13/02/2014 BBC Channel Islands News


13/02/2014

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First Minister, Alex Salmond, what Good evening. A travel company which

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has been bringing visitors to the Channel Islands for nearly 50 years

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has gone out of business with many of its customers here at the moment.

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Preston Travel Ltd, also known as Preston Holidays, brought in tens of

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thousands of customers a year. Louise Walter has more.

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It was one of the biggest players in the Channel Islands travel. Preston

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offered trips to Guernsey, Sa amongst other places. Thousands of

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holiday`makers are affected and potentially hundreds of hotels,

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amongst them this one which lost hundreds of summer bookings as

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Preston lost its business. It varies each year. This year we are looking

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strong so it made it more surprising from our perspective that it went

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bust. Currently we have in excess of 400 bookings this year. We shall be

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sad to lose them as a conduit to the UK market. This hotel is not alone.

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The Channel Islands government spent thousands of pounds advertising each

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year and customers saw the appeal. The message is that the island is

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still open for business. We are trying hard to make sure we still

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offer holidays to people who were going to come to Jersey and within a

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short space of time we will have other tour operators' products and

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other travel agencies selling opportunities.

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It is thought around 150 tourists were already on holiday, many in the

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Channel Islands when the news came that the company ceased to trade.

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They will have the rest of their stay and travel covered, but the's

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news will heat stress on an already struggling industry, just ahead of

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the vital to the season. `` keep stress.

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For more on the impact of Preston's collapse on holiday`makers and the

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Channel Islands tourism industries, I spoke to Sean Tipton from the

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Association of British Travel Agents earlier today.

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Preston Travel was a Channel Islands specialist. The majority of those

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people travelling affected will be attending the Channel Islands. Four

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and a half thousand people will be affected. The majority of them will

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be going to the Channel Islands How big a player was Preston Travel in

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this holiday market? They have been going for almost 50 years, almost a

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household name in terms of travel companies to the travel Evans. They

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were very important but they have since gone out of business and

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before that there were issues about their trading position. Our main

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point at the moment is to assure those affected that they will get a

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full refund. What will actually happen? What happens to the people

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stuck in the Channel Islands? For those on holiday at the moment who

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travelled with Preston Travel, if they flew out with the company,

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their hotel 's will be paid for If they travel by any other method

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that is apt that was Mach responsibility. They will contact

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them and make sure that they can continue with their holidays. We are

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doing that for people who did not book flights in terms of travel

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After that, unfortunately, everything will be cancelled and it

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is a question of people getting refunds. In the majority of cases,

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it may well be that hotel 's will be contacted by other companies

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offering to overtake the business. Thousands of people are employed in

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the hospitality industry, they will be worried this evening. Are there

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any signs of other operators in the Channel Islands having similar

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problems? Euro I would like to reassure everyone in the hospitality

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industry that they should not worry about this rotten spreading. Of

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course, it was a high`profile company with a long history but we

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will find out what happened and why they went out of business. Generally

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speaking, if you look at the business and how people are feeling

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about booking their holidays, things are getting better rather than

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worse. I would like to reassure people if you work in the

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hospitality industry, this does not mean that you will see a drop in

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business over the summer. Condor Ferries has warned union

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leaders that it won't be a simple matter to reregister its vessel the

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Rapide to France. That's one demand of the company's French crew who've

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been on strike for a week. They also want better social security and

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pension rights. Condor bosses are discussing the move with the French

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maritime authorities. It is not easy legally, it is not easy financially

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and it is certain not easy operationally. There are a lot of

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hurdles to overcome before we move down that road. In the meantime we

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have a counter offer on the table and be put an offer on the table

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Singh will work with them to get people moving again and we will do

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everything within a time frame to see what the options to move

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forward. It's now 500 days until the Island

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Games come to Jersey and organisers think it could be as big as the

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Sochi Winter Olympics. Almost 3 000 competitors are expected ` that s

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about the same number as in Russia. 24 islands will take part in 14

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different sports. Now organisers are looking for hundreds of volunteer

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Games Makers, as Jen Smith explains. Jersey 2015, the biggest Island

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Games in the events's yesterday according to organisers, even as big

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as this. Some figures are the same at least, Jersey is expecting around

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2900 competitors, the same as though competing in the Winter Olympics and

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so cheering now and it is estimated after coaches and support staff are

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added to the mix, it could be around 4000, roughly the same as this

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parish. You'd be certainly have the capacity for these people. We have

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12,000 beds on the island, around about 9000 hotel beds. We have 000

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guest houses. We also have campsites. From the 27th of June to

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the 3rd of July, the island will be full.

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The organisers of these games are taking inspiration from London 012,

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they have big plans. They want 00 volunteers to be Games Makers to

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help out throughout the event. We will have opportunities for students

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and we will target them in particular. There will be pupil who

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no longer work or retired, even people like myself who beat off of

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work to attend. There are still some big issues with plans to move

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thousands of African around the island still getting made.

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One thing is certain, applications for Jersey's Games Makers open next

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month. `` thousands of athletes That's it from me. David Braine has

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the Channel Islands weather next and the national forecast follows him.

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Goodnight. There is more wet weather on the

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way. For a time to make the winds will drop but pick up again to words

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tomorrow morning. It is a South easterly wind which will reach gale

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force at times. There is some pretty heavy rain saw the rainfall could

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cause problems, it is intense and lasting for much of the day. There

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will be gusts of wind between 6 and 70 mph. The showers will fade away

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tonight and we will have clearer skies overnight for a time,

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temperatures are around three or four Celsius. The rain is back and

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play for tomorrow morning. Windy conditions and that dream will come

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and go throughout the morning. It will perhaps turn a bit showery rain

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after lunch, but still plenty of showers continuing through the end

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of the day with the winds increasing. By the end of the

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evening we could have gusts up to 60 or 70 mph. Slightly less cold. The

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outlook for Saturday and Sunday Saturday is another windy day with

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showers. Colder air coming in behind that main area of rain. Break and

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dry on Sunday, more wet weather but generally quieter on Monday. Good

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night. `` break and dry on Sunday. few days and now we go to the

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weather centre for the national forecast from Nick Miller.

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Hello, in this winter of perpetual autumn, it seems we're never more

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than a day away from a storm so we must be due another one and as

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you've just heard, here it comes, deepening in the Atlantic Trio

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heading for us. Overall for the UK, we're not expecting this to be as

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severe as the storm yesterday that there will be some significant

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impact, particularly where the Met Office has weather warnings

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