Good news for those considering a holiday in Tenerife at the moment - leading tour operators Thomas Cook and Thomson have some great deals available - visit yourtenerife.net to access both of them plus First Choice.

As the Daily Express report:

HOLIDAY firms are set to slash the price of package deals by hundreds of pounds after a slump in bookings over the summer, experts said yesterday.

A focus on the World Cup and fears over travel disruption have left tour operators with leftover stock.

Discounts on brochure prices are expected to reach up to 70 per cent.

Even families hoping for a break before school starts in September could save as much as 50 per cent on a week in a European destination such as Tenerife.

TUI Travel, owner of Thomson Holidays and First Choice, yesterday revealed a two per cent drop in UK sales over the past three months, normally its busiest time of year.

And it announced the volcanic ash cloud disruption had hit its last-quarter profit by £105million.

Chief executive Peter Long added: “It remains difficult to predict how the later-booking pattern will change over the next 12 to 18 months in the light of the current economic environment.”

A spokeswoman for TUI confirmed there would be “great value deals” during autumn. Among its best was a week on the Greek island of Rhodes in October, starting at £189 per person.

Thomas Cook was also expected to record a drop in sales today.

Long-haul holiday firm Hayes and Jarvis said the downturn in summer sales would mean a “glut” of heavily discounted deals, bringing down the cost of travelling to exotic countries in the Far East to under £500.

Good news for the island comes from UK regional newspaper The Birmingham Mail who reported recently on Thomson Holidays new hotels for the island:

The stars will be shining bright in Tenerife this summer – and I’m not talking heavenly bodies here.

From next month stars from West End productions will be jetting out on a fortnightly basis to entertain UK holidaymakers enjoying a totally new holiday concept in the Canary Islands.

It’s all part of a multi-million pound gamble by holiday giant Thomson, called Sensatori.

But companies like Thomson are not really in the business of gambling unless the odds are stacked in their favour.

And as Sensatori proved to be a winning formula in Crete and in Mexico when it was launched there just two years ago, it’s odds on it will work in Tenerife.

In fact it’s already working judging by the number of advanced booking.

From early May, the stunningly beautiful 609 bedroom Gran Melia Palacio hotel, on Tenerife’s south west coast will take on the mantle of Thomson’s third Sensatori hotel – and more than 700 guests will arrive to experience it.

So what is it and what makes it so special? I visited the Gran Melia ahead of the crowds to find out.

Sensatori translates as ‘enlighten the senses’ and those senses are certainly in for some enlightenment in a very unspoiled, low rise part of a traditionally high rise island.

The Sensatori formula is made up of a number of essential parts. Part one is take a new five-star-plus hotel – in this case the two-year old Gran Melia with its vast Roman colannade-fringed central plaza, 14 spectacular fountains and myriad teracotta-roofed towers.

The cool – in every sense of the word – split level marble lobby area has a huge domed roof with a giant mobile of solid silver leaves hanging from it. This hotel is a real style sensation. It’s so eye-poppingly beautiful, waif-like models from the men’s magazine FHM were using it as a backdrop for a fashion shoot during my visit.

Part two is ensure it has a stunning location. The Gran Melia is a 26 acre, ocean-front property with the longest swimming pool – or rather lagoon – in Spain and one of the longest in Europe.

Part three, is sprinkle the Sensatori magic dust onto the property to transform it into something even more special.

That dust means that from Sunday, Thomson guests will get a whole new experience for all members of the family, in terms of dining, activities, attractions for children and entertainment.

I noticed it as soon as I walked into the entrance lobby and was hit by the distinctive Melia fragrance in the air – hitting the first of those senses.

The Sensatori programme means that there will be a sensational line-up of 49 activities to promote sport and wellbeing introduced, including tai chi and aqua tai chi, spinning, tennis, archery, rugby, soccer, walks, nutritional classes and much, much more. But all these will be away from the main public areas and Sensatori ‘flavour sheets’ will allow you to put your name down to opt in if you want to take part or you can just opt out and relax in the resort.

