Forcing customers to pay for service previously included with ticket purchases, UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. will begin charging $50 round-trip for checking a second piece of luggage on May 5, and Southwest Airlines Co. has already implemented a similar fee for checking a third bag. ...

Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced a settlement with Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and its subsidiary Celebrity Cruises Inc., in which the cruise lines will refund $21 million worth of fuel surcharges that the companies levied even after travelers booked their vacations.Royal Caribbean and Celebrity customers who were retroactively ...

Around 400 delegates and international speakers will get together in Kochi from March 21 to March 24 at the Le Meridien International Convention Centre to learn about the latest developments and practices in Responsible Tourism.Speakers from over 20 countries including the UK, Germany, Gambia, South Africa, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and ...

Britain's largest airlines called yesterday for the dismantling of the airports operator BAA and the Civil Aviation Authority, which regulates the country's skies.In an unusual show of unity, the heads of bmi, easyJet, Ryanair and Virgin Atlantic publicly criticised the CAA and its decision to allow BAA to put up ...

As stated today by the EU Press Room, "Today the Commission recommended to the Council to open negotiations on an agreement between the European Community and the United States of America regarding certain conditions for access to the United States' Visa Waiver Program (VWP).When adopting the Commission's proposal Vice-President Franco ...

Today, the The New Nation published an article by Mohammad Shahidul Islam stating that "Bangladesh has very diverse and distinctive flora and fauna, which include a mixture of species at the Sundarban and Chittagong Hill Tracts. Many of them are unique to Bangladesh and largely unknown to the rest of ...

Islamic countries from the Asia Pacific region have agreed to form an Asia Pacific Islamic Travel and Tours Federation to “safeguard" the interests of Muslim tourists and travel agents.Representatives from the four founding member countries - Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei together with ASEAN neighbor Singapore - have agreed to its formation ...

As reported by Phillip Nabyama, at the East African Business Week, "Following Uganda's successful hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of State (CHOGM) in which the country made substantial strides in tourism publicity and development, the country's Parliament has passed the much-anticipated Tourism Bill 2007.The Bill which has been in Parliament ...

In a recently published judgement of 29.11.2007 (1 Ob 127/07v) Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) upheld dismissal of a law suit against a restaurant owner lodged by a guest who had received fistcuffs and boot kicks from a waiter after he had left the place without paying because he wouldn't acknowledge ...

In her opinion regarding case C-173/07 (Emirates Airlines v Schenkel) published 6. March 2008 Advocate General Sharpston came to the following conclusion:Passengers on a return flight from a third country to a Member State are not ‘passengers departing from an airport located in the territory of a Member State' within ...

As stated today by the EU Press Room, "The Commission is launching a dialogue with each of the Western Balkan countries on visa liberalisation. It will soon propose road-maps outlining conditions to be met before the visa obligation can be lifted."This Press Release is available in full text.

On 11.12.2007 Commercial Court Vienna (Handelsgericht Wien) has lodged another reference for preliminary ruling to European Court of Justice in regard to interpretaion of the term "extraordinary circumstances" in Art. 5 par. 3 of regulation 261/2004.These are the questions referred:Are there extraordinary circumstances within the meaning of Article 5(3) of ...

Switzerland, Austria and Germany have the most attractive environments for developing the travel and tourism industry, according to the second annual Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2008, released today by the World Economic Forum. Australia, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Sweden, Canada and France complete the top-10 list. ...

The 2009 ASEAN Tourism Forum (ATF 2009) and ASEAN Tourism Ministers' Meeting will take place in Ha Noi from January 5-12, 2009.The event will include a meeting of tourism working groups with experts and senior officials of tourism agencies of ASEAN countries; a meeting between ASEAN Tourism Agencies, ASEAN and ...

As just stated by the EU Press Room, "The European Commission has formally requested Poland, the Netherlands, Portugal, France, Italy, Finland, Greece and the Czech Republic to amend their legislation with regard to the application of the special VAT 'margin' scheme for travel agents. The request is in the form ...

