Prices fall in Greece/Visits to Australia dropping/Air Canada boosts London flights

Dying to see the Acropolis or check out one of those beautiful Greek islands with the blue-painted doors and seaside cafes? It appears to be a great time.

According to a story I spotted on travelmole, a study by the trip advisor folks out of the UK showed hotel prices in Greece have fallen as much as 20 per cent.

The company looked at  nine popular Greek destinations and found that all but two (sadly, but expectedly, perhaps, two of the most popular spots for tourists) have seen hotel rates fall signficantly in the past year.

The biggest fall was in Corfu (see photo), where hotel rates have dropped on average by 20 per cent. Corfu is full of rich history and sights. I haven't been but here's what Frommer's has to say about the island on its web site: "Cast aside the Corfu package tour...and you will find Homer's 'rich and beautiful land' of hazy olive groves and rugged mountains, 20 miles off the west coast of Greece. The ouzo-fuelled revelry and beaches are there if you want them, but this island also has culture and poetic landscapes."

Rates in Zakynthos dropped 12.4 per cent, while rates in Athens dropped 7.9 per cent and prices in Crete - another lovely part of Greece - fell 7.7 per cent.

Prices, however, in Santorini were up 0.1 per cent and rates in Mykonos rose 0.7 per cent.

"While the Greek economy has experienced a traumatic year, the silver lining for tourism could be an increase in visitors due to the lower prices in many of its popular destinations," said Emma Shaw, a TripAdvisor spokesperson.

TROUBLE DOWN UNDER?

Another fascinating item I spotted on travelmole.com talks about tourism woes in Australia. The story says 10,000 fewer international visitors came to Australia in 2011 compared to the previous year, while the number of Australians travelling internationally surged to 7.8 million.

Australian Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive John Lee calls it "a seriously worrying trend."

"With the dollar likely to remain strong for some time and investment in new resorts in south-east Asia, many leisure tourism operators in Australia are facing an uncertain future," he said.

Lee said the same global economic conditions pushing up the Aussie dollar were affecting Australia's source markets.

"ncertainty in many of our traditional markets has seen declines in annual arrivals, including from the UK, Europe, Japan, Canada and the U.S."

I haven't seen any studies on the matter such as the tripadvisor one in Greece, but Qantas.com is advertising seats from Vancouver to several Australian destinations for $998. Be aware, however, that the site says there's a $500 fuel surcharge plus government fees of $70 to $200. Plus you'll have to make your way to Vancouver. so this is far from the deal of a lifetime.

Expedia.com today was showing a room at the Travelodge Sydney for $160 a night. Okay, it's not the Trump but it's not Joe's motor hotel, either. I found a room at the two-star Manly Beach house in lovely Manly Beach for just $138, and tons of decent-looking spots in the $200-$250 range. The Quest Potts Point, which is a great little hotel in a fabulous part of town, had one room left in mid-March for just $162.

AIR CANADA BOOSTS LONDON

Canadians have another option for getting to London Heathrow. Starting June 2, about seven or eight weeks prior to the start of the London Summer Olympics, Air Canada, Air Canada will boost its Toronto-Heathrow flights from four per day to five.

Even if you don't care about the Olympics, summer's a great time to visit London. Or you can hop off at Heathrow and connect to a RyanAir flight or another cheapo airline and get to just about anywhere you want in Europe for a song. Just don't take too much baggage or you'll get hit with expensive luggage fees.

THE NEIGH'S HAVE IT IN ATLANTIC CITY

A report out of New Jersey  says things are so tough on the Atlantic City boardwalk that there's talk of bringing back diving horses.

Steel Pier, one of the Boardwalk's most storied landmarks, will become a year-round attraction as part of a $100 million makeover that will create new amusement rides and resurrect one famous older-style act - the diving horse, according to the Press of Atlantic City.

"The multiyear renovation project is being done by a new ownership group, including the Catanoso family that operated the pier under lease for 20 years and acclaimed Las Vegas architect Paul Steelman. The investors began exploring ways to revitalize the fading pier after buying it last August for $4.25 million from casino operator Trump Entertainment Resorts Inc." the paper said.

"We hope to make it a showplace again. We want to make it a major destination," said Anthony Catanoso, of Steel Pier Associates. "We're really excited about bringing back some of the old architecture and iconic features, along with new rides. We have what we believe is the perfect balance between the old and new."

Heaven help us all. USA Today reports that one newspaper reader suggested that instead of diving horses, they should have diving homeless people.

"It's a win win," said the reader. "The homeless and downtrodden, who have been residing under the pier for years make a little money and the tourist enjoy the $100,000,000 pier's show. And Bonus... No animal cruelty."

TRAVELALERTS/JAUNT.CA DEAL OF THE DAY

Here's a romantic getaway in time for Valentine's Day. With TravelAlerts/Jaunt.ca, you get a room at the Eganridge Inn in Fenelon Falls, Ontario for just $99. The deal includes one night's accomodation in a Terrace Room for two, featuring a king-sized bed, whirlpool tub and a fireplace. You also get complimentary continental breakfast for two and a 2 p.m. checkout in case you find something to do in your room after a romantic dinner....The deal is valid for stays up until April 30.

For more on this and other deals, go to www.jaunt.ca.

