Belfast emerges as tourism hotspot

The Titanic Visitor centre in Belfast.

Belfast has made a list of Europe's top 10 fastest-growing travel destinations.

The dock where the Titanic was built is among must-see attractions listed by influential travellers' website TripAdvisor.

The company recognised destinations that have seen the greatest increase in positive feedback and interest from travellers year on year. The city was ranked eighth in the table, with Kiev in Ukraine finishing top.

TripAdvisor's website said: "Belfast has grown into a cosmopolitan destination and become a popular weekend break spot. With feelings of optimism and life pulsing through the city, Belfast makes for an energising getaway."

The city marked the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic earlier this year with the opening of a visitors' centre overlooking the harbour and a series of special commemorative events. Other places noted by TripAdvisor include the Ulster Folk Museum and Belfast Cathedral.

The website highlighted Belfast's "award-winning" restaurants, bars, clubs, galleries and theatres. Other UK destinations in the European top 10 included Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow.

Gerry Lennon, chief executive of Belfast Visitor & Convention Bureau (BVCB), said: "Belfast now has an excellent competitive position across the UK, Ireland and Europe as a must-visit destination of distinction and this new award demonstrates that yet again.

"We are delighted to be included among the destinations on the rise in Europe and the UK in what has been a momentous and 'Titanic' year for the city."

He said there had been significant investment and the development of existing and new tourist attractions such as Titanic Belfast, the MAC, the Lyric Theatre, and the Ulster Museum and headline-grabbing global events such as the MTV European Music Awards.

He added the city is attracting and welcoming increasing numbers of visitors drawn by a mixture of curiosity and desire to see the city's unique experiences.

First online personalized way to plan book and travel

ATLANTA - Mr. Arlo, the first travel website of its kind, launched on Thursday, 8th November. The launch is in time for PhoCusWright's Travel Innovation Summit in Phoenix, where he is nominated for Start-Up of the Year and People's Choice awards at the Travel Innovation Summit.

Designed for the traveler, Mr. Arlo is an integrated travel retail experience, complete with friends' recommendations and TripAdvisor reviews, as well as restaurant reservations through OpenTable, to make entire purchases all in one place.

By getting to know you, your friends and your preferences, Mr. Arlo recommends trips, restaurants, and activities that fit your personality. His knowledge and expert connections give consumers confidence to make the right decisions, as they are chosen from his favorite 150,000 three-star and above hotels, 25,000 restaurants through OpenTable and 5,500 activities worldwide.

What makes Mr. Arlo different from other online travel web sites is that he is personal, mobile, local, and social.

The proprietary Travel Persona Engine (TPE) customizes each user's experience by making available a personalized list of recommendations. TPE accomplishes this by identifying user's check-ins, likes, dislikes, past behavior and similar decisions made by their friends and/or other users. Mr. Arlo analyzes characteristics of hotels, restaurants, activities and destinations to recommend what he thinks you'll love.

It is estimated that by the year 2015 more than five billion consumers will be booking travel on mobile devices, and to meet this demand Mr. Arlo has an identical mobile and website experience. He knows if you are accessing the site from a computer, iPad, or smartphone and adjusts the screen accordingly. Additionally, Mr. Arlo's personnel works on both the app and the website together - not separate departments like many other retail experiences.

Mr. Arlo keeps you informed on your mobile device - even when abroad. You are a local, not a tourist with Mr. Arlo, with insider advice on restaurants and activities.

He encourages customers to share their travel experience with friends. The permission-only, unique network of social media connections including FourSquare, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and other sharing options lets you know where your friends have been and helps you brag to them about where you have been.

"Planning your perfect trip can be a gamble with typical booking sites. So we designed Mr. Arlo to get to know you by asking questions, tailor-making recommendations, and booking the whole trip on one easy retail site," said VP of Supply & Distribution, Chuck Jensen. "Searching endlessly for hotels and activities on several different sites leads to frustration, and can take the pleasure out of planning a trip. Mr. Arlo provides the solution that is aesthetically-pleasing, easy to use, aspirational and personal."