Thomson Holidays guests will get fullboard-plus, which means breakfast, lunch and dinner are all included in the price as is beer, wine and soft drinks with meals.

And in the Gran Melia the food in the main Pangea restaurant is exceptional, even by five star hotel standards. I have rarely seen such a magnificent dinner buffet, with something to suite everyone’s taste buds and chefs at your beck and call to cook to your individual desires.

The breakfast buffet too is just as splendid and extensive, more than satisfying yet another of those senses – taste.

But because the Sensatori formula dictates that a hotel has to have six different restaurants – in order to offer guests even more choice than a traditional hotel – there are an additional five speciality eateries. These include Galima, where Michelin star chef Dani Garcia conjures up some culinary masterpieces, and the Japanese restaurant Nami which you enter via a stone tunnel taking you into a different world. It offers an intriguing choice but I opted for tappanyaki – and ate it under the watchful eye of a mini army of life-sized Terracotta warriors, obviously deserters from Xian.

Sensatori is as much about experiences for children as their parents and a special wing of the hotel has been turned into the “Playhouse” for young children and a nursery for babies. And because Sensatori is about the senses, the programme in the Playhouse is all about enjoyable learning, with sessions in the “creative kitchen”, the “silly science lab” and the “story book corner”.

And as you can imagine one of the favourites in the Playhouse is the once a week sleep over, to give mum and dad the night off. Amazingly the creche is already solidly booked for the whole of May. The Gran Melia has a superb YSI spa, and under the Sensatori banner there will be one day per week where adults can take a child in too.

“The idea is to get people to re-connect,” Thomson’s Sensatori experience manager, Alison Ventura, told me.

“Rather than mum saying ‘I’m off to the hairdressers’ and leave the children with dad she can, for example, take her daughter along and they can have their hair done side by side.”

Next to the spa is a gym so well equipped it would have Arnold Swarzenegger salivating. It’s free to use so there is no excuse for not working off some of the pounds you are bound to put on given the culinary temptations of the Gran Melia.

If you are not so energetic you can stroll in the beautifully kept gardens or take the cliff walk to the totally uncommercialised little town of Alcala, about ten minutes away and then return to relax on one of the Bali beds around one of the many pools. To read the full article click here

For more details about hotels in Tenerife visit yourtenerife.net

Thomson holidays also do other Canary Island holidays, including Lanzarote holidays and holidays in Gran Canaria

Advertised costs for a holiday in Tenerife, like many other popular destinations, has come down in real terms in recent years.

A great deal of this is down to lower airfares, with low cost carriers flying to Tenerife and the other Canary Islands from the UK, Ireland and other parts of Europe, at a significantly lower cost than their competitors.

But are cheap flights to Tenerife because of some airlines ability to be more efficient than others - or is it because holiday destinations know that more airlines equals more flights, which in turn means more tourists arriving, and they are prepared to give preferential treatment over exisiting carriers, allowing flights to come down in price for some, but not all airlines?

For Tenerife it’s possible that it’s come to the stage where some tour operators feel that the playing field is so uneven it’s difficult for them to win in a fair fight - and could stop offering holidays at all.

The island would be the loser as the major tour operators don’t just offer flights - hotels, car hire and excursions are often offered, and any gain in more people currently taking low cost flights to Tenerife will be more than offset by the number of holidaymakers lost who take package holidays.

In recent years tour operators have found it harder to compete anyway as more people have been acting as their own travel agent via the internet, booking their hotels, car hire and flights seperately.

But if tour operators did pull out it could really hurt Tenerife as there is a swing back towards what tour operators do best at the moment - package holidays.

As the Euro - used by Spain as her currency - has increased in value against the British currency - Sterling - British holidaymakers have been discovering holiday destinations cheaper than Tenerife, notably Egypt and Turkey.

Package holidays offered by tour operators have been one way to fight against currency fluctuations, with many tourists taking all inclusive options and taking their meals at their Tenerife hotels - take away some of the tour operators and potentially tens of thousands of tourists will look elsewhere if the island isn’t given as an option.

