Dubai Holiday Activities

No trip to the Arab lands would be complete without a foray into the desert. Many excursion companies offer various packages involving a trip into the desert using luxury four-wheel-drive vehicles with optional buffet dinners or overnight stays. Camel rides are an option, as is dune racing. Since cloud and rainfall are infrequent, unhindered views of the heavens are almost guaranteed and spectacular, with no ambient light to diminish the awe of God’s creation.

Traditional Arabic food usually accompanies such trips, complementing the flavor of Arab coffee, and some tour companies even offer male and female Bedouin dress for those who really want to get into the swing of things.

Dune bashing – roaring up, over and down sand dunes – is another thrilling option, but not for the faint hearted.

A visit to the Dubai National Museum, situated in Al Fahidi Fort, one of Dubai’s most ancient historical buildings, offers fascinating insight into the social, economic and professional life of the region stretching back over a century. There are also numerous archaeological artifacts depicting Arabic life as far back as the third, second, and first millennium BC.

Burj-al-Arab Hotel in Dubai - a Contemporary Masterpiece

Among the items on display are a skeleton, maps, clothing, pottery, stone and metallic artifacts, musical instruments, and the more grisly aspects of the past, curved daggers – hanjars – swords, bows and arrows, axes, spears, sharkskin shields, as well as pistols.

Al Fahidi Fort was originally built to defend the town from neighboring tribes and has adopted various roles as an arsenal, jail, seat of government and as ruler’s residence. Now it safeguards the memories of the past as Dubai fast enters the 21st century at an astonishing technological pace.

Dubai Business Interests

Since Dubai is the principal re-export center for the region, serving India, the CIS, Central Asia and South Africa, and despite its relatively small population, its total imports are close to an annual 15 billion dollars.

In supplying emergent economies Dubai is able to offer a plethora of goods and services, with the less prosperous countries happily receiving cheap-to-produce mass consumer products. This has not gone unnoticed by foreign manufacturers who are able to produce products using less sophisticated machinery for countries whose populations have lower expectation levels of product build quality and specification. As a gateway market, Dubai has the potential to service some 1 billion people.

Setting up a business in Dubai has been made deliberately easy through a well-disciplined though relatively unrestricted code resulting in Dubai offering business people the most liberal and opportunistic commercial market in the region.

There are three types of license available: commercial licenses covering various types of trading activity; professional licenses governing professions, financial and other services, and artisans or craftspeople; and industrial licenses for manufacturing or industrial activities.

All licenses are issued by the Dubai Economic Department, although licenses for certain categories of business require approval from specific ministries or authorities. Banks and financial institutions must seek approval from the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates. Insurance companies and related businesses must turn to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce. Manufacturing, pharmaceutical and medical businesses must apply for licenses respectively from the Ministry of Finance and Industry and the Ministry of Health.

For more information and furtehr reading see Emirate of Dubai

Abu Dhabi Holiday Activities

In April 2001 the Abu Dhabi Mall opened. The complex sprawls some 200,000 square meters and boasts over 200 shops; sportswear, children’s clothes, confectionary, fashion-ware – in fact, almost anything can be purchased in the Mall. Supporting the bustle of commerce are 40 international restaurants, a cinema complex, kiddie’s fun centers and extensive underground parking.

The Madinat Zayed mall embraces over 60 gold and jewellery shops and some 220 retails stores. But perhaps the more alluring for a little bling are the jewellery shops in and around the Madinat Zayed Gold Market, purported to offer the cheapest 24-carat gold in the world. Bracelets, bangles, necklaces, watches and myriad other concessions to fashion and style can be found here. Gold is once again a booming market in the Middle-East and Abu Dhabi glitters in the Hamdan Street area and around the Madinat Zayed Centre.

There is of, course, the Marina Mall,the second largest retail center in Abu Dhabi, to entice tourists to its 300 stores. amongst which are Carrefour, Versace, Burberry as well as the traditional international brands. In response to its popularity Abu Dhabi is making changes to the infrastructure to accommodate ever increasing numbers of visitors by offering greater mall space to overcome crowding – in itself a good indicator to the level of tourist activity in the Emirate.

