Feb 12 - Our latest training course was carried out in rural Suffolk at the offices of award winning sustainable tour operator Tribes Travel. Pictured are Guy & Amanda Marks with the Tribes Team.
www.tribes.co.uk
Jan 12 - The Costa Concordia disaster off the coast of Italy this month will have caused many tour operators to go into crisis management mode if they had customers on board. Would you have been prepared if you had customers affected?
Jan 12 - In January we conducted a central crisis management training course at Boreham House in Chelmsford. Pictured are delegates from Cosmos, Abercrombie & Kent, Wendy Wu Tours, The Discovery Collection, Chateau Estefani and Tasker & Partners Insurance.
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www.borehamhouse.co.uk
Jan 12 - Happy New Year to all!
Dec 11 - tranquilico.com would like to wish all our clients and suppliers a calm, safe and crisis free festive season.
Dec 11 - November saw us fortunate enough to be training and auditing in Kenya and Tanzania for Akorn DMC. Pictured are the management teams in Mombasa, Nairobi and Arusha.
Akorn - Mombasa
Akorn - Nairobi
Akorn - Arusha
www.akorndmc.com
Dec 11 - Last month saw us training at Steppes Travel in Cirencester. Pictured are some of the senior management team who attended. L-R - James, Nick & Jarrod.
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www.steppestravel.co.uk
Dec 11 -We are holding a central Crisis Management Training course at stunning Boreham House in Chelmsford on Wed 18th January. 11.00am - 3.00pm with coffee and a snack lunch included.
Excellent value at just £55+vat per delegate. If you are interested please get in touch.
www.borehamhouse.co.uk
Nov 11 - Senior Staff from Wendy Wu Tours participated in our popular Crisis Management Training course this month. Delegates were from their UK, Australia and US office and all were put through their paces in our interactive desktop simulation. Pictured are some of the attendess L-R Lorraine, Emily (Front), Stuart, Chris (Aus), Alan (Aus), Jonathan (USA). Manuel and Darshan.
Oct 11 - We met with our new client holidaysinspain.com at their offices in Malaga during October, Pictured are the commercial team: L-R Jan, Sue & Simona
www.webhotels.org
www.holidaysinspain.com
Oct 11 - Sign up for our first ever open house Crisis Management training course at Boreham House in Essex, an impressive corporate venue in a Georgian Stately Home. For details e-mail us at tranquilico@me.com
www.borehamhouse.co.uk
Oct 11 - Get a copy of our October e-news by signing up in the contact us section of this website - articles on Avignon, Malaga, Boreham House and more...
Sept 11 - tranquilico.com carried out some refresher crisis management training at leading independant school St Margaret's in Hampstead.
l-r: Sam, Mark & Lesley from St Margaret's
Sept 11 - Read our September e-news thats just been issued - sign up on this site. Some interesting articles for travel professionals.
Aug 11 - Webhotels.org and Holidaysinspain.com are the latest to take up H&S services from tranquilico.com.
 
www.webhotels.org www.holidaysinspain.com
Aug 11 - Read our August newsletter - sign up on this website - Corgi, Journey Latin America, Holidays in Spain and more....
July 11 - Inspire Worldwide are the latest company to take up crisis management services from tranquilico.com. Check out their website to see some of their amazing projects.
www.inspire-worldwide.com
July 11 - Read our latest July e-news, sign up on this site
June 11 - Delegates at Kernave Unesco World Heritage Site whilst at the AITO conference in Vilnius, Lithuania from 16th-19th June.
 
June 11 - In Edinburgh, we carried out Health & safety and crisis management training for Himalayan Footsteps.They are a specialist operator to India, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, offering a range of bespoke trekking, sightseeing, cultural and adventure holidays to one of the worlds most spectacular regions. They have a strong ethical stance that benefits local communities and their motto is 'We provide our customers with brilliant memories'.
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Pictured are L-R: Sakila, MD Oliver, Isha & Ulrike.Visit their website at:
June 11 - Register for our June e-news out now, articles on Corgi, Richard Branson, Hurricanes, Dengue and more....sign up on this website.
May 11 -
tranquilico.com recently completed annual refresher crisis management training for one of our clients Pura Aventura based in Brighton. They specialise in responsible, comfortable and active holidays to Latin America and Spain, (in particular walking holidays). They are an independent company, run by a small team who are driven by a passion for the places they know and love. Pura Aventura has been making comfortable, responsible and active holidays since 1999 and is fully ATOL bonded.
