Did you know? and not a lot of people know this! From the 2011 season onwards all vehicles booked on a ferry or eurotunnel crossing will need there registration details included when booking. When a vehicle is changed, the booking needs altering.

The changes have been updated in the Travel Technology Initiatives Unicorn EDI message set. As Excutive members of 'TTI' Mach Associates have ensured that these latest standards are included in our MARS reservations software. www.machassociates.com

The economic down turn - or whatever we are calling, the disaster that is our economy, this week - has claimed another victim! Goldentrail Holidays comes rather fast on the heals of Allbury Travel, XL et al! I wonder if there are rather too many people just crossing their fingers and hoping out there in holiday land!

The margins seem to rather too tight and with the exchange rate against the Euro bobbing up and down it may not be too long before we have another failure on our hands. But I do wonder what effect the Euro is having on Tour Operators viability, sometimes.

According to Travelmole the latest research from Mintel says that 2.8 million people have been put off flying by the volcanic ash disruption and a further 4.7 million are considering what to do. That will laeve a lot of people looking for holidays that does not include air travel.

Bearing in mind my recent blogs; I bet you know what I am going to say now!!!! Absolutely right! yes that is it - travel by ferry - book on MARS!

p>The recent, and seemingly on going, problem with ash closing UK and European airspace on a regular basis gives tour operators a real opportunity to refocus holidays to ferry based transportation. Amongst the groups that I am sure will take advantage of the change of customer focus toward self drive holiday products will, I am sure, members of ABTOF.

The Association of British Travel Organisers to France has members in many different niche markets and I am certain that they will all be keen show the travelling public that only a short Ferry ride away is a our biggest holiday destination - France. To turn what could be a significant upsurge in demand for Ferry and Eurotunnel reservations into bookings, ABTOF members really need to offer customers the ability to book on line at their websites to ensure that they capture the new business quickly before their competitors do! "Mach Associates" offer very cost effective ferry booking service that can be added to websites. Customers can choose between paying an 'up front' fee and a lower booking charge per passenger or opt for a higher booking fee but no up front. Either option gets travel companies an on line ferry booking service so that this summers can still be accessed.

see www.machassociates.com for full details

Mach Associates have just completed a significant upgrade to our MARS ferry booking feature. Our customers who use this External Reservations System Connection have been able to quickly and easily rebook passengers who have had their travel arrangements disrupted by the general travel chaos that has happened from the fall out (pun intended)of the Iceland volcano.

The MARS ferry booking feature includes IP connections to ferry operators - where they are offered - so booking speeds have improved considerably and we have updated all the latest booking facilities such as disabled passenger cabin reservations on mid and long channel crossing routes. We now offer a new supplier in LD Lines including their new route Ramsgate - Ostend.

The ferry booking feature is one that we have developed internally and has not been sourced from a third party so we can offer it to tour operator and other customers at very competitive costs.

Finally, after six days it seems to be all over and british airspace is open again

It seems like ages but airlines are working again. I wonder how long before the financial fallout makes its self felt! I see our friends at Ryanair are un happy with EU regulations that make them compensate passengers that have been stranded. But like all other EU carriers they will have to grin and bare it, but not without their usual whining.

British Airways on the other hand seem to have, by and large, covered themselves in glory! I have several friends to have just got back from the USA and Zambia who have all said how fantasically well BA looked after them and how quickly they got repatriated. Well done BA.

Now that agents dynamic packaging is looking more and more likely to be the next travel product to come under the VAT spotlight because our friends at HMRC are likely to argue that selling accommodation combined with other products is going to fall under TOMS regulations. It seems to me that the issue of Tour Operators Dynamic Packaging is more important than ever. Tour operators, work with TOMS and know how it applies to their products, so that creating a dynamic package that they can sell through agents is better solution all round!

Mach Associates have long promoted dynamic packaging, but what is it? To us it means that holiday providers can offer tailored packages that meet customers demands for a better deal that utilise low cost and flexible travel arrangements as part of the safety and financial security of a packaged holiday. Our MARS reservations system allows tour operators to do that by adding - for example - low cost airline or ferry transport to accommodation and resort services. The travel company makes a healthy margin from the ground arrangements and captures volume bookings by providing the product the public want which in turn can be sold via travel trade disribution channels such as travel agents who also make their margin, but without the exposure to VAT (TOMS) problems. It sounds like a winner to me!

I see that WEBapps have introduced a low cost reservations system called Murcury for which they claim - 'it is not possible to operate any reservation system for a lower cost' ! Well I have news for them our MARS reservations software is cheaper and offers better growth potential. Why offer a cut down application when the parent system should be able to handle companies from start ups to multi nationals?

Offering; No set, up fees, No hosting fees, No license fees, No support fees and No installation fees is fine but you can bet your last pound it is not going to be FREE and sure enough it is not. I think that if you make less than 1000 passengers p.a. you might save a couple of quid but after that it will cost a lot more. Mach Associates MARS tour operator reservations system offers very cost effective entry to web browser based technology and the second year onwards is even cheaper.

My advice - stick with MARS, other planets may not be what they seem!

I see to day that HMRC have won their case against MedHotels. This means that they and I suspect many other travel industry organisations such as tour operators and Bed Banks will find that TOMS is the main subject at the next borad meeting. Martin Pooley the industry expert on the Tour Operators Margin Scheme along with specialist accountants like "White Hart" are going to be the busiest people in the industry, this year!!

No one likes paying VAT but until HMRC can get clearer rules into the travel industry about when it is due we will continue getting issues like this arising and it will cost us all money

The British Airways cabin crew strike is over for a few days at least. It all reminds me of British Leyland - yes I am that old!! - The unions and the management obviously hated each other and as a consequence killed the business stone dead. It might of carried on as Rover for a few extra years, but the business was dead from the time of the industrial unrest in the 1970's and 1980's.

I fear the cabin crew have already killed BA, the international travelling public have lost faith in the brand and it may already be dead, I hope I am wrong.