One of the biggest refurbishment projects to be given away this year has been won by APT SkiData. The project involves replacement of the systems that is currently working at four car parks at Southampton Airport.

The system has to be replaced with the new APT 450 systems and integrated Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology.

The project is awarded via Meteor Parking with whom APT SkiData has worked successfully at Stansted. The contract includes replacement of systems in four places: the short-term, long-term, staff car parks, and car rental / collection.

After receiving a complaint from the Prince of Wales that the watercourse in one of his fields was being polluted by the hotel sewage, the hotel took a decision to check its green credentials.

At present, the Hare and Hounds Hotel at Westonbirt-the family-owned, privately run three-star hotel with 45-bedrooms, has the distinction of being the first Gloucestershire hotel to win a silver award from the Green Tourism Business Scheme, for its pledge to sustainable tourism.

It was the year 2006, when the hotel took its first step in the process of going green started.

Welcome to Preston-a new section introduced to the council's website offers a warm welcome to people visiting the website.

To access the new section, visitors have to click on the banner titled 'Welcome to Preston, England's newest city' on the top of the homepage of the city council's website at www.preston.gov.uk. The area offers useful information and contacts for those who are new to the city as well as those are interested in learning a lttle more about their own city.

The content, which has been researched and written by the communications team of the council, includes a detailed introduction to the Preston city, day and night in the city centre, places to visit for in the icity, maps and all the information for new people coming to the city.

All the Christmas festivities are over: the festive fare has been finished, all the gifts and presents opened and the card, cans, glass and paper recycled. But, still there is one thing left untouched-your Christmas tree!

In Birmingham, there are numerous ways to recycle the real Christmas trees, just like other green waste; taking the tree to a local Household Recycling Centre, with the help of the garden waste collection service or taking advantage of the service that the Parks Service is offering.

It is up to you that which way you are going for the recycling of your Christmas tree, it will be done in an environmentally friendly way-the trees taken away by the garden waste collectors will be composted.

The Park Rangers of Birmingham are motivating general public to come out of their houses and visit parks and other green places in the city and take a walk on the wildlife side as their New Year's resolution.

A New Year's Day walk is there at Sutton Park National Nature Reserve, to see the habitat of the wild Exmoor ponies in the park and also to look at other wildlife that occupy the place in winter time.

On the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of January, workshops are conducted which will help individuals to accomplish New Year's resolution. These workshops will also help to do one thing for wildlife with the help of making bug houses, bird feeders and bird boxes.

Now, it is time to recycle the extra wrapping and packaging paper that you have, as you have enjoyed the Christmas festivities. Also, do not forget to recycle your Christmas tree!

On the 6th of January 2008, all the real Christmas trees will be shredded at a big shred, which will be taking place at the War Memorial Park from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.

However, if anybody is not able to make it on this particular date, there are many other ways to recycle the tree.

The National Forest is full of fabulous places for a tour to work off the exaggeration of Christmas. The forest fetching 200 square miles of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire has around 400 woodlands to look along with open spaces, beautiful lakes and reservoirs and plenty of play areas for youngsters.

During holidays of Christmas and New Year, it is difficult to find a cool place where you can avoid the rush of heavily-trodden streets. This place could offer you the peace you want to have while spending your holidays with your family members or friends.

Take a glance at the new Poppy Wood outside Melbourne on the northern boundary of the Forest, walking along the canal at Moira Furnace in the heart of the Forest and checking Pit Prop Wood next to children's play area or step out by ancient forest of Needwood at Jackson's Bank in Staffordshire.

In order to carry the passengers around Heathrow Airport work has started upon a new low-energy, battery-powered transit system. This would be a major addition to the system at Heathrow Airport and passengers would be hugely benefited through it.

The initial stage of the Personal Rapid Transit System will have 18 vehicles with no drivers which will be used to take people from the new Terminal 5 to the business car park.

The user of Heathrow Airport, BAA tells the BBC website that their main purpose is to have the guided vehicles functional in 2009, where each vehicle will have the capacity of taking four passengers along with their bags.