Pictured are L-R: Gloria, Tom MD, Laurent & Sarah
May 11 -tranquilico.com have recently completed some work for Tribes Travel, based in idyllic rural Earl Soham, Suffolk and owned by Guy and Amanda Marks. They are a leading specialist tour operator offering tailor made holidays to a variety of exciting destinations around the world.
Tribes are globally recognised pioneers of fair trade, ethical and responsible travel, with a strapline "The art of travelling with respect". Winners of the British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow Award, Virgin Holidays and First Choice Holidays Responsible Tourism awards and both World and British Travel Awards they also hold the prestigious 5 star AITO sustainable tourism certification.
Director Guy Marks says: "We have worked with tranquilico.com on the LATA Transport safety programme which they operate on our behalf. On the back of this they have helped Tribes to enhance our crisis management and safety management systems for the benefit of both our business and our customers. I would have no hesitation in recommending their services to other operators"
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www.tribes.co.uk
May 11 - Check out our May e-news for an excellent article on Seat Belt use by Ian Hopkinson from mb law.
www.mb-law.co.uk
Apr 11 - Pictures from the recent AITO crisis management workshop, delivered by tranquilico.com. Delegates were from Discover Adventure, Inscape Tours, Journey Latin America, Llama Travel, Martin Randall Travel, McCabe Travel, Ski Safari, Tucan Travel & 1st Class Holidays
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Mar 11 - More than 60 members of the global operations team of EF tours undertook crisis management refresher training at their world wide meeting in Boston last month.
Pictured L-R: Alex, Tammie, Amy, Sam & Mike
Mar 11 - our March e-news is out now, sign up for a copy via this website, read about the first corporate manslaughter case in the UK under the new 2007 law from Emma at mb law.
Mar 11 - tranquiico.com have just completed a crisis management training course and incident investigation seminar for Canvas Holidays Overseas Management at their training site just north of Paris.
Pictured are:
Back L-R - Simon Allen (MD). Jen Evans, Lara Halman, Lynette Johnson, Peter Jarvis, Dan Wilson, Janet Ingleton & Beth Goldsbrough.
Front L-R - Ed Pyke (Training/Regional Manager), Luke Robinson, Richie Devaney, Andy Hogarth & Sandy Gibbons (Operations Manager)
Feb 11 - Our February e-news is now available, sign up for a copy and read a Lawyers eye-view of crisis management from Susan Deer, Travel Solicitor at Everatt & Co, London
www.everatt.co.uk
Feb 11 - tranquilico.com are also presenting at the LATA (Latin America Travel Association) Health & Safety seminar at the Argentine Embassy, London on Wed 23rd Feb.
www.lata.org
Feb 11 - tranquilico.com are presenting at the forthcoming AITO General Meeting on 17th February at the Copthorne Tara Hotel, Kensington.
www.aito.co.uk
Jan 11 - We recently carried out some crisis management refresher training for the Duty Office at Page & Moy Travel Group. Pictured are Sally (Duty Office Supervisor) front left with her team.
Jan 11 - Our January e-news is out - sign up for it on this website
Jan 11 - tranquilico.com have decided to sponsor a child during 2011 - Lav Kush a primary school pupil in Utter Pradesh, India will be supported by a monthly donation from tranquilico.com. You can assist by triggering a small donation if you follow our twitter or facebook page.
 Lav Kush
Jan 11 - The Foreign Office have advised against all but essential travel to Tunisia. Due to civil unrest, public disorder, lootings and shootings following the removal of their President. It started due to high unemployement, rising food prices and corruption and the departure of all the tourists will only exacerbate this problem. Tour Operators will hope that calm is restored so that programmes can be re-commenced as soon as possible.
Jan 11 - tranquilico.com would like to wish all our clients and suppliers a prosperous, safe and healthy New Year!
Dec 10 - We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our clients and suppliers a fantastic festive season!
Dec 10 - Our December e-news is now out, if you want some additonal information with regular news and articles, sign up for our monthly e-news today.
Dec 10 - This is your last month to help Kids Aid Tanzania. if you 'like' our facebook page or follow us on twitter we will will make a donation to this worthwhile cause.
www.kidsaidtanzania.org.uk
Dec 10 - We recently completed some Health & Safety training at STA Travel Group in Kensington. A leading provider of Student and Volunteering travel STA Travel group are based in Kensington with offices around the world.
