Hugh Morgan gets Cross

Sockless, swearing, pseudo-spanish, sophisticate Hugh Morgan, overseas purchasing and operations director for Cosmos, has just been awarded the Cross of Officer of the Spanish Order of Civil Merit!

The ‘Cruz de Oficial de la Orden del Mérito Civil’ was presented to Morgan this week by Carles Casajuana, the Spanish Ambassador to the UK, on behalf of King Juan Carlos.

The award is in recognition of the role Morgan has played throughout his career in the UK travel industry to further tourism to Spain.

Morgan said: ‘I am deeply honoured and extremely proud to receive this decoration.

‘It is a very rewarding and emotional experience to receive recognition in this way and I am deeply flattered.’

Ignacio Vasallo, director, Spanish National Tourist Office, added: ‘I am absolutely delighted that Hugh, who has played such an important role in the British travel industry related to Spain, has been honoured by the Spanish Government.

We have know Hugh for many years and have always been impressed by his quick wit, appalling dress sense and colourful language, and of course, for his a sharp business acumen! Well done Hugh!

The Spice is Right..

Congratulations to SpiceJet, the low-cost carrier for the Indian domestic market, which has just secured recognition at the World Travel Market for it's growth and multi-channel approach to distribution.

World Travel Market Chairman Fiona Jeffery presented an award to the carrier’s CEO Sanjay Aggarwal, at today’s WTM 30th Anniversary VIP Opening & Reception Ceremony.

SpiceJet currently connects 18 domestic destinations with 125 daily departures. The depth of its network provides customers a variety of options for interconnecting flights, giving them access to second tier destinations via connections at major hubs.

It has been growing recently, despite the economic pressures. SpiceJet increased its daily departures from 98 in October 2008 to 125 by May 2009. Its market has increased from 7.9% in September 2008 to 12.8% in June 2009, making it the fastest growing airline in India during this period. During the first seven months of the current year, SpiceJet’s passenger traffic has grown 14% compared to a 5% decline in the overall Indian domestic traffic.

Unlike many other low-cost airlines, it has a multi-channel approach to sales - 24% of bookings come directly from consumers booking at www.spicejet.com, 14% book through its call centers, online travel agents account for 30% with offline travel agents its largest sales channel with 32%.

It differs from other low-cost carriers by having a cargo business, which covers 13 stations. It has carried more than 19000 tones of cargo since May 2008. This side of the business currently contributes more than 3% of its total revenue.

Overall, it deserves credit for having made a profit while growing during an economic slowdown In the first three months of the year it made a profit of INR 26.3 crores (£3.6m) after two quarters of near breakeven numbers.

Going to the Dogs

Now, we have a couple of FES directors with dogs, and they love their animals, and would do anything for them, but we had to do a double take when we saw the latest PR release from 'Pet Airways' who announced today the opening of its new route between New York and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, adding to the 5 cities it now serves - New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver, and Los Angeles.

At first we weren't so sure about this - but Pet Airways really does operate. The airline is booked 2 months in advance, according to Dan Wiesel, president and CEO of Pet Airways.

We take no responsibility for what follows...

"From the moment a pet is dropped off at the Pet Lounge, pets are under the care of Pet Attendants who are Certified Veterinary Technicians that are trained in caring for pets. A Pet Attendant is always present before, during, and after the flight to make sure their "pawsengers" are comfortable and safe. Pets are never left alone. In flight, pets are in the main cabin of the planes, which are fully climate controlled to make sure that the temperature is just right and that there is an adequate level of fresh circulating air.

Pawsengers are boarded and de-boarded from planes as quickly as possible, never left in the cold or heat, and depending on transit time, are offered toilet facilities, food, and water as necessary during stops. Pet Parents can be sure that their pets are receiving careful handling while having the peace of mind that their pets are well looked after by people who care as much about their pets as they do.

The Pet Airways goal is to make the pet travel experience more comfortable and enjoyable for both pawsengers and their human families."

To see for yourself go to www.petairways.com.

No more emails!

Hats off to Peter Long, CEO of TUI who in a Sunday Times interview puts business success down to clear communication.

We couldn't agree more!

It seems Peter does not even have a computer in his office and he does not answer emails. His view is that executives who send and receive emails are wasting their time.

‘Why are they doing a job an assistant should be doing? He asks, 'Is that really an effective use of their time? I don’t think so'.

