The city council in Edinburgh has been discussing, in recent weeks, the possibility of introducing a ‘tourist tax’.

The controversial new tax would basically be a ‘bed tax’ where tourists would pay an extra £1 or £2 per night on top of the cost of their accommodation.

Tourist taxes, however, are not a new idea, and have already been introduced in major cities across the world, including Vancouver, and more recently, Venice.

Edinburgh is already a popular location for tourists as they travel to see the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Festival and the castle and this new taxation could increase revenue substantially.

Plenty of local officials are in favour of the idea, Green councillor Steve Burgess, a proponent of the tax, has argued that it would be ‘unlikely to discourage visitors or affect the hotel trade’.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘£1 or £2 will not make a big difference when most hotel rates in Edinburgh start at £50 or £60.’

The introduction of any new levy would require a change in law, which is something that the council has already acknowledged.

Records of the discussions on the possible tax note that ‘whilst agreeing with the concept in principle, it is noted that it would appear to require Scottish Parliament legislation to enable the City of Edinburgh Council to introduce a transient visitor levy’.

The change in law is far from impossible, however some hoteliers in the city have not been so keen on the idea.

Colin Paton of the Edinburgh Hotels Association, told the Daily Mail: ‘This is a lose-lose initiative, and is completely anti-business. It would certainly put people off coming to Edinburgh and coming to Scotland.

‘The City of Edinburgh wants to put itself at a competitive disadvantage to the rest of the UK. It is bad news for consumers, for business, for employees, for the city and for Scotland.’

Mr Paton also suggests that the introduction of the charge could lead to job losses.

Guy Parsons, chief executive officer at Travelodge, agrees with Mr Parsons’s concerns.

‘Tax on visitors staying in Edinburgh would cut tourism revenues and greatly impact the £4billion annual revenue channel that 20million tourists bring to the city,’ he says.

‘In addition, it would also put 200,000 tourism jobs at risk. We should be looking at ways to boost our economy, and not drive business away.’

It is yet to be seen if the tax will be introduced or not.

Picture: Stuart Caie

Tourism promoters are attempting to persuade visitors to the London Olympics to pop over and visit Colchester too.

According to the Daily Gazette, Bill Hayton, chairman of tourism group, Destination Colchester, is pushing for more to be made of the town’s Roman heritage.

He is also very keen to attract more wealthy tourists who have more money to spend in the town, especially during London 2012.

According to Mr Hayton, studies have suggested that Colchester is one of the country’s best-kept tourist secrets.

He told the paper: “The study compared the town’s visitor numbers to those for towns including Lincoln, Rochester and Windsor.

“Colchester attracted fewer visitors and those who came were lower-spending ones.

“Only 13 per cent of people who come here are first-time visitors, but is other comparable towns, at least a third are newcomers.”

“All visitors are welcome and important to the town’s economy, but if we could encourage wealthier visitors, it could be worth an extra £40 million a year to Colchester’s economy.”

He also mentioned that a real effort was being made to try and attract visitors to the Olympics to Colchester.

He said: “We are a mere 45-minute train ride from the Olympic site, a faster journey than going from Stratford to some parts of London.

“We want to attract those visitors here.”

The town looks set to capitalise on its Roman heritage, with its Roman wall being the longest in the country. They could even market it as “the Hadrian’s Wall of the East”.

Colchester was the Roman capital of Britain and the recently discovered Roman chariot circus has become another useful tourism asset.

In order to gain more tourism, 5,000 Roman Colchester leaflets have been printed and are set to be sent out to schools, heritage sites, stations and some have even been sent to Stanstead Airport.

The town are also looking to use social networking websites to spread the word about the town.

Last year, the local council sent out 80,000 guides and leaflets and 40,000 maps, while the www.visitcolchester.com website had more than five million page views.

A collection will be taken at the game at Colchester United’s Weston Homes stadium on January 21 to raise money to pay for information boards to be put up on the Roman wall.

