Sunwing Sandy Bay Hotel in Cyprus

Regular readers of this blog will know that every year we run the Cristal awards, honouring hotels that have worked hard to achieve consistently exceptional levels of health and safety. Last year The Parador de Santiago de Compostela in Spain won the global award.

This year The Sunwing Sandy Bay Hotel in Cyprus was awarded the prestigious accolade for its immaculate condition and a dedicated approach to the welfare of its guests.

It is never an easy decision to pick a winner as all the hotels that we work with undergo rigorous testing. It was a close call, but what impressed us about The Sunwing Sandy Bay Hotel was the attention to detail, consistent high scoring and general commitment to the wellbeing of its guests.

The Cristal Awards also recognise the highest scoring hotel from each country. The national winners are as follows:

 - Croatia – Iberostar Epidaurus

 - Czech Republic – Barceló Praha

 - Dominican Republic – Amhsa- Marine Grand Paradise

 - Egypt – Hyatt Regency Sharm

 - Germany – Barceló Cologne City Centre

 - Jamaica -  Gran Bahia Principe Jamaica

 - Jordan – Four Seasons Amman

 - Mexico – Barceló Maya

 - Montenegro – Iberostar Bellevue

 - Morocco – Hotel and Ryads Naoura Barriere

 - Saudi Arabia –Crowne Plaza

 - Spain – Sunwing Arguineguin

 - Syria – Four Seasons Damascus

 - Thailand – Sunwing Bangtao Beach Resort

 - Tunisa – Hotel Husdrubal Hammamet

 - Turkey – Pasah Bay

 Well done to everyone involved.

(Source: www.timesonline.co.uk)

It seems that the British public are so fed up with the freezing weather that they are escaping to sunnier climes.  Research from The Co-operative Travel Company shows that there has been a rapid rise in sales of summer holidays after the chaotic January weather.

Following Britain’s coldest spell in 13 years, the travel agency has seen a 20 per cent increase in both high street and online holiday bookings. Top of the list for summer destinations are Turkey and Egypt, which are offering great value for money with the exchange rate of the euro putting people off other traditional bucket and spade resorts.

If you’re one of the many that have booked to go to Turkey, I would recommend visiting the city of Istanbul – it has been voted one of 2010’s European Capitals of Culture, after all. Alternatively, if Egypt is more your flavour it offers some of the best diving hotspots (no pun intended) in the world. And let’s not forget the impressive pyramids and the Sphinx.

Source: http://thepartydj.files.wordpress.com

…Not in Spain, according to new stats from The Co-Operative Travel. Apparently, families are favouring Sharm El Sheikh for their half-term retreats over the usual suspect, Majorca. Having worked in Egypt for many years, I am pleased that British travellers are flocking there. It is such a beautiful country packed to the brim with culture.

But what are the other popular destinations, I hear you cry. Fear not, in the voice of Tony Blackburn from his Radio 1 Chart Show days, here are the top ten family destinations for next week’s half-term break (compared to 2008):

…coming in at number ten and a new entry is Crete.

…another new entry at nine is Costa Del Sol.

…down three places, at number eight is the Algarve.

…in at seven, and down one place, is the Costa Blanca.

…Up two places, Larnarca is our number six.

…Lanzarote is down one place at number five.

…Last year’s number one is this year’s number four. It’s Majorca.

…Sharm El Sheikh climbs a massive 6 places to come in at number three.

…Up one place, Dalaman, is this year’s number two.

…and taking top spot for 2009, Tenerife is the number one family destination.

We’d love to hear where you’ll be spending your October half-term.

So far this year we have seen the term nanobreak (where holidaymakers shorten breaks away to just one night) and staycation (holidaying in the UK or at home) hit the headlines. Now, welcome the minimoon. This is where newlyweds cut down on the traditional two week luxurious break in favour of a short, more cost-conscious holiday.

This new phrase has been born out of research carried out by Hotels.com which found that over 70 per cent of newlyweds plan to go away for less than two weeks and are opting for destinations closer to home, like Turkey, Morocco and Egypt, in a bid to save some money.

Putting our romantic hat on, does it really matter where you spend your honeymoon as long as you are together? The point of this break is to spend quality time together away from the hustle and bustle of daily lives.

The one piece of advice wewould give to newlyweds deciding on their honeymoon destination, is to do your research. Look at the standard of the resort and the hygiene processes that it has in place, rather than just focusing on the cost. At the end of the day, you want a honeymoon to be a holiday to remember for all the right reasons and food poisoning is never a nice souvenir.

Despite headlines stating that holidaymakers are refusing to give up their annual holidays during the recession, The Mirror has reported a 20 per cent fall in the number of Brits holidaying in Spain. Apparently, 148,000 fewer British travellers visited the country in January 2009 compared to the previous year.

A report earlier in the year from FCO and ABTA, suggested that British holidaymakers are favouring destinations that do not use the Euro in 2009 – Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia. And these recent stats from the Spanish Tourism board show that this is the case.

Fred Mawer wrote a great article this week for the Daily Mail, a guide to credit crunch beating sun, which is worth a read before booking your break away.

Let’s hope that this will only be a temporary decrease for Spain. It is a beautiful and cultured country which deserves a place on the ‘destination of choice’ list.