GayDays@DisneyWorld Orlando from £599pp inc flights, accom and car.

How times flies and it seems hardly possible that the annual GayDays@DisneyWorld Orlando will be on us again on Saturday 4 June.

What started as a quiet affair 20 years ago with 3000 gay men and women arriving at Disney's Magic Kingdom wearing red so they would recognise each other has now grown to nearly a week of events. It is arguably the US largest gay festival attracting around 150,000 gay men and women and Amro Worldwide is pleased to be GayDays agent in the UK


Although neither Disney nor any of the other theme parks or tourism organizations in the Orlando area actually produce this event, they do sanction and support this week-long series of social gatherings at the area's various theme parks and hotels as well as both circuit-style parties and concerts along with more laid-back revelry such as pool parties and bear events at countless venues throughout the region. A major and ever growing feature is the GayDays Expo held in the Host Hotel from 2 - 5 June with entertainment and over 100 vendors.

And it is not just gay men who are catered for, over past years a lot of effort has been put into organising events for lesbians with a full programme called Girls at GayDays including a Literary Festival as well as chill-out pool parties.

But key to all the fun is "Doing the Parks" in the company of new friends. Thursday 2nd June is GayDay at Animal Kingdom, Friday 3rd GayDays@ Hollywood Studios with Saturday being the 20th Anniversary of GayDays@ The Magic Kingdom. If that isn't quite enough then Sunday 5th is GayDays@Epcot.

So if all sounds fun to you then why not join Amro Worldwide's special flight to Orlando departing on 2 June from London Gatwick. Fly direct to Orlando Sanford and collect your FREE rental car which is yours for your entire seven night stay. Drive to your 4* hotel just minutes from the centre of all the action in the GayDays Host Hotel. And the price - an extra special £599 pp based on two sharing. This offer is not available on line so contact us or call 01462 434633 for more details.

Plus we have tickets for all the events and bargain value passes for access to the GayDays events and DisneyWorld parks plus more info about Orlando. And in early June, Orlando's weather is nothing short of stunning with clear blue skies and temperatures around 29C.

It’s always great fun when Amro launches a new destination and following my trip to Mexico’s Yucatan at the end of February, we are delighted to launch our new holidays to the Riviera Maya. Based on direct flights to Cancun Airport, our prices start at just £889 per person for 7 night’s room and breakfast in September.

The Yucatan is pretty special – the weather is truly perfect year round with clear blue skies and bright sunshine. Plus there is a great mix of beach, cultural and adventure for your holiday. Try exploring Mayan Ruins such as Chichen Itza and discover this civilisation which was conquered by the Spanish in the 16th Century. Learn about the Sisal and Rope industries which gave the Yucatan its wealth in the late 19th Century and gave rise to the amazing plantations and their Haciendas which are now luxury boutique hotels. Gasp as you ride the zip wires over the jungle or explore, by swimming or raft, the network of underground rivers accessed through the cenote sink holes and marvel at the stalactites and limestone caverns.

Or you could just laze on a pristine white powder sand beach watching the azure Caribbean Sea anticipating a gourmet dinner in one of the foodie restaurants that proliferate in the area.

During my trip I found a truly fabulous 5* all inclusive gay resort – Adonis Tulum. Right on the ocean and a couple of hundred yards walk to two gay naturist beaches, Adonis offers a relaxing holiday in high class style. And all-inclusive really means that here, all alcoholic drinks are complimentary, even in the Spirit night club and you have a choice of three gourmet restaurants for dinner. The only extras are spa treatment in the luxury Japanese spa.

If you prefer to be in the centre of town, try our Hacienda Paradise in Puerto del Carmen. A 4* accommodation, gay managed, with a shady pool and a welcoming atmosphere. Just ten minutes walk to either the gay beach club in Puerto del Carmen or 69 Club gay bar, this hotel richly deserves its Amro Little Gem classification.

For those who want to explore a little more widely, we have a 14 night self-drive tour – Mexico’s Yucatan Explorer. Enjoy the mix of history, culture and adventure as you visit several Mayan Ruins including the famed Chichen Itza, swim with pink flamingos on the Gulf Coast wetlands, enjoy the restored buildings of Maerida’s Paseo de Montejon and swim or raft in the cenotes before relaxing in our Adonis Tulum resort on the beach.

You’ll also stay in one of the famed Hacienda enjoying life as the wealthy plantation owners did a century ago.

I am excited by the Riviera Maya as a different gay destination which offers so much variety and with prices based on the US dollar, it offers great value for your 2011 holiday

More Winter Flight Disruption

Here we are again ! Snow falls and flights get disrupted or for rather too many people, cancelled and their holidays lost. We all moan and complain but until the authorities get their act together and find ways to keep airports open, that's about the best we can do - or is it?