Beyond the retail bargains of Abu Dhabi lie the visual spectacles of the White Fort, a palace, and one of Abu Dhabi’s oldest buildings. It was once the seat of government but has now been modernized and renovated and used by the Cultural Foundation as the Center for Documentation and Research, and maintains much of Arabia’s heritage and historical documents.

Abu Dhabi Business Interests

To understand business in Abu Dhabi one must return to an older, more romantic period in Western history; a time of honour and verbal discipline, a time when a man’s word was his bond – and this often proves challenging to Westerners conducting business in Arabic society.

Hospitality is as much a part of business as striking the deal itself, as is the development of mutual trust and respect, and a verbal agreement will be considered as binding as a contractual commitment. Good manners, patience and attention to detail – like ensuring business cards are printed in both Arabic and English – will go a long way towards clinching a deal.

Most businesses in Dubai or, indeed, the Arabic world are family run affairs. In the early stages, meetings may be held by a junior member of the business but it is wise to identify the decision maker as he will likely be the one who finally gives the go-ahead.

The American Business Group of Abu Dhabi (ABG) is dedicated to the promotion of commerce and investment between the United States and Abu Dhabi and would be a good place to begin enquiries for businesses looking to trade within or between the Emirate.

For more information see: Emirate of Abu Dhabi

Cyprus Vacation / Holiday Travel

Cyprus has much to offer the vacationer. Quite apart from varied accommodation – modestly-priced quiet tavernas to executive business accommodation – the Jewel of the Mediterranean also offers broad-spectrum satisfaction in terms of vacation activities.

Cyprus’ people have come to terms with tourism and because of their relaxed, natural bonhomie, the visitor immediately senses an uncontrived reception. As an island, Cyprus once relied upon her natural defence – the sea – but this is no longer its primary port of entry, deferring now to the principal aviation gateways of Larnaca and Paphos international airports.

Paphos was once the first port of call from early BC centuries but now defers to Limassol, maintaining both freight shipping and cruise liners – and the occasional military frigate. The remnants of Paphos harbor – a Byzantine fort, rebuilt by the Lusignans then stripped and strengthened by the Ottomans – plays its part in the island’s principal resort.

Paphos has grown rapidly in popularity from the late ’80s, as has much of the island, evidenced by furious construction work and refurbishment to hotels, stores and restaurants in key tourist areas like Coral Bay and, indeed, along the whole of the western coastal shore line.

UNESCO added the whole of Paphos town to its World Cultural Heritage List, not an extravagant but sensible concession, given the number of ancient artifacts, relics and monuments dating back millennia, dotted throughout and around Paphos and the surrounding district. Mosaics, tombs, pillars, churches, caves, coves, catacombs… many now housed in the two museums in Paphos old town. Paphos is an archeological treasure trove and remains so under tireless excavation to the present day.

Cyprus Business Travel

The closure of Nicosia airport upon the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 prompted the hasty tin-hut construction of Larnaca International Airport – now under heavy construction investment to deal with the island’s 7 million and growing annual visitors.

And it is at Larnaca airport that most business travelers will touchdown, most probably forwarding to Cyprus’ capital city of Nicosia (Lefkosia) to check-in to one of its top-flight hotels to freshen-up prior to attending a business meeting or conference.

Business travelers expect high levels of service and efficiency and Cyprus offers these in abundance. International business conferences or incentive activities are catered for in modern, technologically well-equipped, plush hotels, business suites and conference rooms.

Cyprus sports 350 conference rooms, seating capacity for 30,000 people and 30,000 beds in hotels with conference facilities. But Nicosia is not the only city with such facilities; Limassol, Paphos and Larnaca, as well as the free area of Famagusta all play host to the world’s business communities.

