German vacationers go against the trend and travel more frequently

The problems of year 2008 left their mark on Serbia, too, forcing a setback on the travel country after eight years of continuous growth. And reaching the previous year’s leap to 696,045 visitors again in these economically difficult times would have resembled a small miracle. Still: With 646,494 registered foreign visitors, the small Balkan state can hold its own in the international competition, even though this represents a minus of almost seven percent.

With the implementation of the summer flight plan on March 29, 2009, customers of SWISS will be able to benefit from a direct connection between Zurich and Lyon – with flexible connecting flights from and to Germany. The French metropolis will be serviced four times a day by an Avro RJ100.

SWISS is one of the few airlines capable of taking up additional destinations in the summer flight plan of 2009 despite the tense market environment and going against the industry trend by expanding their route network.

by editorial office, chd

The German classification of hotels is currently undergoing complete revision by Dehoga Bundesverband, Berlin, in order to align it with the hotel star systems of Austria and Switzerland.

The new criteria for the awarding of hotel stars may come into effect as soon as early 2010. This was reported by the on-line edition of trade magazine „Top hotel“. Dehoga Bundesverband and Hotrec, umbrella association of the industry in Brussels, are further working towards an alignment of the many different hotel categories on a European level.

OAMTH Duplicate Bridge Club of Thessaloniki, the Hellenic Bridge Federation and EVENT Consulting & Travel, have joined forces to organize the 3rd Bridge International Festival of “Balkan Friendship” taking place between April 29th and May 3rd 2009 at the Grand Hotel Palace.

The “Balkan Friendship” event is incorporated in the Games Festival which is a mass event organized for the fifth year in Thessaloniki. The festival includes a series of tournaments & exhibitions in prestigious sports like, chess, billiards, bridge, darts, street basketball and popular table games like scrabble, strategic games and pc games.

The Go Asia Award gala was a big success. More than 300 representatives of Asian tourist boards, destinations, hotels and tour operators, as well as various personalities from politics and media attended the grand award ceremony at Viethaus in Berlin. Go Asia member Thailand won the Go Asia Award in the categories of „Best Destination“ and „Best Tourist Board in Germany“. The second place in the „Best Destination“ category was held by Indonesia, closely followed by Malaysia. The second place in the „Best Tourist Board in Germany“ category was something to show for, too, with Singapore being the one to claim it. The third place went to the Hong Kong Tourism Board.

The hotel introduced as „Travel Charme Hotel Is Arenas“ will no longer be managed by Travel Charme Hotels & Resorts AG – Travel Charme AG states impending damage to their image and divergencies on standards and quality as reasons for this action. They announced their withdrawal from the management contract with the owners and operators of the realty development of the Is Arenas plot on Sardinia.