Tips for Travelers

(Dive Travel Business News - November 3, 2011) --  Icelandic whalers are trying to win tourists over to their point of view, offering them the chance to go to see with them, feel harpoons and eat whale meat and blubber.

Now after being alerted to the fact that whale meat is on sale at an Icelandic airport, the British Foreign Office has issued a stiff warning to Britons not to bring home any whale meat, saying to do so is in breach of international law protecting endangered species.

Penalties of imprisonment or fines up to £5,000 could be meted out by the courts, says the Foreign Office, because importation into Britain and other EU countries is illegal under the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species (Cites). Up to 70,000 Britons who visit Iceland each year however so far there have been no reports of whale meat on sale in the UK or being seized at the border. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - January 31, 2011) -- In the midst of Egypt’s peak tourist season, political unrest with demonstrations in Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor, Aswan and Suez are clearly upsetting tourism in that country.  The situation is in flux and news media reports have yet to comment on the impact on travelers to Egypt. As of this writing, the Egyptian Tourism Authority’s website makes no reference to the country's current problems. 

The U.S. State Department, British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs are among the Foreign Ministries that have issued travel warnings urging citizens to postpone non-essential travel to Egypt.  However, with the cancelation of flights to Cairo and other cities by major airlines like Delta, Lufthansa  and Air Berlin, the Government imposed curfew, the absence of law enforcement and the disruption in the communication networks, foreign travelers in Egypt are faced with questions about their safety.  read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - December 7, 2010) -- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that since Nov. 16, 2010, officials in the Dominican Republic have reported several confirmed cases of cholera. The CDC said Dominican Republic authorities are taking preventive measures to prevent the spread of the disease. It also said the risk of cholera for travelers to the Dominican Republic is likely very low if appropriate precautions are taken.

At this time, CDC and the U.S. Department of State have not issued any travel warnings for the Dominican Republic. Most travelers are not at high risk for getting cholera, but people who are traveling to the Dominican Republic should exercise caution to avoid getting sick. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - December 2, 2010) -- American Express is offering Platinum Card members a new suite of benefits that are worth hundreds of dollars, including an airline fee credit of up to $200, a 20 percent travel bonus and a travel app. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - Nov 10, 2011) -- Pundits are warning travelers that air travel will not only be more costly this holiday season, it will also be more crowded.  The national average airfare for Thanksgiving travel is US$383, according to Priceline.com. Only once in the past eight years have fares been higher, in 2007, when it was $385. The average airfare for Christmas is projected at $444. It was only $361 seven years ago. Orbitz is reporting that some major routes are up to 30 percent higher this holiday season compared to a year ago.

News agency Reuters reports that higher prices are a reflection of lower supply. The airlines have reduced capacity this past year by cutting routes, pulling back scheduled service and using smaller planes. The Air Transport Association reports that airlines are expected to be 90 percent full. But according to several surveys, people are starting to travel again with Thanksgiving travel estimated to be an increase of 3.5% over last year.

Busiest flying days during the Christmas Season are projected to be Dec. 23 and Dec. 26. Orbitz reports that the most expensive day to fly will be Dec. 26. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - October 28, 2010) -- As the World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the cholera epidemic in Haiti -with more than 292 deaths and 4,147 infected- still hasn’t reached its peak, Dominican authorities extend its "sanitary loop" to the country’s east and north tourism regions, where most of the tourism industry is based.

On Wednesday Health minister Bautista Rojas and other Government officials implemented a sanitary response to keep the epidemic from affecting the tourism regions.

Julio Llibre, head of the hoteliers and tourism businesses grouped in Asonahores yesterday urged stricter controls at the border to keep the disease out of the country. He said it’s necessary to keep the epidemic from threatening Dominican tourism’s stability and sustainability at all costs.

“We would really want that the announced control at the border be just a bit stricter, because I understand it is required, the creation of a sanitary loop along the entire border is needed, which at least prevents travel by people who can be infected." read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - Sept 12, 2010) -- Accessible travel -- travel by people with disabilities -- is an adventure enjoyed on a global scale. Yet too often this adventure is sidelined or delayed by inadequate facilities, higher prices and general hassles. Thankfully, the travel community is generating more and more solutions to these needs, creating a growing network of travel options for disabled people worldwide and broadening the access of accessible travel. The American Society of Travel Agents, ASTA, offers a series of tips to make the next trip memorable for all the right reasons. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - July 22, 2010) -- Divers from all over the world can now share their knowledge and experience of dive operators, dive centers and liveaboards with a new online resource, Scubadvisor. 

From Belize to Bermuda, from Trinidad to Tonga, Scubadviser offers the collective wisdom of divers with first-hand knowledge of a total over 6000 dive centers and liveaboards worldwide.  Each reviewer rates on a range of measures including attentiveness, quality of diving, and safety awareness, and contributes their own take on the total dive experience. 

No longer do divers need to lurk on message boards or trawl the web when deciding on which operator to choose.  Scubadviser makes it easy to find out what other divers think of the operators that they have used—both good and bad.  All reviews are moderated and dive operators have right of reply. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - July 20, 2010) -- Investigations into car rental companies by ABC News has revealed that companies like Enterprise, National, and Alamo rent out cars under safety recalls prior to them being fixed.

This secret information was revealed by a rental car company during a court case in California that involved the death of two women due to a malfunctioning PT Cruiser. In one affidavit, an Enterprise manager pretty much said that if there is demand, the cars are rented out regardless of any safety issues.

Sisters Raechel and Jacquie Houcks were killed instantly after their Enterprise rental car caught fire and hit an oncoming semi-tractor trailer on Highway 101 in northern California in 2004. For five years and right up to two weeks before the trial, Enterprise lawyers maintained the position that the eldest sister was negligent in the way she drove the car and therefore was responsible for her death and the death of her sister. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - July 19, 2010) -- Planes are running so full this summer that U.S. travelers bound for summer vacations may have to wait overnight for the next plane if they miss a flight.

Flight cancellations due to bad weather and equipment problems are compounding the seat shortage issue, creating a domino effect, putting stress on other airlines and routes, and causing missed connections to international destinations. Few options are left for summer dive travelers who've paid for a ticket but can't get to their dive destination on their original itinerary.

For the past two years, US airlines have been cutting back service, using smaller planes or cutting routes altogether in a bid to address the impact of a poor economy, rising fuel prices and fewer passengers. The U.S. airlines' belt-tightening included a 6.7 percent capacity cut in 2008 and a nearly 9 percent cut in 2009 in a scramble to better match the number of seats to a reduced number of passengers flying. As a result, load factors - the measure of how full planes are - are up. read more »