There has been a marked increase in the number of international travellers returning to the UK with malaria. Health officials are encouraging travellers to ensure that they take appropriate anti-malaria precautions.

There are four main types of malaria, all spread by mosquitoes, present in around 90 countries. Malaria infects around 1 in 10 of the worlds population and a child dies of the disease every 30 seconds.

Symptoms
The first symptoms of malaria can easily be mistaken for a bout of flu. They can often include:

• Headache;
• Nausea;
• High Fever;
• Upset Stomach;
• Vomiting.

These can vary depending upon the specific type of malaria. Most forms will present symptoms within 7 to 14 days but Plasmodium malariae can take up to 30 days.

These early symptoms are often dismissed as unimportant, which is a mistake. Malaria symptoms tend to follow a cycle as the lifecycle of the blood borne parasite progresses. If untreated, further serious complications can arise including kidney failure, anaemia, paralysis and coma.

Increase in Number of Malaria Cases
The increase in malaria cases is due to a variety of factors including:

• The disease is developing a resistance to traditional treatments
• Mosquitoes are becoming resistant to insecticides
• Constraints on health care spending in some countries has led to malaria control activities being curtailed or reduced.

The increase in the number of people returning to the UK with malaria is on the increase because travellers are not taking adequate precautions.

Gap Year Travellers
One group who appear to be particularly at risk are young gap year students. There is a tendency amongst this group to think of themselves as impervious to disease and infection. They tend to embark upon adventurous trips, sometimes lasting many months, into regions of the world that have a high level of malaria infection and they do so with minimal preparation.

Preventing Malaria
The best prevention is avoidance. In particular, avoiding mosquito bites. In conjunction with repelling mosquitoes anyone travelling to a malarial region should take appropriate anti-malarial drugs. Here are just a few basic precautions:

• Wear Protective Clothing
• Use an effective insect repellent
• Use a repellent treated mosquito net
• Use the correct anti-malarial drugs for the region you are visiting (consult your doctor).

Further information and advice can be found on the Department of Health website: UK Department of Health on Malaria.

A recent survey of airport car parking facilities, in which users were asked to provide feedback on the service they had received, shows that staff at Scottish airport car parks are the most courteous and helpful.

In the survey passengers who had used the airport car parks were asked to rate their experience of the staff, how helpful they were, their politeness and how willing the staff had been to provide assistance above and beyond the call of duty. The office staff and transit bus drivers at Scottish airports were consistently praised and those working in Edinburgh airport’s car parks and the staff at Aberdeen airport’s car parks singled out for special praise due to their willingness to ‘go the extra mile’ in order to help passengers.

Their counterparts working in English airport car parks were also praised but the Scottish staff were found to be consistently polite, helpful and more willing to put themselves out.

Poor customer service is something we all tend to remember. It doesn’t matter if the product or service is actually any good, if we can’t get through on the telephone, can’t find a representative to speak to and can’t get the help we need this is the experience that we will remember and this becomes the story that we share with our friends.

Every business needs to recognise the need for good quality customer service that goes that extra mile to ensure that the customer experience is as positive as possible. This requirement has recently been highlighted by the debacle at Heathrow airport’s new terminal 5 where many flights have been canceled and thousands of bags caught up in a huge backlog.

People working in the travel industry all need to be ready and able to provide stressed passengers with help and support when they need it. Everybody in the industry needs to be willing to go that extra mile in order that the customer feels like every effort has been made to resolve their problem. Even if their bags cannot be found the customer needs to know that their voice has been heard and that efforts have been made by everyone concerned to resolve the issue.

It’s always good to hear of positive customer experiences but, equally, it is important for business operators to hear of negative experiences so that steps can be taken to address the issues identified. Facilities that enable customers to provide impartial testimonials and feedback are a great way to gather this information.

For example, feedback from customers regarding their experiences when parking at Glasgow Airport indicate that the staff are friendly and helpful. The same positive comments on the staff can be seen in the reviews of parking services at Prestwick airport and the reviews of car parking at Aberdeen airport. Similar positive experiences have been recounted by customers who have used the car parking facilities at Edinburgh airport, but if we look at the feedback provided on specific car parks we can see some areas where customer service could be improved.

