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We want to let you know what’s going on in our world. You can read more about what’s happening with PGC here.
Paul's Travel Blog - August 2010
A recent report from Kuoni (Kuoni Holiday Report 2010) leads with the headline, ‘It’s Official: Holidays Change Your Life'.
Instead of gathering statistics on spending trends or the popularity of particular destinations, the researchers asked more personal and searching questions in an attempt to discover the real importance of holidays to us. What they found was that that the quality time offered on holiday provides the best annual opportunity both for significant relationship building as well as life-changing decision making.
We all know how important getting away from it all is but the research reflects perhaps an even greater importance in identifying our two hottest topics of conversation whilst on holiday are life/work balance (41%) and getting fit/healthier (39%). Significantly it was found that the higher the income, the greater the prevalence of these topics of conversation on holiday - a whopping 70% of households earning £65,000 to £75,000 claimed they discussed their work/life balance whilst on holiday whilst 58% discussed getting fitter/healthier.
And its’ not all talk and no action either as a huge 54% of the entire sample claimed that on returning home they acted on their holiday resolutions concerning work, family, relationships or property. Some things however don’t change – and quite rightly in my view - as apparently 32% of men are unable to go on holiday and not check the sports results. Well there are limits – it’s the other 68% I’m worried about!
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| Paul's Travel Blog - July 2010
ABTA has just revealed the summer holiday plans of MPs and peers in its first ever Parliamentary Holiday Survey. The findings show slightly more peers than MPs intend holidaying at home this year - perhaps due to their venerable age and the fact they’d prefer a little hunting on their chums’ 300-acre estate to getting their bald pate scorched under the unforgiving Mediterranean sun!.
Just 50 per cent of the peers interviewed and 56 per cent of MPS said they’d be holidaying abroad. It would be interesting to compare the figures with five years ago – I’m pretty sure the percentage would be considerably higher. Clearly carbon footprint, ash clouds and airport strikes play their part but perhaps the new economic reality and the fear of being outed as extravagant also has something to do with the increased popularity of holidaying at home.
Interestingly when asked about multiple holidays, 91% of the peers confessed intending taking two or more holidays this year and half admitted to planning three or more. The disparity here with MPS was perhaps the most striking difference with just seven per cent of parliamentarians admitting to either having the time or financial muscle for a hat trick of holidays in one year.
Taking time out from his campaigning for the leadership of the Labour party, David Miliband is heading to Northumberland on his family holiday in early August. When I contacted his press office to find out more, the elder of the two brothers battling for the opposition leadership replied, “I am delighted to be going to Northumberland for a holiday this summer. Northumberland is a beautiful part of Britain and I am really looking forward to exploring it with my family.’ He then continued in a similar enthusiastic vein, ‘The county’s stunning natural beauty, relaxing atmosphere and friendly people will provide a great backdrop for a family holiday. I will just keep my fingers crossed that the great summer weather that we have been enjoying continues!”
Northumberland is England’s most sparsely populated county with just 62 people per sq km and is increasingly being sought out as the discerning staycationer’s holiday choice when it comes to escaping the masses (not to mention ash clouds) and discovering the last vestiges of pristine coastline (much of it an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty), wilderness and outdoor playground.
For further information on the county go to www.visitnorthumberland.com
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| Paul's Travel Blog - June 2010
A new client and a spot of messing about on the river!
In June PGC was taken on to handle the public relations for the county of Durham. What was particularly pleasing about the appointment was to be told we were chosen over other pitching agencies because we were a clear winner when it came to demonstrating our impressive results in achieving UK coverage.
Our other two counties - Essex and Northumberland - have had fantastic press coverage over the past two years. We are confident that Durham - a county like Essex and Northumberland that too often has been overlooked in the past - will soon be getting the publicity it deserves.
Anyone who has read my previous blogs will know that I’m a huge fan of our home turf and have travelled extensively throughout Britain researching books and travel features. In mid June I managed to squeeze in a few days back sailing the Thames Valley. Having enjoyed DIY cruises before in both France and Italy, I can honestly say nowhere else comes close!
