Top News Grexit? Take more euros, German tourists told Fri, May 25 16:35 PM BST FRANKFURT, May 25 (Reuters) - Take more cash in euros. That's the advice a leading German tour operator would offer its customers should Greece leave the euro zone. "While tourists on all-inclusive holidays would have no need to worry, others should take more cash in euros with them in case the supply of drachma was not yet fully guaranteed throughout Greece," Markus Bruchmueller, a product manager for TUI Germany, said in an interview published on the group's website on Friday. A TUI Germany spokeswoman said the advice came after its travel agents reported a surge in questions from nervous customers on what would happen if Greece were to exit the ... Continue reading →

By Peter Myers Fri May 25, 2012 1:07pm BST (Reuters.com) - The airport environment will be unrecognisable by 2025, but only if the industry shifts paradigm to create a "streamlined, stress free and holistic service", a new report says. And there's a trade-off: Automated, customer-centric processes mean travellers will need to relinquish data and do more logistics.As well as depositing and collecting luggage at self-bag drops - something which frequent fliers in Australian hubs are becoming familiar with under a new Qantas scheme - by 2025 passengers will be expected to self-load their bags in containers, or even direct to the aeroplane.By then airlines will know automatically if customers are delayed in traffic and, if necessary, rebook their flight, says Amadeus, author of the May ... Continue reading →

Fri May 25, 2012 11:25am BST * Blatter asks Beckenbauer to find solution * Football can be a tragedy when you go to penalty kicks, says Blatter (Updating with details) By Mike Collett BUDAPEST, May 25 (Reuters) - FIFA President Sepp Blatter has called on Germany's World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer and his panel of soccer experts to try to come up with an alternative to penalty shootouts to settle drawn matches. Blatter was speaking to delegates at the FIFA Congress on Friday less than a week after Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties to win the Champions League final. "Football can be a tragedy when you go to penalty kicks. Football is a team game, when it goes to one against one football loses ... Continue reading →

By Renee Maltezou and Peter Graff ATHENS | Thu May 24, 2012 3:56pm BST ATHENS (Reuters) - Andreas and Emilia Karabalis, who are both 80, feared their bank in Greece would collapse, so they withdrew their 80,000 euros ($100,000) savings and stashed it at home for safety. Days later, the thieves came in the night."We were sleeping. The two masked burglars came to our bed and tied us up. They hit us. They robbed us - they didn't leave anything, it was torture," said Emilia, who still trembles when she recalls the attack this month on the island of Lefkada.Husband Andreas added: "Our life is black now. They took our life's savings. We lost everything."No one knows just how much cash lies stashed in Greek ... Continue reading →

Fri May 25, 2012 12:00pm BST * Q1 tourism revenue drops 15.1 pct y/y * Number of visitors down 11.7 pct * Data points to difficult year for sector ATHENS, May 25 (Reuters) - Fewer German, British and Russian tourists visited Greece in the first quarter, contributing to a 15.1 percent drop in tourism receipts compared to the same period a year earlier, the country's central bank said on Friday. The drop dampens hopes for a strong tourism season this year to help an economy mired in a deep five-year recession and struggling with record unemployment. A key sector for Greece's 215-billion-euro economy that accounts for about a fifth of gross domestic product (GDP), tourism helped to narrow the country's current account gap to 9.8 ... Continue reading →

MILAN | Fri May 25, 2012 11:12am BST MILAN (Reuters) - Europeans are putting holiday plans on the back burner this summer as the crisis hits "sun belt" economies in Greece, Spain and Italy, a study showed on Thursday. Only six of 10 people polled by Ipsos for Europ Assistance said they were planning to go on holiday between June and September this year, the lowest level in eight years.The estimate compares to 66 percent in 2011.Italians were the most reluctant to travel despite their usual long holiday season, with 63 percent willing to leave compared to 78 percent last year.Spaniards were second in the poll, with more than half saying they will remain at home.France is the only exception to the gloomy picture, with ... Continue reading →

By Avril Ormsby LONDON | Thu May 24, 2012 2:26pm BST LONDON (Reuters) - Private security guards manning venues at July and August's London Olympics have been warned against over-zealous behaviour that might alienate sports fans, the firm in charge of training said on Thursday. The opening day of a major event can be tense, as the start of the Olympic torch relay demonstrated this week when a police security team escorting the runners grabbed a spectator they thought was trying to reach the torchbearer and pushed him into a hedge.Mark Hamilton, the man leading G4S's Olympic security team which will operate airport-style searches and screening at venues, said guards were being encouraged to engage with spectators."I think it is very relevant not to over-react ... Continue reading →

By Victoria Bryan FRANKFURT | Thu May 24, 2012 10:25am BST FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Mexico is relying on travellers from countries like Russia and Brazil to boost its tourism numbers this year after the drug war plaguing the country deterred U.S. visitors, its largest source of tourists. The number of international tourists arriving on flights is expected to rise between 9 and 10 percent this year from the 22.7 million in 2011, Tourism Minister Gloria Guevara told Reuters in an interview in Frankfurt."We are diversifying by promoting culture and gastronomy and broadening the base of nationalities who visit," she said. "Before we were too dependent on the U.S., and sun and sand."She said international arrivals by air had risen 7 percent between January and March, ... Continue reading →

By Rhys Jones LONDON | Thu May 24, 2012 12:57pm BST LONDON (Reuters) - Debt-laden tour operator Thomas Cook (TCG.L) has named a travel industry outsider - Harriet Green from British electrical components distributor Premier Farnell (PFL.L) - as chief executive to help turn it around. Green, CEO of the FTSE 250 group since 2006 during which period she built its e-commerce operation, will succeed interim Thomas Cook chief executive Sam Weihagen at the end of July.Her task is simple - rebuild a 171-year-old travel company which has been searching for a CEO since last August after dire trading that has led it to three profit warnings in the past 18 months and a 2010/11 loss of 398 million pounds ($625 million).Chairman Frank Meysman told ... Continue reading →

MUMBAI | Wed May 23, 2012 9:07am EDT MUMBAI (Reuters) - Reebok India, owned by Germany's Adidas (ADSGn.DE), lodged a police complaint against two former top executives accusing them of fraud that had led the company to lose 8.7 billion rupees ($157 million). The alleged fraud would be the most high-profile corporate scandal in India since 2009 when Satyam Computer's former chairman and founder Ramalinga Raju revealed that the company had overstated profits and falsified assets for years.Reebok India is accusing former India Managing Director Subhinder Singh Prem and former Chief Operating Officer Vishnu Bhagat of financial wrongdoing, said police officials in the northern city of Gurgaon, where the complaint was filed."Our criminal complaint has been registered for investigation by the Indian law enforcement authorities," ... Continue reading →