The impartial feedback provided by car park users provides invaluable insight into any negative aspects of their experience which, when addressed, will bring dividends as customer satisfaction will be enhanced. The facility that allows and encourages customers to feed back their experience is invaluable to the business. It also serves to provide prospective clients with an impression that the business is open, honest and confident in the quality of the services provided.

Monarch airlines have condemned the high aircraft parking fees that are being charged at Luton Airport. Luton Airport currently charges £7,000 a day for each aircraft that is parked at the airport for more than 48 hours in comparison to the £1,000 per day charged at Manchester airport.

Monarch’s managing director Tim Jeans said that Luton Borough Council, the owners of Luton Airport were not investing the money made back into the development of the airport. Mr Jeans went on to claim that the agreement between the airport operators and the council did not give a provision or commitment for the development of the infrastructure at the airport.

Mr Jeans went on to say that “The lack of vision on the part of the council is a crying shame” and that “the terms of the franchise make it more advantageous for it to sweat the assets than to invest in the airport. “The council should recognise its position as part of the London airport system and stop looking at creaming off £2 per plane that takes off.”

Monarch airlines said that they are currently looking at other airports to use as a fifth base for when it takes delivery of a new Airbus A321 that is due for delivery in August.

A spokeswoman for Luton Airport said that high aircraft parking charges had been set by the airport authority to discourage airlines from keeping aircraft at the airport. It’s claimed that this was necessary to prevent airlines from parking aircraft for long periods when not in operation which in turn could cause congestion at the airport during peak times. Travellers will undoubtedly be relieved that the airport authority doesn’t charge the same rates for Luton Airport car parking.

The British Airports Authority (BAA) have announced that they want to fingerprint all passengers at each of their seven UK airports, both domestic and international travellers. BAA airports include Glasgow Airport, Aberdeen Airport and Edinburgh Airport as well as Gatwick and Heathrow.

BAA have warned that an incoming international passenger could potentially switch tickets with an accomplice booked on a domestic flight and then gain entry into the country without having been subjected to immigration checks. They say that fingerprinting is needed in order for domestic and international passengers to mix in the airport lounges and avoid this security risk.

BAA have stated that biometrics is a BAA wide project and anything they do at Heathrow will be carried out at all BAA airport including Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh.

Ryanair have announced plans for a multi-million pound expansion into Scotland that could bring about a significant boost to tourism in the area. With the planned 19 routes that will operate to and from Edinburgh Airport, Ryanair predicts that the new services will attract more than 1.2 million extra passengers a year to Scotland.

With Glasgow Prestwick Airport being their first, Edinburgh airport will be Ryanair’s second base of operation in Scotland and their 27th in Europe.

The airline claims that the expansion of operations in the Scottish sector will indirectly create up to 1,200 jobs in Edinburgh and the East Scotland areas. Inevitably, with the creation of new routes and services comes a greater demand for additional ground based operations such as Airport car parking and Hotels at or near to Edinburgh Airport. This demand for additional services is likely to bring an economic boost and jobs to the local and surrounding areas.

Sean Coyle, Ryanair’s director of finance, said “Our 19 routes will deliver significant economic benefits for Edinburgh by capitalising on Scotland’s huge tourism potential and making it cheaper and easier than ever before to get here.”

From November 5th, the German carrier Air Berlin will start a twice daily service from Stansted airport to Munich with a one flight service on each day at the weekend.

Air Berlins country manager for the UK and Ireland, Titus Johnson, stated that the new route was formed after demand for the route from customers.

With fares starting from £24 one-way, including taxes, Stansted departures will be at 08:20 and 19:15 hours daily with one flight departing on Saturdays at 08:20 and another flight on Sunday departing at 19:15 hours.

In a recent article, the Times Online has named what it considers to be the top ten travel websites.

Rather than focusing purely on website statistics alone, sites with high visitor numbers which can also be low on thrills, the Times has opted to select websites that they feel are more interesting and offer ease of use plus extensive information on products and services for visitors.

As with any top ten list, it’s often found that some less well known companies are found to offer as much or sometimes more than the bigger well recognized organisations in the market reinforcing the advice to shop around.

Travelsupermarket.com

An online comparison website that allows visitors to compare travel related products and services from thousands of service providers. Although one of the biggest players in the price comparison field, the service is limited to companies that pay to be included within its listings so alternative comparison sites shouldn’t be ruled out when searching for the best online deals.