Pictured are: Kate, Paul (MD), Gemma, Thea & Val with their tranquilico.com certificate
www.statravelgroup.com
Dec 10 - tranquilico.com recently carried out some auditing in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an up and coming tourist destination. See our e-news for further information.
 
Nov 10 - We are delighted to announce that we have recently become an AITO (Association of Independant Tour Operators) affiliate.
AITO represents some of Britain's best specialist tour operators.
Members are independent companies, most of them owner-managed, specialising in particular destinations or types of holidays.
The common aim of all AITO members is to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction by concentrating on three main pillars: Choice, Quality & Service, all enshrined in the association's Quality Charter.
Companies admitted to AITO are all vetted and fully bonded for client protection, in compliance with UK and European regulations.
They are also bound by AITO's own Code of Business Practice.
There are currently 142 members many award winning tour operators in their specialist fields.
tranquilico.com Managing Director Colin McGregor said "We are delighted to be a affilliated to AITO members, we already work independantly with one or two members and have been impressed with their keeness to improve their overall risk management policies and procedures. We believe our services sit well with AITO's overall quality aims and look forward to working more closely with the association"
"This is a significant proposal that will improve the safety of many helicopter flights in the United States," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a written statement.
The commercial helicopter sector in the US has a grim record, with 75 accidents resulting in 88 fatalities from 1994 through 2008. With the number of incidents increasing in recent years
This is quite a statement from the US authorities where aviation regulations are meant to be one of the highest in the world.
A lesson from this is that any tour operator offering helicopter flights in various countries around the world should also ensure their suppliers are operating to good practice standards wherever possible.
Conducting a self assessment of the supplier utilising our epass technology is a good first step.
Oct 10 - Lord Young has signalled a possible end to the UK 'compensation culture' in his recent speech at the Conservative party conference.
Appointed by the coalition government in June he has been tasked with overhauling Britain's health & safety laws by applying an element of 'common sense' back into them.
His proposals include: Adverts encouraging personal injury claims on a no-win, no-fee basis will be restricted- Red tape preventing children from going on school outings will be scrapped- People performing first aid or good Samaritan acts would be exempted from being sued.
The proposals have already been slammed by pressure groups and lawyers who act for claimants.
Lord Young has pledged to restore "common sense" over regulation. "We need a system that is proportionate and not bureaucratic,"
He also said that jobs were being lost as businesses were forced to spend exorbitant amounts defending unjustified claims brought by "ambulance-chasing" lawyers.
Could this also signal a potential end to the holiday class action claims feulled by the no win no fee lawyers?
This will be an interesting one to watch, if you have a view let us know via our facebook page
Oct 10 - Our new charity for the last quarter of 2010 is 'Kids Aid Tanzania' registered charity no. 1111220. UK
This is a small charity set up in 2005 by Colin and Eileen McHardle, to help homeless, disadvantaged and disabled children in one of the poorest areas of Tanzania, many affected by HIV/Aids.
They operate two orphanages, one in Hisani for 85 children and the other in Watoto for 50 children.
Their current funding needs are, help with the Orphanage running costs and their Bugarika malaria project, where they hope to purchase 5,500 insecticide treated nets at a cost of £4 each. One net will protect 2 children in this community of over 12,000 inhabitatnts
We will make a corporate donation to the charity at the end of December for every person who likes our facebook page or joins our twitter feed between now and 3
Sept 10 - The international tourism industry is being urged to do more to protect tourists from the risk of death and injury on the roads.
A report from the Make Roads Safe Campaign and the FIA Foundation warns that tourist deaths on the roads could almost double in the next 10 years.
Currently, some 25,000 tourists die on the roads around the world every year. The road safety campaigners want tour operators to use their economic position to demand improvements - such as requiring all taxis to have working seat belts and trained drivers.
www.makeroadssafe.org
Sept 10 - We have seen a period of intense hurricane activity in the Caribbean and also in the Pacific over the last few weeks. The Hurricane season in the Caribbean can go on until the end of October, so you still need to keep monitoring the websites, notably the Miami National Hurricane Centre and the Joint Tropical Warning Centre in Hawaii.
Sept 10 - Emma Price from mb law writes:
Are you protected by your Public Liability Insurance Policy?
"Generally speaking tour operators work on the basis that their public liability insurance protects them from personal injury claims. However this may not always be the case.
As a matter of best practice, tour operators should -
Check that the level of cover is adequate taking account of factors such as the potential value of serious injuries and the risk that more than one client may be injured in a single incident"
The full article can be read in the September issue of our e-news, sign up for a copy in the contact us section of this site.