The Cypriot government recognized the opportunity to develop a hi-tech communications infrastructure and the island’s accession to Europe in 2005 saw trade boundaries vanish overnight and heralded revitalism for its domestic industrial and manufacturing markets and, also having established itself as one of the world’s principal conference centers, is no longer critically dependant on tourism for wealth and financial stability.

Besides, what better way to conclude a day’s business than to leave footprints on a sandy beach then plunge into the cool blue waters of the Mediterranean.

China Vacation / Holiday Travel

Yet trading between China and the West began long ago in the 2nd century BC with the great Silk Road, first established as a route to the West to garner political and military support then subsequently used by foreign traders to exploit the Romans’ insatiable appetite for silk. The Silk Road reached its zenith during the Mongol invasions but then fell into decline during the 15th century once sea routes from Europe to Asia were discovered, being cheaper and less subject to banditry.

At the Jiayuguan Pass the Silk Road intersects the Great Wall of China, a monumental 4,163 mile defence fortification running from east to west across China. The wall was originally constructed by three states – Yan, Zhao and Qin – about 2,000 years ago, not as a united effort but for their respective defence needs. Subsequent dynasties saw the wall lengthened and strengthened until, under the rule of Emperor Qin Shihuang and the unification of China, it became one continuous ribbon of defence against persistent invasions from the Huns.

Recognised by UNESCO in 1987 as a World Heritage, the Great Wall has fallen into natural and man-made disrepair, prompting the Great Wall Academy in 2002 to conduct a 6-week survey, revealing that less than 30 per cent of the Great Wall is in fair repair.

From the longest wall to the longest river, the Yangtze (’Changjiang’ in Chinese, meaning Long River) flows 3,900 miles west to east across China, bisecting the country both culturally and geographically north and south. Perhaps its more famous recent tourist attraction, apart from volume and diversity of domestic and international shipping supplying energy and transporting finished goods to and from the industry on its banks, is the Three Gorges Dam. As the world’s largest irrigation project, it spans the entire river and was built to reduce flooding and supply power and water transport for the area – although at the expense of submerging Fengjie and later other towns behind its great wall.

China Business Travel

United States and other foreign nationals wishing to enter China will need either a tourist or business visa along with their passport (exempt if staying in Hong Kong or Macao for less than 30 days), valid for a 30-day stay, within 90 days from the date of issue.

When obtaining a visa for the purposes of conducting business activities such as negotiating agreements, factory visits or sales meetings, the traveller must frequently obtain a formal invitation from the Chinese party being visited, be it a government body, organization, learning institution or business enterprise. Visas must be obtained from Chinese embassies and consulates before travelling to China, and given the ever-growing flurry of commercial activity it is wise to apply at least a month in advance of travel. Passports must be valid for a minimum of 6 months for single or double entry, 9 months for frequent entry visas.

It is important to note that China has a strict policy governing foreigners visiting restricted areas such as Tibet where special permits are required. Visitors not adhering to stipulated visa conditions, i.e. who visit restricted areas or who overstay beyond the expiration period may be subject to fines, incarcerated and removed from the country, as well as incurring departure delays. International flights departing China are regularly oversubscribed; it is wise to reconfirm departure reservations a few days before leaving and ensure early check-in.

Video cameras and similar audio-visual devices should be declared upon entry to China and use of such media should be restricted to tourist-approved areas – well away from military installations or politically sensitive regions. Travellers visiting areas close to such sites would be well advised to leave such equipment in the safe-keeping of their hotel safe or with a trusted individual. Chinese laws are often more rigorously imposed that those to which foreigners may expect in their native country and penalties frequently harsher.

Abu Dhabi Vacation / Holiday Travel

The slump in oil prices in the late ’90s saw the emirate rethink and diversify, especially since 80 per cent of the federal budget came from oil revenue; tourism came to the table. The decision was taken to redevelop Lulu Island, a large man-made island jutting out into the Arabian Gulf. An admixture of both residential and commercial properties, along with hotels, restaurants, gardens, animal reserves and fun-parks is swiftly transforming the island into one of the Middle-East’s most engaging tourist destinations.

