TRAVEL TRADE NEWS

Thomas Cook could be taken private in a management buyout if parent company Arcandor becomes insolvent.
The group is thought unlikely to be split up because of the remaining 48% shareholding, which is largely in the hands of small investors, many of whom were MyTravel shareholders.
Although a private management buyout is considered to be likely by many in the industry, the fact that Cook shares dropped 11% suggested City investors considered this unlikely.

Iata has predicted its airline members will lose up to $9 billion this year.
The figure, revealed today at the airline consortium’s annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur, is almost double the figure forecast three months ago.
Giovanni Bisignani, Iata’s director-general, blamed the crisis on the global credit crunch and last year’s unprecedented fuel prices.

Holidaymakers want to take environmentally-friendly holidays but two out of three are not prepared to pay the price, according to a sustainable travel expert.
Jane Ashton, Tui Travel’s head of sustainable development, was speaking to delegates at the World Travel Market Vision conference in London.
She said only one in three customers who booked holidays with Tui opted to contribute to carbon reduction schemes.
“To a certain extent consumers are not prepared to pay for sustainability," she added.
"One in three of our customers pay a small contribution per booking towards carbon reduction schemes.”
Ashton insisted the travel industry was focusing on environmental issues despite attention being diverted by the recession.

All-inclusive holidays and the non-euro destinations of Turkey and Egypt are the big winners so far this summer.
There are also more signs that the public is turning back to high street travel agents during the economic downturn, according to the latest data from research firm GfK Ascent-MI.
Managing director Sarah Smalley told an Abta/Antor tourist board seminar that holidaymakers were spending more money in high street agencies than on direct bookings this summer.
“People appear to be going into the high street because of the perceived comfort that agents can give them which booking online cannot offer,” she said.
She added that all-inclusive bookings were growing strongly because they allowed holidaymakers to budget before they travelled – all-inclusive packages now account for 30% of all spending on holidays.
This trend has also helped Turkey and Egypt, the two best year-on-year performers, which both have a strong all-inclusive presence.
But Smalley pointed out that total numbers for both countries still amounted to only half the UK passengers that have booked holidays to Spain.
Other findings show that the lowest-value bookings – those up to £600 – have seen the sharpest decline for summer 2009 with bookings in the £1,000-£1,200 range actually rising by 5%.
Mexico is also still showing slight year-on-year growth despite the outbreak of swine flu which caused weekly sales drops of up to 86% during early May.

Ski holiday prices could rise more than 20%
Skiers are facing price hikes of more than 20% in the forthcoming season thanks to capacity cuts and the pound's continued weakness.
Speaking at the Erna Low Credit Crunch Report yesterday, chief executive Joanna Yellowlees-Bound said the ski specialist is currently contracting for the forthcoming season with the pound worth between €1.10 and €1.15, as opposed to €1.25 this time last year.
She added the situation has been worsened by some operators trimming capacity, which has helped drive up prices and could lead to a reduced lates market during the season.
Yellowlees-Bound said: "Overall price increases on peak season dates will be pretty high; at least 20% more than this year."
She warned the increase will see nearly 100,000 fewer Brits hit the slopes than the 1.4 million originally predicted in January 2008. The new estimate is 2% down on last season's numbers.
She added: "Next year is going to see the biggest negative growth (in the market) for some time."
Yellowlees-Bound said the cuts will also effect this year's lates market, adding: "There will not be the same offers as this year if people do leave it late.
"It is very important people realise that with late bookings next year, you may well book something late but it won't be your first choice."
She added Erna Low's average selling price for the last winter season grew by 15% to £1,000 as customers took advantage of savings of around 30% by booking extras like lift passes and ski hire.

Brits are reluctant to use their full holiday allowance because they are concerned about job security, according to new research.
A poll of 3,000 people, commissioned by Teletext Holidays, found 28% are worried that taking too much time off might make them targets for redundancy.
And 16% do not think they will take all of the holiday days they are entitled to.
Researchers also found 75% think their life is much more stressful than it used to be. More than two-thirds of those blame the effects of the credit crunch.
Teletext Holidays managing director Victoria Sanders said: "The research proves people are finding it increasingly hard to relax at the moment, with many admitting it's the most stressed they have ever felt."
"Concern about job security means people are leaving it later than ever to book their holiday."
A staggering 96% of those surveyed think getting away from it all is important for their health and wellbeing, and almost 90% think going on holiday is the perfect way of reducing work-related stress.

CONSUMER NEWS

Vanmaker LDV has been placed into administration by a court, threatening up to 850 jobs and thousands more in the supply chain.
Attempts to sell Birmingham-based LDV as a going concern have failed.
Talks with one potential buyer, the Malaysian firm Weststar, broke down at the last minute last weekend, leading LDV to apply for administration.

Sterling has fallen further against the dollar as more poor election results added to questions about the future of Gordon Brown as prime minister.
The pound slipped against the dollar to $1.5821 by mid-Monday morning, about 1.5 cents down from Friday's close.
A change in PM would "certainly not be considered bad for sterling in the long term" said currency analyst Glenn Uniacke of Moneycorp.
But he said that in the short term the instability was creating "uncertainty".
"It's the short term uncertainty that we are seeing [currency] trading on and nobody likes uncertainty" he said, adding he expected the pound to fall to at least $1.55.
Last Wednesday, Sterling hit a seven-month high of almost $1.67, though slid sharply as speculation over Mr Brown's future mounted.
The latest dive in the pound has been put down to the fall-out of Labour's weak results in the European elections, where it fell to third place in the polls, behind the Conservatives and the UK Independence Party in Europe. It also fared badly last week in local elections.
By mid-morning, a pound was buying 1.1448 euros.
Mr Uniacke failed to give much cheer to Britons looking to go into the eurozone for summer holidays, adding the prospects of the pound against the euro were "fair but not fantastic".
Sterling was unlikely to go above 1.25 euros in the coming months, he predicted.

Centre-right parties have done well in elections to the European Parliament at the expense of the left.
Far-right and anti-immigrant parties also made gains, as turnout figures plunged to 43% - the lowest since direct elections began 30 years ago.
The UK Labour Party, Germany's Social Democrats and France's Socialist Party were heading for historic defeats.
The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) looks set to continue to hold power in the parliament.
Jose Manuel Barroso, who seems set for a second term as European Commission president following the centre-right success, thanked voters and assured them their voices would be heard.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered a further setback last week when a series of ministers resigned.
There was shock and anger in 10 Downing Street as one of them, James Purnell made explicit the threat to Mr Brown’s leadership in a letter to the prime minister published by the Times and Sun newspapers within minutes of the polls closing on the European and English local elections.
Mr Purnell made clear that he was not seeking the leadership himself – while telling Mr Brown to “stand aside” to give the Labour Party “a fighting chance” in the general election.
The latest sensational development came amid speculation about Mr Brown’s ability to command his cabinet, with friends of chancellor Alistair Darling signalling that he might prefer to quit the government rather than leave the treasury in an imminent cabinet reshuffle.