In 2001 I spent four months sailing a narrowboat through the English inland waterways (and wrote about the experience in The Water Road - published by Robson Books). It was on that spellbinding trip that I first fell in love with the Thames Valley and so it was great to be back basking in the sunshine, ordering Pimms at riverside pubs and swimming daily in the river. For a week my wife and I were able to unmoor ourselves from jobs and London life and return to a 5mph world as magical as Alice’s. England and summer are made for each other.
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| Paul's Travel Blog - May 2010
In late May - and in glorious sunshine - I enjoyed a sublime two-night cycling odyssey through villages and back roads every bit as pretty as the Cotswolds but minus the tailgating tourists. My destination? A little explored area of Essex on the shoulder of Saffron Walden with a string of heavenly pubs, thatched cottages, windmills, picket fences, gorgeous countryside and the finest Jacobean pile in the country (Audley End – complete with Robert Adam makeover and grounds landscaped by Capability Brown).
Our first overnight pit stop was the Cricketers in Clavering inside whose wisteria-clad walls Jamie Oliver learned his culinary trade under the tutelage of his parents, Trevor and Sally Oliver. When the family first moved in in 1976, pub fare consisted of scampi in a basket and a pickled egg from a jar on the counter. Pubs - and British food in general - have come a long way and the Cricketers has led the way in pioneering the gastropub revolution.
The restaurant understandably has a big reputation and people travel a long way to sample its modern British dishes. But Trevor and Sally Oliver have also added additional rooms adjacent to the main building so there are now 14 comfortable and spacious rooms for cyclists to rest their weary backsides in too. The food, as you might expect, is sensational; rustic and full of flavour, using local seasonal produce from Jamie’s village organic garden (he still has a family home in the village too). But it wasn’t just his culinary trade Jamie learned at the Cricketers. ‘He also learned his colourful language here too sitting in the bar and serving the customers.’ Trevor also proudly told me “By the age of 14, Jamie had already worked eight years here and was as good as any of the chefs.’ Now Jamie’s own daughters wait tables when they visit whilst Jamie pays his dues and teaches Trevor and the rest of the team.
What struck me most was the passion for produce and good service – so often a rarity in this country compared to America – that was served up at the Cricketers as well as the Eight Bells in Saffron Walden (owned and run by one of Jamie’s best friends and former classmate, Simon Day) and the Axe and Compasses in Arkesden. At the latter, another absolutely picture-perfect village, the Cypriot owner told me ‘The homes are so protected here, you need written permission to open a window’!!
To replicate my 34-mile, very leisurely journey, order the Essex free cycling pack (with five routes, places of interest, restaurants, pubs and accommodation clearly marked) all you have to do is telephone 0845 600 7373.
Alternatively the routes and information can be ordered online or downloaded at www.visitessex.com (which incidentally is an excellent source of things to see and do in the county).
If you don’t want to hop your own bike aboard the train to Audley End (around an hour from London’s Liverpool Street station), Trailnet (01277 811012 or 07939 249980; www.trailnet.org.uk; info@trailnet.org.uk) can provide a tailor-made drop-off/pick-up bike service.
Overnighting: The Cricketers in Clavering (01799 550442; www.thecricketers.co.uk) has double rooms with breakfast from £90 per night
The Swan Hotel, Thaxted (01371 830321; www.swanhotel-thaxted.com) offers b & b from £49 per night
Pit stops: Eight Bells, Saffron Walden (01799 522790; www.8bells.co.uk/theevents.htm); Axe and Compasses, Arkesden (01799 550272; www.axeandsompasses.co.uk
Highlights: Audley End House and Garden, Audley End, Saffron Walden (01799 522842; www.english-heritage.org.uk) members free, adults £11.90, children £6, concessions £10.10; family of five ticket £29.80
Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden (01799 513 779; www.fryartgallery.org)
Saffron Walden Museum (01799 510333/510334; www.uttlesford.gov.uk/main.cfm?Type=CLMU&MenuId=417
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| Paul's Travel Blog - April 2010
Like many others, I got trapped abroad in April by the ash cloud. I eventually set off on an odyssey from Cyprus that Odysseus himself would have been proud of. This included flying to Vienna and then driving for 15 hours through the night to a bun fight at Calais docks.