There are in fact over 200 islands along the Gulf coastline, many of which are privately owned but which nevertheless are now becoming open to tourism.

And tourism has become big business, reflected in the 1.4 million visitors and 84.4 per cent annual hotel occupancy for 2006 and contributing nearly 3 per cent to the Emirate’s domestic income.

In the summer months the climate in and around Abu Dhabi can prove challenging for many Westerners, given extremes of temperature and high humidity. That said, all buildings in Abu Dhabi are air-conditioned and the abundance of greenery lessens the impact. October thru May are considered the better months to enjoy a stay in the Emirate. Rainfall is negligible throughout the year but the occasional sandstorm can suddenly reduce visibility to meters.

Abu Dhabi Business Travel

Business tourism is now taken very seriously in Abu Dhabi. A three year initiative is now undergoing development with a view to increasing tourists from the current 1.4 million to 3 millions by 2015. The new Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center illustrates the Emirate’s recognition of the importance of business travel and commercial visitors.

The Center will offer 55,000 square meters of exhibition space and a multi-storey car park. To complement the initiative, additional hospitality suites will be made available across the Emirate, as will meeting and

Dubai Vacation / Holiday Travel

Seafaring visitors will dock in the largest man-made harbor in the world, Jebel Ali, constructed in the ’70s; those arriving by aircraft will land at Dubai International Airport which, in 2006, managed some 237,258 flights and a total of nearly 29 million passengers by over 90 international airlines. It is one of the world’s busiest airports accepting traffic to and from over 110 destinations.

Getting around the Emirate is easy on its top-class highways, either by taxi or with a hire car – for which visitors must obtain a temporary local driving licence, organised by the hire company. It is also possible to travel by water taxi, an abra, between Dubai City and Deira.

Dubai city is bisected by the Creek, a sea-water inlet and the focus of bustling activity as dhows load and unload their often colorful cargoes as they have done for thousands of years’ using ancient trade routes. Much of the produce ends up in the souks (markets), notably in the Deira side of Dubai City, where a multitude of alleyways have escaped the frenzied redevelopment and the scent of spices hangs heavily in the air. The Stunning Jumeirah Beach Hotel in Dubai

Gold can be found in the larger alleys in the form of rings, ear rings, bangles, necklaces and brooches in shop windows at remarkable prices, probably cheaper than anywhere else in the world.

The fish souk in Deira is a place of frenetic bargaining during the mornings and evenings as local fishermen offload their catch of fresh fish to stall holders or the public. The smell of rock cod, mackerel, red snapper, king fish, barracuda, tuna, crab, king prawn, lobster, seabream, squid, pomfret, shark, sardine and other species permeates the air.

Dubai Business Travel

The recently-developed commercial and transportation infrastructure, the latest cargo handling facilities along with Dubai’s location means the port is served by an ever growing number of international freight lines. Moreover, feeder services to Iran and other countries and Dubai’s status as a leader in intermodal freight trade means that sea to air transfers are amongst the fastest in the world at its cargo village. Specialist storage facilities like cold stores for reefer container shipments and abundant low cost warehousing makes Dubai a transshipper’s heaven.

Freight aside, the ease of recruitment of highly skilled engineers and craftsmen from across the globe but now resident in Dubai means that business can be set up quickly and efficiently. Energy is extremely cheap and plentiful. The Free Zone Authority offers excellent administrative supports services. Outside the Free Zone the usual Emirate business laws applies with 51 per cent business ownership afforded local partners, however this is a small price to pay for such concessions as exemption of import duties, full repatriation of capital and profits.

Information technology companies such as IBM, Microsoft and Oracle have established presences in Dubai Internet City, a technology park created by the Dubai government to create and nurture emergent technologies.

Most visitors who stream from the endless convoy of coaches and cars spend relatively little time on the Giza plateau, sandwiched between the city and the ever-shifting sands of the Western Desert.

Many, it would seem, do little more than gaze up in open-mouthed wonder at these ancient monuments before taking the obligatory family pictures and returning to their air-conditioned vehicles. That is a great shame, for there is so much to see and explore at Giza.

