World Tourism: The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) says that based on a standardised hypothetical case scenario of a 10% decrease in travel and tourism demand since the terror attacks on the U.S on September 11, millions of jobs could be lost worldwide.
The WTTC says that a 10% decrease in travel and tourism demand could have the following possible impact on national, regional and world employment and GDP:
The United Kingdom: Decrease of 1.9% of total GDP for the UK economy and the loss of 190 000 jobs.
European Union: Decrease of 1.9% of total GDP for the EU economy and the loss of 1,2 million jobs.
 United States: Decrease of 1.8% of total GDP for the US economy and the loss of 1,1 million jobs.
World: Decrease of 1.7% of total GDP for the world economy and the loss of 8,8 million jobs.
While some initiatives are already taking place, the Council urged governments worldwide to recognise the serious implications to the overall economy and implement policies with the private sector that will aid the industry's immediate survival and long term recovery.

Web Tourism: Lastminute.com chief executive Brent Hoberman claims that the terrorist attacks have had only limited impact on the online company’s business.
In a statement issued today Mr Hoberman says: “The USA as an outbound destination has only accounted for 3.8% of group total transaction value during the past six months. Our exposure to this market is therefore very low.”  Lastminute claims that during the past fortnight it has had 382 related cancellations of flights, holidays and hotels - which it says represents 0.2 per cent of the company’s travel bookings over the past six months. Mr Hoberman adds that: “Customer numbers using the site have now returned to near normal levels.” The online company claims that it is on course to achieve “a minimum” of £45 million of total sales during its fourth quarter which ends on September 30 - representing growth of over 50 per cent quarter on quarter and over 240 per cent compared to the same period in 2000.

New York City  NEW YORK CITY MAYOR GIULIANI  DELIVERS TOURISM MESSAGE       Citing the need to bolster the
city's economy and businesses in the wake of the World Trade Center
tragedy, New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani encouraged the world to
support New York City with visitor spending.

Mayor Giuliani: "I encourage people from all over the country who want
to help, I have a great way of helping: come here and spend money.  Go
to a restaurant, a play - you might actually have a better chance of
getting tickets. The life of the city goes on..."

People considering a visit to New York City can obtain information
through the newly established toll-free New York City Visitor Hotline at
1-888-805-4040 (international: 860-496-5972). 
The hotline, established by NYC & Company, the city's tourism bureau, is
currently staffed by multi-lingual live operators daily from 8 a.m. to 8
p.m. EST.

 Visitors can also log onto www.nycvisit.com  for the latest information about transportation, hotel availability, cultural institutions, retail and special services, airline contact information and other emergency services.

ZEPPELIN:  A passenger carrying commercial Zeppelin airship has taken to the skies for the first time since the Hindenburg disaster at
Lakenhurst, New Jersey, in May 1937.  The new airship, this time filled
with the inert gas helium, rather than the highly inflammable hydrogen,
is 225ft long and 57ft wide.  The original Hindenburg was 803ft long,
the same as a 70,000 ton liner.  Twelve passengers are carried on each
one hour tourist flight paying up to UKP200 each.  Also under
development in Germany the new Cargolifter freighter airship will be
even bigger than Hindenburg with a 160 ton payload.
http://www.zeppelin-nt.com

AIR TRANSAT  had a very narrow escape recently when an
Airbus A330-200 bound for Lisbon from Toronto ran out of fuel seven
minutes before touching down at the US Force Azores base which is also
Terceira's civil airport.  Of the 291 passengers on board, a handful
suffered minor injuries during the evacuation.  A maintenance error
appears to have caused the problem.  Captain Robert Piche made a dead
stick landing, the world's first by a commercial fly by wire aircraft in
actual operation.  Air Transat operates summer and all year around
services to Canada from several UK airports.  http://www.transat.com

Leisure airfares will not escape the global economic downturn according to the latest American Express European Corporate Travel Index.
The survey shows that during the second quarter of the year leisure transatlantic fares and fares within Western Europe from the UK rose 11.7 % and 10.3% respectively compared to the first three months of the year, partly due to strong holiday demand. In contrast restricted first and restricted business class fares from the UK to North America fell by 6.4% and 4.7%, while restricted business class fares to Western Europe fell by 0.3%.