Whilst airlines and the ferries cashed in on everyone’s misery by hiking prices and French staff at Calais did their best to make the experience as chaotic and unpleasant as possible, what was particularly heart warming was the very different reception we received at Calais. Having hopped in a van for the transfer from the boat to immigration formalities, the driver asked if we were going to the railway station. Having replied in the affirmative he offered to meet us on the other side of immigration to give us a lift!
Hot news this month from one of our clients, Steppes Travel, is the acquisition of The Traveller & Palanquin Travel, specialists in group archaeological, historical and cultural tours.
The Traveller - formerly the tours and travel department of The British Museum - is known for its experienced travel consultants as much as for its impossibly knowledgeable group leaders, many of whom are key curators in the British Museum. As Nick Laing, Chairman of Steppes Travel, said, ‘With the purchase of The Traveller, Steppes Travel can now offer an enhanced portfolio of expert-led off-the-beaten-track tours and individual journeys in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Asia, the Americas and Polynesia. The acquisition will further enhance our reputation for ensuring clients are able to fully immerse themselves in the people, cultures and places they visit. Having long admired The Traveller for the depth of its knowledge, expertise and exciting programmes, I am really delighted with the union.’
The Traveller will continue to operate under its own brand and its enormously varied, fantastic tours can be viewed at www.the-traveller.co.uk. For Steppes it’s just One More Steppe Beyond the Ordinary.
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| Paul's Travel Blog - April 2010
England's National Park
Recently released statistics show England (395 people per sq km) about to overtake the Netherlands (402) as the most densely populated country in Europe. Northumberland - known for its pristine rolling high moorland and outstanding coastline - is England’s most sparsely populated county with just 62 people per square kilometre. My blog this month is devoted to singing its praises.
The county is definitely the closest we get in England to the epic scale, pure air and outdoor lifestyle of New Zealand. Made up primarily of national park, forest and AONB coastline, in my view it could be justified in starting a campaign to have the entire county designated England’s national park as it’s the only place in England where it’s possible to cycle, walk, ride horses and even drive like we did 50 years ago.
At Kielder Water and Forest Park, they not only have the newest observatory in the country making the most of least polluted skies outside the Atacama Desert, but also the longest outdoor sculpture trail in Britain (as well as cycling, boating, and hiking on and around Europe’s largest man-made lake).
Nearby Rothbury provides access to more sublime cycling and walking in Coquetdale and a little further south you can walk alongside Hadrian’s Wall all the way into Cumbria. The county also boasts some of the most exquisite estate villages in the country - Blanchland in the south near Morpeth and Ford and Etal in the north close to Berwick. Meanwhile the tell-tale signs of an emerging new demand for quality in all things is seen in several award-winning guest houses that have opened in the past few years such as Chatton Park House, the Parade School Guest House and Orchard House.
Along the coast much of Northumberland’s endless white-sand coastline has been designated an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. There are many Sites of Special Scientific Interest too, offshore RSPB reserves such as the Farne Islands, as well as the finest collection of castles peppering coastal outcrops. Haunted Bamburgh Castle is one such with a history of occupation dating back to the 1st century BC. Within a slingshot, standing sentry on their bluffs, are the neighbouring castles of Warkworth, Alnwick, Dunstanburgh and Lindisfarne.
For further information on Northumberland please visit www.visitnorthumberland.com
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| Paul's Travel Blog - March 2010
In February we took on another new account, Merion Charles. Merrion is an ex-pat living in Tuscany with a huge knowledge of all things Italian who has assembled an enviable collection of sensational Italian villas. Her career in the industry has included working as a consultant for Abercrombie & Kent, as product manager for Italy, France & Morocco at CV Travel and as a manager for guided luxury walking holidays throughout Italy with the Alternative Travel Group Oxford. Her knowledge is extensive, taste faultless and she is absolutely passionate about all things Italian. No doubt this was why Harpers Bazaar voted her Number One Expert for Italy in 2009. Apart from her gorgeous villas, she also features the most charming Italian hotels, as well as select villas and hotels further afield.