Mr. Arlo is the only travel site to offer OpenTable restaurant bookings without sending you to another online location. TripAdvisor is also a buddy, and shares up-to-the-minute reviews of every hotel. Making friends all the time, Mr. Arlo continues to enhance your booking experience, introducing flights, car rentals and sporting events soon. 

Mr. Arlo is unique in the online travel industry as it is privately-owned and raised substantial personal investments prior to launch. The online travel industry is a fast-growing $313 billion marketplace dominated by well-known online travel companies. However, statistics show that more than 53 percent of online travel shoppers are dissatisfied with their current shopping experience, according to an Atmosphere Research Group report and a Forrester Research survey.

Mr. Arlo's Experts

Mr. Arlo has an impressive Board of Advisors to back him up. With 125 years' combined experience in the travel industry, including:

• Bob Coggin – Former Vice Chairman of Galileo, Travelport
• Carl Wilson – Former EVP & CIO, Marriott International
• Keehln Wheeler - CEO and Co-Founder
• Chuck Job Lang - CPO and Co-Founder, former Pose Head of Product and Experience Design
• Chuck Jensen - VP Supply and Distribution, former General Manager at Delta.com and VP, Global Account Management at iSeatz

Hurricane Sandy grounds 15,000 US flights

NEW YORK - Nearly 15,000 flights were grounded on Monday as the powerful storm Sandy thwarted travel up and down the US East Coast with powerful winds and blinding rain that could linger for days.

Hurricane Sandy grounds 15,000 US flights

The number is expected to grow as the slow-moving cyclone churns inland after making landfall near Atlantic City, New Jersey and combines with a cold front coming down from Canada that could whip up as much as three feet of snow.

Tens of thousands were stranded as the mega storm's impact on air travel was felt as far afield as Asia and Europe, delaying business trips and ruining holiday plans just ahead of Wednesday's popular Halloween family festival.

Pablo Gomez decided to drive the 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) from New York to home in Chicago after his 6:00 am Monday flight was cancelled.

"The drive is exhausting, but they said I might not get back until Thursday," Gomez, 41, told AFP.

Gomez left Sunday evening to avoid highway closures and the oncoming storm but didn't get home until Monday at dinner time after lengthy delays.

"The roads aren't too bad, just a lot of rain," the university professor said Monday morning from Ohio.

"I wouldn't have known anything was going on if it weren't for all the electricity trucks -- the big ones -- driving the other way."

At Washington's Reagan National Airport, Italian exchange student Joelle Carota, 21, said she has been waiting 36 hours for a flight to Rochester in upstate New York and is taking it with patient resignation.

Carota slept Sunday night in a seat at the airport, plans to do the same Monday night, and said people at National are taking the delays in stride, as they know how dangerous the weather is.

It is her first brush with a potentially deadly storm.

"I have always seen this kind of thing on the news. Now here I am, and it is sort of strange," Carota, who is studying English and Spanish at Nazareth College in Rochester, told AFP. "Here, it is safe. I am safe."

Damien Cirotteau, 35, was in New York on holiday from Paris with his wife and two young children.

They were supposed to be flying to San Francisco on Monday. Instead, he was scrambling for a place to stay after Jet Blue told him they wouldn't get there until Friday.

"The kids weren't happy about being stuck inside all day, it's hard for them to be patient," he told AFP.

Three smaller coastal airports shut down completely Monday and many others -- including as far inland as Philadelphia -- might as well have, as nearly every flight was cancelled.

Some 1,371 flights were cancelled on Sunday as airlines prepared for the storm, according to the online aviation tracking service flightaware.com.

Another 7,744 were cancelled Monday, including 1,220 in Philadelphia and around 1,000 at each of New York's three airports.

A further 5,269 flights have already been cancelled for Tuesday and 487 on Wednesday.

Subway services, buses and commuter trains were shut down in New York, Philadelphia and Washington and Amtrak suspended rail services in the region.

Safety fears over the monster storm caused disruption as far away as Hong Kong and France even before the hurricane reached the US coast after barreling across parts of the Caribbean and leaving 66 people dead.

The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, Eurocontrol, said 300 of the usual 500-odd flights between Europe and the US had been cancelled, with more expected.

