Recently in Tourism Category

A London tourism boss has been given the old heave-ho after apparently failing to understand the purpose of his job.

Neil McCollum lost his £60,000 a year job as head of tourism for Greenwich after a Twitter post about street crime that mocked part of the borough he was paid to promote, according to the Evening Standard. 

In August, he wrote: "Guest appearance in Woolwich today. Wonder if it has changed. Mental note, make sure wallet is not visible."

McCollum, who was also in charge of Greenwich's Olympic welcome strategy, lost his job after a three month probe into the tweet, which one local described as "honesty and common sense" on an online message board.

"This shows how we allow political correctness to take priority," they wrote.

But another said: "He's an idiot for posting every thought that pops into his head on Twitter but what he said is correct."

The council released a statement: "Greenwich Council can confirm that one of its employees who worked as a tourism officer has been dismissed.

"The reason for this dismissal is that the individual brought the council into disrepute and breached the council's rules of conduct.

"The individual has the right to appeal against this decision."

Well you know you have arrived when the nation's best selling daily newspaper gives you a mention (and underneath a picture of Dolly Parton's best assets as well).

The Sun picked up on Caterer's interview with tourism minister Barbara Follett, in which she said cathedral cities were her favourite UK holiday.

The paper's The Whip column points out that the minister - who is married to top selling novelist Ken Follett - also owns a villa on Jumby Bay, near Antigua, a private, 300-acre island and millionaire's resort where house prices start at £20m and a Pina Colada at the beach bar sets you back £15.  

And nice of The Sun to get the name right as well. Not Hotel & Caterer or Catering & Hotelkeeping.

You probably remember all the fuss over the new Versace hotel in that fabled place of restraint and good taste, Dubai.

Well now the hotel owners have handed out the fitting contract - and very tasty it is too. Dubai-based Depa Limited has won a $32.7 million cheque to organise the interiors of the hotel rooms and furnished apartments.

The hotel is part of the $395 million Palazzo Versace resort, which is itself in Culture Village a multi-billion dollar project being developed by Dubai properties in Dubai creek.

The hotel is due for completion on April 30 2010, but will all that money still be merrily swilling around by then?

Giorgio Locatelli takes authentic Italian to Dubai >>

Dubai takes lead in Arab hotel expansion efforts >>

  We've heard of a hotel formed from shipping containers, as built for Travelodge recently in China, but the small kiddies plastic bricks? Lego? Give us a break.

Well apparently this is - partly - the case for the people behind Legoland in San Diego, frequented by Heidi Klum among others. They're set to put up - very slowly perhaps - a Lego hotel outside the theme park.

Not every element of the building, made up of 250 rooms, will be made from the small plastic brickies. But a few areas will be Lego-themed, and children will surely love this place - good thinking on the part of the theme park organisers, we say.

Travelodge opens hotel made from shipping containers >>

Lego shows how to build a theme park >>

New tourism minister Barbara Follett is to be interviewed by Caterer, and we are inviting comment from you.

If you have a question for Mrs Follett, then please feel free to enter it in the comment space below.

It could be to do with the amount of money allocated to the tourism industry. Perhaps you feel that it could be better directed, or that insufficient is given over to promoting Britain abroad.

Or maybe you feel there that Mrs Follett will find it hard to improve on the work of her predecessor - how can she keep up the high standards set?

Perhaps you would like to ask Mrs Follett exactly how much time will be devoted to tourism, as opposed to other aspects of her role - culture and the creative industries - for which she is also a minister.

Or you may have reservations about whether the most will be made of the Olympics in 2012.

In summary, we'd like you send us questions, however wide-ranging, sycophantic or critical, and we'll put them to Mrs Follett. This is your chance to have a say - so make the most of it.

Barbara Follett becomes new tourism minister >>

The Government should show industry support, says Good Hotel Guide >>

Christopher Rodrigues, the chairman of VisitBritain, has spoken out against the bad service culture of British workers, warning it could harm the hospitality industry even further than necessary in this difficult economic period.

