Travel Search Engine Sprice.com launches hotel search application for iPhone
Posted September 30, 2009 , comments closed) Singapore, September 27, 2009: Leading travel and hotel search engine Sprice.com (www.sprice.com) has gone mobile. iPhone users worldwide will now be able to search over 120,000 hotels (http://www.sprice.com/hotels) globally on their iPhones using the power and convenience of the innovative ‘Sprice Hotels’ app. All it takes is a quick download of Sprice Hotels app, absolutely free, from the online Apple App store. Compatible with all iPhone generations including the latest 3G S version, the Sprice Hotels application allows users to quickly and easily search for hotels in an intelligent manner. Sprice Hotels generates important data with the search, including information about the hotel such as location map, photos, hotel guest reviews and amenities, as well as real-time offers and discounts on room rates. In addition, users can choose to filter the search results by the hotel’s room rates, user rating and even the distance from whichever landmarks they choose as the start point.
“The launch of our mobile application Sprice Hotels is a natural progression for our travel search engine, as the pool of mobile users around the world continues to expand exponentially. Since Sprice.com was launched in 2007, we have received positive feedback from consumers all over the world and in Asia Pacific. Demand for our online hotel search product has consistently been on the rise with visitorship reaching a record of three million globally,” said Vikas Gulati, Vice President of Sprice.com, Asia Pacific.
“The Sprice Hotels iPhone App empowers travellers to make last-minute booking decisions, even as they are en route to their destinations. Like Sprice.com, the mobile application is also very user-friendly. We are pleased to be working with Apple to extend such a powerful travel search tool to millions of iPhone users worldwide.”
Sprice Hotels serves as a dynamic marketing platform for travel providers. Earlier this year, Apple announced that its global iPhone sales peaked and grew by 245% in 2008, and it expects this growth to continue. Over 200 of Sprice.com’s travel partners around the world, including online travel agents and hoteliers, can reach out to tech-savvy consumers on the move directly and more effectively through Sprice Hotels.
About Sprice.com
Sprice.com (www.sprice.com), the leading real-time travel search engine in the world, allows travelers to search for cheap flights, find and compare over 120,000 hotels with hotel reviews (http://www.sprice.com/hotel-reviews), and get the best travel deals (http://www.sprice.com/travel-deals). Sprice.com is a product of Sprice Pte. Ltd., a Singapore-registered company. Sprice operates in Europe through its office in France, while the head office in Singapore serves the markets in the Asia-Pacific. Sprice.com offers detailed information on over 120,000 hotels around the world, hotel reviews and cheap flights (http://www.sprice.com/flights).
For more information, please contact:
Julia Lai
Tel: +65 6534 7250
Email: spricesg@lewispr.com
Asian Trails celebrates 10th anniversary
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By
Luc Citrinot, eTN Asia Staff Writer |
Sep 30, 2009
It has been ten years now since Luzi Matzig, one of the most prominent personalities in Asian tourism, created his own tour operation. For eTurboNews, Matzig – who just celebrated his 60th birthday - gives his vision of tourism in southeast Asia.
eTN: What are the most dramatic changes you have experienced over the last ten years?
Luzi Matzig: This is definitely Internet booking that has revolutionized distribution and the way to do business. Booking engines are now into the hands of large travel groups that contract directly with travel suppliers such as hotels. Agoda.com has been taken over by Priceline and asiarooms.com by TUI. Tour operators such as ourselves are not anymore needed to book rooms. We just lost ourselves a contract with asiarooms.com as they decided to deal directly with hotels. And we cannot compete, as it would request a lot of effort and money. We have to adapt our strategy and concentrate on our core business, the tour operating. We just, in fact, gained Kuoni UK as a new customer.
eTN: Are travelers from today very different from ten years ago?
Matzig: We definitely experience[d] a strong rise in individual travelers. As soon as a market becomes mature, it walks away from group tourism. We see also emerging two strong types of travelers, both at the extreme. With the collapse in airlines and hotels prices due to increased competition, there is a trend for cheaper and ever-cheaper packages. But how cheap can we further go? Is it really worth the energy to chase those mass tourism markets producing a very small return on investment? We prefer to look after the other segment, FIT who looks after exclusive up-market products. There is more disposable money and less competition.
eTN: What are the products then that you can offer?
Matzig: These FIT travelers have very determined ideas about what they would like to do and when. Our strength is then to propose packages à la carte. We can arrange for a private car with chauffeur or offer a tailor-made circuit in southeast Asia. We see, for example, a strong interest for cruises as the choice becomes more sophisticated in the region. They are classical cruises on the Mekong River or on the Andaman Sea. Borneo is also emerging as an attractive cruise destination. We also propose private jet[s] for top travelers. We also find more holidaymakers looking for exclusive destinations. For example in Thailand, we see up-market clients moving away from well-known tourist destinations such as Krabi, Phuket, or Pattaya to go more to secluded islands. The last Kuoni Switzerland catalogue on Asia is a very good example of the current trend. It contains up to ten pages of stays and packages at little-know[n] Thai islands.
eTN: Did you also experience a shift in destinations requested by travelers?