According to archaeologists, the three main pyramids were built around 4,500 years ago as tombs for Fourth Dynasty pharaohs. Biggest of all is the aptly-named Great Pyramid, erected by Khufu, who is believed to have reigned from about 2551 to 2528 BC. Adjacent are the pyramids of Khafre, who ruled from around 2520 to 2494 BC, and Menkaure, who reigned from roughly 2490 BC to 2472 BC.

Some ancient structures don’t warrant the hype in which they are enveloped by over-enthusiastic guidebook writers and journalists.  The same cannot be said, however, of the Giza pyramids and, in particular, the Great Pyramid. The latter is a truly awesome structure. It soars to a height of just under 140 metres (originally it was several metres higher, but some of the uppermost stones have been removed) at an angle of about 52 degrees and has a volume of nearly 2.6 million cubic metres. It is estimated that a staggering 2.3 million blocks of stone were used in its construction, some of the internal granite beams tipping the scales at between 50 and 80 tons.

In his excellent and extremely comprehensive book, The Complete Pyramids (Thames and Hudson, 1997), Egyptologist Professor Mark Lehner quite rightly says that “such statistics…never cease to astound.”

One of the many mysteries surrounding the Great Pyramid is why it was built with such extraordinary precision. According to Lehner, the base is level to within 2.1 cm, while the greatest difference in the length of the four sides is a mere 4.4 cm.

The King’s Chamber – An Eerie Experience

Why such accuracy should be necessary if the pyramid was intended only to be a tomb for a pharaoh, has been the subject of much speculation – some of it wild – over the years.

Anyone who gets as far as the Giza plateau should make a point of actually going inside the Great Pyramid – unless, of course, they are claustrophobic. Today’s visitors enter not via the original and undoubtedly imposing entrance, which is still visible, but along a rough-cut tunnel either dug by tomb robbers or early archaeologists.

Nothing prepares the first-time visitor for what lies at the end of the tunnel and Ascending Passageway  – the Grand Gallery whose corbelled walls rise majestically to a flat ceiling nearly nine metres above. The gallery is a staggering architectural and constructional achievement, given the fairly simple tools believed to have been available 4,500 years ago.

The Grand Gallery leads to the King’s Chamber – once sealed by a portcullis system comprising three sliding granite slabs which slotted into the walls of the adjoining antechamber.

Whatever ‘treasures’ the King’s Chamber may have once held, only a broken and empty red granite sarcophagus remains today. It is thought that Khufu’s tomb was broken into thousands of years ago and that the stone coffin was badly damaged when robbers lifted the heavy lid.

Standing alone in the King’s Chamber is an eerie experience, for every sound one makes, from heavy breathing (it’s very warm in there) to walking, resonates.

Below the King’s Chamber is the incorrectly named Queen’s Chamber, which may, according to Lehner, have housed a statue of Khufu.

Thirty metres under the Great Pyramid, and carved from the solid bedrock of the Giza plateau, is the mysterious and uncompleted Subterranean Chamber.

The Illusion of Khafre’s Pyramid

On the southern side of the Great Pyramid stands a modern museum housing one of Khufu’s royal sailing barques. Discovered in 1954 in a sealed pit in 1,224 separate pieces of cedarwood, the 43.3 metre long vessel was painstakingly reassembled over a period of many years and then housed in the boat-shaped museum just metres from where it was found.

The second biggest of the three main Giza pyramids was built by Khafre, one of Khufu’s sons. From a distance, it appears to be bigger than Khufu’s pyramid. In fact, this is merely an illusion created by the fact that Khafre’s pyramid stands on a higher piece of bedrock than Khufu’s. The distinguishing feature of Khafre’s pyramid is the intact outer casing of fine Tura limestone clearly visible on its summit.

Menkaure’s pyramid is by far the smallest of the trio and wasn’t opened until 1837, even though a huge hole was made in one side in AD 1196. Unfortunately the beautiful sarcophagus discovered in the burial chamber by Richard Vyse was later lost at sea while being transported to England.

