The ability to move freely between Member States is one very concrete outcome of greater union in Europe. But with mobility comes potential insecurity. What happens if I get sick on holidays in Italy? Is insurance reciprocal when I work abroad in the EU? How is the hospital bill processed? The little blue European Health Insurance Card (eye-readable EHIC), valid since June 2004, takes the worry out of inter-European travel and work assignments, replacing a number of different forms that needed to be carried while on the move, such as the E111 and E110. This plastic card legally(1) entitles insured citizens from EU/EFTA countries to equivalent (unplanned) healthcare while abroad in any of the other 27 Member States or four EFTA countries.

This means the eye-readable EHIC has been implemented in a total of 31 countries Europe-wide. Quite an achievement already! “But this is all back-story to the challenging task we now face of digitizing the process,” says Noël Nader, director for international areas at GIE Sesame-Vitale in France who heads a consortium of Commission-funded partners now deploying ICT solutions to simplify and improve EHIC.

AFTER its launch in Ghana last July, the Akwaaba Travel Insurance Policy gathered international recognition. On Friday the 7th of December, State Insurance Company of Ghana (SIC) introduced the product to UK dwellers in a launching that was chaired by Ghana’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Annan Cato. Organized by Logik Media, the launching was held at the Royal National Hotel in Bedford Way, London. Akwaaba Insurance Policy, the unique web-based policy, is meant to provide Ghana-bound travelers access to medical care and medical emergencies whilst in the country. It’s also planned to serve as an alternative to the National Health Insurance Scheme for Ghanaian residents abroad planning a visit home.

Akwaaba Insurance Travel Policy is a necessary element that complements Ghana’s tourism promotion drive and it is unique because it can be purchased via the internet. Akwaaba Insurance Policy comes in two different packages; ‘Akwaaba Leisure Package’ and ‘Akwaaba Gold Leisure Package’.

Oriens Travel & Hotel Management Corp. (”Oriens”) (Pink Sheets:OTHM), a Travel and Hotel Management Company, operating online travel site, 128trip and hotel management subsidiary, Hotel Pure, is pleased to announce its first ever customers who purchased the exclusive English speaking guided tour package to China, depart tomorrow December 11, 2007.Although the China exclusive guided tours are still in the process of being integrated into  Oriens’ online travel booking site, the customer service department has managed to sell its first tour package consists of a 9 days itinerary spanning Shanghai, Zhouzhuang, Suzhou, Hangzhou and Beijing with visits to the Great Walls, taste of the Peking duck, Chinese acrobatic show, Shanghai Oriental Broadcast Tower, a boat trip to the ravishingly beautiful West Lake, the graceful Pagoda of Six Harmonies, among other ancient destinations in China.

The 9 days tour will be fully accompanied by a qualified English speaking guide, fully trained by the tourism chamber of China, to accommodate tourists from overseas. Oriens is confidence the tour services provided to its first clients will be satisfactory given the track records of its Chinese counterparts has been operating the tours for the past 20 years.

Ken Chua, President and CEO of Oriens comments, “This marks yet another milestone achieved by our operation team located both in Costa Rica and Canada. With our clients’ departure date scheduled for December 11, 2007 and returning on December 20, we shall wait anxiously for this pair of honeymooners’ feedbacks with respect to their first handed experience, to our exclusive tour to China.”

While the strong loonie has the outbound travel industry expecting one of its busiest winters on record, Canadian charter companies are anticipating a long, harsh winter ahead with too much capacity in the market. For consumers, these are the ideal conditions to travel, with prices for package tours and cruises at their lowest point in the post-9/11 era.”Bookings are strong, but there’s big pressure on prices,” says Jill Wykes, spokeswoman for Sunquest, a division of Thomas Cook. “There is certainly a lot of promotions and discounting going on.”Patrick Luciani, Travelonly chief executive, says early bookings this winter at his travel agency, which has offices in Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec, are up by about 45% on the year.

Meanwhile, prices have dropped between 10% and 20%, depending on the destination.”Certainly, this winter is going to be one of the best winters in Canadian travel history,” he says. But what’s good for consumers, it is not necessarily so for charter tour operators like Transat A.T. Inc., which turned in a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter results Friday. The country’s largest charter tour operator would not say how much of a profit it would turn this winter, but there are early indications of too many seats available on planes flying south.