Timesonline.co.uk/travel

Ok, so it may be blowing their own trumpet but for good reason. The Times Online is world renowned for the quality of its travel articles plus its feeds and links to other great quality sites, deals and travel blogs.

gosimply.com

Another great comparison website that’s quick and easy to use, instantly returning availability and pricing details from the leading parking providers allowing users to quickly compare and book from a simple search. Covering over 120 car parks at 24 airports across the country, as well as central London parking and Dover port parking for ferry and cruise services, the site saves both time and hassle when looking for the best deals online. The sites ability of providing instant access to the best deals isn’t limited to airport parking alone as airport hotels; airport lounges and car hire are also catered for and work on the same basis as the airport parking service.

Easyjet.com

With around 98% of its bookings now made online, the no frills airline claims that with it’s easy to use online search and booking facility, bookings can be made in around 3 minutes. The review concludes that although airport parking, airport hotels and car hire can also be booked via the site, better deals can be found elsewhere with other major comparison sites.

Laterooms.com

Does exactly what the name suggests. With a large range of availability for last minute bookings, discounts of upto 70% can be made on the published room rates if booked upto 7 days in advance. If you draw a blank on your search with laterooms .com, alternatives such as Wotif.com could provide the answer with a booking window of 28 days.

Wayn.com

Maybe one of the lesser known sites but this great travel-networking site puts you in touch with the worlds travel community. The name which is short for “Where are you now?” currently has over 8 million members. Based in the UK, the site is great for getting and keeping in touch with other travellers around the world.

Worldweather.wmo.int

When booking a last minute departure, it’s now more important than ever to check the weather at your destination with ever increasing occurrences of flooding and storms. Although sunshine and rainfall figures can sometimes be found at travel agents, these can appear optimistic when compared with official meteorological statistics. The World Weather Information Service is run by the World Meteorological Organization and uses official data to create forecasts at more than 1,200 locations worlwide.

Multimap.com

A great alternative to the various software options available, Multimap.com provides access to maps that are packed with useful details and driving directions in a clear and easy to follow format that can be printed. The site remembers your previous searches and allows you to send maps direct to your mobile phone. The site covers much of the worlds road network although the level of detail can reduce dramatically when comparing say a major city to some of the farther flung locations.

Expedia.co.uk

Established for almost 10 years, Expedia has built a reputation of trust and reliability within the trade. With a huge inventory of deals on everything from car hire to flights, it’s a great resource for travellers looking for the latest travel information and deals online.

TripAdvisor.co.uk

Owned by Expedia, Tripadvisor is geared towards user-generated content. With over 10 million reviews, there has in the past been suspicion that a number of the reviews have been written by hoteliers and other individuals to falsely boost the rating of a service or venue. This said however, hotels with a large number of reviews tend to provide a good indicator of the overall standard; Tripadvisor is also getting better at spotting and weeding out false review submissions.

With the ever growing popularity and number of airport lounges, there has never been a greater choice for travellers.

In a recent article by the Telegraph online, Jeffery Mills was given the enviable task of scouting the worlds airports to find and name his top 10 luxury airport lounges.

When searching for airport lounges, there are a number of web sites that take the hard work out of the process by providing easy to use search facilities. Once the country and airport required have been selected, these systems will return details of availability and pricing along with an option to book online in advance, saving on the normal ‘turn up’ daily rates.

One of the more well known sites for this is Simplylounges.co.uk, with a database of over 130 airport lounges in around 40 countries, this easy to use site provides instant access to the worlds airport lounge net work, including some of those highlighted by Jeffery Mills in his worlds top ten luxury lounges.

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the virgin group of companies, has been given the go ahead to launch a new Virgin America airline. The inaugural flight will take off from the operations home base in San Francisco to New Yorks JFK airport by mid-summer although no date has been yet confirmed.

The go ahead was finally confirmed after nearly 18 months of negotiations between Virgin and the US competition authorities, a further condition of approval was that Sir Branson limited his interest in the new venture to 25% with the remaining share being owned by US investment banks.

Within the first year of startup, Virgin America is aiming to offer flights to 10 cities within the US including Washington, Las Vegas and San Diego growing to 30 destinations by 2012. Further routes under consideration for future operations currently include Boston, Orlando, Atlanta and New Orleans.

Virgin America hopes to build on the reputation of the virgin group as well as providing a service that betters the conventional US carriers, part of the new operation will be the inclusion of first class cabins on the new services.