The most enigmatic of all the Giza monuments is the Great Sphinx, which has the body of a lion and the head of a man. It stands, sentry-like, in front of Khafre’s pyramid and is believed by mainstream Egyptologists to have been created for this pharaoh. However, some geologists, most notably Dr Robert M Schoch of the USA, believe the Sphinx was built not around 2,500 BC but thousands of years earlier.

Unlike other structures on the plateau, the Sphinx was created from individual blocks of stone but carved from the limestone bedrock.

Tourists are spoilt for choice in and around Cairo as far as archaeological sites are concerned. In Saqqara, for example, there are Djoser’s Step Pyramid (the very first pyramid), Unas’ Pyramid (with its beautifully carved, blue-painted hieroglyphic texts), and various private tombs (including the large and elaborate one of high official Mereruka, which has 33 decorated chambers), while in Dahshur there are Sneferu’s Bent and Red Pyramids.

Not far from Saqqara, in the village of Mit Rahina, is the Memphis archaeological area where visitors can stand alongside a truly colossal statue of Ramesses II.

Last, and certainly not least, in Cairo itself, is the world famous Egyptian Museum where around 150,000 artefacts are on display. The highlights are undoubtedly the ‘treasures’ of Tutankhamun and the royal mummies.

It is sometimes assumed that archaeologists have discovered most of what is likely to be left of Ancient Egypt. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. In fact, only about 30 per cent of Egypt’s past has so far been unearthed. As Dr Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, put it: “Egypt still holds many mysteries!”

The place to make tracks for in Spain is clearly Valencia – the country’s fastest growing tourist destination. The port and surrounding area have been redeveloped, one of the attractions being a new marina boasting a public promenade with restaurants, bars and a raised walkway extending 800 metres into the sea.

Valencia’s airport has been enlarged, an arts and science park is being created and work is under way on Valencia Football Club’s new, 75,000-seat stadium. What’s more, the Spanish themselves regard Valencia as the best place in which to live, so it must be good.

ABTA (Association of British Travel Agents) says many Brits as “now very familiar with and comfortable in Spain,” around half-a-million of us owning a property there.

“Travelling there and around is easy and inexpensive. No-frills airline routes are spread across the whole of Spain, the Spanish train system is among the best and least expensive in Europe, the bus system is regular and reliable and taxis are plentiful and cheap.”

Although lots of Brits are attracted by the hot sun and lovely beaches, a growing number are sampling city breaks in places like  Valencia, Seville, Granada and Bilbao.

The Balearic islands of Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca are the most popular areas of Spain.

Other popular destinations include Puerto Banus, Marbella though not the once thriving ‘place to be’ due to overpricing, and less emphasis on entertainment.

Britain’s love affair with France, says ABTA, “is going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment,” visitor figures having dropped slightly. The British, who account for one in five tourists, are the most frequent visitors. ABTA, however, is confident that the country’s cuisine, wine, weather and proximity “will retain a very special place in our hearts.”

Another top destination for 2008 for the vacationers who who want longer distance travel is China due to the Olympic Games in Beijing, and Singapore for Formula 1.

Since last November, holidaymakers using the Eurostar have been getting Paris from London much more quickly – thanks to the opening of the terminal at St Pancras International, which is served by a new, high-speed rail line. At least 20 minutes will be shaved off each journey.

Chateaux breaks – both bed-and-breakfast and weekly lets – are selling well in France. Also popular are themed activities, like skiing, golf, wine tours, city breaks and cycling.

The USA also remains a popular destination. With every £ now being worth around $2, there hasn’t been a better time to cross the pond since the early 80s. ABTA says its members are reporting that demand for boutique hotels and experience-led holidays is rising.  Though as recent s August and September economic insecurity at home and abroad has made vacationers more wary of travelling outside of the EU.

Also increasingly popular are cowboy holidays – possibly as a result of the Brokeback Mountain movie. Florida remains “a firm favourite.” The ‘hot’ cities this year are Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Francisco – with New York still be one of the top shopping destinations.