The section for Transport's ACT ON CO2 battle aims at making drivers to cut CO2 emissions either by selecting a more environmentally friendly vehicle or by making use of simple tips to bring down fuel consumption.

If all drivers in the UK obey the Smarter Driving tips during the twelve days of Christmas, CO2 emissions from cars can be brought down by 8%, which is equal to 182 thousand tonnes of CO2, saving all motorists almost £68 million in just twelve days.

Transport Minister Jim Fitzpatrick speaks: "With many of us travelling to visit family and friends over Christmas time, we'll be clocking up extra miles and increasing our carbon emissions. If you do have to travel by car, why not try out the smarter driving tips, help tackle climate change and save yourself some money at the same time".

Ranch Rider is giving discount on all 2008 ranch stays booked till 31 January. The Central Cascade Mountains in Oregon, the Rock Springs Guest Ranch has arranged for a youth program for children aged four to 12.

It includes scenic rides, massage treatments for parents and riding, team sports, swimming, nature walks and story-telling, western style for the kids.

A 7-night stay at the ranch with Ranch Rider for a family of four will cost only £5,596, saving £279 if booked before 31 Jan 2008. Departures are June to August. This cost comprises of all accommodation, meals and ranch-based riding and excludes transfers, gratuities and international flight.

Enjoy your time with special New Year Spa Breaks available at two four-star Macdonald hotels in Berkshire and Surrey. The special spa break offers are designed in order to help tone and detox you after going along the festive time all set for the spring.

This is a very welcome development for holidaymakers who would like to have some change during the New Year holidays. They would certainly love the items that are offered in the package.

The 'New You for New Year' package offered at a price starting from £374 for twin-sharing basis includes B&B stay over a weekend, a one night dinner, lunch, use of the indoor pool, a detox body cover and softening facial with the help of Decleor products from the French capital, a special beauty gift for guest to take home and technogym and thermal spa facilities.

Staff at seven of the airports in the UK including Gatwick and London Heathrow, have casted their vote favouring strike action in the month of January. This would be very discouraging news for passengers and holidaymakers. Christmas holidays have already been spoiled by weak weather, and now these developments could further dent their enthusiasm.

Members of the workers' union Unite are preparing for an industrial action over the proposals for making changes in their pension rights by BAA-the owner of the airports. Two 24-hour walk-outs are scheduled for the 7th and 14th of January with a 48-hour strike which will start on the 17th of January.

The airports where the effects of the strike will be seen on the services include: Glasgow, Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh, Southampton and Aberdeen.

Travellers at the new terminal at Heathrow airport, which will be opening in the month of March next year, will have a tough time ahead-at least thirty-five minutes in the queue for security check before boarding the flight.

This could sound a bit tough to the passengers using Heathrow Airport, but the airlines is making it sure that there is no flight delay and also that traffic is put under check to allow smoother functioning of the processes. Very recently, British Airways has come under severe criticism for its lack of punctuality, and now wonder that the airlines is taking some steps to improve its image.

British Airways, which is the only tenant at Heathrow airport's T5, is tracking down to improve its disappointing punctuality. Even without the type of failure that was seen both at Heathrow and Gatwick prior to Christmas, British Airways' exercises consistently fail the carrier's own targets. For the week ending on the 16th of December, less than one flight in three left on the scheduled time, as compared to the company's target of 52 percent.

Keycamp, popular for facilitating the customers examines Europe naturally with its camping holidays. It provides better option by introducing a selection of apartment resorts, whose cost begins at £332 per family for a seven night stay. So, this could prove to be a very good experience for travellers.

These special types of the resorts exist in France, Spain and Italy and have been selected to give the best accommodation and various fantastic locations. The cosmopolitan holiday villages are full with local colour and are a famous option with other Europeans, so you can assume to have something very special.

With a host of pretty villages next to a beautiful pine lined beach Port Bourgenay is just a short drive away. It grabs the very best of the Vendee region. Various facilities in the pedestrianised village are incomparable, offering a superb pool complex, a golf course, a children's farm and a play area.