But it’s not just because the tour operators are able to all inclusive holidays in Tenerife for those who want it - a recent event highlighted to many the benefit of booking with a company like Thomson or Thomas Cook Holidays:

The volcanic ash cloud that grounded flights for a week in Europe left tens of thousands of tourists stranded, and those who had booked their flights and accommodation independently were often left to organise their own way home.

But for those who had book with major tour operators like Thomas Cook and Thomson Holidays, they were in luck as the companies went the extra mile to provide accommodation and meals, along with organising their clients to be on flights home as soon as they could. Some even travelled back to Britain on a brand new cruise ship…quite a contrast to the independent travellers who made their way home at considerable expense overland.

Now is not the time for Tenerife to consider trading off the tour operators against the attraction of budget airlines.

More details about Tenerife are at http://www.yourtenerife.net and included is a map, news and information and a forecast for the next five days for the Tenerife weather

Booking holidays in Tenerife online is becoming more popular as time goes by, and one internet site says:

“High Street Travel Agents such as First Choice who have now joined forces with Thomson Holidays has cut down on the number of Hotels they are offering and instead concentrating more on a select number of hotels which would be easier to fill. Instead of bringing down the prices of holidays for 2010 they have instead increased the prices even though in my opinion they will struggle to sell holidays next at these high rise prices due to the credit crunch and also with the world cup being on.”

The cheapest offerings for Holidays at the present moment are Tenerife if booked separate. With airline prices being low to Tenerife and hotels in Tenerife offering great reductions more and more people are now understanding that they can save hundreds of pounds by booking cheap flights and booking hotels without the need to go to their travel agents.

To read the full article click here

For more information about Tenerife visit http://www.yourtenerife.net

Time moves on…

In the eighties video killed the radio star, and as technology has advanced it’s not just industrial businesses that have been affected, but retail too, with shops having to adapt to the new world with on-line offerings as well as trying to maintain High Street positions.

And there can’t be many retail specialists with a physical presence on the UK High Streets that have been more affected by the advent of the internet and new technology more than the travel sector.

A High Street travel agency will typically stock brochures for a multitude of destinations, display late offers in its window, and run a foreign exchange bureau, as well as booking holidays and travel insurance for clients.

But more than this travel agents can give personal advice on most holiday destinations as they recount their own holiday experiences, and in bigger shops most popular destinations would have at least one if not two people working there who have visited where a client is thinking of, and pass on personal knowledge as well as advice on which resorts and hotels might be best.

But now this information, and far more than one or two people can give, is available to anyone thinking of booking a holiday via the internet.

Good or bad, reviews of hotels are available on specialist internet sites where ordinary holidaymakers are free to give unbiased advice on a hotel, the staff, surroundings, and what to expect.

The travel sites with reviews can be really up to date as well, often from people who have just stayed in a hotel, and people thinking of booking a hotel don’t have to rely on advice which however well intentioned could be years out of date, and with several reviews to go on a good overall picture can be built up of how well a hotel is performing, and if looks like it could be suitable before booking a holiday.

Tenerife is a good example of where the internet can win over traditional High Street travel agents. Need a Tenerife map for example to see where attractions and your hotel is on the island. It’s easily found on search engines or on sites like Thomson Holidays and Thomas Cook Holidays.

Want to know what the Tenerife weather is like right now, with a 5, 7 or 10 day forecast? A multitude of internet sites will let you know in an instant.

Everything you want to know about your location is available in seconds, and gives a complete picture of what to expect and what can be planned for your Tenerife holidays.

Is the High Street travel agent needed anymore? As more people get computer literate the less a tradtional travel agent is going to be needed in the future. Today’s children will turn to the internet as a matter of course when they are old enough to book their own holidays - replacing the older generation which has a smaller proportion booking holidays online.

Perhaps the answer is for traditional estate agents to do what Thomas Cook Holidays and Thomson Holidays are doing - keeping a presence on the High Street while also having a good internet site that does everything holidaymakers who use the internet site expect a holidays site to provide.

For more details about Tenerife visit http://www.yourtenerife.net which includes holiday deals, news and travel articles