FES have, on many occassions, seen organisations where the Chief Executive spends his entire day buried in emails, ploughing through memos that, they really should leave to someone else.

Peter adds, ‘You have to have trust in your teams and not meddle. There are not enough hours in the day to go controlling.’ How very true, CEO should lead and inspire, offer direction and clarity and really shouldn't be messing about in day to day activities that they can easily leave to their staff.

After working through three recessions, two Gulf wars and numerous other global problems, Long said: ‘I am always concerned but you just deal with it, because you have to.’

Of course you do. Well said Peter.

India Boutique Hotels

There is a lovely piece in the Observer newspaper this weekend about Boutique Hotels in India. Some of the hotels do lovely rather nice indeed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/sep/27/india-boutique-hotels

A nose for good Business

You'll know you've arrived when you are greeted with a 'mélange of ginger, white tea, citrus and musk'. If however, you catch the distict whiff of 'sweet grass and green tea', then you know you've got a little way yet to go!

Yes, this is news that Holiday Inn's 3,300 properties across the globe are getting a $1bn (£600m) facelift, officially launched in New York this week. Battling ruthless mid-market competition, Holiday Inn is sharpening its act with a swish new logo, revamped public spaces, landscaping, better bedding and even a standardised scents (the full scale Holiday Inss will get the 'melange' while the cheaper Hilday Inn Express Sites have to make do with 'sweet grass and green tea')

Holiday Inn was founded with a single hotel in Memphis in 1952, the brainchild of Kemmons Wilson, an American entrepreneur who became frustrated on a family road trip at the gap between shoddy roadside motels and fussy, pricey posher establishments. The chain now has properties in nearly 100 countries, most recently opening in Vietnam and the Maldives.

Holiday Inn outlets will be obliged to spend an average of $100,000 to $200,000 per property on improvements. There will be new lighting, signature plant pots and a choice of soft or hard pillows in every room. Power showers will abound and staff are having friendliness drummed into them.

Properties unable, or unwilling, to smarten up will lose the Holiday Inn brand and older hotels with, for example, motel-style exterior corridors, face the chop.

Of course, many upmarket hotel chains are treading on the toes of Holiday Inn. No-frills offerings such as Marriott Courtyard, Hilton Garden Inn and Hyatt Place have appeared in the US over the past decade and beginning to appear in the Europe.

And the current economic climate has had an effect on occupancy – Holiday Inn's occupancy rate was 54% in the US and 61% in Europe during the first half of the year, with revenue per room down 17% to $51 in the US and by 16% to $66 in Europe.

But Holiday Inn is an iconic brand and it's essential that it 'does what it says on the tin'. Visitors know what to expect and the uniformity and reliability is appealling to routine business travel.

We only have one concern; apparently a global playlist of 1,000 soundtracks will greet guests, ranging from Sting to John Mayer and the Jackson Five!

There are a few local exceptions, in France, for example, Carla Bruni makes an appearance while Kylie Minogue will play in Britain!!

India: Making good progress. Can do better.

More good news arrives in the form of new data compiled by the Indian Ministry of Tourism. Figures show that North America and West Asia constitute the strongest growth for tourism to India. The number of foreign tourists visiting India increased from 7.99 million in 2007 to 8.27 million in 2008.

Growth in tourists has been greatest from Denmark, (by 24.1 percent), Brazil (by 21.8 percent), Russia (by 21 percent) and Norway (by 18.6 percent), followed by countries such as Israel, Bahrain and UAE. Traditionally, the UK has also provided the highest number of visitors but this year has been pushed to second place by the USA.Tourists from neighboring countries Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also increased sharply.

After a drop of about 10 percent in foreign tourist arrival between October 2008 and June 2009, the inbound tourist market is showing definite signs of revival. Tourist arrivals in July 2009 have increased substantially although, less than July 2008 levels, but foreign exchange earnings have risen sharply in real terms.

The Indian ministry of tourism plans to continue its marketing campaign in the USA market with the colorful Incredible India ! campaign planned at the Oscar, Grammy and BAFTA award functions.

The top 10 source markets for Indian inbound tourism are :

1. USA
2. UK
3. Bangladesh
4. Sri Lanka
5. Canada
6. France
7. Germany
8. Japan
9. Australia
10. Malaysia

Compared to world statistics in terms of tourist arrivals however, published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, India ranks 41st in the world.

India still gets far fewer visitors than much smaller nations like Ukraine, Tunisia, Croatia and Saudi Arabia.!