Italy is the fourth most popular destination for holidaying Brits and Rome the number one city in that country.

Venice, says ABTA, “has been saved from the waters by the tourist Euro, but is currently in danger of being a shell of its former self, existing only for tourists.”

Sicily and Sardinia are riding the crest of a tourist wave, as a result of more direct flights and “great beaches.” Sicily has the added advantage of being home to Mt Etna – an active volcano renowned for its not infrequent fiery outbursts.

The number of tour operators going to Italy rose by 15 per cent between 2003 and 2007, and there has been a “marked increase in online operators.” Smaller specialist tour concerns “tend to deal with niche markets, such as culture, art, wine and gastronomy tours.”

As far as British holidaymakers are concerned, Greece has slipped from fourth to fifth most popular destination, according to official statistics for 2005.

“Numbers have stabilised, rather than fallen,” continued ABTA, “the change in ‘rank’ probably being due to the lack of coverage by no-frills airlines which fly only to Athens.

“But Greece has much to offer, and tour operators have been revamping holiday itineraries to include adventure travel, spa breaks, island hopping, city breaks and wedding packages to prove there is a great deal more to Greece than the beach.”

The package holiday is alive and well, despite the fact that more and more of us are ‘doing our own thing’, conducting research online and then booking flights, accommodation and car hire with different providers.

In fact, around 18.8 million package holidays were sold in 2006, according to ABTA – “considerably more,” it says, than the number sold 10 years ago. Package holidays, however, are continuing to decline overall as a proportion of the total number of foreign vacations taken.

Almost 70 million cheap holidays abroad were taken by UK holiday makers in 2007 and while trips to Europe have broadly stayed the same, travel to the US rose by 3% while the biggest growth is in long haul travel, up by about 10%.

Although ABTA acknowledges that customers want greater flexibility, it warns that there can be a downside to ‘going it alone’ and mixing-and-matching online.

“Customers are at times unaware that this change in their holiday-buying habits leaves them more exposed, both in terms of financial protection and in terms of support in a destination if things go wrong.”

Demise of the Package Holiday

While it is fair to say that package holidays to European destinations is still a strong selling point within the travel industry it can also be said that 2008 saw the demise of XL Leisure Group the UK’s third largest package holiday group go out of business in the middle of the holiday season leaving thousands of Bristish holidaymakers stranded at airports all over the world. The collapse was mainly sue to the world’s economic instability and the rise of fuel prices that have seen airlines such as Alitalia suffer huge losses to fuel pricing and strikes.

Passengers will be more wary about how they book holidays in the future and we may see a return to less emphasis on packages and more on individually created holiday plans – even if it means paying a higher price and travelling less.  Until then Spain and other such European destination will remain a top favorite with the British for ease of distance and time.

Many will take to the skies to experience the thrill of a 90-minute, up-and-down sub-orbital trip.

Others will spend days circling the world, gazing in wide-eyed wonder at the breathtaking beauty of what an astronaut once described as “the good Earth.”

A few intrepid voyagers will even circumnavigate the Moon, following the trail blazed by the Apollo pioneers of the late 60s and early 70s.

The driving force behind what is being hailed as the new golden age of manned spaceflight is not NASA or other government agencies, as in the past, but privately-owned, for-profit companies.

Recently the ubiquitous search giant Google announced a competition for would-be space tourist to submit a 30 second video on why they should be the first to travel into space. The winner will get to join Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Google), and Richard Branson (Virgin) to go to Mars sometime within the next 30 years. The trip to Mars is a collaboration between Google and Virgin Galactic named Virgle.

“Space travel should not be reserved for only a few but rather be seen as the future for our children’s children and be embraced and explored by all,” says Eric Anderson, the visionary president and chief executive of Vienna, Virginia-based Space Adventures Ltd – a space tourism company offering a range of mind-blowing experiences, from zero-gravity flights to trips aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Founded in 1998 by Anderson and others, Space Adventures is the only non-public body so far to have rocketed paying ‘tourists’ into space from the famous Baikonur Cosmodrome. Dennis Tito was the first in 2001 and Charles Simonyl the fifth and most recent in 2007.

