The Star Alliance airline group has won the ‘Best Airline Alliance’ award from Business Traveller’s magazine for the third year in a row.

Star Alliance includes members such as Lufthanse, US Airywans and bmi.

Business Trvallers conducted a survey amongst its readers earlier this year between April and June and the results were then analysed independently by a research company in order to confirm the award winners.

Star Alliance has said that these awards are seen as some of the highest honours in the corporate travel sector in the aviation industry and they recognised more than 46 different categories.

Jaan Albrecht, chief executive of Star Alliance, said: ‘Receiving the Business Traveller ‘best airline alliance’ award for the third consecutive year is continuing proof that Star Alliance continues to be the airline alliance of choice for the international traveller.  My thanks also go to employees of our member carriers for delivering the Star Alliance customer promise across the worldwide network.’

As well as its own award for the third year, Star Alliance was also celebrating that three of its group members received eight different accolades from the magazine awards.

The largest winner was Singapore Airlines, which collected a grand total of six awards.  South African Airways and LOT Polish Airlines picked up another honour each.

New York City’s marketing agency has promised visitors taking holidays to the Big Apple city this winter an ‘unforgettable holiday season’.

The agency claims that New York is one of the most exciting holiday destinations to choose for the Christmas season, with a range of spectacular Christmas trees and glittering store windows in the enormous department stores.

The Christmas season will officially kick off on the 27th November when Father Christmas comes to Herald Square as part of a celebratory procession.

For those holidaymakers who might miss that even, another landmark is on the 3rd December this year when the famous Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center is lit.

The Lincoln Center will be hosting George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker production, which starts on the 28th November and runs to the 3rd January.  The Radio City Christmas Spectacular will be running from the 7th November to the 30th December at the Radio City Music Hall.

George Fertitta, chief executive of NYC & Company, said: ‘The holidays in New York City offer a one-of-a-kind travel experience.  We invite visitors to take advantage of all of the wonderful activities taking place throughout the five boroughs and to embrace the energy that fills the city during this joyful season.’

Following a survey from the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), a list of the top tourist experiences in Victoria, a south eastern state in Australia, has been produced.

Around 76,000 website visits were registered during the campaign, known as the Victoria 101 campaign, and the results concluded that driving along the Great Ocean Road was the top tourism experience.

Next came the Audax Alpine Classic even, followed by:

Ford Discovery Centre in Geelong
Wilsons Promontory
The small gold-mining town of Walhalla, founded in 1863

Other experiences in the list’s top ten tourism experiences included the Great Victorian bike ride, Grampians National Park and the Blues Train located in Queenscliff.

Neil James, RACV tourism and travel manager, said: ‘The Great Ocean Road was a clear leader for most of the online campaign and after more than 22,000 votes, it has been confirmed as the number one tourism experience.  Regional areas dominated the top ten but Melbournians showed pride in the city’s attractions, nominating a large number of experiences and voting more than 17 of them into the top 101.’

The capital of Victoria is Melbourne.  Those looking for flights can choose from airlines such as British Airways, Thai Airways, Qantas and Emirates.

This month, Virgin Atlantic has been celebrating its ten year anniversary of running flights to the Caribbean.

Virgin’s Caribbean flights started in September 1998 with a few flights from London Gatwick Airport to St Lucia, Antigua and Barbados.

In the following ten years, Virgin Atlantic expanded their network in the Caribbean islands, running additional flights from London to Tobago and Grenada in 2003, then to Cuba in 2005, new flights to Montego Bay in 2006 and to the Jamaican hotspot of Kingston in 2007.

The airline also added flights from Manchester to Barbados in November of 2005 and also to St Lucia in 2006.

Steve Ridgway, chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, said: ‘Since we started flying to the Caribbean in 1998, we have carried over 4m British holidaymakers who love the combined appeal of the beautiful beaches and year-round sunshine the Caribbean has to offer. The Caribbean is an important market for us and we are now the biggest operator to the region having added more Caribbean destinations, flying from Gatwick and Manchester to eight destinations on seven islands.’

Virgin Atlantic intends to mark the celebrations in style by hosting a music festival in Barbados, starting on the 30th October and running for ten consecutive days.

According to the French Government Tourist Office, France is expecting yet another great ski season this winter as people look to book their ski luxury holidays.

Some tour operators are reportedly seeing plenty of early ski holiday sales too, according to Maison de la France.

Several developments have taken place in some of France’s top ski resorts in anticipation of the next skiing season, including a new ecological project opening in Courchevel.  The project comprises six chalets complete with gardens.

In addition, these are some fabulous brand new hotels due to open their doors in Les Arcs, Megeve, Chamonix, Val d’Isere, Tignes and other holiday destinations.

Jean-Pierre Courteau, the tourist office’s UK director, said: ‘French ski resorts are investing a lot of money to improve their accommodation and to offer skiers a greener environment and these improvements should help France to keep its pole position with British skiers.  There are now more flights from UK regional airports to the Alps and Pyrenees, allowing skiers direct access to the resorts.’

