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Welcome to the February edition of the European Hostel Cooperation newsletter.
We’ve got some new and interesting things for you as always, and also some
repeated news about the share offer for the EHC and the hostel meeting in Prague
that we wanted to send out again for anyone that missed it in January. Hope
you enjoy the newsletter, and remember, we welcome any suggestions, criticisms
or comments - just send us an email at info@gomio.com. |
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Hostels in the Media
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It’s always nice when hostels and the hostelling scene get a write-up in the
media, and we will include them with links in our newsletter whenever we find
them or people let us know. They do not have to be in English (although we may
ask for a translation), so send them in and we will put them in future newsletters.
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This month we found an article in the Toronto Star in Canada, from the 18th January,
entitled ‘You Could be There’, and it explored 5 top tips for a winter vacation.
Two of the five tips were in Europe, and two European hostels were mentioned
as the recommended accommodation: the Balmers Herberge in Interlaken, and the
Clown and Bard Hostel in Prague. The article also explores the respective attractions
of Interlaken and Prague as top destinations for Canadians to visit.
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You can read the whole article, and find out what the other top 3 tips were,
at: www.thestar.com
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New Hostels Opening in Berlin...
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The home city of the EHC office is also becoming the home to FOUR new
hostels in the next few months.
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First up we have the East Seven, that will open on the Schwedter Strasse at the
beginning of April. There are no pictures yet on the website, but they will
be coming soon at www.eastseven.de.
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Next is the new generation of floating hostel from the Captain of the Houseboat
(www.houseboat-berlin.com).
The new boat, with 55 beds will be called the Eastern
Comfort and will open its doors at the Jannowitzbruecke in Berlin, also at
the beginning of April.
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Third, the beginning of May will see the All In Hostel open on the Grünberger
Strasse in Friedrichshain. You can see more of the hostel at their website
at www.all-in-hostel.com.
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The CityStay hostel is the fourth, and we already mentioned it last month, but
for those that missed it, it opens on the 1st April in Mitte, and you can check
it out at www.citystay.de.
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...Some Opening in Spain...
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In Valencia, just in time for the craziness that is Las Fallas festival, the
Nest Youth Hostel is opening. There is some information on the internet, but
they promise more in the next few weeks. The Nest Youth Hostel opens on the
Calle de la Paz on the 1st March, and the website is at: www.nestyh.com.
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Also in Spain, but a little further up the coast in Barcelona, we have heard
that the Mediterranean Hostel is opening its doors on the Calle Diputació.
Their website is not online yet, but as soon as it is we will include it in
a future newsletter.
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In Madrid, the folks behind the United World International Hostel have a new
hostel that opened in the last four months, called the Bull’s Hostel, on
the Plaza Santo Domingo. They asked us to include the announcement in the
newsletter, so guys, here it is!
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...And a Re-Opening in Copenhagen
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The Sleep-In Heaven hostel in Copenhagen is being renovated, and will re-open
on the 8th March with new 6, 9 and 12 bed dorms. There will be new information
about the renovated hostel on the website from the beginning of March at www.sleepinheaven.com.
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2004: A Record Year for Global Tourism
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On the 3rd February the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) released its World Tourism
Barometer for 2004 in Bangkok, Thailand, and confirmed all the different figures
for tourism that have been coming out in the last few months and that we have
included in the last couple of newsletters. The overall worldwide figure for
international arrivals was, according to WTO figure, 760 million, which was
a 10% increase on 2003.
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Unfortunately the growth (4%) in Europe was not as large as elsewhere, being
more solid than spectacular. The disparities between destinations such as Asia
and the Pacific were put down to the strength of the Euro against other countries,
which may explain why tourism within Europe did not grow as much as elsewhere
as people got more value for money outside of the continent.
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The break-down of results for Europe were also interesting. Central and Eastern
Europe grew by 10% in international arrivals (mirroring global trends), whilst
Northern Europe also had relatively strong growth in arrivals at 7%. In contrast,
Western Europe and the Mediterranean ‘only’ grew by 2%, again, affected by
the increase in non-euro destinations such as North Africa and the Middle East.
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It remains to be seen how the strength of the Euro will affect tourism on the
continent in 2005, for both those within the euro-zone and those outside of
it.
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Upcoming Tourism Fairs and Events
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There are a couple of interesting tourism fairs coming up in March, one
in Berlin aimed at both the industry and consumers, and one in London
that is primarily for the general public.
