s the oil that floats on the top of the water.
So much for stories of little boys peeing in the pool.

Earlier pools were designed with a wall around them with a few openings at water level to allow the water to be re-cycled. The main drain was at the bottom of the deepest part of the pool. This dealt with dirt at the bottom of the pool but what about the film of oil on top of the water?

Most modern pools are now built in the Infinity style where the water runs over the top edges of the pool into the drains. This deals with the problem of the oil lying on top of the water, because as we know, oil floats on water.

But where does this oil come from?

In the survey, it was found that 83% of the oil came from cosmetics, body lotions, make up and hair sprays.
And whereas when men shower before taking the plunge most of their body gets washed, or at least wet, women wearing one-piece costumes expose little of their body to get washed so bikini wearing girls are much cleaner, but it’s rare for any of them to shower their face and hair.

So it’s not little boys, or even old boys peeing in the pool that make it dirty, it’s those nicely made-up, sweet smelling ladies who are the real culprits.

Thank goodness for Infinty pools.
We can all now rest assured that the problem caused by “dirty women” has been solved once and for all.

For more on where to go, what to do and where to stay around the world go to the #1 Adventure Travel Directory

Thank you

Cliff Chapman
Traveljunkies

Why are immigrants leaving Australia?

A number of reasons.

Some find it too hot or humid. Some find it too expensive (it is not a great place to live if you have no income.) Some find it too far away from the rest of the world – either because they have loved ones elsewhere or they like to travel to Northern Hemisphere countries. Some find adjusting to anywhere new very difficult; they get homesick and are overcome by rose-tinted views of “back home”. Some are offered jobs or transfers somewhere else.

Many don’t know how good they’ve got it until they leave Australia and go elsewhere. You do realise, with hindsight, that if you have a job and have your family in Australia, it doesn’t get much better anywhere else. Sadly, it’s often lack of having one or the other locally that is behind the decision to leave. People get sick of 24 hour journeys to see parents, especially when parents get infirm or elderly and can no longer fly out to see their grandkids.

In the end, it comes down to how you’re living, not where you’re living. For me, family, sticking together and having the means to support my loved ones are what come first.

#leaving  #Australia

Thanks to Melissa Johnson first published on Quora

About Traveljunkies – Our Story

What’s all this about Traveljunkies?

And how come it’s at the top of Google Page 1 (and every other search engine)?

Everything was going well until March 2006 when we had a visitor, and that changed everything.

I’m Cliff and in 2000 our daughter Alison left our shores on Hayling Island in the UK and emigrated to Australia.

After spending a year exploring Melbourne and Sydney the time came for her to earn some money.

A friend in Sydney said she should work for herself and I should help. Great!
Nevertheless it was good advice and she found a small business running jet skis in Mission Beach, a small town near Cairns in Far North Queensland.
We bought the business and Alison, now known as Ali, became a first-time business owner.

Every morning, at the crack of dawn, Ali and her friend Joe drove a tractor from their lockup towing 6 jet skis and unloaded them on the beach. They rode two skis and towed the other four 7kms across beautiful clear blue waters to Dunk Island in the Great Barrier Reef Heritage area.

On the island was a large holiday resort that supplied our customers.
Each day, Ali and her team ran tours round the beautiful island accompanied by exotic birds, colourful fish, and the occasional whale, to places that could only be reached in small boats and jet skis, and it was a great lifestyle.

Then, on 20 March 2006, Larry paid us a visit.

Larry was a Category 5 Cyclone that built up in the Pacific Ocean and roared ashore right over Mission Beach demolishing almost everything in its path, and that included the resort that supplied our customers.

Luckily our jet skis were back in the lockup on the mainland so all was not lost, except we no longer had any customers.

Along with other businesses hit by the cyclone we struggled on for a while.

We hired out jet skis from the beach encouraged by the news that the resort was being rebuilt and would soon reopen, and after several delays it reopened eight months later.

 But it had it’s own jet skis.

On that fateful day in March 2006 we went from having a great lifestyle business to having no business at all. A cyclone and a big company had put us out of business.

So how does Traveljunkies figure in this?

Back in 2002 we had produced a small newsletter promoting our jet ski business and a few other businesses in the North Queensland area.

In 2006 with our jet ski business gone we broadened the range of activities including articles about the Great Barrier Reef, the tropical rainforest and activities such as  scuba diving, fishing, 4wd trekking and sky diving onto the beach. We also extended the area we covered and interest grew rapidly and with the advent of social media, the word spread and we were soon getting enquiries from beyond Australia.