Matzig: Indochina has seen the biggest growth over the decade with tourism booming in countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and also Laos. Burma is coming back, rather slowly, but it went through a terrible time in 2008. I expect that Myanmar will double the number of its travelers next year compared to 2009… The Philippines is gaining in popularity, especially for Boracay with its fine beaches. But the most successful destination over the last two years is Indonesia. Especially for Bali, where it becomes extremely difficult to sort out an accommodation. The EU ban lift on air travel for some Indonesian airlines help us to design new packages. We propose again overland tours from Sumatra to Bali or propose tours to the Toraja in South Sulawesi in complement to a stay in Bali.
eTN: Is culture an attractive theme in Southeast Asia?
Matzig: It has always been, but as travelers are becoming more discerning, they like to link many cultural destinations with eventually a few days break at a seaside resort at the end of their tour. In Europe, travelers from France, Germany, or Switzerland are very keen at combining multi-countries cultural tours, such as Vietnam-Cambodia and Thailand. But Russians, Scandinavians, and Britons would mostly favor a single sea and sun holiday destination.
eTN: What are your predictions for 2010 for Asian Trails?
Matzig: We definitely will see a recovery, let[’s] say in a growth range of 10 percent. We are personally very happy with our position today and our presence all around southeast Asia. We do not plan to move to other markets as we estimate to remain among the best specialists in the region.
Edinburgh campaign targets 40% increase in cruise passengers
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Sep 30, 2009
A major new marketing drive is to target a 40 per cent rise in the number of big-spending cruise liner passengers coming to the Capital.
The £35,000 Cruise Edinburgh marketing campaign will see a new dedicated website set up to promote the city to cruise passengers, while tourism leaders will target a series of adverts and brochures at trade operators.
A main target will be to incADVERTISEMENTrease Edinburgh’s presence on the itineraries of the Baltic and Norwegian operators and build on the growing popularity of the Northern European cruises. It is hoped that it will help achieve a 40 per cent rise in passenger numbers by 2013.
National tourism agency VisitScotland today confirmed that it is to award £17,500 towards the campaign from its growth fund.
The other £17,500 is to be provided by the Cruise Edinburgh partner agencies Forth Ports and the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group, which includes the city council’s Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance, Historic Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland.
Peter Lederer, chairman of VisitScotland, said: “We’re delighted to award this latest funding to Cruise Edinburgh and it’s encouraging to see tourism groups in Edinburgh and the Lothians working together and making good use of the VisitScotland Growth Fund.
“Growing tourism is critical to the future of Scotland and the industry is worth £4 billion to the Scottish economy. In the current economic climate it’s crucial we work together to get tourism growth back on track and the growth fund encourages businesses to seek out joint opportunities where they can maximise on their marketing efforts.”
Latest data from Forth Ports indicates that 55,000 passengers came to Edinburgh in this year’s cruise liner season.
In the three months to the start of July, passenger numbers were five per cent ahead of last year.
While Leith Harbour can take relatively small vessels, larger ones drop anchor at Hound Point in the shadow of the Forth bridges or at Rosyth.
Because cruise liner passengers spend more on average than other tourists, they are seen as being an important means of achieving the target of increasing Scotland’s tourism revenues by 50 per cent by 2015.
Councillor Tom Buchanan, the city’s economic development leader, said: “The administration is very keen to ensure that Edinburgh benefits from the Northern European cruise liner industry and has a longer-term ambition to have a dedicated new cruise liner terminal at Leith Docks.
“It is a significant growth market and people sometimes forget that the benefit comes from not only the people who come to the city but also the services provided on the cruise liners, which can provide business opportunities.
“People often think of cruises as being beneficial in terms of the passengers who come to the city but these are also bringing ship crews that come into the city and support the local economy.
“It is essential that we re-engage with the blue belt and that we have a cruise liner strategy that ensures we benefit from a lucrative sector.”