Those travelling to the ski resorts in the south east area of France have the options of taking flights to several different airports in Geneva, Lyon, Grenoble and other close destinations.

At the end of November, visitors to New York will be able to experience the buzz of excitement in and around the city in anticipation of the renowned Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

The event happens annually on the fourth Thursday of each November, which in 2008 means the 27th November.

This is the 82nd annual parade.  The parade will commence on 77th Street and Central Park West, and will then move towards Columbus Circle, head down Broadway and then turn west onto 34th Street.  It will finish at 7th Avenue.

For those interested in getting a good view, some good locations include spots between 38th and 58th Streets on Broadway and the west side of the street at Columbus Circle.

Macy’s Parade is renowned for its amazing range of huge balloons, performance groups, bands, floats and other amazing spectacles that enchant both children and adults each year.

This year, highlights will include the band Good Charlotte, Status of Liberty floats, giant inflatable Shrek and Kermit the Frog and other floats on various themes, including Snoopy and Santa Claus.

So for those looking for luxury holidays to New York, the end of November would be a great choice.

The city of Edinburgh was described as

‘a sight to behold during the festive season’

by VisitScotland earlier this week as it urged tourist to visit the city over the Christmas period, as the capital of Scotland will be illuminated by a winter wonderland initiative.

A spokesperson for the VisitScotland ‘winter white’ campaign, Gillian Thomson, said:

“Edinburgh has so much to offer all through the year but through the festive period it really provides both a unique view of Scotland and an opportunity to see one of Europe’s most beautiful cities at its very best.”

There are many highlights and attractions being put on in Edinburgh for Christmas, including a range of markets at Princes Street Gardens and a German fair, which will eb selling food, gifts and wine.

The Christmas attractions will officially open on the 27th November, which is known as ‘Edinburgh’s Christmas Light Night’.

In addition, there will be a skating show outdoors on a special ice rink to start the evening before the lights get switched on.

Virgin Atlantic is claiming that it is now able to offer a check-in time of just forty minutes to all its upper class travellers who will be taking their flights from Terminal 3 of London’s Heathrow Airport.

This time means that Virgin Atlantic actually offers the fastest journey through any airport anywhere in the UK, which is apparently quicker than its air carrier rival British Airways’ offering in nearby Terminal 5.

There has been many developments in Terminal 3 that make this development possible, including a new upper class wing and investment in a private security channel.

Chief executive Steve Ridgway said: “The introduction of this new check-in time at Heathrow allows our upper class passengers to spend even less time at the airport – offering them flexibility in their travel plans whether they are heading off on a business trip or just running late after a busy day in the office.  From arriving at the airport and checking in – passengers can be relaxing in their upper class suite as their long-haul flight departs within 40 minutes.”

This month, British Airways has also been focusing on its operations and has recently opened a dedicated check-in section for their business class passengers in Terminal 5 at Heathrow.

This year’s rather dismal British summer is expected to mean that holidaymakers will spend a total of £8 billion on winter holidays, according to recent research.

The survey was conducted by Abbey and showed that around £15 million British adults, which is around one in three adults, intend to take an out-of-season holiday despite the current economic climate resulting from the credit crunch.

Around 1.1 million people (6 per cent of holidaymakers) will be taking their first holiday abroad in three years as a result of this disappointing summer season.

The usual popular hotspots in West Europe, such as the Canary Islands and Spain where many Brits look to take cheap holidays, look likely to be the top choices yet again as 7.8 million Brits (41 per cent) seem set to choose these.

4 per cent of the travellers are feeling a little more adventurous and will beheading to Asia, and similar numbers are heading to Africa and Latin America.

Callum Gibson of Abbey said: “Clearly many Britons are in need of escaping our gloomy weather and heading overseas.”

According to the survey, those aged from 55 to 64 years will be a large proportion (44 per cent) of the autumn and winter holidaymakers and quarter of these intend to spend over £1,000 on their trip.

Many UK holidaymakers know how it feels to spend time searching for cheap holidays in Europe, only to arrive home to a large mobile phone bill.

However, from next year, tourists in Europe might be able to take advantage of cheaper mobile roaming costs if the new proposals from a European Commissioner go through.

The EU telecoms commissioner, Viviane Reding, has started an initiative to cap the cost of sending texts, making voice calls and even downloading data to mobiles in EU countries.

The proposal is due to be voted on in spring of 2009, and could mean that EU citizens can send texts for 9 pence, a great saving on the current average of 23 pence.  Similarly, voice calls could be cut from 36 pence to just 27 pence per minute.

Those who will benefit most look to be British tourists in Spain, a popular bargain holidays destination for Brits.  The cost of sending a text from Spain can currently be almost 50 pence.

Ms Reding said:

“Using your mobile phone abroad in the EU should not cost unjustifiably more than at home, whether for making calls, sending texts or surfing the web.  Europe’s 37m tourists and 110m business travellers are waiting for the promise of the borderless single market to finally have a positive impact on their phone bills.”

Ms Reding has been critical of the mobile industry for not cutting roaming charges.  Limits were initially put on roaming charges in September last year, however, these did only apply to voice calls.