The Friends of Colchester’s Roman Wall wants to put up a total of 11 signs along the wall, with the first being at Balkerne Gate.

Picture: Doctor Hyde

This week, Thomas Cook is expected to confirm the closure of 200 of its 1,350 travel agency branches as part of its cost-saving UK restructuring.

The review of the business is to be unveiled on Wednesday, when the company delivers its delayed full-year financial results, and around 1,000 jobs are expected to be affected.

It is also expected the Thomas Cook’s airline fleet is to be trimmed to help work on a series of disposals including Spanish hotel chain HCV and a stake in its Indian foreign exchange arm.

The company is Europe’s second largest travel group and is looking to offer a more exclusive range of holidays. They will be offering couples-only and family-friendly trips and even “murder mystery” tours.

According to Travel Weekly, Cook was last month forced to arrange a new £200 million revolving credit facility with 17 lenders.

The Times reported Morgan Stanley analysts as saying that the restructuring costs and redundancy payments are expected to come in at around £100m.

Cook has described reports of the closure of 200 stores, which first emerged the weekend before it was forced to suspend its year end results announcement, as speculation.

Source: Travel Weekly

Qantas airways announced today that they are still in talks to embark upon a joint venture by introducing a brand new Asia-based carrier.

The airline also announced that its domestic bookings have now recovered from a recent dip and continue to perform strongly following industrial action in October which led to the grounding of the entire fleet.

Chief Executive, Alan Joyce, said: "We have announced our plans to invest in a premium airline based in Asia. Talks continue, and it remains premature to make any announcements at this stage.

"Talks continue, and it remains premature to make any announcements at this stage.

"Our aim is to position ourselves within the South East Asian marketplace in advance of planned aviation liberalisation.''

In the next five years, Qantas plans to have a hub in Asia feeding traffic into the Qantas and Jetstar networks.

The new carrier is aimed to capture premium passengers that are frustrated with the currently limited flight operations into Asia.

Also in line for the carrier is to undergo an ‘upgrade’ of its current fleet to a set of next-generation aircraft which are expected to drive down operation costs.

Joyce added: "In five years time, and always, the Qantas Group will call Australia home, but increasingly we will be an efficient, multi-brand enterprise that is a flagship for Australian expertise and quality around the world.”

P&O Cruises is soon to be celebrating its 175^th anniversary and are offering special discounts to its customers as a birthday treat.

P&O Cruises can trace its history back to 1837 and next year marks the anniversary of the Peninsular Steam Navigation Company receiving the lucrative Admiralty contract to carry post to the Iberian Peninsula and beyond.

The P&O offers will be available throughout the peak months of December, January and February.

World cruises are also onboard with the offers deal and will be offering a credit of up to £1,100 available on bookings.

P&O Cruises managing director, Carol Marlow, said: “2012 is an exciting year for us and we can’t wait to celebrate the heritage of our brand on all cruises next year.”

“As well as our Grand Event, in 2012 we are also celebrating Oriana being made into a ship exclusively for adults, Marco Pierre White having two new restaurants with us – Ocean Grill on board Arcadia and Oriana, and double the amount of ex-UK capacity for winter with both Oceana and Oriana based year round in Southampton.

“We truly have exciting times ahead and our 175th Anniversary Sale is one more reason to enjoy a holiday with us 2012.”

The 175th Anniversary Sale is available for bookings made between December 1st, 2011, and February 29th, 2012, on 171 cruises from the 2012/13 brochure.

Photo by Will Clayton

International hotel chain Marriott has now extended their iPhone booking app to feature new languages.

The chain have been focusing on tapping into the global market more in recent months and as such have made their hotel booking app more accessible to users who speak Chinese, Spanish, German and French.

The app was first introduced in English three months ago and has already had half a million downloads across the smartphone and android market.

