The Passenger Shipping Association have reported a further increase in the number of Britons now opting for a holiday on the open sea. The 1.2 million UK cruise passengers in 2006 is an increase of around 12% on the 2005 figure of 1.08 million passengers. The overall growth of the UK cruise market has doubled in the last 10 years with passengers rating good food, itinerary the standards of accommodation and price as the main reasons for booking a cruise.

New figures for the first quarter of the year have shown a 20% year-on-year increase for the number of passenger arrivals in Hong Kong. According to the Hong Kong Tourism Board, the increase in passenger figures is largely due to the opening of the Hong Kong Disneyland and the increase in the number of flights from the UK.

Figures show that there were over 157,000 arrivals from the UK between January and March with March figures alone showing an increase of 30%.

18 Co-op stores in the Nottingham area are to start selling pre-packed euros at the checkouts. The new initiative is a partnership of the travel business Travelcare and retail arm of the Co-operative group.

Airline tickets for the first flights to operate from the new Heathrow terminal 5 are being sold by BA.

The new terminal which is due to open in March 2008 will be exclusively used by BA which will operate 90% of its flights from the new site. BA has planned a four phase move that will see the majority of their operation move to the new terminal between the opening date and October 2008. The remaining 10% of BA’s services including some short haul services will continue to operate from Heathrow terminal 3. After BA has moved the bulk of its services to the new terminal 5 the oneworld alliance will have exclusive use of Heathrow’s terminal 3.

BA is spending £60 million on providing premium lounges in the new building which will house up to 2,500 passengers and be known as The Galleries. The overall cost of the new terminal site and building is expected to be around 4.5 billion.

With increasing passenger numbers, the new terminal at Heathrow will bring increased demand for supplementary services such as airport parking and airport hotel services to the Heathrow area.

It seems that travellers are fast catching on to the potential impact that holiday and business travel has on the environment and are more and more willing to make a voluntary contribution to offset their carbon footprint.

Recent statistics show that in the first week of its new green scheme, more than a third of First Choice customers agreed to pay an offsetting charge. The number of people agreeing to pay the £1.50 voluntary levy in First Choice shops was 45% , this reduced to 38% when comparing the take up of the charge across all of the First Choice distribution channels such as the Internet. Sunvil Holidays, another company that has introduced it’s own responsible travel policy have reported that in the last five months, 8,000 customers have agreed to pay a small carbon offsetting fee.

As awareness grows to the possible impact that global and domestic travel has on the environment, more and more companies are queing to show their green credentials. One argument is that this is more about effective marketing than saving the planet. Targeting the conscience of a huge and growing number of people who will sway towards companies that appear to be doing something to help the environment could be very good for business.

P&O Cruises recently smashed its previous sales record for a single day. The new record was set on the first day of selling tickets for the new cruise ship Ventura that is due to start sailing in May 2008. With 19,000 passenger bookings made on the opening booking day, this beats the previous best sales figure by over three times.

Weighing in at 115,000 tones, the Ventura will be the largest superliner ever built for the British market. Facilities on-board include six jacuzzis, five pools and 23 different places to eat or drink for the ships 3,600 passenger capacity.

WA Shearings, one of the UK’s leading holiday companies, is set to re-brand in a move that is hoped will broaden it’s appeal to a greater audience. The holiday and hotels company that has traditionally specialized more in holidays for the mature customer plans to re-brand with a more contemporary design. Karen Gee the Sales & Marketing director for the company said that in recent years, the company had worked hard to develop it’s product to be more than just a coach tour operator for the over 50s and the re-branding was needed to reflect these changes.

Customers who fly to Spain with First Choice airways and Thomas Cook airlines during the winter season are being encouraged to recycle the aluminium drinks cans used on the flights.

The scheme that has been organised by The Travel Foundation with the help of Spanish airport authority AENA estimates that around 14 million cans will be recycled in the scheme saving an enormous amount of energy and helping to protect the environment.

The link between Heathrow airport and the island of Jersey has been restored after a seven year break. The twice daily service which started on the 25th of March and operated by BMI takes the place of the old British Airways service that operated on the route all those years ago.

A campaign to attract visitors back to the island was kick started by the Jersey Tourism office with a £250,000 poster campaign. Millions are being spent on the island to upgrade properties and to build new attractions and facilities such as luxury spa centres to attract new visitors to the island.

The new poster campaign backed by BMI is being aimed to attract familys and younger travellers and to shake off the old Saga generation image. David de Carteret, the director of tourism for Jersey said that the Island is trying to promote itself as more of an adventure tourism destination that includes activities such as sky-diving and surfing.

De Carteret said that online enquiries are up 30% year on year for last month with further increases expected as the new campaign gathers pace.

Ever fancied yourself as an astronaut? well your dream could become a reality by the end of this decade. With the removal of a major stumbling block. Bupa, the well known insurance provider, have confirmed that it would now offer insurance for space customers after the removal of a major stumbling block.

With insurance premiums of around £20,000 making up a fifth of the overall estimated flight cost of around £100,000, it probably wont be long before premium costs start to fall as other insurance services follow suit.

Virgin Galactic, a leader in the pursuit of space tourism claims that its space ship could be ready for launch by 2009 following around 100-plus test flights that they plan to conduct over the remainder of 2007 and 2008.

It’s hoped that as time passes and the safety of this new form of space travel is proved, the insurance and flight costs will fall bringing the prospect of space flight a little closer for many people.

So get ready, money, tickets, passport, spacesuit!