At present, only the mega-rich can afford to go into orbit, each trip to the International Space Station (ISS) costing a staggering $30 million per person. But despite the astronomical price tag, there is no shortage of takers for the trip of a lifetime.

It takes much more than a hefty bank balance, however, to secure one of the few places currently available. Individuals must be in tip-top physical condition and prepared to undergo weeks of rigorous training in Russia. The training program includes learning about the workhorse Soyuz TMA spacecraft, which ferries astronauts into space, and how to live and work once aboard the ISS.

Sub-orbital hops, many of which are likely to take place during the next 10 years, are far less demanding. Apart from being in good, overall health and willing to experience a zero-gravity flight and a spin in a centrifuge to prepare for the forces encountered along the way, no special skills are required of would-be astronauts.

Although still expensive at $102,000 per flight, sub-orbital trips to the ‘astronaut altitude’ of 100 km, where space officially begins, are within the price range of many more people than orbital flights. Space Adventures currently has over 200 reservations for sub-orbital flights, deposits and payments-in-full totalling $3 million.

The company’s most ambitious and expensive project to date is a trip around the moon, which could be launched as early as 2011. Tagged DSE-Alpha (Deep Space Expeditions), it will utilise a robust Soyuz spacecraft piloted by a Russian cosmonaut. Two commercial seats are available at $100 million each!

Space Adventures has acquired the exclusive rights to market and sell the DSE-Alpha mission. But is it commercially viable? Yes, according to Anderson, whose company has identified more than 1,500 people globally with the financial resources to be able to afford such a trip.

The attractions of the lunar mission include: experiencing weightlessness; seeing Earth-rise from lunar orbit, just as a circumnavigating Apollo crew did for the first time in 1968; viewing the far side of the Moon never seen from Earth; becoming one of the world’s first private interplanetary explorers and one of the first people to orbit the Moon in more than three decades; and enjoying celebrity and role model status back on Earth.

If DSE-Alpha is the commercial success Space Adventures hopes and believes it will be, other lunar trips will follow, including some that will land people on the Moon’s surface for the first time in a generation.

Aerospace engineer Anderson, whose childhood dream was to be an astronaut, says “private companies are now able to develop space travel just as well as, if not better than, governments.”

The Space Shuttle has “utterly failed” to bring down the costs of space travel. “It became a beast that was untenable in terms of cost and complexity.

Private companies can do certain things infinitely better than governments, such as creating efficient operational systems where the objective is to make things less, not more, expensive and where cost overruns are not tolerated.

“Space transportation is something that governments should really get out of and leave to private companies. Governments should concentrate instead on doing things that don’t have a profit motive, such as exploring deep space, searching for extraterrestrial life and developing new technologies, and I think we will increasingly move towards that position in the years ahead.”

For commercial space travel to be successful, “it must provide a tangible return on investment,” remarks Anderson. “One possibility is mining asteroids for valuable metals. In a typical, quarter-mile-wide asteroid, there are precious metals worth over a trillion dollars on the world market, assuming that you didn’t suddenly flood the market with such metals.

“When companies believe that commercial exploitation of space really is possible, you will see them going out there and doing things that NASA is only dreaming about right now.”

Anderson expects to see all manner of sub-orbital vehicles developed for space tourism purposes during the next decade, possibly dozens of wealthy people visiting the ISS and the start of private lunar flights.

“We may even see the planning – possibly the launch – of privately-funded space stations.”

One company planning to make as much of an impact in space travel as it has in air travel is Virgin Galactic whose SpaceShipTwo – the successor craft to its prize-winning SpaceShipOne which made three flights in 2004 – will begin taking private individuals into space within the next few years.

Anderson says the development of privately financed space travel is beginning to gather pace. “Things are really moving. There is critical mass. I think we are reaching a very exciting time.”