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The ITB in Berlin is the largest tourism trade fair in Europe, and runs from
11th until the 15th March. There promises to be over 10,000 exhibitors from
180 countries representing every aspect of the world tourism market. The exhibitors
are arranged geographically, and there are also a number of sections on special
themes, such as: Travel Technology, ITB Trends and Events, Youth Travel, Ecotourism,
Cultural Tourism, and Innovations.
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The ITB is open every day for the duration from 10am until 6pm, although Monday
14th March and Tuesday 15th March are only for trade visitors. There is much
more information about the event on the website, and if anyone is in Berlin
for the ITB they are welcome to drop into the EHC Office anytime they like!
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ITB Berlin website can be found at: www.itb-berlin.com.
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TNT Magazine, the London based magazine and website that focus’s on the Antipodean
contingent that come from down under every year, is holding its free travel expo
on Saturday March 12th in Covent Garden. There are different exhibitors at the
event, many of whom focus on budget travel and backpacking in the United Kingdom
and Europe.
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The event is primarily focused at consumers, i.e. the general public, and for
anyone who is in London and wants to visit the expo the good news is that it
is free. The expo is open from 9.30am until 7pm in the New Connaught Rooms,
and there is more information on the TNT website at www.tntmagazine.com/travelshow.
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If any of you are at the TNT Travelshow, it would be great to hear your thoughts
on the event, and how valuable you think expos such as this are, so that we
can share the information in the next EHC Newsletter.
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Easyjet Takes to the Water
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Some interesting news for anyone that has a hostel in Cannes, Nice, Imperia,
Genoa and Portofino; Easyjet, the famous orange no frills airline is launching
its first ‘no frills cruise ship’ this summer that goes by the unsurprising
name of EasyCruise. Cruise passengers can hope on or off the ship as they wish
(with a minimum stay of two days).
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The ship itself has all the facilities of a cruise ship, the only difference
being that everything is extra, much like on the airline. With the cruises
targeted at people that either don’t have time or cannot afford a traditional
cruise, and with the guests able to get on or off at any of the points of call,
this could be good news for hostels and accommodation in some of those destinations.
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The cruises will run from sometime between April/June (it has not been decided
yet) until the middle of October. You can get more information, including a
total list of destinations that the EasyCruise will visit at www.easycruise.com.
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Tourism Research - European Tourism Forum
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The European Tourism Forum took place last October in Budapest, and was designed
to discuss changes and challenges faced by the tourism industry within
the European Union. One of the themes that was discussed at the forum, ‘New
Trends in Tourism’ was something that we thought might be interesting for
the newsletter.
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The report of the workshop on New Trends in Tourism identified two key trends
that were particularly interesting: the rapid growth in the number of young
travellers, and the effects of the enlargement of the European Union.
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With regards young travellers, the report states the figure that we have previously
released in the EHC Newsletter, that 20% of all tourist arrivals worldwide
are aged between 15 and 26. What is interesting is that 70% of these arrivals
are to European countries. The forum goes onto argue that this sector is so
important, that policies need to be put in place for this target group, including
affordable accommodation, transport fares amongst others, in order to provide
for affordable and safe travel.
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The report also argues that the membership of states such as Estonia, Poland
and the Czech Republic in the European Union is also going to have a dramatic
impact on tourism in Europe, especially with the increasing number of routes
to these destinations offered by the budget, no frills airlines.
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The rapid growth of the budget/youth travel sectors in Europe is bound to have
an impact on the hostelling industry, and the importance of these sectors seems
set to increase. For those struggling to persuade local authorities or tourism
organisations as to the importance of our industry, reports and figures such
as these are very useful in order to state the case.
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You can get more information about the European Travel Forum, and download the
reports from the workshops, at: europa.eu.int
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Lonely Planet Travellers Pulse Survey
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On the 1st February Lonely Planet released a press release to announce the
important results from their Travellers Pulse Survey, that was conducted through
their website and received responses from 20,000 people from 167 countries.
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Some of the findings include:
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- Europe was the respondents favourite destination with 28% of the vote
- However, Italy was the only European country in the ‘Dream Destinations’ Top
Ten
- The most desired destination in the ‘Dream Destinations’ list was Australia.
- 91% of travellers us the web as a resource tool, 68% use a guidebook, and
58% book their travel online - when looking at these figures we have to remember
where the survey was conducted. The type of people that visit the Lonely
Planet website are probably very likely to use the internet to research their
travel, so this may not be representative of travellers as a whole.
- The survey also showed an increasing trend amongst independent travellers
towards travelling on a mid-range budget, as they get older and have more
disposable income.