The company also announced the launch of its all new “app-like” Marriott mobile website in Chinese, Spanish, German and French, as well as English, that can be accessed from any web-enabled mobile device – the site even has an “app like feel”, from taps to finger-swipes.

Shafiq Khan, Senior Vice President for eCommerce at Marriott International, said: “As the Marriott International portfolio of hotels expands and diversifies worldwide, we are putting a premium on investing in our eCommerce channels, including mobile.

“The launch of the app and new mobile website in four additional languages demonstrates Marriott’s commitment to serving our customers by speaking their language while they are on the go.”

Iberia pilots are set to take part in strike action this December over plans by IAG to set up a Spanish budget carrier.

The walkouts have been called for 18 December and 29 December with pilots claiming salaries at Iberia Express will be too low.

The launch of Iberia Express is due to take place in spring 2012 with Iberia deploying 40 aircraft.

Pilots are in fear that job losses will follow with Iberia hiring new staff at lower salaries.

A vote on the industrial action will be held next week as pilots’ union SEPLA said Iberia had rejected its proposals for a compromise.

Justo Peral, union president, said: “Sepla has decided to adopt the last measure which we wanted to adopt: a strike.”

The new airline being established by Iberia and British Airways owner IAG is to run short and medium range flights from Madrid, where there has been increased competition from other low-cost carriers and high speed trains.

Unions representing other Iberia workers have decided not to take part in the strike.

Photo by Andres Rueda

In 2012 Disneyland Paris is celebrating their 20th anniversary and they are searching high and low for the best recruits to work in Paris. In total there are some 4,000 vacancies that need to be filled.

An autumn recruitment drive will see a casting team visiting London between 11 and 14 October 2011. There will be further dates announced for other areas across the UK during November, December and January.

Further recruitment activities will be taking place across Europe; in France, Greece, Italy, Spain, the Baltic States and Eastern Europe.

The casting teams will spend a week in each country they visit in order to make the most of their time meeting potential candidates.

Jean-Noël Thiollier, who is the director of talent and reward at Disneyland Paris, said: "Disneyland Paris's monthly presence in these countries has created a real meeting opportunity for candidates who want to join the company. We've made the decision to take time in order to build a real relationship between the candidates and the company during the initial casting phases."

Travel jobs in Europe offer a great opportunity to live and work on the continent.

Image by Jo N.

A poll conducted amongst British cruise passengers has seen New York City rise to become the most popular cruise port in 2011. The American city has stolen the crown from Venice, which was the city of choice in last year’s poll.

Venice still featured strongly in the vote, as did Barcelona, Singapore and Rome.

The poll was carried out by YouGov for the Passenger Shipping Association (PSA) to help celebrate National Cruise Week, which this year runs from Sunday 18 September to Sunday 25 September.

“The survey highlights why more cruise holidays are being taken by Brits than ever before – it’s an effortlessly [sic] way to visit many great destinations across the world while only unpacking once.” said Bill Gibbons, director of the PSA.

According to the PSA, some 1.7 million British passengers are anticipated to board cruise ships this year. If their expectations are met, it will mark an increase of 800,000 passengers from 2010. This will be a remarkable achievement for the industry, seeing as 2001 saw only 800,000 British passengers enjoying a cruise holiday.

A growth in the cruise industry bodes well for travel job seekers looking for cruise ship jobs.

Photo by Koshy Koshy.

If you are looking for a job which you can do from home, you are probably sick and tired of the get rich quick scams which litter the internet. The travel industry, however, has a growing demand for home workers in legitimate roles. The catch is that you need relevant experience to do the job. These jobs are not promising you a fortune, especially if you are unskilled and without experience. Although you do not need much more than a telephone and internet connection for most of the roles, you do need to have worked in travel or sales roles. You can get home based travel jobs in holiday sales, as a cruise consultant, or even in business development management. Have a look at the roles advertised on TravelJobSearch to see if there is a vacancy that matches your skill set.