September is a great month to be in Vancouver, BC, when the weather is
generally accommodating and some of the summer crowds have abated.
Vancouver's top hotel, the Pan Pacific Hotel, brings Japan's First
French Iron Chef, Yutaka Ishinabe to The Five Sails Restaurant to team
up with Five Sails Chef, Jean Yves Benoit. Referred to as the "Visconti
of the culinary world", the legendary Ishinabe-san will bring to the
award-winning Five Sails all the colour and pageantry of the wildly
popular Iron Chef cooking show, which is broadcast to over 22 million
viewers weekly.  Chef Ishinabe will be cooking, in person, at the Five Sails Restaurant, September 6th through 11th. Then his Queen Alice Restaurant culinary team will work with the Pan's team from September 12th - 29th offering their finest in a la carte choices.

Check out the Pan Pacific website, at www.panpacific.com. for The
Vancouver location, go to
http://www.panpac.com/canada/vancouver/hotels/hotel.html and take the
virtual tour of the hotel

RALEIGH RED WOLF RAMBLE: The Raleigh Red Wolf Ramble (September 22-December 31, 2001) More than 100 life-sized fiberglass red wolves (howling wolves, walking wolves and baby pup wolves) will be placed throughout Raleigh hot spots this fall.
The red wolf is an endangered species with an estimated 145 living in the United States, close to 100 of which are believed to be living in northeastern North Carolina.  Website: www.raleighcvb.org

BRITISH AIRWAYS  has extended its travel health advice services with the
launch of a new website promoting its excellent travel clinics.  The
airline runs three travel clinics, located within BA Travel Shops in
central London, at Victoria, Cheapside and Regent Street.  Professional
nursing staff are able to give information and complimentary advice to
anyone planning to travel - by land, air or sea.   The top 10 destinations for passengers seeking health advice so far this year are Kenya, Thailand, Peru, India, Ghana, Vietnam, Mexico, Malaysia, Tanzania and Zanzibar.
http://www.britishairways.com

COCKPIT CAMERAS  could help to establish the cause of airborne
incidents, according to Ken Smart, chief inspector, Air Accident
Investigations Board.  Used in conjunction with the so called, "Black
Box" data equipment, they would help analyse fatal accidents.  However,
the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) said that it did not
object to cameras being trained on instruments but would strongly resist
any attempt to film pilots, citing that it was offensive and an invasion
of privacy.  


SINGAPORE AIRLINES  is to introduce what they claim is the
longest business class bed in the sky, initially on the London-Singapore
route.  Fully extended, the seats are 6ft 6ins long and 2ft 3ins wide.
Amongst many other improvements, audio-video on demand (the
Matsushita Avionics MAS3000 with KrisWorld system will be installed in
all classes).   http://www.singaporeair.com

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES,  the Dallas based daddy of the budget airline
business, is to remove its in-flight telephones during the next 12
months.  It is a cost cutting move and follows a trend that seems to
indicate the failure of the in-flight cellular phone business, certainly
on short sectors.  Whilst mobile phones are now part of life on the
ground, clearly in the confined space on board an aircraft they are
neither practical nor popular.  They are also expensive.
http://www.southwest.com



 Airline passengers will soon be able to pass through passport
controls in the blink of an eye, according to EyeTicket, a McLean,
Virginia company.  The technology is already in trials in the US and
later this year will be sampled by a selection of British Airways and
Virgin Atlantic passengers at Heathrow.  The  biometric check system
looks into the human iris, no two being the same.  The procedure takes
just two seconds, considerably speeding up the current immigration
checks.