  

 

 

Jaunt Highlights

• 1 night’s accommodation in a Terrace Room for two, featuring a king-sized bed, whirlpool tub and fireplace
• Complimentary continental breakfast for two
• Late checkout until 2pm
• Eganridge is part of the Windsor Arms group

Offer Details

• Valid for stays until April 30, 2012

 

 

 

 

 

London Olympics bad for tourism, British paper says ... Jaunt.ca deal to Jamaica

I'm always amazed at how little we learn from the past.

No, I'm not talking about Rob Ford and his inane policies about subways and streetcars.I'm talking about the Olympics and their impact on tourism.

Almost every day in almost every continent of the world, some city or sports official is sitting around a table and telling folks that if they only had the Olympics, all their troubles would be over. The city will get all sorts of great benefits and the summer (or winter) cash registers will ring merrily from dawn til dusk, and far beyond.

It's all bull----.

Oh, sure, the Olympics can transform a city for the better. Look at Barcelona. Then again, look at Atlanta. And Beijing, with its empty Birds Nest Stadium. And, sorry about this, Montreal, with its decades-long debt from the Big O (see photo).

Long- term, the benefits from new projects and higher profile can be tremendous. I have no doubt Sydney surged to the top of everyone's list after we see the magical job they did on the 2000 Summer Olympics.

But short-term? All those dreams of crazy crowds filling hotels and spending wildly never quite seem to come to pass. Sure, the Olympics bring in lots of people. But they also cause a lot of people to shun the city like the proverbial plague; avoiding any chance of getting caught up in the traffic nightmares and such, which, consequently, almost never come to pass. Folks in LA in 1984 said they'd never seen the city's freeways so empty.

In Vancouver, the city did quite well during the Winter Games. Trendy restaurants downtown were packed and hotels did well. But the suburbs didn't cash in the way they expected, as I recall.

Anyway, the latest version of this five-ring dance comes in London, which is hosting the world (or parts of it) starting July 27 for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The British media has been filled of late with stories of doom and gloom. Yes, it's par for the course for British newspapers. When they're not busy hacking into celebrities' telephones, they spend a lot of time raining on whatever parade happens to be in town. But there's some truth to this week's headlines.

A story in the Independent this week says that when they were in the initial planning stages, Olympic organizers "needlessly" put aside thousands of hotel rooms for media and sporting hotshots, thus sending hotel rates through the roof and actually DISCOURAGING tourists from coming to town.

How delicious is that?

The Independent story says organizers reserved a quarter more hotel nights than they had to and have since given back 120,000 of 600,000 room nights previously booked.

"Tour operators warned last night that a sudden flood of vacant rooms would be too late to boost visitor numbers. Analysis for The Independent suggests up to one million beds will now go unsold over the Olympic period, hitting hoteliers and others working in the tourism industry. One trade association estimated income could slump by up to £3.5bn during July and August," which is something like $5 billion or more.

I suspect those rooms will NOT go unsold. Undoubtedly, some rooms will be available at more reasonable rates pretty soon. And that's a good thing.

The article quotes a leading London-based tour operator saying the high lodging rates have driven business elsewhere -- and not just during the July-August event, either.

"Prices have been so high that tourists are moving elsewhere. Overseas wholesalers who traditionally push London have switched to other cities this year," said Neil Wootton of Premium Tours. "If the Parisian and Italian hoteliers do their job then the tours may never return to London."

"Hotel rates have broadly tripled in London during the Olympics," the paper said. "Six months ago The Independent made a booking for the DoubleTree by Hilton in Holborn, central London, for 1 August 2012. The rate, £450, is four times the price of taking a room last night, and 150 per cent higher than for 1 August last year. Yet evidence from previous Olympiads, together with analysis by The Independent of the likely propensity of ticket-holders to book hotels in London, suggest hoteliers' expectations are wildly optimistic, exacerbated by Locog's (the London organizing committee's) similar over-optimism."

The likelihood is that London's hotels will be less than 80 per cent full – representing one million empty beds over the duration of the Games, or 55,000 beds every night. In July and August of a normal year, occupancy is 90 per cent or more.

The Olympics are an event held every two years. The International Olympic Committee, to its credit, has created a group that shares Olympic expertise between various cities so a Vancouver, for example, can learn from the Turin 2006 or Salt Lake 2002 people about how to build skating arenas or what's the best type of snow-making machine or how to sell tickets.

It's too bad there's no Olympic tourism board to help travel officials in the same way that the IOC helps the organizing committees...

JAUNT.CA JAMAICA DEAL

Need a week in the sun somewhere? Check our jaunt.ca deal of the week. For $1,299, plus $346.16 in taxes, you get seven nights at the 5-star Grand Palladium resort, just 25 minutes from Montego Bay.

• Book a Supersaver Room and be upgraded to a modern and luxurious Junior Suite equipped with two double beds or one king-size bed, bathroom with shower, ipod docking station, air-conditioning, satellite TV, sofa bed and a private balcony or terrace.
• Return airfare includes free advance seat selection ($30 value), 5 kg of extra baggage, and 2 complimentary drinks on board.
• Your choice to dine at any of the 3 buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner or enjoy any of the 7 - a la carte restaurants on-site (based on availability), unlimited domestic drinks (house wine included), snacks, daily sports, kids club, fitness center, spa and more.
• Activities available include tennis, beach volleyball, mini-golf, aerobics, windsurfing, catamaran, kayaking and much more.
• For information on this and other deals, go to www.jaunt.ca.