Though Sicily is known for its Mafia connections, there is no need of 'Godfather' style threats to boost a visit, particularly at present self-catering expert Keycamp has commenced its chief site on the magnetic island and is providing seven nights in a mobile home from £197 per family, comprising of only accommodation.

The El Bahira, campsite laid in an amazing palm-fringed location, west of Palermo and 3km from the pretty town of San Vito lo Capo, is placed at a place to take the benefit of everything for which Sicily is known like as heavenly beaches, glorious food and some ravishing scenery.

There is a lot on the campsite to keep the entire family busy, not just a scuba diving school, which offers the chance to search one of the best underwater worlds on this part of the coast. Two swimming pools, filled by the clear blue water of the Mediterranean along with sports like tennis, fishing and volleyball are also a part.

Confirm your booking by the 22nd of January: it is now a very good time to book a seat on British Airways' flights: the UK based carrier is selling an extensive range of fares across its network.

All the quoted prices are for return flights (unless otherwise indicated) and also include all the taxes.

For travel on selected dates between the months of January and March, the offers available with the carrier are:

Flyglobespan, the low fares carrier is running its largest ever discounted fare sale, on its services to more than twenty-five destinations. This would be good chance for holidaymakers to book their seats to different destinations offer by the airlines, as the winter season is kicking up.

All the quoted fare prices are for one-way tickets, and include all the taxes. The sale was launched on the 24th of December and the prices are based on the time of launch.

A selection of flights offered by the airline are:

Stansted Airport based all-business class carrier, Maxjet, which has ceased its operations and entered bankruptcy on Monday, has come out with an array of measures in an attempt to help more than one thousand travellers stranded by its collapse.

Also, a number of other airlines have also announced numerous measures in an effort to help the passengers who have pre-booked their seats with Maxjet.

To help those awaiting a return flight between New York and London, contract and pre-payments have been made by Maxjet for nearly 500 seats on the scheduled services of Eos Airlines-the Stansted based competitor.

In an attempt to offer more options to their customers and reward all the members of frequent flier programmes run by them, Jet Airways and Virgin Atlantic have made a partnership for offering facilities of each other.

The new alliance will allow all the JetPrivilege members of Jet Airways an opportunity to access a selection of destinations on the Virgin Atlantic's route network. And, the members of Flying Club of Virgin Atlantic will be able to access Jet Airways' grand domestic network as well as its international network.

In a statement, Jet Airways revealed that now, JetPrivilege members will have the chance to earn and then redeem JPMiles on all the flights operated by Virgin Atlantic to thirty-four destinations across the globe, including the Caribbean, America, Australia, Asia and Africa.

Somak Holidays, an independent, award-winning and family-run tour operator, has launched its new Namibia brochure packed with guided tours, self-drive travel plans, flying safaris and tailor-made choices offering the ideal option of holiday experiences both for first timers and repeaters.

The new Namibia brochure features exciting options for taking in the best available in the country, and to ensure that holidaymakers will be able to see the eye-catching sights and sample the beauty of Namibia's views in the available time.

Namibia Discovery is a twelve-night guided tour with visits to all of the hot-spots in Namibia, including Etosha National Park-one of Africa's most popular wildlife reserves, Swakopmund's atmospheric streets, and at last, to Sossuvlei home to the world's biggest dunes.

Families looking for a holiday home near a sandy beach in the West Country or with straight sea sights, are being advised by Helpful Holidays to confirm their booking as early as possible because the best locations are now being snapped up for weeks for the peak summer time.

An ancient cottage is still available for the month of August, with solid walls and low doors now brilliantly refurbished and are only 200 yards from the sandy beach at Kingsand in South Cornwall. Sleeping five, it is available at a price starting from just £754 per week in the peak season in summers.

And a bright, sunny ground floor apartment is available at Bigbury-on-Sea in Devon's South Hams, for 4 persons with uninterrupted sea sights. Its own private patio is just 350 yards from the brilliant sandy beach and is available at a price starting at just £847 per week in the month of August.

One of the most pleasant and liked ski resorts in the French Alps, Morzine, is also an ideal choice for an unforgettable summer break. Morzine joins twenty other picture postcard popular villages in the Summer 2008 options that Peak Retreats-the Alpine specialist, has put on offer.