According to the VietNamNet Bridge, "All 10,000 tour guides in the country will have to apply for new professional certificates in the next quarter in a drive by Vietnam's tourism authority to closely monitor the qualifications of the workforce, an official said.Vu The Binh, head of the travel department under ...

As stated by the EU Press Room, "In 2007, 1 578 million nights were spent in hotels and similar establishments in the EU27, which is an increase of 3.1% compared with 2006. Hotel nights spent by residents in their own country increased by 3.6% to 856 million, while for non-residents ...

As reported by Kang Bing, at the China Daily, "Want to go on a trip? The most convenient way seems to be joining a packaged tour. You scan the advertisements, find a good bargain, sign a contract with a travel agent, and all the while not knowing you might be ...

Parliament has passed the Uganda Tourism Bill 2007 into law. The new law that was passed on Tuesday will govern tourism activities in the country.An excited state minister for tourism Serapio Rukundo said it would accelerate the development of the sector. The law, he noted, was good because it was ...

In a recenty published decision (2 Ob 87/07v of 15. Nov. 2007) Austrian Supreme Court (OGH) confirmed the lower instances' view that the operator of a discotheque has no obligation to constantly check the dancing floor for wet or slippery spots or pieces of broken glass.Plaintiff was injured when falling ...

The Air Transport Users Council (AUC) calling themselves "the UK's consumer watchdog for the aviation industry" published a table on the baggage handling performance of the member airlines of the Association of European Airlines (AEA) for 2007.According to the airlines' own data, an average of 16.6 bags per thousand passengers ...

A new study carried out by Norwegian researchers at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research (CICERO) of Oslo Univerity reveals that road traffic is the worst offender. It causes more greenhouse gas emissions than aviation, which is the second-largest pollutor. By contrast, shipping has a cooling effect.Aviation is ...

According to the EU Press Room, "European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini, in charge of Justice, Freedom and Security, launched a dialogue on visa free travel with Montenegro in Podgorica today. The aim of this dialogue is to give clear indications to the authorities of Montenegro on the measures that ...

As reported by Veronica Uy, at the Inquirer, "The travel tax imposed on Filipinos traveling abroad should be abolished as it 'dampens' their mobility, Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano said Friday.At the opening of the 15th Travel Tour Expo, which had 170 exhibitors from 23 countries at the SMX Convention ...

Class action giant Cohen Milstein Hausfeld & Toll has won a landmark victory in the U.S. courts after securing a $200 million settlement from British Airways and Virgin in relation to price-fixing, it was announced Friday. The settlement will see $144 million put aside for just over five million U.K. ...

A nine year old girl was injured in a "familiy hotel" when running against a glass door which due to lightning conditions was hardly visible when shut and not made of safety glass. She successfully claimed for compensation for pain and suffering against the tour operator. Court held that even ...

As stated by the EU Press Room, "The Commission made today the first step towards the conclusion of short stay visa waiver agreements between the European Community and six third countries: Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Mauritius, Saint Kitts and Nevis and the Seychelles. The recommendations to authorise the ...

Greece failed to comply with a European Commission decision that aid to Greek carrier Olympic Airlines was illegal and should be recovered, ECJ ruled on Thursday.A first decision of 11 December 2002 declared incompatible with the common market restructuring aid approved during the course of 1994, 1998 and 2000. Greece ...

Britain will cut the price of its group tourist visas for Chinese travelers by almost a third for three months from March 3, said the British Ambassador to China Sir William Ehrman on Wednesday.The price would fall from 63 pounds (980 yuan) to 44 pounds (660 yuan) and a final ...

In a recent decision (C-463/06 of 13. December 2007) European Court of Justice held that an injured party in a road traffic accident may bring an action directly against the insurer before the courts for the place in a Member State where that injured party is domiciled, provided that such ...