 

 

Good news for airlines ... Trump T.O. opens soon, so where's the Donald?

Good news reported this week for Canadian airlines as the recovery (for now) continues. Porter Airlines said it flew a record 2.1 million folks last year, up from 1.56 million in 2010. They also reported a December load factor of 63.9 per cent, up 1.5 percentage points from December, 2010.

The overall numbers are quite good and the load factor increase is nice, but Porter still doesn't have anywhere near the load factors of the big boys. WestJet announced it flew a record 1.4 million passengers in December and had a load factor of 80.9 per cent; its second highest figure ever for December. Just to keep some perspective, WestJet in December flew almost as many "guests" as Porter did in all of 2010.

Air Canada? They reported a load factor of 81 per cent in December, up just a bit from the 80.8 figure of December, 2010. Analysts expect the airlines to do relatively well in 2012 unless fuel costs spiral again or the European economic crisis suddenly worsens, which it showed signs of doing on Thursday.

DONALD, WHERE ARE YOU?

Geez, shouldn't we be seeing giant billboards of The Donald in downtown T.O. by now? Or an appearance on Much Music or something?

Last I heard, the Trump Toronto condo/hotel tower was to open here in the Big Smoke on Jan. 31. That's only three weeks from now, less or more, but there's been precious little publicity about the hotel, which will have 261 rooms, a huge spa on the 31st floor, 24-hour concierge service, a highly anticipated restaurant called STOCK, and lots more.

It's at Bay and Adelaide and, with 65 floors, will be Canada's tallest residential building.

Certainly there appears to be some serious anticipation of the hotel's opening. Forbes.Com this week published a list of the "Ten Most Anticipated Hotel Openings of 2012," and Trump Toronto was #2, right behind the soon-to-open St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort outside Miami. The St. Regis is a beachfront property with a Jean-Georges Vongerichten-created restaurant and a Remede Spa, as well as private oceanfront cabanas.

Also on the "anticipation" list:

- The Conrad in New York  (another new property in bustling lower Manhattan, this time near Battery Park - wonder if it'll give the Ritz-Carlton a run for its money).

- The (renovated) Park Hyatt Sydney, with new furnishing and lighting and a new spa. I stayed there a year and-a-half ago and loved it; especially the views of the Opera House.

- The W Hotel Paris Opera - The W brand's debut in France comes on, wait for it, Valentine's Day!

- The St. Regis Mauritius Resort - the first St. Regis property in Africa will be on the lovely island of Mauritius

- Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace St. Petersburg- a little Canadian content here, as the Four Seasons opens its first hotel in Russia. It's supposed to open in May with a grand staircase, two signature restaurants and a glass-topped spa with Russian-style saunas.

- Mandarin Oriental, Guangzhou - This southern Chinese city is going gangbusters in terms of tourism and hotels.

- The ME London - From the Spanish company Melia, it's one of several new spots opening in time for the London Olympics, which begin July 27. The ME is being built in the Aldwych area of town.

- The James Royal Palm - Another new/old property (see photo), this one in Miami. Steps from the beach and from Ocean Drive.

 

Name Your Favourite Places in Canada ... Hotels with supermarkets...Haiti hotel

Another day, another contest. But this one is at least all-Canadian.

Last week we read about the New Seven Wonders of the World campaign, which to me sounded a little, ahem, strange, what with Cape Town's Table Mountain defeating such grand places as the Galapagos Islands and the Great Barrier Reef. Anywho, starting today (Tuesday, Nov. 29), folks get something closer to home with the launch of the second annual GREAT PLACES IN CANADA polling.

The event, sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Planners, allows Canadians to nominate public spaces, neighbourhoods and streets between now and Jan. 31, 2012 at www.greatplacesincanada.com. Voting will take place until Feb. 29, and judges will decide on semi-finalists in early April. The winners will be announced at the end of April, 2012.

It can be a useful exercise and it's all in good fun. They also have a Facebook page and can be followed on Twitter at @GreatPlacesCa.

Last year's winners, I gotta admit, didn't exactly blow me away, which is a problem with Internet-based voting. Commercial Street in Nanaimo was named Canada's great street, while The Forks in Winnipeg was Canada's great public space. Top neighbourhood was Le Petit Champlain in Quebec City (see photo at right).

I've been to Nanaimo and liked it plenty, but I wouldn't say Commercial Street can compete with Roncesvalles here in Toronto or Main Street in Vancouver.

I haven't been to Winnipeg but certainly know of the Forks and the status it has so I can't argue with it. And it would be pretty hard to take issue with Quebec City and the Petit Champlain area, which is photographed even more often than Lady Gaga. Or her underwear.

Me? Off the top of my fuzzy head I think I'd take Vancouver's Main Street as my top street (or maybe 4th Ave. in Kitsilano), then Mile End in Montreal as a neighbourhood and the Distillery District here in T.O. as a public space, although it might also be considered a neighbourhood.

Check it out, anyway. You can't win if you don't vote.

GREAT IDEA IN THE UK

Out of Britain comes news that Travelodge is teaming up with supermarkets to build hotels with markets on the ground floor.

It apparently helps the hotels get financing and it doesn't interfere with hotel operations. It's useful for about any hotel guest to have access to fresh fruit or coffee or milk or deodorant, but I can see how it would be particularly attractive in North America, where we have so many all-suite places with full kitchens.