Venosc, the beautiful small village connected by gondola to the more renowned Les Deux Alpes and Saint-Jean Montclair in the southern Alps alongside the big fifteen mile Serre-Poncon unnatural lake, are other fresh inclusions.

Peak Retreats' holidays are primarily in recently constructed chalets and residences, with a stres on comfortable four-star accommodation with both indoor and outdoor pools, and the option to sample the services of a further selection of family-run properties.

Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares carrier, has started its post-Christmas fare sale. Book your ticket by the 10th of January.

Tickets are for one-way, and include all the taxes and charges. For travel between 28th December and 12th March, the routes that are on offer are:

From London Stansted to: Gdansk, Brussels (Charleroi), Shannon and Klagenfurt at a price starting from £5; La Rochelle, Krakow, Alicante, Turin and Seville at a price starting from £10; and Faro, Brindisi, Bari, Riga, Pescara and Lamezia at a price starting from £25.21.

Wizz Air declared a range of expansion from its bases in Hungary and Poland. The airline will elaborate its Budapest operations in the coming summer with the addition of 15 new weekly flights in comparison to that in summer 2007 or with 27% additional capability. The airline will increase its occurrence on most of its present routes by adding Goteborg, Oslo-Torp and Venice-Treviso to its Budapest network by again bringing the famous summer seasonal flights to Bulgaria (Bourgas and Varna), Spain (Barcelona-Girona and Palma de Mallorca) and Greece (Corfu, Rhodes and Heraklion).

Simultaneously the carrier declared that it would base an additional Airbus A320 aircraft to its biggest base in Katowice which will be Wizz Air's fifth aircraft based in Katowice and twelfth in Poland. Increasing the frequencies on various present routes it would fly its seasonal flights to Bourgas, Heraklion and Barcelona Girona. The airline will increase its summer program by launching Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast as a new holiday destination.

Wizz Air will follow its elaboration with its Gdansk base by raising the occurrence on its various present routes and commencing new flights in summer season 2008. Getting into the Finnish market the airline will commence Gdansk-Turku flight in April 2008 bringing the long awaited Gdansk-Barcelona/Girona flight from June 2008.

Jet2.com, the low cost carrier has started selling tickets for its flights from Manchester to some of the hot destinations for the coming summer season. This is the time when Jet2 would be making good offers to its passengers, because in the coming winter season, many airlines would be engaged in competition in offering good routes to their passengers for festival holidays.

The carrier is offering flights from Manchester to Faro, Rome and Budapest at a price beginning from just £29.99 one-way. Quoted price includes all the charges. So, you can clearly see that the airlines is offering a price that is good enough to book a ticket with them.

Budapest and Rome are the ideal options for a city break. Faro, the gateway to the Algarve, is destination renowned for wonderful beach holidays and golfing breaks. British holidaymakers love to travel to these routes and no wonder that these routes would be easily sold on Jet2.com

To be on sale between 20th December 2007 and 3rd January 2008, British Airways is offering a holiday sale saving of about 70% off in the World flat-bed business class seats in the North America – London route. As part of this offer, Club World Seats are available from 19 gateways in the USA in addition to four in Canada.

The travel for this purchase is valid between 10th January 2008 and 23rd March 2008 from all the 19 gateways of USA. However, for travel from the four Canadian airports, the validity is between 19th January and 23rd March 2008.

The roundtrip fare is $2176 From JFK; is $2376from Boston, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, DC; $3116 from Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and San Francisco; $2776 from Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit; and $2816 from Miami, Orlando and Tampa.

It has been declared that in the coming year the direct flights from Kent International Airport (Manston) to the Channel Islands will begin. A regular weekly flight will start from the airport to the island of Jersey from May 10. This is a welcome news for passengers who would like to travel from Kent International airport to France. Now they would be able to take the flights from their own airport.

Every Saturday the short flight aboard a VLM Fokker 50 aeroplane will leave at 15:00 and will be conducted by CI Travel Holdings Ltd.