John Tangey - Chairman of the Association of Independent Tour Operators Aviation Committee - said yesterday

" ... passengers who booked with a tour operator are fortunate. Anybody who has made their own travel arrangements are on their own and now have to rebook flights, car-hire and hotel accommodation, not an appealing prospect for stressed travellers. "

As a Tour Operator, Amro is monitoring all flights for our customers during the current disruption. Where possible we are contacting both those at home and overseas to ensure they are fully informed of what is happening and re-booking at no additional cost.

So whilst we can't stop the snow, we can minimise the inconvenience and stress - yet another benefit of booking with a tour operator.

The Nightmare of Non-Stop Confusion !!

‘According to EU figures, more than half of all people who buy flights, hotel rooms and car hire online risk being left without compensation if companies fail’ said Fiona Jeffery, chair of World Travel Market – the UK’s largest travel trade fair - speaking about the EU’s Package Travel Directive. This is the Europe wide directive which was supposed to ensure that when you bought a holiday and someone went out of business, you were fully financially protected.

‘A staggering 56% of all travellers are now estimated to use the internet rather than high street travel agents to organise their trips, but protection safeguards have not been put into place to deal with the digital age’ she continued. It’s time to end the Nightmare of Non-Stop Confusion!!

Here at Amro, we agree the whole business is nothing short of confusion and even we have to stop and think sometimes. But let’s keep it simple, book a flight and accommodation at the same time with Amro – either online or through our call centre – and you’ll be fully financially protected. Moreover when something goes wrong, like last week when flights were cancelled, we’ll change your flight and, if necessary, extend your holiday at no extra cost.

But what about waiting for the Last-Minute Deals ?

So ran a headline in yesterday’s Sunday Times Travel Section written by no less than Chris Haslam, the editor. He describes looking for a deal this year as a barrel scrapping exercise and outlines how most holiday companies, Amro Worldwide included, have honed their stock-management skills from the art of guesstimate to that of laser sharp precision to ensure minimal unsold holidays which are sold off at a discount.

Irritatingly, he continues, the best way to get a deal now is to book early and with some 2011 holiday offers due to expire by 31 August – that’s tomorrow – he’s probably right. But you don’t really have to book that early with Amro Worldwide to secure a good priced deal.

Book 8 - 12 weeks out – that’s now for November - and you should find plenty of choice at a fair price. Look for September and there’s not much left although we do have some space at the all-gay male Beach Boys or Tenesoya in Gran Canaria on 18 September with flights for around £400 each. But it is not going to get any cheaper !!

It’s difficult in the current economic climate to plan far ahead but just a few more weeks planning ahead for your holiday could save you a lot of money.

Another travel company goes out of business

That’s the third medium sized company to fail in the past month after the much publicised Goldtrail and the less publicised Sun 4 U. So what is going on in the travel industry this summer and how can you be sure that both your money and holiday are safe ?

The former is easy – book an ATOL protected holiday that includes not just the flights but accommodation, transfers and anything else – in other words, a traditional holiday package. Breaking it up into individual elements can leave you financially exposed if any one element fails.

But getting your money back is little consolation if you loose your holiday. Travel companies succeed by mixing the number of holidays they sell with the margin they make on each holiday. Get this mix wrong and there can be problems.

Most of the recent failures have been mid-sized companies where the margins are small and the number of holidays sold is less than expected. So stick with the smaller specialist companies such as Amro Worldwide for the gay and lesbian traveller where volumes are less critical. Or book with the big two who pile it high and sell it cheap and go for volume. They also have the financial strength to survive a difficult year. And of these two options, Amro Worldwide gives both security with its ATOL Protection and service with its wide product knowledge and promptly answered phones - a comforting combination in these difficult times.

Beware of Fake Breaks

I was browsing the computer magazine ComputerActive over the weekend and a picture of a sandy beach and the headline Beware of Fake Breaks caught my eye.

It seems that ABTA and an organisation called Get Safe Online have carried out research that shows that travel buyers are ignoring basic online crime prevention measures. They get caught up in the excitement of a bargain dream holiday and caution goes out of the window, making them prime targets for fraudsters.

One in three fail to check the authenticity of travel providers by looking for contact information such as landline phone numbers or street addresses, let alone checking for the company name rather than brand name from whom they are buying.

One in five don’t check that the payment website is secure with an https:// URL. It is easy to put the secure padlock logo on an unsecure website misleading the buyer into thinking their card information is encrypted when it is really open for all to see.

Everyone wants a bargain but do check these simple things first as there seem to be fraudsters out in cyberspace. I am pleased that Amro Worldwide is up there with the best in transparency for our online bookings and if you search, you can even find a photo of Andrew !