When I was at the Vancouver Olympics for the Star almost two years ago (wow, hard to believe it's been two years), I was at the Carmana Plaza Hotel downtown. It had a full kitchen, and there was an Urban Fare restaurant right across the street. It was great to go late at night on the way home from the media centre and pick up a snack or a chicken or something else that I could heat up in the oven or the microwave, and I saved a fortune by making my own breakfast each day. Having a supermarket practically inside the hotel is a lot better than having to rely on a coffee machine and a small shop selling magazines and Advil.

The Carmana, by the way, makes a great place to stay in Vancouver, particularly if you want some space to spread out. It's quite convenient, right on Alberni St. a mere block and a bit west of Burrard.

NEW HOTEL IN HAITI

Word this morning that Marriott is building a new hotel in Haiti; the first such announcement since the earthquake and the first-ever international hotel.

The note I received said that Harbor Beach Marriott hotel folks from Fort Lauderdale, Florida sent a team to join the relief efforts after the quake. It was quite grim and there wasn't any place for them to stay or eat. They apparently worked with the Clinton Foundation and then Marriott International sent a team to do some exploring. They hooked up with Digicel, the large telecommunications firm, which recently had entered the market in Haiti and needed hotel rooms.

Voila, a partnership was born. The hotel will be in Port-au-Prince and will have 173 rooms and operate with the Marriott name. Officials said it will generate hundreds of (obviously) badly-needed jobs in the country.

It's clearly a business opportunity, but kudos to Marriott for investing in a place that badly needs the help.

 

The

Another Toronto Olympic bid (this time 2024); maybe third time is the charm?

I try to stick to travel on my travel blog (what a concept). But sometimes I can't help delving into other topics for a bit, especially when it's something as global and political and fascinating as the Olympics.

I headed up the Star's coverage of Toronto's 1996 bid against Atlanta, et al..., and also our coverage of the 2008 bid against Beijing. Both, as I recall, were losing efforts on Toronto's part. I also covered Vancouver's bid for the 2010 Winter Games, which had a happier ending.

It is, therefore, with great interest that I see yet another bid in the making. Bob Richardson, the chief operating officer for the 2008 Toronto bid and an unabashed Olympic junkie, is talking up a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

He'll have to get the okay from Mayor Rob Ford, and probably from the province and also from the feds. First up would be the city, without which nothing happens.

Mayor Ford's team turned away Richardson's effort to drum up support for a 2020 bid, saying the city's financial situation didn't allow for such things. It's a fair point, but in August Councillor Doug Ford - the mayor's brother and sometimes political spokesman - said he'd be open to a bid at a future date.

There was talk of a Quebec City bid for the 2022 Winter Games, which would've put Toronto on ice. But Quebec's mayor ruled out a bid a couple months ago, clearing the decks for a Canadian entry for 2024, at least in theory.

There's still a huge need for better amateur sporting facilities in Canada, especially of the summer variety and most notably in our most populous province. The Pan Am Games would help, but the Olympics are a star of a much greater intensity and would, if handled properly from a financial standpoint, bring in that much more.

I don't know if the security costs are worth it these days, but if you don't mind a billion dollars or two in federal/provincial/local money for fences and x-ray machines and police overtime it could work.

The issue becomes, of course, whether 2024 is winnable. Toronto 1996 bid leader Paul Henderson was right when he said Athens wasn't guaranteed the 1996 Games, notwithstanding it was the 100th anniversary of the birth of the modern Olympics, held in Athens in 1896. He was right, but it was Atlanta that elbowed its way into the winners circle for the 1996 Games.

The Toronto folks knew they were up against it for 2008, when they took on the behemoth Beijing bid. They shot themselves in the foot with Mayor Mel Lastman's talk about cannibals in Africa, but they were never going to win the 2008 Games unless China did something really stupid on the international front. They didn't, and they ran a very good Games, albeit one lacking in soul (see photo of the famous Birds Nest stadium in Beijing).

So now we come to 2011. The last Olympics in North America were the largely forgettable 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. The last Summer Games - and the IOC tends to think of their two babies as separate entities - on our continent were the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Here's how the Games have gone since Atlanta: Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake, Athens, Turin, Beijing. Vancouver. Next: London, Sochi (Russia), Rio de Janeiro and Pyeongchang, South Korea (the 2018 Winter Olympics).

Those bidding for the 2020 Summer Games? Doha (Qatar), Rome, Madrid, Istanbul, Tokyo and Baku, Azerbaijan. The short list comes out next May and the vote will be in 2013.

None of those cities are in North America, of course. But there’s talk of Denver or Reno-Lake Tahoe for 2022, as well as Munich and Norway (a sentimental favourite given the now-legendary status of the Lillehammer Winter Olympics).

The IOC and the United States Olympic Committee still aren’t on the best of terms given disputes over television money and other issues, but there’s at least a possibility of a North American winner. That might scupper a Toronto bid, but, given the vagaries and outright unpredictability at times of the International Olympic Committee, it might not.

Either way, 2024 appears at this early stage to be a lot more winnable than the 2008 effort.

Is it worth doing? I don’t quite know yet. Is it worth watching? Absolutely.