Sept 10 - A recent issue in China threw the spotlight on aviation safety - where the Chinese authorities were investigating more than 200 pilots who had lied or falsified their qualifications and experience.
This is also given as one of the reasons for the recent Henan airlines crash in Northern China.
You can develop a procedure for managing Aviation Safety quite quickly as this is an area that is generally quite highly regulated.
If an airline sits on the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) register. then you can be satisfied that they are meeting the highest levels of aviation safety currently available.
This then only leaves you with the non-IOSA airlines, where you can develop some form of desktop assessment as a way of satisfying yourself of their safety status, along with additonal web research.
For example, ensuring any airline you use is not featured on the EU list of banned airlines.
If there are any issues thrown up from a desktop assessment and research, then you can consider conducting a physical inspection.
Helicopters and Balloons woud need to be tackled independantly too as they are 'higher risk' air activities not covered by IOSA.
If you need help developing Aviation Safety protocols then please get in touch.
www.iata.org
Sept 10 - Last months case of the holidaymaker who fell from her balcony in Kavos, Corfu after a night of drinking and partying highlights the need for customers to be made aware of the need for proper travel insurance. They cannot travel abroad simply with a European Health Insurance (EHIC) card and expect to be covered for all eventualities as this case proved.
Following her accident this customer was paralysed with a broken back and required repatriation by air ambulance. Her boyfriend ran out of funds too as they had to extend their stay - the EHIC card covers neither.
It was only due to the genorosity of an unnamed donor that they received the funds to fly her home - not everyone can rely on this!
The FCO Know Before You Go (KBYG) campaign promotes the need for proper insurance to travellers, if you are not a KBYG partner then sign up now and make use of their material in your literature and websites.
Sept 10 - We recently completed a 'Disaster Recovery Workshop' at the prestigious St Margarets School for Girls in Hampstead. Pictured outside the school after the training with their tranquilico.com certificate are:
L-R Sam Beschizza, Caroline Bradford, Sarah Treagus, Mark Webster & Lesley-Anne Scorgie
Sept 10 - This is the last month you can help trigger a donation to the Dental Project Peru. Simply go to our home page or contact us section and 'like' our facebook page - simple!
Aug 10 - Another balcony fatality has recently been reported from Ibiza, where a 30yr old male fell 40ft from his apartment after a night of drinking and partying.
The incident occurred at the Sa Clau apartments in San Antonio, his girlfriend is expected to appear before a judge imminently to explain what happened.
Aug 10 - Remember if you 'like' our facebook page between now and the end of September you will trigger a donation to our chosen charity "The Dental Project Peru"
Aug 10 - The first balcony fall of the summer was reported in the press recently involving a 17year old British girl in Spain who fell seven storeys at the Torrenova Playa Hotel and subsequently died in hospital from her injuries.
This is always a risk for young people on holiday abroad, sun, alcohol and high rise often don't mix and sadly most balcony fatalities are males, 16+ involving drink.
If you don't already, re-affirm balcony safety to your customers and also advise suppliers to ensure their balconies are at least 1m high with no step up allurement or ladder effect that may attract younger children to climb up
Aug 10 - Sadly there was a recent white water rafting fatality in the Dalaman Cayi river in Turkey, involving a 9 year old British girl. The white water rafting operation wasn't sold by either Thomson, First Choice or Thomas Cook due to safety concerns. An investigation is underway as to the safety procedures of the rafting organisation, age restrictions, swimming requirement, lifejackets, helmets etc. for the type and grade of white water rafting (grade 3-4)
The boss of the rafting company has been quoted in a Turkish newspaper anonymously, as saying: "The children wouldn't sit still in the raft and that caused it to capsize."
There is an International Rafting Federatiion (IRF) but they are only now looking at setting safety recommendations and age restriction limitations and endeavouring to ensure suppliers are accredited.
Yet another reason why it pays to check out any suppliers in advance as best you can!
Aug 10 - Apple managed to mismanage their recent crisis over the iphone4 signal issue resulting in a $20bn loss in share price. Initially this was something that can only be described as a minor technical issue which could be simply resolved. However, Apples failure to manage the crisis or the media led to this becoming a major issue for them.
Their CEO Steve Jobs sent an e-mail to a customer saying " You are all getting worked up over a few days rumour - calm down!" which in effect made matters worse as they initially failed to acknowledge they had a problem and rectify it.
