Paid $1,399 for their 17-day cruise, which they had to leave after five days. They had $99 return flights to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., but ended up spending $550 (U.S.) each for a one-way ticket home when they got off in Barbados. They also racked up $300 in long-distance calls from the ship while making all their last-minute arrangements. Havelock thought the travel medical insurance he bought before the trip would cover his extra costs. But he was wrong. His mistake was not getting an all-inclusive package.

Instead, he bought trip cancellation insurance from his son’s credit card company, out-of-country medical insurance from his wife’s employer and baggage insurance from the cruise line. What he needed – and didn’t have – was trip interruption insurance to cover him once he left home. Many travel insurance policies will pay for the cost of your trip if you have to cancel before your departure date.

But that’s all. It’s worth asking if you’re covered for both trip cancellation and trip interruption.”Otherwise, you’re stuck with the balance of the cruise and you can’t enjoy it when you’re taken off at the first port,” says Michael Camacho of CSI Brokers Inc., which works with financial institutions to develop travel medical insurance products. Trip interruption is “an inexpensive add-on” to a travel medical policy, in his view. It’s helpful when you have a prepaid tour package.

Italy’s position as a world leading tourism destination seems unlikely to dwindle as domestic figures continue to rise. Italians show a strong passion for their homeland, being the main visitors to the paradisiacal southern regions and creating an increased demand for rental property in these areas. Tourism figures reflect sharp growth in the past two years: International tourism arrivals to Italy amounted to over 40 million visitors in 2006 according to UN World Tourism Organization, giving the country the impressive ranking of 5th most popular destination in the world. Tourist arrival numbers rose by 17.2% in 2007, therefore we may be pleasantly surprised when new UN ranking figures are released in June this year. The findings come as no surprise, with cities like Rome or Venice seldom being matched in travel brochures and Milan and Rome having climbed their way into the “Top 50 Most Expensive Cities in the World”, according to a survey carried out by Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Meanwhile, stunning countryside draws discerning visitors seeking the charms of Italy’s most stunning rural retreats.

Italy’s GDP continues to be amongst the world’s top ten, with a gross national income per capita of over $32,000. After undergoing a mass exodus to the cities in the past decades, nationals are now returning to their rural origins, favoring a more relaxed and homely approach to holidays. The fast emerging southern region of Calabria alone saw over 209,000 Italian visitors in 2006, with 2007 figures still under review. However, with the World Travel and Tourism Organization forecasting a 2% growth in 2008 and subsequent years, it is highly unlikely that figures will drop.

Calabria is now regarded as a strong emerging property market, with high anticipated rental yields in key holiday locations. Indeed, prospects for buy-to-let investors in southern Italian regions are high: domestic demand, complemented by a distinguished international presence, creates a perfect combination for landlords looking forward to having as few vacant weeks a year as possible.

Amazing Thailand 2008″ - Thailand’s latest destination marketing initiative which incorporates the use of the e-marketing channels to promote ‘Amazing Thailand’ online which is expected to response in not only a greater revenue outcome to the travel suppliers as well the country but also a better reputation of Thailand tourism to world wide online travelers. TAT launched “E-marketing for Amazing Thailand 2008″ on January 28th 2008, introducing 5 new projects for the year, each targeting the inbound travelers from countries through out the world. The objective is to increase tourism in Thailand and create a better impression by conducting different online marketing activities for the focused group travelers via various online channels through the announced amazing Thailand campaign.

The announced 5 projects of “E-Marketing for Amazing Thailand 2008″ campaign consists of: Thailand Amazing Deals Project is to promote the travel products of Thailand by launching a mini. Her Own Way: “Thailand - The Woman’s Paradise” Project is to promote the travel products categorized under golf, shopping, beauty and spa by launching a mini site: targeting women travelers from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Middle East.

Thailand Portfolio Project is to promote tourism in Thailand by distributing online travel content comprising of photos, videos and travel articles through 9 worlds’ most famous user-generated media websites targeting world wide online travelers.