 

 

 

 

No Toronto Olympics ... Big Vegas dinner ... YouTube pilot recruiting by BA

 I'm kind of pleasantly surprised this morning, reading that Mayor Rob Ford's people have put the kybosh to the latest Toronto Olympic scheme. It's an eminently sensible position, but still makes me a little sad.

I covered all 157 both of the city's Summer Olympic bids for the Star, those being 1996 and 2008. The latter one was an impossible dream and was dependent on the Chinese doing something very silly. They didn't, our mayor did (the famous quote about being boiled by cannibals or such in Africa) and the rest is history.

Nineteen ninety six, on the other hand, is the one that sticks in my craw a little. Early on, Greece was seen as the obvious winner as 1996 was the anniversary of the 1896 birth of the modern Olympics. But Toronto plumber and Olympic activist Paul Henderson knew the Greeks might falter, so he launched a Toronto bid. The Canadian team quickly rose up the charts and Toronto, for a time, was seen as the front-runner.

But the NDP faction at City Hall, led by then councillor Jack Layton, wanted to attach many conditions on the bid, most notably a quest for affordable housing near the waterfront. The Bread Not Circuses people, with monetary help from City Hall itself, stirred up all sorts of negative publicity, and Atlanta came up with the winning bid. Yes, there were allegations of some dirty work by the Georgia bidders as well, with a huge surge in support among African IOC members suddenly popping up a couple months before the vote was held.

That's politics. But what's a shame, I think, is that 1996 - and 2000 - were the last of the manageable Olympics to be held. We all know what happened in the U.S. in September of 2001, and it changed everything for Olympic cities. There was security in Sydney, but it was nothing like the hassles and costs involved in Salt Lake in 2002 and in Olympic cities since.

The bill for security alone at most Olympics these days is said to be around a billion dollars, and one can only imagine what hidden costs there might be for London next year. And it's all money down the drain; no improvements to the city unless you want to count holding cells or lasers or new police cars or electronic eavesdropping devices.

I don't think it's worth it any more, and, quite frankly, the city of Toronto has done quite well without the Games. Yeah, it's taken us 20 years to get to where we might've been in 1996 had we won the Summer Games, but we DO have a much-improved waterfront with new parks and restaurants (I'm going to one today) and other changes. We have a stronger cultural base. We have new, five-star hotels popping up all over town.

We don't really NEED the Olympics any more.

But it still surprised me a little to read this morning that Doug Ford, the mayor's brother, was downplaying the concept of a 2020 Summer Olympic bid. He and Councillor Doug Holyday, a pretty sensible guy in my opinion, both suggested the city simply doesn't have the money, and that neither do other levels of government. Right on all three counts.

Olympic supporters claim there's no money needed from the city right now, but sooner or later there would be. And part of me says, "Good for you, boys" for saying no to the idea right now.

Yes, the Pan Am Games of 2015 will boost the city's profile. And the 2020 Summer Olympics might be the best chance Toronto will EVER have to win, since it appears there won't be a U.S. bid and the Summer Games haven't been in North America since Atlanta.

(That in itself would've been unthinkable 15 or 20 years ago, but the IOC has become much broader in its thinking. Hence the 2016 Summer Games in Rio and the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea).

But I agree it's not the right time for Toronto. One thing this COULD mean is that Quebec will bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics, so stay tuned for that.

BIG VEGAS DINNER

Thanks to Vegas expert and Star Travel correspondent Kathleen Kenna for this report...

Top chefs from the top restaurants in Las Vegas gather Oct. 16 for a $295-a-plate dinner to raise money for James Beard Foundation grants.

      It’s the 10th annual Jean-Louis Palladin Dinner, held in honor of the late New York chef praised as “the greatest French chef in North America.”

      Palladin won world attention for using unusual ingredients, fresh from farms and seas, and serving them at first-class restaurants, such as his first restaurant, “Jean-Louis” at the Watergate in Washington, D.C., and later, NAPA, in Las Vegas.

     He changed fine cuisine in North America, and mentored many young chefs, before dying of cancer in New York in 2001.

     This dinner honors Palladin’s techniques, with a menu ranging from wild Columbia River sturgeon to Togarishi-crusted Australian Kobe beef.

     Brian Howard, executive chef at Comme Ca at the Cosmopolitan is creating sea urchin tongues with sea urchin flan and sea urchin sauce. Executive chefs Geno Bernardo and Barry Dakake of the Palm’s N9NE Steakhouse and NOVE Italiano are serving organic chicken from Mary’s Farm with fresh truffles.

     Also on the menu: Maine lobster, domestic Sevruga caviar, white truffles, and Kashmir-style, Tandoori prawns. Among many desserts is a dark chocolate Grand Marnier Linzet tart from celebrity chef Megan Romano, executive pastry chef at Aureole at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino.

     Top chef Andre Rochat hosts this seven-course dinner at his Alize restaurant at the Top of the Palms, on the 56th floor of the Palms Casino Resort. It offers a 280-degree view of Las Vegas and the desert.

     MC for the event will be “celebrity journalist” Robin Leach, who lives in Las Vegas.

     Proceeds benefit the Jean-Louis Palladin work/study grant, up to $10,000 for working chefs.

     For reservations: 702.951.7000. More info: www.jamesbeard.org.

YOUTUBE PILOTS? UM.....