February also saw my annual escape to the pistes with my 21-year old son Max. This time we chose the small resort of Engelberg in the Swiss Alps where we stayed at the Ski Lodge. Run by three Swedish partners/free-ski junkies, it’s one of those new breed of boutique ski hotels that offers gastro-pub style food and the intimacy of a chalet without its claustrophobia.
There are two other Swedish-owned hotels in Engelberg and plenty more Scandinavian visitors, drawn not for the pistes but the free-spirited free skiing and touring the area offers. Dan Threadway a former world record holder claims it’s one of the top five off-piste resorts in the world. As Johan Edin, one of the partners succinctly put it to me,‘The more mountain you ski,the better the mountain gets.’
With just 25 lifts covering a 2000 metre drop over 82 kilometres of runs, you soon exhaust the pisted terrain and so it tends to be popular with those already comfortable off piste or those decent skiers keen to make the transition to powder.
By the way, there may be those who scorn Swiss reliability and punctiliousness but I for one am hugely grateful that they take such care with my annual ski holiday. Travelling by train to the resort was a whole lot more pleasant than those interminable switchback coach transfers to French resorts - just a little over four hours after leaving the ground at Healthrow, we were settling down to our first litre-sized local beer (Eschlof) at the Ski Lodge bar.
The Ski Lodge is featured by Swiss Travel Service (www.swisstravelservice.co.uk)
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| Paul's Travel Blog - January 2010
A new year, a new client and an independent report on an existing client that shows how our radical and practical pro-active approach to travel PR achieves unparalleled results.
This month we have been taken on by the active-holiday specialist Neilson to advise on all aspects of travel and the media and to raise the Neilson profile. Whilst a number of competitors have been closing resorts, the Neilson brand is going from strength to strength. Along with a brand new watersport centre in Kenya (more on this next month), Neilson has just launched a new Lakes and Mountains programme and soon there will be a new Adventures programme with 150 adrenaline trips cherry-picked from around the globe.
We have also just received an independent report on the coverage Northumberland has achieved over the previous 12 months. The summary makes hugely impressive reading.
Northumberland Tourism achieved a result of a cost of £0.28 per 1000 ‘opportunities to see’ (OTS) – and this is rated outstanding. In comparison, another regional tourism organisation achieved a cost of £7.51 per 1000 OTS. This coverage translates into an AVE of £3.8 million generated through 295 articles, 100% of which were favourable, 65% strongly so. Equally significant was the fact that 92 per cent of the coverage met a pre agreed core message. Coverage was achieved in all of the major national travel pages and consumer magazines - 35 articles alone appearing on The Telegraph.co.uk, Timesonline and Guardian Unlimited. Coverage was also achieved on the Today Programme, Radio 5Live and Sky TV.
Where will PGC be going in 2010? Hopefully very much in the same direction: creating great coverage for our existing clients and taking a few new ones into our select stable.
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| Paul's Travel Blog - November 2009
As we approach winter, the travel industry seems to be growing increasingly confident about recovery. The UK has seen a very good summer as more holidaymakers plumped for home shores but now, as the nights grow long, tour operators are also increasingly posting good-news messages about increasing activity.
People, naturally, continue to look for great value when it comes to their early holiday booking patterns for next year. Some seem to be returning to the traditional longer holiday format rather than flying out on several shorter breaks (thus cutting costs by taking a single flight), others have opted to downgrade a star when it comes to accommodation. But even the more expensive operators specialising in long haul to Australasia have expressed relief that bookings are pretty much back to what they were.
The market is robust and the fierce competition of recent years has also seen it become extremely lean. What people want is great value whatever they’re buying and one thing’s for sure: the holiday is one of the last things we’re willing to give up!
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|  | Winning at all costs - November 2009
October has been a busy month. Apart from our usual blitzkrieg coverage for our clients, I’ve been launching my latest book, a departure from my usual travelogue format, which delves into the murky psychology of sport’s great achievers.