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You can read the Lonely Planet Travellers Pulse press release online, and there
are also details as to how you can go about getting a copy of the whole report
and results: www.lonelyplanet.com/pressroom
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| European Hostel Cooperation News |
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Shareholder Offer
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We announced this in our last newsletter, and we are doing so again in case anyone
missed it last time around:
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As you may know from previous newsletters, our Irish software partner TravelFAT
left the company, and as such there are a substantial number of shares in the
European Hostel Cooperation available. We would like to broaden the base of
the EHC, and we are looking for partners to join the existing 14 hostels in
order to continue the work of establishing a fully hostel-owned, commission
free booking portal for Europe.
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So, if you run, own or manage a hostel in Europe, and are interested in becoming
a shareholder or want more information, please contact Andreas Becker in the
head office anytime between now and the hostel meeting in Prague. You can call
on the number at the bottom of the newsletter, or you can email Andreas at
andreas.becker@gomio.com.
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4th European Hostel Meeting - Prague 2005
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Yes, the details have been finalised for the Hostel Meeting in Prague, and
thanks to all of you that have already registered to participate in the workshops
and socialising that will no doubt go on in the Czech capital in April.
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The 4th European Hostel Meeting will take place from the 8th - 9th April 2005
in Prague, and full details including registration form can be found on the website
at www.gomio.com/conference.
Very briefly then, the meeting will be structured
as follows:
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Friday - Welcome Drink - a nice and easy evening to start off the meeting, with
a chance to say hello to everyone and catch up. We would recommend that people
coming from further afield arrive on Friday evening to minimise the stress of
trying to get to Prague in time on Saturday morning
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Saturday - The Meeting - the venue for the meeting has been confirmed, and it
is the Minorite Monastery of St. James (Malá Štupartská 6, Prague 1). This is
a wonderfully atmospheric location, and you can find more information on the
website above, and also at: www.helas.org
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The meeting itself will consist of a welcome speech, a fair and flyer exchange,
and a number of different optional workshops in which you can participate as
you wish. The workshops are explained in detail on the website, but briefly
they are:
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1. Regional Hostel Networks - an exploration of different hostel networks, how
they work and the advantages for hostels in getting involved
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2. Working with National Tourism Authorities - how hostels can win over and work
with their relevant regional or national tourism authority.
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3. Hostel Market Developments: A Comparison - a look at the difference between
an established big city market, and an emerging market, and how this affects
hostels in how they operate.
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4. Front Office Software Introduction - we have invited a number of different
companies to present their reservations software, so hostels can get an overview
of what’s on the market
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5. Research Group - an introduction to a research project that the EHC would
like to undertake with the help of Europe’s hostels over the summer of 2005.
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Hopefully there is something of interest for everyone at the meeting, and if
anyone has any ideas or issues they would like raised at the meeting, it is
not too late! Please contact Katrin in the office at katrin.schoenig@gomio.com
with any suggestions you might have.
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What else? Of course, the party! Saturday evening there will be a party, wine
and beer provided courtesy of the Travellers Hostel, at the NOD gallery in
Dlouha 33, right in the centre of Prague. After an interesting and stimulating
(hopefully!) day, it will be a great chance for everyone to get together and
have some fun.
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The price for attending the meeting, which includes the meeting itself, a welcome
drink, tea, coffee and soft drinks on the Saturday, a lunch buffet, and wine
and beer at the infamous hostel party, is as follows:
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For European Hostel Cooperation Members: €40
For non-members: €50
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The registration form, as well as details of subsidised accommodation for the
weekend, can be found at the meeting website at www.gomio.com/conference.
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We’re really looking forward to seeing everyone in Prague.
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Tsunami Appeal
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Many thanks to the hostels that supported the Tsunami Appeal. We are collecting
the donations at the moment, and we will have details as to total amounts raised
in the next newsletter.
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For the hostels that took part, thanks again, and Paul will send out some more
information about the appeal early next week. If you have any questions about
the appeal, do not hesitate to contact him on paul.scraton@gomio.com.
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Contact the European Hostel Cooperation
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So that’s your lot for February. Please let us know if you have any information
that you would like us to include in future EHC Newsletters, and if you want
to get in contact with us, with suggestions, criticisms, questions or comments,
here’s how you do so...
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The European Hostel Cooperation GmbH
Johannisstrasse 2
10117 Berlin
Germany
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Telephone: +49 (0) 30 2462 8500
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Email: info@gomio.com
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All the best from your European Hostel Cooperation Team.
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