My first reaction was I thought I had fallen asleep and awakened on April Fools' Day. But apparently it's not a joke.

A story in the Belfast Telegraph states that British Airways has launched its biggest pilot recruitment drive in a decade and that they're using YouTube as part of the plan. It sounds goofy, but apparently they'll be posting information on YouTube about their training programs, and in that context it makes perfect sense.

American President Barack Obama used social media to his advantage in the 2008 election and almost certainly will try again. So why not? The old codger in me thinks it's silly, but no matter how you initially contact someone they still have to go through formal training like every other applicant. And if you want to reach a broad base of folks these days, YouTube and Twitter and other social media obviously are hugely important.

Just don't forget to take out an ad in the Star, too, okay guys?

 

Tourism issues in London and Greece...Anyone else tired of brown hotel rooms?

All that good p.r. from the one-year-to-go-for-the-Olympics - gone straight into the dustbin.

It's too bad to see the images of rioting in London. Mostly, I feel bad for innocent shopkeepers and car-owners and citizens who no doubt are standing by watching their world go up in flames. It's one thing to protest against the cops or against government, but it's another thing entirely to do so the way they are in London, as you can see by this scary photo in The Guardian.

There's no indication that folks gawking outside Buckingham Palace or picnicking in Green Park are in any danger. But it has to give people pause and it certainly tarnishes the image of a place that the mayor, Boris Johnson, recently called "the world's best big city."

Word Tuesday afternoon was that VisitBritain, the tourism and travel authority for the UK, had pulled a series of ads with the tag line "You're Invited." The ads feature the likes of celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and actress Dame Judi Dench.

For its part, the International Olympic Committee is saying it has "complete confidence" in London's ability to keep the Olympics safe. Yeah, and Tiger Woods has complete confidence his new golf swing will pay off with a win at the PGA Championship this week.

Things are worse in Greece, where taxi drivers on Santorini recently protested government austerity moves.

One restaurant manager on Santorini told NY1 News in New York City that business was down a whopping 40 per cent in the last three years.

Things could get worse quite soon, as the government's Value Added Tax on restaurant and bar purchases will rise 10 per cent in September, jumping from 13 to a very solid 23 per cent. I doubt tourists will be leaving anyone much of a tip after getting a 2.30 Euro tax on a 10 Euro meal or drink, so it's likely that struggling servers will take a hit.

Tough times everywhere. I read yesterday that RBC has slashed its expected performance numbers for the Canadian airline industry.

Citing "alarming macroeconomic signals," the bank said there's little to suggest any improvement in the short term for the likes of Air Canada and WestJet.

PLAZA IN VEGAS

Sin City fans should be happy to know a $35 million makeover of the downtown Plaza Las Vegas hotel and casino is ahead of schedule and on track to re-open Sept. 1 (just as the higher taxes take effect in Greece, not that it's even remotely relevant).

The CEO of Play LV, Tony Santo, said he was able to buy bargain furnishings and even wallpaper from the folks who had planned to open the Fontainebleau project on the Strip, and isn't it nice to see some recycling going on at the highest levels?

The rooms look nice but, personally, I'm getting a little tired of muted brown. I think in four years muted brown will be the avocado-coloured refrigerator of our decade, or at least I hope so. Hey, I just noticed an avocado-coloured throw on the bed!

Associated Press reports the Plaza will have a new casino floor, lounges, entertainment and several restaurants, including a steakhouse named for Oscar Goodman, the highly entertaining former mayor. I saw Goodman once on 60 Minutes and couldn't believe I hadn't read more about him. I mean, the man made Mel Lastman look like, well, Margaret Atwood.

The website for CBS News has a pretty good piece on him if you want to check it out.

 

Hotel rates for London 2012 Summer Olympic Games: let the gouging begin!

It figured to happen, but it's still astonishing to see a report by Oliver Smith in the Daily Telegraph that talks about how a few London hotels are hiking normal rates by as much as 10 times for next summer's Olympics.

Smith reports that a majority of hotels haven't released their rates for the Olympics period (uly 27-Aug. 12) next year but that a double room at the Sheraton Park Tower in Knightsbridge (see photo) is being quoted at an incredible $979 per night. This month, however, you can get a room for the relative bargain price of $338.

It's far worse at the Berjaya Hotel in Kensington, where room rates typically range from $144 to $322, but for the Olympics are currently set at, wait for it, $1,616. That's even more than an airline ticket from Toronto once you add in the bag fees and taxes and licenses and airsick bag stocking fees and carpet cleaning taxes and pretzel processing fees.

Having covered the Olympics for some 23 years, I suspect it won't end up nearly as bad. I mean, everyone THINKS they're going to get rich on the Olympics. Few people do.

Oh, rates will be up. Certainly they'll be up. And the top hotels will be quite full. But the smaller places out in Oxford or down in Dover who think they're going to capitalize on some huge influx of wealthy Americans or Qatar residents are likely to be disappointed, just as nobody out in Abbotsford I know of became independently wealthy from the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.

Tom Jenkins, chief executive of the European Tour Operators Association (ETOA), told the Telegraph that previous experience shows visitor numbers to London are unlikely to rise next summer. Which makes sense. The Olympics bring money and tourists, but almost anyone who normally would visit London in summer will instead pack off for Paris or Barcelona and avoid the five-ring crunch. Which is what happens in almost every Olympic city.