Co-written with an old Harley Street analyst buddy, Ian Williamson, it’s called Winning At All Costs – Sporting Gods and their Demons. Need I add, it makes a perfect present for Christmas and is available for £11.89 on Amazon!
Happy travelling
This groundbreaking book grapples with one of sport’s great conundrums: what raises outstanding champions above their rivals? What Gogarty and Williamson discover on their journey through the stadium of the mind is that greatness is indeed both a blessing and a curse.
Why did Dean Karnazes head off on a 1000-mile ‘fun run’ after completing his 50th back-to-back marathon in the US? What drives Paul Gascoigne to self-destruction? What prompted Michael Jordan to return from basketball retirement three times? Why so many tennis dads stalking daughters on the tennis courts? What drives David Beckham and Jonny Wilkinson to practice kicking obsessively? And just why is it that Romanian striker Adrian Mutu insists on wearing his underpants inside out?
Aimed at people who don’t think the unconscious is the place you reach on a Saturday night after sinking 15 pints, Winning At All Costs explores the psychological triggers that may well have provided the impetus for some of the world’s most outstanding sporting successes.
Paul Gogarty is a journalist, television presenter, and award-winning author of The Water Road and The Coast Road. Ian Williamson is a practising Harley Street child and adolescent analyst as well as the former captain of Blackheath Rugby Club.
Please contact Catherine Bailey (Publicity Director) on 020 7284 7194;
catherineb@jrbooks.com
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| Paul's Travel Blog - October 2009
Ah it's such a shame it’s gone again. Summer I mean. Strawberries, swimming, sundowners and sunshine. I’ve just returned from my own two-week halcyon break in two gorgeous boutique hotels on Turkey’s Lycian coast (the Deniz Feneri Lighthouse in Kas and the Villa Mahal on the shoulder of Kalkan).
Let me paint the picture of our first day: the white trailing fin of an old fishing boat bisects the bluest of bays and overhead the vapour trail of a rare plane does the same to an otherwise unbroken blue vault arching overhead. It’s 9am and I’ve just pulled back the hessian curtain on our first day at the Deniz Feneri Lighthouse on the Kas peninsular. I step onto the balcony and sit unmoving, taking in the view until my cold tea stirs me to action and breakfast on the terrace overlooking the infinity pool.
Until recent years, the problem with holidaying on the Turkish coast was putting up with decidedly average hotels in return for the sublime backdrop, the cuisine, the value, and the friendliness of the people. But that has all changed with the opening of a bevy of intimate boutique hotels that offer everything Turkey is good at alongside great service and style.
The summer memories are what get us through autumn and winter and confirm something we all know deep down: holidays are not luxuries, they’re absolute essentials!
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| On the trail of the third man - September 2009
Sixty years after Graham Greene's classic was first screened in the UK, Paul Gogarty finds that the film's elusive anti-hero still haunts Vienna.
To read the feature in full please visit the link below.
http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/on-the-trail-of-the-third-man-1779125.html
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| Paul's Travel Blog - September 2009
Why is it so many return like homing pigeons to familiar tourist landscapes each year? Sure there are places we like to flop when exhausted or stressed out but it’s the night we slept out under the stars in the Sahara or with the canopy slipped back on the narrowboat on the Thames or the Midi that we remember most.
This month I’ve discovered that you can sleep on a ship frozen in the ice in Spitsbergen, check into a suite in an airplane lodged in a leafy canopy in Costa Rica or even book one of seven gleaming iconic American Airstream trailers parked on the rooftop of the Grand Daddy Hotel in Cape Town.*
The fabled African skies and Cape Town's Table Mountain shimmering in buffed aluminium or muzak and drunk revellers on a Costa? No contest.
* all bookable through www.steppestravel.co.uk
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| Paul's Travel Blog - August 2009
My travels this month included a visit to the Camargue where two old French friends were hosting a joint birthday bash at one of the farms close to the national park wildlife reserve. As it was a milestone birthday for both the husband and wife, they decided to invite friends from the various stages of their lives.