The Great Lakes Region
Posted September 24, 2009 , comments closed
The Great Lakes region is composed of some cities from US and Canada. It is surrounded by a wide shoreline and contributes greatly in technology and agriculture. The region of Great Lakes includes a large portion of a province in Ontario, Canada. It also includes eight states in the USA. These US states border Great Lakes and they are New York, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan. The whole Great Lake portion of the Canadian shoreline is found in Ontario. The consequent geographical definition of the Great Lakes region is the terrain area that consumes into the said region. Great Lakes are distinguished for its significant contributions in the field of political economy, culture, technology, and natural resources. Among the prominent contributions are the democratic economy and government. In addition, industrial production and inventions for automobile manufacturing, agricultural machinery, transportation, as well as commercial architecture are considered its most prominent contributions. Lakes hold over a fifth portion of the surface freshwater in the world. This region has a huge number of mineral deposits like iron ore especially in the Mesabi Range of Minnesota as well as in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Moreover, southern Illinois and western Pennsylvania is rich in anthracite coal, also a valuable mineral deposit. The significant abundance of coal and iron provided the most basic materials for the largest steel production in the world during the late 19th century to early 20th century. The soil here is very rich and produces large quantities of corn and cereals. The first major “oil boom” in the world was hosted by Pennsylvania. The wild rice of Minnesota and the cranberry bogs of Wisconsin continue to yield natural rations, which were introduced by the Indians to some Europeans during the 17th century. In terms of technology, the region of Great Lakes is home to various globally prominent breakthroughs in the field of agriculture. Some of the most memorable contributions on technology include Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper, grain elevator and the steel plow by John Deere. The University of Chicago and the Case Western Reserve University are important sites when referring to early researches about nuclear power. In Indiana and Ohio, automobile manufacturing was introduced. Automobile manufacturing was centered in Michigan’s Detroit Area. The movable assembly line of Henry Ford became a mark in steel industrial engineering, meat processing, and agricultural machinery manufacturing. The engineering of steel helped in revolutionizing the modern age of mass production build up. Two Chicago-based companies namely Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward balanced mass manufacturers with a mass detail form of distribution. The contribution in modern transportation includes the early airplanes of the Wright Brothers. Other popular contributions are the Great Lake Freighters as well as railroad beds made of steel rails and wooden ties. The 19th century Erie Canal as well as the 20th century St. Lawrence Seaway had expanded the engineering scale for a gigantic water-born cargo. Even prior to European immigration, this region has a well-established political economy. The Indians had traded with each other via the broad network of rivers, portages, and lakes that holds goods in the Mexican Gulf as well as in both the coasts of North America. Major exports in the region include western Pennsylvania’s natural oil, copper from the shorelines and islands near Sault Ste. Marie, pipestones of Minnesota, dried cranberries and wild rice from Wisconsin. Since the industrial revolution, this region had been the center for industry. Numerous American and Canadian companies are headquartered all over the area.
More About Truck Campers
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Truck campers are very popular in America, Australia, and Europe. It is a practical car for road trips and camping. Truck campers are a type of recreational vehicle. Camper shells are also known as caps or toppers. These rigid canopies or small housings are mainly used as pick-up truck accessories. Camper shell housings are made out of aluminum or fiberglass. These are normally mounted on the rear bed’s top of the pickup truck. It entirely covers the truck bed like a roof. The shells are large and can sometimes be used for camping purposes. In fact it was initially built for camping. Nowadays, the shells are used for storage and utility purposes. Some shells can be large enough to overlap the cab of the truck’s top. Camper Trucks Truck Camper is a term used in North America that refers to any RV or recreational vehicle carried in the pickup truck’s bed. It is also commonly called TC as its resulting acronym. The types of recreational vehicles in North America are sometimes referred as cab-over or slide-in. The term dismountable or demountable are frequently used in Europe. Slide-in is the term generally used in Australia when referring to types that belong to recreational vehicles. Perhaps the most flexible type of recreational vehicles is truck campers. This type of truck is able to go anywhere pickup trucks can go. These are made available in the market since the early 1950s. Throughout the years, these products had gone through developments and enhancements that make them at the same level or type as to recreational vehicle types. In North America, the leading and largest manufacturer for truck campers is the Lance Camper Manufacturing Corporation. This corporation is located at Lancaster, California. The second largest manufacturer is Arctic Fox located at La Grande, Oregon. People in Canada and the western part of United States still continue to use and buy truck campers. In addition, Canada and the United States are the headquarters of large truck camper manufacturers. Truck campers are also becoming popular in Australia due to its practicality and versatility. These are also a perfect choice for fishermen, horseback riders and hunters as well as sports enthusiasts. The reason why a lot of outdoor kind of people picks truck campers is that their horse trailers or boats are easily pulled behind and they can camp off the road for relative comfort. It costs the same as larger recreational vehicles. All amenities must be packed in a smaller package. Recreational vehicles must be able to bear the abuse of bumpy roads Recreational Vehicle Classes Some recreational vehicle classes are also considered truck campers. First is the Clamshell. The construction of this type of recreational vehicle is utilized by two manufacturers from Canada. The two manufacturers are Northern Lite and Bigfoot. This vehicle consists of two fiberglass camper shells horizontally joined together at the center. Hardside Aluminum is a type of camper that utilizes aluminum or wood framing. The camper is finished with an aluminum siding. Hardside Filon utilizes wood framing usually made of fir. It is finished with Filon, a thin layer of fiberglass on the backing of the wood. The popup type is usually low in profile. It is designed to cut down on wind resistance and weight. The construction techniques mentioned above may be applicable for this type of camper except for the Clamshell. This truck’s roof is raised mechanically to add some height. Camper shells are necessary accessories that owners buy to protect the loads in their trucks. Almost all trucks you see on the road are adorned with these.