In Asia, Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific announced it was scrapping a total of eight direct flights between the southern Chinese city and New York on Monday and Tuesday.

Flights from India and Japan were also affected, as were flights from Canada, Mexico and Latin America.

Israel tourism campaign embarrassing

In a video clip launched as part of Israel's new campaign to promote incoming tourism, actress Gilat Ankori, dressed in a polka dot blouse, is seen lying in ambush with 'IDF soldiers', wearing a helmet and holding a rifle - just waiting to pull the trigger.

Actress Noa Tishby, who happens to pass by, is surprised to see her old friend from the 90s TV series Ramat Aviv Gimmel. In a belittling tone of voice, Tishby says to her friend: "We haven't asked you to lie in ambush."

"No?" the confused Ankori replies.

"No. But there is something you can do for the state. Invite a tourist to Israel," Tishby tells her.

It is difficult to determine what is more embarrassing: The campaign to bring back Israelis who left the country ("Yordim"), which was based on instilling feelings of guilt, or the new, desperate attempt by the Governmental Publications Bureau (GPB), which serves as an advertising agency for all governmental ministry offices, to promote tourism in such an unstylish manner.

The GPB's call for national recruitment is the Israeli version of John F. Kennedy's "ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country" speech.

Video featuring Tishby and Ankori

The campaign's message is gloomy: We've tried everything, so now it's your turn. This is not only a defeatist attitude that transfers the responsibility to us, the citizens, it also presents a fake reality. After all, it is hard to initiate diplomatic processes that will actually make life in Israel more appealing. It is much easier to act as if it's more appealing. Choosing Noa Tishby, who spends most of her time in the US, to head the campaign does not add to its credibility.

Israelis can convince their friends abroad to visit the country by telling them about our beaches, restaurants and exotic markets. But this campaign is not meant to convince foreigners to visit Israel; instead, it tries to cause us to convince them. 

Tourism is vital for any civilized country, but how civilized can a country be if it uses a battle scene – soldiers, weapons, an ambush – to convince viewers to invite foreigners to visit?

The Future of Travel Marketing is Visual Read more at http://www.business2community.com/marketing/the-future-of-travel-marketing-is-visual-0312691#8EmEcBA2OKG8drUG.99

Travel is a fiercely competitive industry in online marketing. With apps and websites being built everyday to aggregate the best deals for the consumer, how can you differentiate your brand? In an emerging trend, visual marketing–a more specific facet of content marketing–is becoming popular with travel and tourism brands because it shows consumers exactly what they’ll be doing when they book their trips. Visual platforms like Instagram and Pinterest are leading the industry and give you great opportunities to engage with your consumers online and paint the perfect picture of the vacation they could be enjoying.

Few Words, Big Impact

It might be a cliche, but it is true that a picture is worth a thousand words. On both Pinterest and Instagram, keep your words minimal and your visuals impactful. Quick tips: Let people visualize themselves in your photo by featuring scenery and not just people (or models!). Show people options of where they might be staying or what there is to do at the destination. Exhibit things to do for adults and kids if your destination is family friendly.

Utilize your Tags

Both Instagram and Pinterest allow for the search of hashtags and keywords. These are very important to use in your uploads for travel marketing purposes so that people can easily find the pictures you’re providing. Let’s say, for instance, that you’re a resort in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. You can use hashtags like #FTL #Florida #resort #vacation #familyfriendly #travel #beaches #FL and many more. Try searching for photos with these hashtags in advance to see how their engagement levels are and adjust your list as needed. Create your own branded hashtag (and promote it) to encourage people to come back to your page.

Make your Website Pinnable

Pinterest won’t serve your brand well if users cannot pin images from your site. There are some restrictions on pins, so you’ll need to make sure the images on your site are pinnable. Pinterest is a huge driver of referring traffic, and it will be most beneficial if people are directed straight to your travel site when they click on the image. Quick tip: If you need a fast fix and your website isn’t pinnable, you can still post the URL for more information in the comment below the image.