I, and seven others, fell into the mid 70s Algeria years when we were all fresh-faced teachers (my first teaching job!) in a lycee in the Djudjura mountains. There’s nothing like seeing the toll of the years on others to realise you have become your own father and are now unlikely to ever make it into the Chelsea FC youth team! Apart from this slight shock, it was a wonderful way to celebrate a milestone by moving outside your own home patch and gathering old and new friends together. Over the weekend we watched cowboys and cowgirls on palominos herding cattle and branding them, spotted pink flamingos and eagle owls the size of small dogs, swam in the Med, listened to a gypsy band and chewed the fat.
In January I have a milestone birthday of my own coming up (don’t ask!) and the quandary is do I have a gathering-up-the-past party at home, on the Thames or at a gorgeous country house hotel? Or should I simply escape with my wife to somewhere that doesn’t feel the chill and gloom in January. My solution? Life’s too short – gather up the friends in a large property and have a party and then jet off to the Caribbean for a couple of weeks!
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| June Activity - July 2009
June saw Nick Laing, Chairman of Steppes Travel, arriving home after his 10,000mile Mediterranean jaunt whilst Mike Carter, of the Observer, departed on his own human-powered circumnavigation of contiguous Britain by bicycle. It’s great to see the pioneering spirit still burns strong.
Talking to both Mike and Nick, what comes through is the pure joy that is to be had from stepping out from our comfort zones and enjoying a boy’s own (or girl’s own) adventure. Talking to Mike on the phone a week ago he said “This is simply the best trip ever and it has completely renewed my faith in the British public – everyone has been so helpful, kind and interested in my trip.”
Nick too singled out the kindness and generosity of spirit he met everywhere as the highlight of his own circumnavigation of the Mediterranean - be it in Algeria, Libya, Turkey or Croatia. By choosing to do something different, visiting somewhere a little unexpected, our senses go on overload and there’s that wonderful feeling – excuse me for getting a little evangelical here - of an awakening. It reminds me of the joy I felt eachmorning waking up with a fresh adventure awaiting when I spent four months travelling the English inland waterways for my book The Water Road (Robson Books).
Over the last couple of months Nick has been doing a weekly blog for the Times and we are now fixing follow up articles for various publications.
Mike meanwhile has waxed lyrical about Essex and Northumberland (our two UK tourist boards clients) in his weekly epistles in the Observer and will no doubt do so again when he finally gets round to writing the book of the trip.
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| Nick Laing on his 10,000 mile motorbike trip round the Mediterranean - July 2009
"In 2007 I found an American website charting a bicycle ride around the Mediterranean. “Algeria – unfortunately we were unable to get visas. Libya – unfortunately we were unable to get visas.” On it went. I read Paul Theroux’s book The Pillars of Hercules and discovered even he had been thwarted in similar attempts. Here was a challenge. I emailed a friend “I feel a trip coming on”.
In April 2009, six friends on 5 BMW 1200GS and a Harley Davidson set out on a lap of the Mediterranean. The planning and organisation had taken a year to complete. I calculated 10,000 miles and six weeks riding would allow eight days of guided sightseeing in the key sites of antiquity, or - in the event of problems - eight days to catch up on time.
We planned an anti-clock wise trip to ensure we tackled the hottest part of the journey in the early stages. Leaving Oran in Algeria, we rode the entire length of North Africa stopping to see those gems of antiquity – Timgat, El Jem, Leptis Magna and Cyrene, and squeezed in a day in Cairo before crossing the Red Sea by ferry to Aqaba. Our two-wheeled caravan continued north through Jordan and Syria via Petra, Palmyra and Aleppo. Then it was hang a left across Turkey stopping in Goreme and Istanbul before hugging the Dalmatian coast to Italy and back to France. We made it to the day, but 500 miles shorter than I had calculated! Where did those 500 miles go? Maybe I need to head back to check?
The highlights? On a ride of that magnitude there are too many to choose from. Was it powering round the hairpin bends along the coast of Algeria or through Sinai? Or perhaps it was the dramatic 3,000ft descent down into Wadi Mujib in Jordan. Then there were the sandstone columns and arches of Palmyra, appearing like a mirage after the long flat desert crossing; and that moment of ecstasy as we rode through the beautiful Taurus Mountains of southern Turkey, I-pod playing, snow on the peaks high above us.