The government's tourism boss warned in The Independent newspaper today that shoddy service and high prices were putting tourists off from visiting the UK. He added that 50,000 industry jobs could be lost during the recession and that providing good service and high standards were key to businesses' survival.

The criticism follows former tourism minister Margaret Hodge's claim last year that UK hotels were expensive and had issues over quality.

What do you think? Are the criticisms fair or should the tourist board concentrate on promoting the best of the industry?

Let us know

We visited one of London's less salubrious hotels in our Dec 11th issue last year. Our feature 'The Long Road to 2012' looked at how ready the capital was to receive visitors in four years' time - and the answer was in the case of one play to stay overnight, not at all.

But it seems we're not alone in criticising cheaper hotels. While the branded budget market came out well in our feature by comparison with the less well-known 'Olympic House hotel' others haven't recently. Both Ibis and Travelodge have had problems in some outlets, according to a recent edition of Which? Holiday magazine.

Mould was found on a mattress in an Ibis property on Charles Street, while Travelodge had some dirty bathrooms, said the magazine. Both say they have taken steps to ensure cleanliness to the correct standards.

Comfort Inns and Jurys Inns, meanwhile, performed well in the survey. Let's hope all are up to scratch over the next few years.

Budget hotels in the UK 2008 - Industry data>>

The value of budget hotels>>

It goes without saying that building a tourist hotspot and finance centre out in the middle of the desert is going to tax the green credentials of even the most environmentally sensitive of local administrators.

But Dubai's latest thing - a beach with sand that's artificially cooled and a refrigerated swimming pool at the Palazzo Versace hotel - really takes the biscuit.

Set for completion in 2010, the energy for the sand project is being supplied by Hyder Consulting, who refuse to say how many kilojoules will go towards the project.

The view of Robin Oakley, head of climate and energy at Greenpeace is that "it's grotesque that while the world's poorest people face the loss of their homes and livelihoods because of climate change, the world's richest people think it's acceptable to waste precious energy so pointlessly".

However, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's ruler, has said that his plan is to "sustain Dubai's environment, ensuring that it is safe and clean".

Do we believe him, and even if we do, does this mean actually being green in any way, shape or form?

The news that the Melton Mowbray pork pie is to receive EU protection against imitators from outside the region is welcome, but we've got a long way to go to match other countries in Europe when it comes to regional produce.

There are 170 regionally recognised products in Italy, compared to 37 in Britain, and cumberland sausages or Cornish pasties have yet to make an impact on the EU regulators, let alone Bath chap and Morecambe Bay shrimps.

As from early next year the new legal status will put the Melton Mowbray pork pie alongside Italy's Parma ham, and gorgonzola cheese.

"It is one of the few products where the balance of power lies with producers rather than supermarkets," said Matthew O'Callaghan, chairman of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association.

But Britain has lots of catching up to do, and some would even question the complexity of flavour of a pork pie versus the time and effort that goes into making Parma ham, or stilton versus gorgonzola. Are we really up to the same standard?

Northern Food to fight on in Melton Mowbray pie name battle >>

Pork pie makers to get decision by Christmas >>

You'd expect tougher economic times to be hitting all aspects of the economy, but not the classic Eastern European weekend away, apparently.

British people on stag and hen weekends are still choosing Budapest (pictured), Bratislava, Riga, Warsaw and Krakow as their favoured destination - and in numbers.

Stag Republic, a UK-based stag organiser of stays away in these parts is reporting bookings higher this year than at the same time in 2007.

According to its managing director Josey Walker "People may be making cutbacks because of the credit crunch, but they are saving up for their weekends away."

The average group size of stag or hen parties heading abroad has dropped, and more basic hotels are being booked as well. But people are looking for more activity-based trips away, such as quad biking and pistol shooting. That beats whiling away the hours hassling the local talent, at least.

Sophisticated guests opt for independent hotels >>

Budget hotels show resilience to credit crunch >>