Travel trends 2015 - British tourists opting out of beach holidays in 2015

#beachholidays #ABTA #BritishTourists #packagetours As 2014 enters its final hours, the word is going around that in 2015, the British are gradually opting out of beach holidays and plan to go to Austria, Botswana and Cuba – these destinations appear to be new trends in the tourist maps. A research carried out by British travel association ABTA has shown that in 2015, nearly 43 per cent of people are planning a city break while 42 per cent are planning a beach holiday. Moreover, there appears to be a growing trend for the desire to live like a local in search of ‘more authentic’ experiences. Hence, holiday companies are modifying their strategies and offering people the chance to enjoy hidden gems alongside traditional tourist attractions. The report of ABTA has also listed 12 destinations that are expected to emerge in 2015 and Austria is at the top of the list, then comes Botswana, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Japan. It seems over 35 percent of British holidaymakers nurse a desire to travel to a new country in 2015, a country that they have never visited earlier. The tourism boom is expected in Cuba following the decision of the US to lift restrictions on travel and trade. The survey was carried out among 2,001 Britons, and 20 per cent of respondents said they would spend more on trips next year compared to 15 per cent who will spend less. Some of the reasons for this growth is that more affluent holidaymakers are taking more holidays, package trips and a desire to maximize leisure time by combining travel with adventure or activity holidays or events.

Pope Francis to focus his attention, in 2015, to climate change

#PopeFrancis #ClimateChange #CatholicBishops Pope Francis has shown that he is made of a different material and he is unhappy that no one is taking climate change seriously. People call him the “superman pope”, and President Obama has cited him as a key player in the thawing of relations with Cuba. Pope Francis has also lectured his cardinals on the need to clean up Vatican politics. And, his focus is now on climate change.
Among his plans for 2015 are to issue a lengthy message on the subject to the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, give an address to the UN general assembly and also call a summit of the world’s main religions. His basic intention is to influence the 2015 crucial climate meeting in Paris. On that occasion, the countries will try to conclude 20 years of fraught negotiations with a universal commitment to reduce emissions.
In March last Pope Francis had visited Tacloban – this was the city in the Philippine that had been devastated in 2012 by typhoon Haiyan. The pope would be publishing a rare encyclical on climate change and human ecology. He would also urge all Catholics to take action on moral and scientific grounds. He plans to send the document to the world’s 5,000 Catholic bishops and 400,000 priests, who will be expected to distribute it to parishioners.
He has very rightly remarked that the monopolizing of lands, deforestation, the appropriation of water, inadequate agro-toxics are some of the evils that tear man from the land of his birth. In this connection he has added that climate change, the loss of biodiversity and deforestation are already showing their devastating effects in the great cataclysms that are being witnessed.
The efforts of Pope Francis would possibly meet with resistance from certain groups but, for preservation of the world and for the sake of environmental protection, his stand should be appreciated.