Amazing Shot… Amazing Experience Contest is to organize an online event, VDO competition, for both domestic and international travelers to send their travel experiences in Thailand through VDO clips format under the concept of “Amazing Shot.. Amazing Experience!” in order to win TAT’s amazing prizes.

SPECIAL needs pupils at Elms Bank High School are being given the skills, independence and confidence to enable them to use public transport. The Whitefield school has become the first in the borough to develop a detailed travel plan which will have enormous benefits for pupils who are not used to taking the bus. Other facets of the travel plan involve practicing going up and down escalators and boarding a bus with wheelchairs. Mrs Sarah Whitehead, teacher and Elms Bank’s health and inclusion coordinator, said: “The main objective of the travel plan is to encourage pupils, where possible, to use public transport. We are the first high school in Bury to have this travel plan which is part of the Healthy Schools Agenda.”Under the initiative, two separate groups of pupils at the specialist arts college are gaining experience of going out and catching appropriate buses.

This will ultimately give them the independence to harness public transport to the full. Mrs Whitehead added: “Recently, we had a health, safety and well-being week of which travel was one aspect. We are also part of Bury Council’s 16-19 transport group. Because we are a special needs school, everything here is on the one level. That’s why, outside, pupils are involved in practicing going up and down escalators which is another part of our travel plan.

Publishers from Edinburgh have started what one industry expert has called a “revolution” with the world’s first organic travel guide. All the content in The Locals’ Guide to Edinburgh, published last week, from the design to the writing, is sourced locally and aims to give visitors an alternative view of the city far from the madding tourist crowds. Owen O’Leary and Claudia Monteiro, co-founders of Word of Mouth Travels, got their idea after seeing a gap in the lucrative travel guide market.”Other guides do miss a trick,” said O’Leary. “We wanted to create something more personable, like having a friend in a foreign city.

We wanted to introduce the readers of the guide to the people who live in the city, to bring the locals to the fore. We wanted to champion local places, and recommend places that are less obvious.”Instead of featuring the likes of Edinburgh Castle, the National Galleries or the Royal Mile, The Locals’ Guide to Edinburgh aims to put quirkier features, such as a bench in Ramsay Garden, a fish shop in Marchmont and a labyrinth near the university, firmly on the tourist trail. Local luminaries such as architect Malcolm Fraser, deli owner Mary Contini, and former Scotland rugby captain Gavin Hastings all list their favorite places to eat, drink and relax off the well-beaten tourist track in Edinburgh. Fraser, who designed the city’s Dance Base and the Scottish Poetry Library, plumped for the views from Braid Hills No. 2 golf course and the Waverley Bar.”What I enjoy is the contrasts of Edinburgh,” he said. “I love the high places and hearing the noises of the city below, contrasted with the warm booths of the Victorian bars. I like the contrast between the dark, warm bars and the airy hills and volcanic landscape that rise above it.”

In an effort to expose the Pensacola Bay Area’s rich black cultural heritage to a wider audience, the Bay Area Visitors Guide for African-American Guests has been designed in a digitized format. Plans are for prominent tourism and travel groups to distribute the guide, set to be released Jan. 1, said Eugene Franklin, president of the Florida Black Chamber of Commerce. Headquartered in Pensacola, the statewide group, in partnership with several affiliates, first published a 28-page travel guide in 2006 — 40,000 printed copies were inserted into Pathfinders Travel magazine, a national summer travel publication that has more than 100,000 subscribers.

In addition to subscribers, the new digitized version of the guide will allow for a distribution of more than 60,000 to travel agents and tourism directors nationwide, Franklin said. “The return on investment for local businesses is expected to be significant.”Hank Harris, director of the National Black Tourism Bureau, participated in the production of both travel guides.”We want people to know the contributions blacks have made and are continuing to make in this community,” he said. “Many of those contributions can be easily seen as people visit our shops, restaurants and other entities.”