The firm's managing director, Peter Drew, said: "We are delighted that we will soon make it possible for the people of Kent to enjoy a holiday on one of the most unspoilt and too often overlooked European holiday destinations that offers a unique blend of British and French influences".

A severe Fog demanded the cancellation of around 140 flights from the airports of Gatwick, Heathrow and London City. As a result, thousands of passengers had to face unforeseen delays to their Christmas getaway for a second consecutive day. So far 86 outbound flights from Heathrow, 30 from London City and 21 from Gatwick have been grounded so far. However, the airlines assured that the customers are being offered alternative routes or refunds.

At Heathrow, most among the cancelled flights are short-haul flights from Terminal 1, 2 or 4 that fly to destinations like Edinburgh, Milan, Dublin and Rome. The cancelled flights at Gatwick included BA and easyJet services flying to Manchester, Amsterdam, Newquay and Jersey.

A London City spokeswoman observed that the cancellations included flights by BA, Swissair, and Air France. As the visibility is never seen to improve, she said passengers who are supposed to take flights on Monday should confirm with their airlines in advance. This is a cause of concern for passengers and they would need to check with airport authorities about the refunding of their cancelled tickets. More flights can also be canceled if the weather continued to remain same.

As the British legislation protecting art from seizure in lawsuits coming into force, Russia has decided to permit the paintings from its museums to be transported to London for a major exhibition. This would be a welcome news for art lovers, who now would be able to see those paintings in their own city. 

The exhibition is entitled "From Russia: French and Russian Master Paintings 1870-1925" The exhibition opens at The Royal Academy on 26th January. Earlier this week, the show was rendered doubtful as Moscow had refused to lend major French and Russian paintings unless and otherwise Britain could provide additional guarantees to protect the art from seizure in private lawsuits.

There were some remarkable works to be displayed at the London exhibition including the masterpieces of Matisse and van Gogh, in addition to accomplishments by several famous works of impressionists and post-Impressionists.

In an interesting move, WEST Midland Safari and Leisure Park has secured four awards in appreciation of its excellence in marketing and promotion.

The awards were presented during the Brass Ring Awards Ceremony at the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions Annual Conference and Trade Show in Orlando, Florida.

The park could grab three distinguished awards of excellence. The three innovations of the park namely Santa Safari 2006, White Lions advert and White Lions secured awards under the categories of best radio commercial, best integrated marketing campaign and best the park showing an attendance of 500,001 to one million.

Adrian Phillips, the leading environmentalist has issued a stark warning to the national parks societies that the National Parks of Britain must undergo a conservation revolution in order to meet the climate change challenges by introducing new farming practices in them.

Phillips remarked that the planters must take enough interest in renewable energy sources like solar water heaters, hydro electric schemes and wind turbines. In addition, he too said that the new planning laws must be tuned to ensure that the new buildings that come are carbon neutral in addition to the parks.

Phillips observed, "The impact of climate change in national parks is going to be even greater than anyone has foreseen. No one is arguing that we get rid of national parks. Far from it, the forces are so large that the traditional approach is not enough."

Over the festive season, the Oxford Tourist Information Centre remains open in addition to offering guided walking trips. Every day, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, the walking tours start from the Tourist Information Centre at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

People who want to purchase tickets in advance can call on the phone number 01865 252200 and pay at the centre, and when the centre is not open, they can just meet the guide outside and pay directly to the guide.

This is one of those things which are not provided by every tourist office, and certainly by offering openings on festival days, Oxford's tourism information centre has provided a sort of examples for other offices to lend greater help to tourists and holidaymakers in planning their holidays and travel more effectively and with ease. All the information that tourists need is available with the tourism office.

Peterborough Museum offers a variety of good concepts for this year Christmas: from a great attraction for the entertainment of family and friends to uncommon ideas for a last-minute Christmas present and from a Christmas exhibition to activities for the family.

The Christmas exhibition displays the historical background of the festive period and Christmas toys and objects and especially themed regions for little ones to look into Scrooge's study and see Marley's ghost appear or see into a Victorian nursery and have a go at a staging an acting.