But if I did have to pick just one, it would probably be punching the air as we crossed the Italian border back into France after 42 days and 17 countries. We had made it on time and to the disappointment of many, without an argument!
Nick Laing is Chairman of Steppes Travel www.steppestravel.co.uk and Steppes Discovery www.steppesdiscovery.co.uk
The full story of his jaunt can be found on www.timesonline.co.uk and at Nick’s www.marenostrum.me.uk
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| April has definitely been PGC month! - April 2009
The latest PR coup for our client Northumberland Tourism has been to pick up on a highly embarrassing boob by the Canadian state of Alberta which launched a very expensive re-branding programme with a fetching picture of two young children running free on a long, otherwise empty sandy beach. There were plenty of Canadian red faces when it was discovered that the beach had actually nothing to do with Alberta but was watched over by Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland!
The PGC machine quickly went in to gear and more than 50 items of national press coverage duly followed worldwide as well as radio pick ups. To see some of the coverage, follow this link, http://news.google.co.uk/news?um=1&ned=uk&cf=all&ncl=1339631735
Another UK client, Essex Tourism, has not been missing out over recent weeks either having seen a full feature in the Observer on the Stour Valley and the county's upcoming Summer of Art festival. There were also features in the Daily Mail on Audley End, a piece on 'Cool Essex' that went out through the Press Association, a Guardian feature by travel editor Isabel Choat and yet another full feature by Vinny Crump in the Sunday Times on Mersea Island.
In addition both counties continued to appear in numerous round ups across the nationals and also saw plenty of media attention (including a full page in the Daily Telegraph on April 9) by being included in Vauxhall's latest media campaign, 'Britain's 10 outstanding hidden gems.'
Our latest client, Steppes Travel, also got off to a great start when, on April 13, the first weekly blog in a series of six went live on the Times website. Follow this link to keep up with Nick Laing's Mediterranean motorbike adventure. www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/holiday_type/driving/article6097464.ece
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| A Steppe in the right direction - March 2009
Paul Gogarty Communications (PGC) has been appointed to handle the national travel PR campaign for The Steppes Travel Group and its sister company Steppes Discovery.
The PGC team will focus on ensuring Steppes Travel Group regularly feature in the national UK travel and online media; positioning the company as the specialist in offering experience-based tailor-made holidays across the globe.
Steppes Travel Group design itineraries which take travellers off-the-beaten track to rediscover the joy of exploring some of the world's least visited destinations at their own pace. Trips range from the finest walking safaris in African game parks to an expeditionary voyage to the Arctic.
"We are extremely pleased to have appointed PGC to deliver our travel PR campaign," said Kieran Murphy, Managing Director for Steppes Travel Group. "The team are already delivering PR expertise and working hard to meet their promise of coverage in the national and online media."
To discover more about Steppes Travel unique approach to travel visit www.steppestravel.co.uk or
www.steppesdiscovery.co.uk
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| Northumberland Appoints PGC - September 2008
Paul Gogarty Communications (PGC) has been appointed to promote the county of Northumberland to the national UK travel, online and consumer media.
PGC will be running a 12-month campaign to highlight Northumberland as one of the most unspoilt and diverse holiday destinations in the UK.
“PGC have really hit the ground running,” said Joanne Dolezal, Marketing Manager for Northumberland Tourism. “The team have been full of ideas, creativity, and most importantly contacts, all enabling us to let people know that Northumberland is a great destination.”
To learn more about Northumberland’s diverse holidays visit www.visitnorthumberland.com. To find out about PGC’s unique approach to travel and tourism PR call Paul or Peter on 0208 883 3985 or email paul.Gogarty@pgcomms.co.uk or peter.joyner@pgcomms.co.uk.
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| Essex Tourism take on PGC - June 2008
Paul Gogarty Communications (PGC) has won the Travel PR account to promote Essex as a leading UK tourism destination.