By this time Ali had moved to NSW and gone back to her first love, caring for animals. She had many years experience as a vet nurse in the UK and was much in demand in Australia, so she had little difficulty in finding employment.

So it fell to me to continue to develop Traveljunkies which I treated like a hobby rather than a business and I’ve made many friends and contacts around the world.

Then I heard from a friend in Honduras.

Hello Cliff,
The information is correct although we have sad news. Tyll’s Dive will close down begin May this year.
Our small business could just not survive and compete against new dive businesses with a good money back up.
As of now we have no one interested in buying the name and the permit owner of the building is not interested in new tenants, which makes it difficult to sell the business as a whole package.
After we close down we will take a couple of weeks to relax and enjoy the island again, then most likely going back to Denmark for a while and find out what will happen from there and what options we have.
Thank you for your support over the years.
Dorte
Tyll’s Dive
Roatan, Honduras

A big company had closed down her business and that prompted me to do what I could to help small businesses. After all, we were once a small business that was shut down by a big company.
So I started promoting small businesses in the travel and activities industries giving them free one-line adverts in Traveljunkies. A bit like yellow pages.

We’ve been doing this now for nearly ten years and have made more than a quarter of a million referrals to small businesses around the world, and you can see some of our customer’s comments in Testimonials.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, we were asked if we could do more to help our clients, and with small businesses finding it hard to get customers I decided to offer premium adverts for a small fee.

We carried out tests posting simple adverts and this was very successful, increasing “Getting Found” by an average of 425%.

Bringing my story up to date, we are redesigning the Traveljunkies website to include Premium Listings for a small annual fee that in most cases will be quickly recovered by additional customers. In fact, just adding one extra customer will usually recover the fee we charge to display a Premium Advert for a whole year.
With lockdowns and travel restrictions worldwide, timing has been important and we will be offering this option in 2023.

In the meantime, if you own or manage a small business that qualifies for a free advert in please take a look.

Thank you for taking the time to read our story and I hope you found it interesting and helpful.
If you think joining us at Traveljunkies could help your business we’d be delighted to welcome you.

With my very best wishes

Cliff Chapman
Traveljunkies
Helping you find customers by helping customers find you

So remember, if you’re looking for new places to go, or exciting things to do, or you just want somewhere to stay, hop over to Traveljunkies.
And if you own or manage a travel or adventure business and you don’t have a free advert then Traveljunkies is the place for you.

You should be doing this

Excellent post includes

Why Brands Should Prioritize Facebook Reels Right Away

To promote your business for free – check us out at here

Cliff
Traveljunkies

Is blogging your business?

Hello bloggers.

Are you making a living from your blogging or is blogging a hobby for you, at the moment?
I’ve added “at the moment” to my question because what often starts as a hobby can become a business and this has been the case for me.
I still blog here, although I was rather quiet during the pandemic when travel and tourism was badly affected, but my blog connects with my main business which is promoting small businesses in the travel, tourism and hospitality industries.

So, if your blog is your business and you’d like a free advert, yes completely free for as long as you want, then please take a look at www.traveljunkies.com and tap Free Advert to send us your details.

And while you’re there, please have a look around Traveljunkies where you will find loads of adventure and travel ideas that you’ll rarely find anywhere else (including Google).
And if you’d like to pass Traveljunkies on to your friends and colleagues, that would be great.

Thank you

Cliff
Traveljunkies

Who Can You Trust? – My Story

Who Can You Trust – My Story

How a reputable digital marketing agency with a 20 years experience providing web design and management services has badly let itself down.

My warning here is be careful who you partner with.

I’ve not named the company in this article – instead I’ve substituted the company’s name with (company)

I entered into a Website and Internet Marketing Partnership with (company) in December 2020 to update my website and provide marketing support for two years.

The mistake I made was not appreciating what Clause 4 in their Terms and Conditions allowed (company) to do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When the time came to upgrade my 5 year-old Traveljunkies.com website, I chose a company that was forward looking and had a good reputation. I’ve been customer of this company for many years so I knew who I was dealing with and felt I could trust them.
That was another mistake.

After discussions and agreement on what was required, (company) started work in January 2021 to upgrade my website, or so I thought.