Complicating matters is the fact that a warm fall has Canadians booking later than in other years, which forces operators to drop their prices to sell off inventory.”I will not put my hand in the fire to say that we will have a better winter or a worse winter,” said Jean-Marc Eustache, Transat chief executive. “I will not do it.” The company’s stock took a nosedive Friday on the earnings news. There is little doubt more Canadians will be travelling this winter. More than half of Canadians surveyed by the Conference Board of Canada earlier this year said they intended to take a trip this winter.”That’s the highest its been in 15 years,” says David Redekop, a researcher with the board. “The growth is all in outbound travel.”

The Pearl South Pacific Resort in Fiji has dropped its Garden Room rates from around $335 to $115 a night - and children under the age of 12, sharing the room with their parents, stay for free. The resort is on the ocean-front, about 45 minutes from Suva. Activities include diving in the Beqa Lagoon, an 18-hole championship golf course, surfing at Frigates Passage, deep sea fishing, white water rafting and mountain biking. The Arts Village and Cultural Centre is close-by. Go camping in Wanaka for seven nights and snaffle a ticket to some great New Zealand singers’ concerts - ranging from Dave Dobbyn and The Feelers to Anika Moa and Elemeno P. The seven-night camping pass and tickets for three concerts held on December 29 and 31 and January 2 costs $225 a person. Other bands performing are The Black Seeds, Super Groove, Atlas and Th’ Dudes. The deal is on offer until sold out.

The world’s first sporting arena was at Olympia in the Greek western Pelopponese. A five-day festival of chariot and horse-racing, long-jumping and foot-racing was held every four years from 776BC until the Games were abolished nearly 1,200 years later. Happily, a fair amount of ancient Olympia is still intact. Down the centuries, the site has been hit by two earthquakes and severe floods, and the site was almost consumed by forest fires that engulfed the region last August, claiming 63 lives. The field and the surrounding buildings and temples are now overlooked by a hillside of charred trees. The flames came within a few metres of the rectangular field that was rediscovered only in the 19th century. Years of careful excavation have made sense of the tangle of fallen columns and stones, assisted by scale models in the adjacent museum.

The temple of Zeus, three times the size of the Parthenon, has not survived but another, dedicated to Hera, has been almost wholly reconstructed, and its magnificent 4th-century BC statue of Hermes is on display in the museum. Other sights include a monument containing the heart of the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who died in 1937. Ancient Olympia (which reopened within two days of the fires) opens every day from 8.30am-3pm (November-March) and 8am-7.30pm (April-October).

The admission charge of €9You can reach Olympia by flying to Athens and travelling overland to the far west of the peninsula. Olympia’s largest hotel is the Europa International in the heart of the village about 800m from the archaeological site. Double rooms, with buffet breakfast, are €54 (£38).No one with a sense of history or a love of sport will fail to be moved by the experience of standing on the field where man, for the first time in recorded history, found a competitive alternative to warfare.

Global travel retailer Flight Centre Limited has boosted its presence in India by expanding into the country’s emerging leisure travel sector. The company, which operates successfully in India through its corporate travel business FCm Travel Solutions, has today opened its first leisure travel shop in the country. The shop is located in New Delhi and will trade under the Flight Shop banner. Flight Centre Limited’s Global Managing Director Graham Turner said that entry into the Indian leisure travel market represented the company’s first international expansion in the leisure sector since opening in the United States “Developing a presence in India is a small and strategic investment for Flight Centre Limited.” Mr. Turner said.“We see potential to provide a valued service to the leisure travel market and to build on the success we have experienced in the corporate travel sector in the country.