The Telegraph story said hotel rates in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics "were up to 10 times more expensive than normal, a figure that is thought to have contributed to a 30 per cent decline in visitors to the city in 2008 compared with the previous year."

“Mega events like the Olympics are primarily domestic events that put off travellers from abroad,” said Mr Jenkins. “Theatres in the capital are banking on a 70 per cent downturn in business during the Games, yet hotels still think they’ll be going gangbusters.

“In Athens [host city of the 2004 Olympics] around 15,000 hotel rooms were sold. London has 125,000 rooms to sell. Such optimistic pricing in the face of such disparity is extremely brave.”

The Telegraph points out that London Mayor Boris Johnson last month launched something called the London Visitor Charter, aimed at making tourists aware of "businesses and attractions that have made a firm commitment to reasonable and fair trading terms” during the Olympics.

So far more than 40 companies and venues – including Eurostar, the O2 Arena, Hampton Court Palace and the taxi firm Addison Lee – have signed up to the charter, but, apparently, no hotels have yet joined.

A spokesperson for Starwood Hotels, which owns the Sheraton Park Tower and W London, said: “Our prices over the Olympic period are based on the rates we charge during other high-demand periods in London. We take a long-term view and we certainly will not alienate future customers by over-pricing rooms during the Olympic period.”

I'm not sure how that comment jives with the Telegraph report that the Sheraton Park Tower is nearly tripling its rate from this summer to next, but there you go.

 

 

Brits aiming to leave town for 2012 Olympics...Airline serving lemon drizzle cake!

I spotted something on travelmole.com today that made me think, and that's not always easy, folks.

The story said that a study found nearly four million adults in the UK plan to flee Britain during the Summer 2012 Olympics, which start July 27 next year. Another four million, to be fair, will stay in the UK specifically because of the Games.

And that's damned smart, if you ask me. Anyone who's been lucky enough to go to the Olympics, and I've covered the last six for the Star, will tell you it's sheer magic. People congregate all over town and sit together and cheer for athletes they've never heard of. They meet folks wearing funny costumes (see accompanying photo, courtesy of Macleans) and drink a little too much and generally have a wonderful time.

And the host city is almost always easier to get around in than during non-Olympic periods. When the Games were in L.A. in 1984, they said you could drive across town in half an hour - even less if you were being chased by a white Bronco.

The atmosphere in Vancouver after the Winter Games ended last year was absolutely marvellous; one of the highlights of my life.

The survey also found that only 37% of UK residents felt positively about the Olympics, although the number in London was 46%.  However, only 48% of Londoners believe the event will have a positive impact on the economy, compared with 54% in the rest of the UK.

I've always believed it's silly to invest too much in the Olympics as a future economic boost. The truth is, they're all about having a big party and investing in things you normally wouldn't get around to and speeding up infrastructure that usually would take decades. (More like centuries in Toronto. It's a little known fact that John Graves Simcoe, when he was Lt. Governor back in the 1790s, proposed a light rail transit line from downtown to Pearson).

Barcelona is on everyone's list of cities to go to in Europe not because they held the Olympics per se but because they went WILD for infrastructure and created beautiful parks and funky sculptures (see photo) and built beautiful bridges and SPENT MONEY to fix up the place. (Which brings up my personal memo #17 to Rob Ford - you have to SPEND MONEY and INVEST IN YOUR CITY if you want things to improve. Nobody goes to Barcelona because they cut taxes and have a balanced budget).

So, my advice, for what it's worth, is for Brits to stay home and enjoy the party in 2012. It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to let loose and party like it's 1999.

LEMON CAKE? SIGN ME UP!!!!

Also spotted on the travel wires this morning was an item at businesstraveller.com that said BMi airlines was doing something extremely radical and ADDING SERVICE to their flights. What a concept!

Apparently, folks on select flights will get Victoria sponge cakes, carrot cake (hopefully without nuts) or, even better, lemon drizzle cakes. I've never tried a Victoria sponge cake, but anything with lemon has to be pretty good. And it's cake, folks. Cake!

I have a nephew who doesn't like cake. Personally, I don't think he'd recognize Margaret Atwood on the street, either. And I think he's crazy.

I adore a good piece of cake. Coffee cake with cinnamon and crunchy crumble stuff is absolutely divine, and you simply can't beat a good chocolate cake, especially if you follow your father's lead and ask your server (my Mom did this for my Dad and deserves sainthood for it, I think) to put the part with the icing on top facing outward to your left, so that when you eat the cake right to left your last bite has icing on two sides, if you get my drift.

The Business Traveller story had comments from readers. One funny guy, danwolf, wrote the following:

"I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought of Mary Antoinette when I saw that flexi economy passengers will be allowed to eat cake...I'm sure it will only be offered once the plastic vacuumed bread rolls have run out."

Another chap wondered about the cake and wrote, "Is it off with their heads for overweight baggage?"

Nice.

 

 

 

 

 

Of those surveyed, only 4% of the UK successfully purchased tickets, with only one in 10 Londoners managing to get their hands on the biggest ticketed event the country has seen in many years.

London 2012 Summer Olympics just a year away...Is it the world's best big city?

London Mayor Boris Johnson is inviting the world to come to his city next year for an "amazing summer in the world's best big city" as the city of Big  Ben and Notting Hill and the British Museum stages the 2012 Summer Olympics.