All went quiet and on 4 March 2021 the Account Manager presented her website.
It was a not an update to my original website as we’d agreed but a completely different website with so many mistakes that it was unusable. She did this without my knowledge or agreement.

At a review with the Account Manager and her boss on 4 May 2021 I was assured that the website they had produced was good for my business and the errors would be corrected.

A year later this work was still not finished.

The website developed by (company) still contained errors, the most serious being the Account Manager had failed to correctly load nearly 2400 customers from the .csv file I had provided.
Instead of showing 2635 customers, only 252 were in the All Customers list.
When (Company) saw the errors the Account Manger had made, they replaced her.

In August 2022 following a phone call with (company’s) management, I called a halt to discuss when (company) would finish the work and what was the best way to move forward.

Without answering my questions, (company) made an offer that was far from acceptable and meant I would have to continue to work with them and pay them. As I no longer wanted to work with a company I couldn’t trust, I asked for a refund.
(Company) said they were not prepared to refund me because of the the work they had done.
What they failed to admit was that most of the work they had done, and charged me for, was to correct their own mistakes caused in the first place by their Account Manager.

I then sought the opinion of two other companies and they both told me the website developed by (company) was for travel agents, and not suitable for my business. Traveljunkies is a marketing company, not a travel agent.

Both companies felt that (company) couldn’t be trusted and I had been treated very badly. I passed this comment on to (company’s) management.

Clearly worried about their competitors comments, (company) told me that all future correspondence would be handled by their solicitors.

In their email to me the solicitors warned me about making these comments known and quoted Clause 4 of (company’s) Terms and Conditions.

( Company Headline )
WEBSITE AND INTERNET MARKETING PARTNERSHIP TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Clause 4. Refunds for all or some payments made are not permitted under any circumstances including business downturn, closure of business, ill health or family issues. You are free to cancel this agreement anytime and you agree not to pursue any back dated refund or indemnity claims against (company)

(company’s) solicitors added … Consequently, (company) has no obligation to pay any refund and you have agreed not to pursue any claim for a refund or an indemnity. Any claim made would be struck out accordingly.

This should be a warning to anyone dealing with a company who has Terms and Conditions like this which are totally one-sided with no regard of their customers.
It means a customer can’t claim a refund even if (company) screw up or are in default when they don’t even do their work defined in the contract.
This is the case here.

What has (company) failed to do?

The Agreement says that in addition to hosting and managing my website for two years the following eleven clauses, in bold below, will be performed by (company).
These are the tasks in the Agreement that (company) should have done and for which they have charged me.
Only three were even started and my comments are in italics beneath each item.

>  Our media team will produce a home page video.
A video was produced for the first website but I no longer have access to it.

>  Create up to five additional web pages each month for two years
This hasn’t been done

>  Produce up to two additional videos for you each year
This hasn’t been done

>  Install the (company’s) Email Autoresponder on your website.
This may have been done but I’ve not seen it nor used it

>  Create or re-design your Facebook business page
They have not done any work on my Facebook business page.

>  Create or re-design your Linkedin business page
They have not done any work on my Linkedin business page.

>  Create or re-design your Twitter page
They have not done any work on my Twitter page.

>  Write and post weekly posts for two years on Facebook
Posts were posted for 6 weeks then cancelled because the website produced by (company) still contained errors. I wasn’t prepared to promote my business with a website that was unusable and, quite frankly, an embarrassment.

>  Write and post weekly posts for two years on Instagram
As above. Posts were made for 6 weeks then cancelled because the website produced by (company) still contained errors.

>  Write and post weekly posts for two years on Linkedin
They have not posted anything on Linkedin

>  Write and post weekly posts for two years on Twitter
They have not posted anything on Twitter

I can post the full copy of the Agreement if required.

(Company) then decided to produce a second website but this still contained the same errors they hadn’t corrected in the previous website, most importantly the omission of 2380 businesses in All Countries Worldwide. This alone made the second website unusable.

I haven’t named the company in this document but as I’m now having to pay another company to do the work (company) failed to deliver, I expect (company) to step up to their responsibilities, act honourably and refund money they have taken from me for work they did to correct their own mistakes and for work they haven’t done.

(Company) and I have exchanged more than 100 emails and they have the .csv file which contains the full list of 2635 customers, all of which support my story. These and screenshots of the websites (company) produced are available.

I’m still waiting for (company) to do the right thing and refund the money I have paid.

Cliff Chapman
Traveljunkies
Helping you find customers by helping customers find you.