With the Flight Centre name unavailable in India, the Flight Shop branding appropriately conveyed the company’s services to the Indian market.” Mr. Turner said. The Flight Shop outlets will operate alongside the FCm Travel Solutions business, which is headed by Rahul Nath. FCm’s Vice President, Gaurav Luthra will head the leisure operation. According to Mr. Luthra, “Visitors to Flight Shop could expect excellent holiday bargains, with the expert consultants arranging everything from airfares, accommodation and package holidays to car hire and visas. The Flight Shop’s expert service will be backed by a value proposition of ‘Our Perfect Holiday Promise - enjoy the holiday you paid for or we’ll give you a Rs. 1500 voucher’”, Mr. Luthra said. After starting out with just one store 25 years ago, Flight Centre Limited has enjoyed remarkable growth. In its most recent full-year result announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange, the company revealed record sales and profit figures.

Agents must take “all necessary measures” to notify the airline, for example making a phone call, emailing, or filling in a box on the tour operator’s website at least 48 hours before the flight. Travel agents may waive this responsibility if they book a package holiday with a tour operator. However, if they book a flight-only or dynamic package, they must fulfill the requirement. Speaking at a Travel and Tourism Lawyers Association seminar, 1 Chancery Lane lawyer Jack Harding said: “This is a complete change of the legal landscape. Tour operators and travel agents will have to examine what they’re doing very carefully.”

It will no longer be appropriate to take a passive stance and wait for the disabled passenger to inform the operator of his special requests.”If agents fail to provide information, they are potentially guilty of a criminal offence and could face a fine of up to £5,000.Greece and Cyprus Travel Centre director Anna Mavroulakis said she was unaware of the new regulation. “If the client tells us they’re disabled we will make a request on Galileo or advise the tour operator. The new law should not make too much difference to us but it’s something agents should definitely read up on.”Meanwhile, the first part of the new laws, which came into force in July this year, prohibits agents, tour operators and airlines from refusing a booking because of a disability. The only exception to this is on the grounds of health and safety requirements or if it is physically impossible.

Attention, last-minute shoppers! Consider a rooster for that person who has everything. Or two rabbits. Or even a goat, if you’re feeling flush. Like other charities such as Oxfam Canada the Christian charity World Vision has gotten hip to clever marketing with a campaign that lets you “shop” for gifts. At , you can browse various items, and while your sister won’t ever see the two hens and a rooster you’ve bought her for $55, you can send her a card explaining that, according to the charity, they can produce up to 150 eggs a year for a family. Two rabbits ($35) can reproduce into a family business; a goat ($100) can yield 250 liters of milk a year; and two mosquito nets ($30) will help protect eight children from malaria.

The site lets you shop for gifts by price range ($50 and under, for example) or category (animals, living essentials).World Vision is but one globally focused charity registered with the Canada Revenue Agency .There are many others to choose from, such as Care Canada , the Canadian Red Cross Society , and Medicines Sans Frontières . Consider donating to your preferred organization, and not just for that year-end tax receipt. When we travel to developing countries, we can’t ignore people’s day-to-day circumstances, but back home it’s easy to forget.

Lancaster County, a popular short-trip vacation destination for years, is attracting even greater interest these days among travelers, according to Yahoo Travel Guide.” Lancaster, Pa.” moved up the most spots on the most-viewed travel web page rankings among 17,000 domestic destinations listed on the Yahoo travel guide. Yahoo spokeswoman Kryssa Guntrum said during a phone interview Monday from Santa Clara, Calif., that Lancaster moved up 153 spots, more than second-place Ocean City, N.J.“I had a lot of calls from people who were surprised to find that Lancaster was the No. 1 domestic destination where we saw the biggest increase in user activity on our site over the course of the year,” Guntrum said.

The news did not surprise Cara O’Donnell of the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau. She said Lancaster’s appeal as a superior value becomes even more attractive during troubled economic times.” Whenever we see some type of adverse economic impact such as higher gas prices, we find that travelers are looking for something a little closer to home,” O’Donnell said. Guntrum said Yahoo does not disclose the actual rankings of user activity among the site’s 45,000 international Travel destinations. Rounding out Yahoo’s top-10 movers on its Travel site behind Lancaster was Ocean City, N.J., up 115 spots; South Lake Tahoe, Calif., 83; Wildwood, N.J. and Helen, Ga., both 82; Pigeon Forge, Tenn., 79; Duluth, Minn., 76; Shreveport, La., 73; Miami Beach, Fla., 72; and Anaheim, Calif., 60.