Host Contests and Activities to Drive Engagement

Pinterest and Instagram are great places to involve your audience. Have them submit photos of their dream vacation spot or of a recent trip they took. If you’d like to keep it specific to your brand, you can have them submit photos of the people they’d like to take on vacation with them and tell why in their comment. You can offer discounts to the participants or go all out and give away a trip. Consumers love to share their opinions, ideas and goals on these visual platforms, so catering to this trend will drive up engagement.

Get Visual Even If You’re Not on a Beach

Let’s say you’re a budget airline. You might be thinking, what can your brand Pin and Instagram? And since visual content is so powerful, the possibilities are still endless. Maybe you make Pinterest boards of Places to See for all the cities you serve. Bonus: Making the board public allows your followers to submit their own ideas and favorite places to shop, dine and visit. Another idea:Instagram photos of “behind the scenes” at your airline. Feature smiling gate agents, pilots in the cockpit, new check-in machines or new reading materials that make traveling with you more pleasant.

With the mass appeal of visual content and the onslaught of new social platforms, these are just a few ideas to create content that is both share-worthy and fun to create.

Where to go in 2013: Travel's new hot spots

Closer-to-home spots that made the grade include the Gulf Coast, which is experiencing a comeback after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and perennial "best list" favorite, San Francisco, which hosts the America's Cup competition next year.

The slim, colorful volume is compiled by editors and contributors to the popular guide book series, all of them self-proclaimed travel geeks. Categories include top countries, regions and cities, along with themed lists, ranging from best-value destinations to top spots to get tattooed.

"We look for timeliness – not just what's hot and trending now, but what's ahead," says Andy Murdock, U.S. digital editor at Lonely Planet.

For instance, Chachapoyas & Kuelap, Peru, made the cut because new roads into the isolated, archaeologically rich region are gradually being developed. Christchurch, New Zealand, with its vibrant arts scene, got a nod for its collective spirit of renewal after devastating earthquakes in 2010 and 2011. Iceland is on the list thanks to its otherworldly landscape and proximity to east coast cities.

Madagascar ranks No. 10 in Lonely Planet's top countries for 2013. (Democratic reforms are making it more welcoming. Go before everyone else does, the authors advise.)

The remaining nine in descending order:

9. Dominican Republic – More flights are going to the island and a number of new resorts are opening in 2013.

8. Turkey – Look beyond Istanbul and the coastal resorts and take advantage of new low-fare airlines to see points beyond.

7. Iceland -- Its lunar-like setting captivates visitors.

6. Solomon Islands – A low-key Pacific getaway where homestays and eco-resorts trump mass-market franchises and luxury hotels.

5. Slovakia – Skiing at spruced-up resorts is just one of the high-altitude activities in this country, which turns 20 in 2013.

4. Ecuador – Its railway, devastated in the 1990s by flooding, is set to be back up and running in 2013, making it easier to explore the Andean nation.

3. South Korea – 2013 brings three international sporting events to the country, whose capital, Seoul, is bursting with high-level energy.

2. Montenegro – Go for its rugged interior with a growing number of hiking and biking trails, or stick to the coast, site of new, high-profile developments.

1. Sri Lanka – After a 26-year civil war that ended in 2009 and a devastating tsunami in 2004, this South Asia country has bounced back and is one of the best-value destinations around.

Spookiest Towns to Visit This Halloween

Manufactured thrills, whether they come via Hollywood effects or an excellent guide on a ghost tour, offer an eerily excellent way to get into the spirit of the fall season. But for more serious chills, there's something unshakably haunting about a place that's inherently scary. Here, our picks for places perfect for a visit (even year-round).

Salem, Massachusetts

The location most often associated with the Salem Witch Trials in 1692, one of the most macabre events in American history, Salem is synonymous with spooky. During that reign of hysteria, 19 women were accused of witchcraft and hanged, and another five died in jail. Salem offers tours and events year-round that touch on the infamous trials, but October brings a slew of Halloween-themed events and festivals to town. Among them are a series of ghost stories at the Witch House, the home of the judge of the Salem witch trials, and a dramatic performance of the trials at the House of the Seven Gables, a colonial mansion. In addition, the Hawthorne Hotel hosts a rocking costume party on Oct. 27 and, on Oct. 28, a Salem witch-themed dinner in honor of the dead, with the meal served in silence.