There's a big ceremony planned today with International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, who seems stiff but who I can attest from many interviews over the years is not a bad guy.

The press release I got today from the London 2012 folks certainly waxed poetic:

"Whether visitors are attending a 2012 Games event or just here to soak up the atmosphere of the host city, everyone will have the chance to join Londoners in enjoying this unique moment in the capital's history, in particular by watching the world's greatest athletes in action on large screens at ‘Live Sites’ planned for Hyde Park, Victoria Park, Trafalgar Square and Potters Fields Park. The sites will play host to a fantastic programme of free entertainment including concerts, cultural and artistic performances and exhibitions to showcase London and the UK to the world.

"London is also putting on a vast array of other entertainment for visitors, from street festivals to special programmes in its unrivalled cultural institutions, as well as spectacular makeovers of its town centres and iconic landmarks. This is in addition to the multitude of attractions which are part of London's everyday appeal, from its museums and historic sites to its restaurants and premier shopping venues that millions of tourists visit London for every year.

The Mayor will deploy an army of 8,000 London Ambassadors, who will be on standby to help visitors find their way around and make the most of their time in the capital. He has also announced plans to recruit 10,000 adult volunteers to take part in the official opening and closing ceremonies to ensure that they are a resounding success.

With the 2012 Games already providing a massive £2 billion boost to the capital’s economy, around 25,000 workless people securing jobs, £30 million being channelled into grassroots sport and the transformation of east London continuing apace, the Mayor will also tell the world that the legacy of 2012 is already unfolding.

Johnson said: "A year from today the curtain will be lifted on the London Games and I call on the world to come and enjoy what will be the greatest party that London, indeed the planet, has ever seen. Our stunning venues are almost all complete on time and under budget, and the impact of the Games on this great city of ours is being felt on many fronts. Visitors to London next year will find the atmosphere electrifying, whether they are soaking up the sporting spectacle in the Olympic Park or enjoying the many fantastic events and attractions across the capital. We are set to welcome the world for the best Games in history.”

That, of course, remains to be seen. I suspect the Brits will have a tough time beating the sheer, lunatic vibrancy and energy of the Sydney Games, which were the first I covered for the Star. But they'll certainly surpass the quiet Salt Lake and Turin Winter Games of 2002 and 2006, and they can't help but be more organized than the Athens 2004 folks. They'll also certainly have more soul than the Beijing Summer Olympics, which went off without a hitch but suffered from a lack of community participation. Technically superb but soul-less, they were. I suspect the Brits will be just as gung-ho as Canadians were at the Vancouver Games (if not the NHL playoffs). Watching fans parade about on Robson and Granville after the gold medal hockey game (see photo) was the highlight of the Vancouver Olympics for me.

I must admit that, from a personal standpoint, I'm in something of a melancholy mood. I have organized the Toronto Star's coverage of the Olympics for the last six go-arounds, starting with Sydney and finishing with Vancouver in 2010. But I don't work in sports any longer and I thought it was time to let someone else do the quarterbacking at the Games, as well as filing all those damned web stories for hour upon hour and filling in on news stories and attending press conferences.

Most of my time at the Olympics is spent watching events on a silent TV (if there's too much noise nobody could work), then recording the results and looking over official Olympic press releases for "flash quotes" from winning athletes and then filing quick, "game-over" stories for the Star's web site so we could beat the competition with short, colourful stories on our medals - or near-misses or, yes, complete flops.

We did a nice job, thanks in part to a lot of hard work from tireless web folks at 1 Yonge St.; especially guys such as Spencer Walsh. And I had huge support from Star management and from the Star's team of Olympic reporters; seasoned professionals such as the peerless Randy Starkman and incredibly talented Dave Perkins (since departed from full-time employment at the mother ship) and tireless columnist Rosie DiManno.

The Star will have a great team in London but, barring something unforseen, I won't be part of it. I hope to do some run-up stories to the Games, however, and I'll certainly keep an eye on the results from across the pond. I'm looking forward to watching an event, then popping open a beer to celebrate a Canadian medal instead of madly dashing off three or four versions of a story and moving quickly on to the next one.

But I'll miss the energy and the excitement and the people and the sense that, for three weeks or so, I'm living at the news centre of the universe. I also will miss the occasional event I got to see (Beijing was best as I saw Usain Bolt in the 100 meter race and I saw Michael Phelps win his record swimming medal) and the opening and closing ceremonies, which were almost always beautiful and fun and, occasionally, baffling.

So indulge me while I post a photo taken of me by the wonderful Petti Fong at the Vancouver Olympics' closing ceremony. It was a great way to finish off a great Olympics career.

IS LONDON THE BEST BIG CITY IN THE WORLD?

On a side note, I kinda wonder about that first sentence in the press release I got from the London 2012 folks. Nothing wrong with wanting to Own the Podium, as it were, but to jump out and state boldly that London is "the world's best big city" is a bit of hyperbole.

I love London. I love the markets and the sensibility and the tube and the gardens and Big Ben and Russell Square and red telephone booths and much more. But, honestly, I don't think it has the flair of Paris or the power of New York or the late-night excitement and design sense of Barcelona or the physical setting of Sydney or Vancouver or the "living on the edge" feel you get in San Francisco.

Still, it's right up there. So maybe later this week I'll have a bit of fun and do my own personal ranking....