Argophilia

Αργοφιλία: For the love of the journey.

Crete’s Famous But Remote Treasures: Elafonisi Beach

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For those out there headed to Crete, driving the countryside is one of the great treats of this marvelous island destination. What’s more, navigating the well maintained Crete roads is a welcome adventure with mountain goats and sheep a plenty to keep visitors company. One such “discovery path”, the road to famous Elaphonisi Beach, is the spotlight of Argo today.

Q & A With Sion Rapson of the World Travel Awards

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Recently I had the distinct pleasure of speaking with Sion Rapson (at left), and industry expert of merit who has helped the world recognize excellence in the travel industry immeasurably. Rapson, Director of Global Business for the distinguished World Travel Awards, spoke candidly before and after a Q & A for Eye for Travel. The full interview and some added takeaways are cited below, followed by a brief summary.

The Destiny of Desti – Nokia Win or Loss?

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Nokia has just acquired Desti, supposedly the “smartest travel guide” among all the travel guides in the digital world. The US based, Siri-like trip planning startup, is the Finnish company’s tech ace in the hole, some say, one that will boost that brand’s mobile market. Here’s two sides to the same story.

Six Unforgettable Crete Restaurants

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Crete offers a diverse culinary trip for travelers, even though the island’s traditional cuisine is the marque attraction for foodies. While the Mediterranean diet is well known and as healthy as advertised, the Cretan take on healthy eating is actually the oldest and most time honored. Ancient as this cooking tradition is though, fine eateries around the island offer unique twists on age old recipes. Here’s a sampling of superb restaurants of a kind.

TUI Growth 2014: Real Optimism or Reality Fluff?

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TUI AG, one of the world’s most successful and well known travel tour groups, has just announced their Half Year Financial report. Furthermore, TUI’s CEO, Fritz Joussen now says his company is well positioned for growth. With Europe rapidly becoming a stagnant market over east vs west tensions, just how solid are TUI or any other big tour company’s projections?

Travelers’ Hotel Choices: No Choice At All

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When Google acquired ITA flight software a couple of years back, a group of competitors went ballistic warning of unfair practices by the Internet search and ad giant. Most people back then blew off what FairSearch was contending, this author included. As it turns out, a half dozen court cases won and a lot of water under the hotel search bridge, and potential guests really have no choice at all. Google has rigged the hotel booking game into an ad recommendation one.

Are Ryanair Passengers Up On “Selfie” Appraisal?

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Low cost champion Ryanair announced recently traffic growth by some 400,000 passengers totaling almost 8 million in April. The figures relate growth based on this year’s Easter travel, according to the airline up by 5% year on year. Lower prices, improved customer service, and added services like allocated seating were said to be major reasons […]

Q1 Profit and Loss: Weeding Out the OTAs

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In a 2014 economy seemingly stagnated OTAs and other travel businesses are feeling some pain. This is not the case for Priceline Group, which just showed a 1st quarter earnings jump of some 36% on international bookings. However, this company’s gain is evidently Orbitz’s and other digital travel business loss. Are we seeing a “weeding out” of good travel entities versus bad ones?

Weight of Ukraine Unrest, Sanctions, Threaten EU Economies

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The Ukraine unrest unfolding, US and NATO versus Russia challenges and sanctions, threaten to unravel any hope of continued EU economic recovery. This, according to an ITAR-TASS report, must be weighed against European Commission contentions. Whatever the case for western EU nations, tourism and other sectors in eastern Europe will certainly be stifled.

Five Cool Travel Startups You Maybe Never Heard Of

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The travel startup niche is a lot less active these days than it once was. The big names, TripAdvisor, Kayak, Airbnb, Uber, and a slew of others have snatched the attention and loyalty of many. Right now these, are in a sort of “no holds barred” competition to become the Facebook of travel, with a lot of niche value going on in between. Speaking of niches, there’s a lot of room for traveler utility and for developing to sell startup action too.

Hilton Tags Lobby Firm MWW Showing LGBT Pride Proudly

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According to news from PR Week Hilton Worldwide has hired leading lobbying PR firm MWW to handle the chain’s LGBT marketing and PR efforts across all their brands and properties. For some travelers Hilton now becomes the poster child for equality and fairness, while others may shun the world’s largest hotel chain for just being too proud. If ever a hospitality chain bet on a booking bonanza, and a potential bookings bust.