Adults also have a good time: they can discover the origins of Christmas traditions of Britain-from feasting upon turkey to the Queen's speech, and also find out why Christmas was once off!

Derby City Council is encouraging residents to give a thought to minimise waste when they are going for Christmas shopping and recycle as much as possible after celebrating the festival.

For reducing their waste, people should purchase rechargeable batteries, recycled products, large bottles of drinks and the items with minimum packaging like loose vegetables and fruit,. They should also reuse the carrier bags.

After the Christmas celebrations, trees will be recycled by the Council for compost at Raynesway Recycling Centre-open between 8.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on all days except Christmas Day, Boxing Day and the New Year's Day

Giving people an opportunity to end 2007 on a high, Bradford Council is offering discounted swimming for families on the New Year Eve.

Adults are being given the opportunity to enjoy swimming for just £1 by the Sport and Leisure Service, while youngsters can avail the opportunity for just 50p from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For all Passport to Leisure cardholders, it is totally free!

The offer, which is the new b active swimming promotion on offer from Bradford Council and follows on from 50p swims, free swims, family swims, two for one and swim and gym offers, is available at The Leisure Centre, Richard Dunn Sports Centre, Keighley, Shipley Pool and Eccleshill Pool.

Cabot Tower and Brandon Hill have secured the top position in a survey conducted to find the favourite places in Bristol.

The survey titled 'Pride of Place', was run in local authority areas nationally during the months of October and November. The main aim of the survey was to getting residents to discover for the best known places in their area in more detail.

The survey was part of the Government's campaign: Connect to your Council, which set out to encourage people across England to take advantage of online services offered by the local authorities.

The year ending 31st December, has been a successful year for Birmingham Parks and the parks gardeners of the city: 13 awards for restoration, innovative design, safety and ground maintenance, and horticultural stuff.

The Places and Genius Landscape Design Award for Excellence was the most recent recognition awarded to the Landscape Practice Group of Birmingham City Council for the restoration of Handsworth Park, and was presented at the Birmingham Design Initiative, Industry and Genius Awards ceremony.

"The project has transformed the local community and resulted in a huge increase in use. Major investment in the park has led to a safe environment and has helped reduce crime levels", commented the judges.

Are you out for this year's Christmas shopping? Spare a moment to think that how much waste is produced during the period.

The recycling team of Manchester City Council has given a few tips to reduce waste-minimise waste and enjoy a huge saving of money.

Buy Christmas food in only in recyclable packages: which can be recycled within your kerbside recycling service or at local 'bring it' locations. The materials that can be recycled include paper, tins, glass, plastic bottles and liquid food containers.

After re-launching the website www.theatrebreaks.com, Theatre Breaks Ltd, is offering tailor-made theatre and accommodation packages for online bookings through agents and individual as well as group bookers. Everybody will be able to set their personal travel plan, including West End shows, tours, attractions, central hotels and restaurants.

This is a very good offer for holidaymakers and tourists who would love to check online bookings of their travel plans. The website has been re-launched with a new look. Now it also offers Stratford-upon-Avon and Paris in addition to a number of othr destinations.

For providing further information on attractions, hotels, restaurants, shows, tours and destinations, Theatre Breaks Ltd is maintaining its complete team of consultants, who will be available to offer advice for agents, individuals and corporate bookers during the UK office hours. So, overall the website has been greatly revamped and it will be a pleasurable experience for holidaymakers to navigate within the site to find various types of information regarding their travel and trips.

Two new Scandinavian destinations from Edinburgh Airport have been announced by Sterling Airlines for summer 2008. The airline has started the sale of tickets for the new flights to the Danish destination Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Stockholm.

Sterling airlines has offered some great routes to British passengers in the recent past and no wonder that such a good offer is coming along. Edinburgh Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world, and to have more options of travelling ot Copenhagen and Stockholm, passengers would surely love this offer.

Carole Arnaud-Battandier, International Marketing Manager for the carrier, said, "Sterling Airlines expands in Europe to satisfy its growing number of customers. The magical realms of Scandinavia are just waiting for you".