Apple should have reacted quickly with a plan of action to resolve the signal issue before allowing chatter on twitter and facebook to turn it into news headlines...a very costly mistake
Jul 10 - tranquilico.com delivered crisis management trainng to two organisations based in Lewisham this month, TWIN UK & WAVA (work and volunteer abroad). Pictured you have Jacqui Fox, TWIN UK MD and Ricard Giner, WAVA MD with their tranquilico.com certificates.
www.twinuk.com
www.workandvolunteer.com
Jul 10 - we recently completed crisis management trauma training at Audley Travel in Witney, Oxfordshire. This luxury tour operator are based in a beautiful converted blanket mill in a lovely rural setting, with acres of wooden floors, steel and glass and a staff picnic area by the river.
 
www.audleytravel.com
Jul 10 - Edinburgh based OJM Travel have recently signed up for both crisis management and health & safety advice from tranquilico.com. They are a specialist tour operator to Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, India and several other countries.
visit: www.ojmtravel.com
Jul 10 - Sign up for our July e-news with interesting and informative articles on the BP crisis, Moscow, the South Africa Coach Crash, Accident investigations and the legal view on the need for risk management and due diligence from travlaw. Or join our facebook page for more regular updates, news and information.
July 1O - from July to September we are supporting a small charity - the Dental Project Peru registered number SC 034755. From May to September each year they send volunteer dentists to the remote Apurimac region of Peru, setting up dentists chairs in post offices and rocks on the mountains, often treating more than a hundred people a day. To trigger a donation from tranquilico.com you simply need to 'like' our new facebook page - you can do this direct from this site or via facebook.
July 10 - tranquilico.com raised £50 for the travel foundation with new subscribers to our e-news. We will be supporting a new charity from the publication of our July edition e-news.
July 10 - tranquilico.com recently returned from a trip to Moscow, staying at one of the largest hotels in the world, the 10,000 capacity Ismailovo Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta complex.
June 10 - tranquilico.com recently completed crisis management training in Edinburgh for 3 Scottish based tour operators.
Andean Trails, Caledonia Languages and OJM Travel (Himalaya Kingdoms)
Pictured left to right are Directors:
Kath Bateman www.caledonialanguages.co.uk
Oliver Margry www.ojmtravel.com
Kathy Jarvis. www.andeantrails.co.uk
June 10 - throughout June we continue to raise funds for the Travel Foundation. Anyone who signs up for our e-news in the contact us section of this site, will trigger a corporate donation. This has been running from 1st April and will close on 30th June.
www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk
June 10 - Leading luxury tour operator Audley Travel are taking up a tranquilico.com trauma training course in July.
Based in Witney, Ofordshire, Audley Travel specialise in individual tailor made itineraries, for the discerning traveller seeking authentic experiences around the world.
 www.audleytravel.com
June 10 - The recent coach crash in Cumbria involving pupils from a Keswick School is a timely reminder to all schools to ensure they have good crisis management procedures in place.
June 10 - Solicitor Emma price from travel law firm mb law wrote an excellent article in our June e-news. It was regarding a £150k claim for a serious balcony incident that was successfully defended due to the information gathered from health & safety checks.
For the whole article sign up for our e-news in the contact us section of this site, or contact Emma direct on:
emma@mb-law.co.uk
www.mb-law.co.uk
June 10 - Guatemala suffered two natural disasters recently both relatively close together.
Firstly the eruption of the Pacaya Volcano which spouted out rocks and ash and closed the main airport in Guatemala City. There was thankfully only one fatality but more than 2,000 locals were evacuated as homes were destroyed.
Pacaya is the most active of Guatemala's 32 volcanoes and has been intermittently erupting since 1966. Tourists often visit the lava flows it has produced since its explosions of 1989 and 1991
Next came Tropical Storm Agatha, the first storm of the 2010 Pacific hurricane season, which was much more destructive, killing 172 and leaving more than 7000 homeless. It made landfall on the Guatemalan Mexican border and most of the deaths were a result of landslides and flash floods caused by the extremely heavy rains.
If you operate programmes to areas where natural disasters such as Volcanoes and Cyclones/Hurricanes can occur, then you need to be prepared should any of your customers be affected.
tranquilico.com specialises in helping small to medium sized tour operators get their plans and procedures in order, plus training and desktop simulations to help you be prepared.
 
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tranquilico.com
for ultimate peace of mind!
Contact us: 0208 242 4553 or
Complete our contact form in the contact us section of the site
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