USA:  The UK is not the only country to have air traffic delays.
According to the US air transportation department more than one-quarter
of flights into 11 of America's busiest airports were at least 15 minutes late during the first five months of the year, government figures show.  It was a coast- to-coast problem:  Seattle and New York topped the list.  At the
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, 31.3% of flights were late from
January through May.  Three of every 10 flights to Los Angeles
International Airport arrived at least 15 minutes behind schedule during
the period leading into the summer travel season.  The figures show that
regularly 20 scheduled flights were late 50% of the time.
http://www.bts.gov

Cathay Pacific is to stock TeleAdapt's 'Laptop Connection Pack'
on inflight duty free sales trolley. The pack enables travellers
to connect their laptops to Internet and e-mail services in over
150 different countries


EASYJET  introduced its new service between London Gatwick and Nice with fares starting at just £72.50 return (including tax).
The afternoon flight originates in Nice.  The airline already has a
twice daily service between Gatwick and Geneva, and a daily service
between Gatwick and Amsterdam.  The airline now operates 32 routes with
a total of 23 Boeing 737 aircraft.  http://www.easyjet.com


'Go' is marking the launch of its services between Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland and Dublin in Ireland by offering a one-way fare of just £10 including all taxes. This price is available on every seat, every flight between Edinburgh and Dublin, and Glasgow and Dublin, for travel between 19th September - when the first flights take off - and 18th October 2001.Booking has been available since the end of last week and continues until 5pm on 1st October 2001 at the Go website www.go-fly.com


THE GROUSE GRIND. Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
September 15, 2001  No, it's not one of those foolish wedding dances and it does not involve cruelty to any animals--except humans, that is.  It's a race up a mountain face.  Informally called "Mother Nature's Stairmaster," the Grind typically makes mincemeat out of those who think it will compare to a day at the gym.  And then there are the mosquitoes.  
http://www.whatsgoingon.com/coolest.cgi/place/20010724/

KEY WEST TO CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN EARLY WITH FANTASY FEST   Key West, Fla., gets an early jump on Halloween with the island city's annual Fantasy Fest celebration, Oct. 19-28. The 10-day extravaganza features outrageous masquerade balls, costume competitions, street fairs and other events climaxing with a lavish grand Fantasy Fest parade set for Saturday, Oct. 27. Thousands of costumed revelers -- some of the four-legged variety -- are to attend. Please visit 
Website: www.fla-keys.com


In an effort to reduce its payments to passengers for baggage that goes missing, British Airways is installing security cameras in the holds of all its aircraft.

UK. Anybody fed up with hanging around airports drinking over-priced coffee while waiting for delayed flights will be delighted to learn that www.baa.co.uk can save them time and sanity.   You can log on to discover whether flights into Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Southampton are expected on time, or even early. The arrivals schedule is constantly updated


KLM  is to introduce in December, a new lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4,
called 'The Holly Deck'.  This new concept is the first of a kind in the
world and will target business as well as leisure, family and group
travellers.  The Holly Deck lounge will be spread over three floors -
the main deck, upper deck and flight deck.  In addition to usual
business lounge facilities, the complex will include a family lounge
with child-friendly entertainment, an interactive zone, a business zone,
lounge zone and an observatory, giving a bird's eye view of the airport.
Holly Deck expansion plans include taking the concept to more UK
airports with a planned European roll out from 2002 onwards.
http://www.klm.com

Thomascook.com is expanding its operation and now providing its searchable package holiday database directly through AltaVista UK. Lunn Poly has joined the last minute rush and is offering up to 60,000 last minute deals on its website (www.lunnpoly.com)

GO  is to directly compete with its former owner British Airways from 18
September when its dumps its routes from Bristol to Rome, Ibiza and
Milan and Palma.  Part of its Boeing 737-300 fleet is to reallocated on
new services from Bristol to Edinburgh, Glasgow, long established Brymon
Dash 8 operations.  At Belfast International Go will take on British
European who also fly Dash 8s to Belfast City

Helicopter fans seem to have it good on  the north west area of North
America.  All along the coast helicopters can be seen mixing it with
Eagles and fixed wing aircraft.  There are downtown heliports on the
waterfront in the main cities of Seattle and Vancouver, and in all the
small coastal ports.  Typically Helijet operates scheduled services from
both Vancouver International Airport and Boeing Field, Seattle, direct
to Victoria.  www.helijet.com