Essex has appointed PGC to raise the profile of the county in the national media and highlight the cultural activities taking place over the next 12 months.
“We are really pleased to have appointed Paul Gogarty Communications to deliver our travel public relations campaign,” said Lisa Bone, Strategic Tourism Manager for Essex County Council. “Paul and his team came up with a very strong proposal and their access to the leading travel journalists will help us challenge perceptions of Essex as a holiday destination.”
To find out more about what Essex has to offer visit www.visitessex.com To find out more about how PGC’s expertise in travel and tourism PR can help your business speak to Paul or Peter on 0208 883 3985.
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| PGC conquers Himalayan - April 2008
Paul Gogarty Communications (PGC) has been appointed to manage the national travel PR campaign for adventure travel company Himalayan Kingdoms.
The PGC team will be focusing on increasing the company’s coverage in national newspapers, targeting the leading writers and helping Himalayan Kingdoms develop a stronger voice as an adventure travel specialist.
"Himalayan Kingdoms has appointed PGC to ensure greater national press coverage and to raise awareness of the broad range of our holidays and destinations,” said Jude Limburn, Marketing Manager. “We chose PGC because of their adventure travel experience and because their more personal, hands-on approach to publicity works for us."
For more information about Himalayan Kingdoms range of great trekking holidays visit www.himalayankingdoms.com.
To get more information on how PGC can help your travel company or destination contact Paul Gogarty on 0208 883 3985, or email Paul or Peter Joyner, on peter.joyner@pgcomms.co.uk or paul.gogarty@pgcomms.co.uk.
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| PGC Leaps Into Action - December 2007
Paul Gogarty Communications (PGC) has leapt into action by winning the new travel PR account for Activities Abroad.
The family orientated activity travel company has appointed PGC to help them raise their profile in the national broadsheet and consumer press in 2008. The campaign will focus on raising awareness of the range of European, Canadian and South African activity holidays the company has on offer, and encouraging more families to consider active holiday alternatives to simply sitting on a beach with bored kids.
“As a fast growing and dynamic company in the adventure travel sector we needed a PR company who were equally dynamic in their approach to our needs and PGC were an easy choice in a sea of PR mediocrity,” said Alistair McLean, Managing Director of Activities Abroad.
For more information about Activities Abroad visit www.activitiesabroad.com. To find out more about how PGC can help your tourism brand achieve outstanding levels of coverage contact Paul Gogarty on 0208 883 3985, or email Paul or Peter Joyner, on peter.joyner@pgcomms.co.uk or paul.gogarty@pgcomms.co.uk.
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| Headwater Joins PGC - November 2007
Adventure travel company Headwater has appointed Paul Gogarty Communications (PGC) as its new travel PR agency.
Headwater, which specialises in walking, cycling and canoeing holidays across the globe, has appointed PGC to ensure increased profile in the national press and demonstrate the range of holidays the company has to new audiences.
"Good PR is all about getting the right message to the right people at the right time," said Catherine Crone, MD of Headwater. "With over 20 years experience in front line travel journalism, I am confident that PGC will be in the best possible position to represent Headwater in 2008 and beyond."
For more information about Headwater Holidays visit www.headwater.com. To find out more about PGC and how they are helping travel companies achieve their PR aims call 0208 883 3985 or email Paul, or Peter, at peter.joyner@pgcomms.co.uk or paul.Gogarty@pgcomms.co.uk.
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| Paul Gogarty Communications Launches! - July 2007
After a year in the planning, Paul Gogarty Communications - our ground-breaking travel and tourism marketing consultancy – has launched!
PGC has been created to offer a more effective way of enticing journalists to write about destinations and holidays than is currently being employed.
Shaped by Paul’s experience - being on the receiving end of both PRs and travel editors - we have come up with a radically different approach to PR.
And with our unbeatable contacts, we're uniquely positioned to find the most productive outlets for our creative story lines. PGC also offers our clients experienced staff and realistic fees.
Over the next few weeks we'll be hitting the ground running and talking to the key players in the travel industry about our exciting new venture. If we haven’t managed to catch up with you yet then why not give us a call to see how we're different?
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