Elizabethtown, New Mexico

Named after the daughter of its founder, this all-but-abandoned former town tucked into the northeastern corner of the state boasted more than 7,000 residents at its height of its Gold Rush prosperity in 1870. But the excitement was tempered by the reign of Charles Kennedy, described as New Mexico's first serial killer, who may have killed up to 14 weary travelers after luring them in with the promise of food and accommodations at his inn. The woes of "E-Town," as it was known, continued with the collapse of the mining industry, and, in 1903, a fire. Today, all that's left is a small museum, a general store, some ruins of buildings, and a cemetery, all morose reminders of bygone eras.

Sleepy Hollow, New York

Author Washington Irving forever etched this small town into timeless folklore with his short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, the tale of lanky school master Ichabod Crane and his terrifying encounter with the Headless Horseman on a dark stretch of road one fateful night. Though Irving's story was originally published in 1820, the legend still resonates today, with activities and storytelling events throughout October guaranteed to send tingles down the spine. Fall, with chilly temperatures and pumpkins on every doorstep, sets a deliciously spooky scene for a visit. And if you're headed home late at night and happen to hear the sound of hooves, you might want to pick up your step.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Pirate lore, a deeply ingrained voodoo culture, countless tales about its ghosts and spirits—New Orleans' eerie energy is palpable. Visitors who are passionate about the paranormal can take their pick of ghost tours, cemetery walks, and haunted pub crawls, as well as bed down at one of the city's haunted hotels. Three must-do stops: the Voodoo Museum, which provides a fascinating look at New Orleans voodoo culture; St. Louis Cemetery #1, a crumbling necropolis where voodoo queen Marie Laveau is buried (and whose spirit is believed to haunt the place); and Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar, which dates back to around 1772, claims to be the oldest continuously operating bar in America, and boasts plenty of spirits of all kinds.

Belchite, Spain

Located in Spain's Zaragoza province, Belchite was the site of a bloody battle in the Spanish Civil War from 1936-1939. The town was heavily bombarded and eventually abandoned, and today it still stands as it was on its surrender Sept. 1, 1937 as a ghostly reminder of the war. Belchite attracts thousands of curious visitors who can freely explore its abandoned streets and bombed-out buildings, though explorers should be wary of falling stones and unstable structures.

Bodie, California

California is littered with boom-and-bust ghost towns from the Gold Rush, but Bodie, about 75 miles southeast of Lake Tahoe, stands out because it's so well-preserved. In 1876, gold was discovered nearby, and miners and a bevy of related businesses flooded the town. Just three years later, Bodie's population had exploded to about 10,000, spanning a couple of banks, newspapers, a red light district and, of course, a jail. But by the start of the 20th century, the town's fortune started to decline along with the gold, and by the 1940s, it was all but abandoned. Today, Bodie stands as a National Historic Landmark, retaining its Wild-West aura without a tacky tourist vibe. Some 100 structures still stand today, and the cemetery, with its time-worn headstones, is especially haunting.

Savannah, Georgia

Swathed in Spanish moss and steeped in history, this enchanting Southern belle is often described as the most haunted city in America, and deservedly so. The novel-turned-movie Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a historical fiction about Savannah's quirky characters and their dark deeds, sparked an unprecedented boom in tourism, but the city's uniquely spooky vibe remains intact. Entire plazas are built on former graveyards, which many say contributes to a spiritual energy that thrums through the city. Ghost tours and haunted history walks offer excellent background on Savannah's spooky past, but a stroll through any of its picturesque squares or graveyards—don't miss Bonaventure Cemetery, on the banks of the Savannah River—is an easy way to slip into this city's spookier side.

Photo Credits: The House of the Seven Gables: The House of the Seven Gables; Elizabethtown Store: Elizabethtown Store by Jimmy Emerson Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License; Sleepy Hollow Cemetery: SleepyHollow Cemetery; Bourbon Street New Orleans: Denis Jr. Tangney | iStockphoto.com; Belchite, Spain: Karsol | Dreamstime.com; Bodie, California: Fernley | Dreamstime.com; Park and fountain in Savannah, Georgia: Lroberg | Dreamstime.com