World Travel Awards Supplement - Travel Weekly WTM 2009 Day 2

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November 10 2009 | Connecting today’s travel industry | www.travelweekly.co.uk

The Official World Travel Market Daily

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World Winners 2009

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A Year in Aviation

In a year “worse than 9/11”, airlines are predicted to make a collective loss of $11 billion, according to IATA. But has the bottom now been reached?

As Iata CEO Giovanni Bisignani succinctly put it: “This is worse than 9/11”.

The good news is that although most observers agree the worst is over, no-one is able to say with any certainty when the upturn will begin.

There are a few green shoots however, with the worst of the capacity cuts over and a number of airlines launching new routes.

The most high-profile launch was British Airways, which defied all the nay-sayers and launched its allbusiness London City to JFK service in late September.

The double-daily service on a refitted Airbus A319 has 32 seats in a 2-2 configuration and is designed to appeal to a demographic – City types – that was supposedly wiped out (or at least laid low) at the start of the financial crisis.

It’s too early to tell how the service is faring or how it will pan out.

BA is also spending £100 million on revamping its first class. A move which many would argue is madness in the current climate. But perhaps the airline knows something we don’t.

BA also launched a number of new leisure routes in

October from Gatwick to: Sharm el Sheikh, the Maldives, Montego Bay (Jamaica) and Punta Cana (Dominican Republic). And one business/ leisure route from Heathrow to Las Vegas.

However, its ill-fated attempts to link-up with anyone, whether it be Iberia or American Airlines, seemed to move ever further from its grasp, as regulatory authorities on both sides of the Atlantic put in too many conditions to make it worthwhile.

The airline also made its biggest ever loss this year – £401m – and continued to cut jobs in a bid for survival.

Earlier in 2009 chief executive Willie Walsh controversially asked staff to follow his lead and work for free for a month. In October it announced further 2,000 full-time equivalent job cuts from its 14,000 cabin crew and is looking for up to 1,700 job losses among ground staff.

It now faces the very real prospect of strikes before Christmas.

Aer Lingus also announced 700 job cuts in a bid for survival.

BA also saw continued falls in passenger numbers. In September the airline’s overall traffic fell by 1.7% to

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2.92 million.

By contrast, both Ryanair and easyJet saw increases in passenger numbers and load factors in September.

Ryanair’s passenger numbers increased by 17% to 6.12m and its load factor – the number of passengers as a proportion of the number of seats available – rose by 1% to 85%.

Easyjet carried 4.42m passengers in September, a 5.3% increase on last year. Its load factor was up by 1.2% to 88.1%.

US Meanwhile, in the US, things appear to have stabilised.

A number of airports and airlines are reporting that capacity and routes are picking up in low digit percentages, after months of sharp falls.

At Boston Airport, for example, both flights and pricing are up by 2% this autumn compared to last year.

On the airline front, Virgin America has stated it plans “aggressive growth” for 2010.

Even the legacy carriers have cautiously stated that they feel the worse could be over.

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In a conference call following their results in July, outgoing Continental CEO Larry Kellner, said: “We think we have hit the bottom, but we don’t know how long we’ll be there.”

However, he ruled out any increases in capacity and could not even guess when the business traveller would return to the front of the plane.

Global airline capacity for October 2009 showed an upward trend for the third consecutive month of 1.04%, which was slightly down on September’s figure, according to OAG. The world’s airlines have 299.9m seats available this month, a rise of 1.04% compared to October 2008.

They scheduled a total of 2.4m flights for October, down by 1% on October 2008.

David Beckerman, vice president OAG Market Intelligence, said, “We’re seeing continued growth in global capacity even with slight decreases in frequency across Europe and North America as we go into the autumn, which would tend to indicate a trend towards re-evaluating less popular routes.”

Middle East Meanwhile, in the Middle East, it seems to be largely business as usual but with a slight squeeze on yields.

The low cost sector has seen 12% more flights than the same time last year.

At the Business Travel Market, at ExCeL, in June, two leading Middle East airlines – Qatar and Etihad – claimed that their premium traffic has been largely unaffected by the recession.

Both airlines said load factors in their front cabins were holding steady or were up compared to this time last year.

Qatar and Etihad are also two of few airlines that have not cancelled their aircraft orders.

Qatar placed an order for 24 Airbus A320s and announced it was setting up a corporate jet subsidiary at this year’s Paris Air Show.

Meanwhile Etihad admitted that yields had been an issue for the carrier, but that its home market – Abu Dhabi – was continuing to experience high growth levels both in corporate and leisure traffic.

Etihad launched a number of new routes this year including Melbourne in March, Athens, Istanbul and Larnaca in June and Abu Dhabi to Chicago in September.

The airline is rolling out a new first class suite across its fleet later this year.

Twelve Middle East carriers became the first airlines to use an Aircraft Emissions Manager, designed to monitor and measure carbon emissions and fuel burn.

And Qatar became the first airline to fly on natural gas.

Mergers and acquisitions

Added charges

On the world stage, the headline-grabbing news was Japan Airlines and its “will it, won’t it” collapse from a massive debt burden.

As the airline teetered in September, helpers lined up, including a Oneworld delegation led by BA, American and Qantas; and one from Skyteam, Delta Airlines.

In Latin America the huge news was the merger of TACA and Avianca, creating the biggest airline in the region and also the possibility of direct flights to the UK and elsewhere in Europe.

Lufthansa completed its purchase of the remaining 20% of bmi from SAS in October and immediately appointed the chief executive of Jet Airways to turn the airline round.

Meanwhile, failed airline Alitalia, was saved by Air France-KLM, which bought a 25% stake earlier this year; and Olympic Airlines, which collapsed in September 2008, returned as privately-owned Olympic Air a year later.

Airlines also finally acknowledged their carbon impact on the world and agreed to reduce emissions by half on 2005 levels by 2050.

All airlines battled to stay afloat in 2009 by adding more and more extras to the cost of a ticket – a practice slammed by travel agents as an “unsustainable” business model.

BA started charging for specific seat requests in September.

United Airlines becomes the latest legacy US carrier to charge a fee for a second hold bag.

The airline will charge $50 per piece of extra baggage for travellers flying between the US and Europe, or $45 if booked online.

United was also badly burned by a spoof song posted on YouTube criticising how it handled baggage – in particular fragile guitars – and was forced into an embarrassing public apology on how it had dealt with the complaint.

BA also introduced charges for a second hold bag, and now includes sporting equipment as part of a passenger’s allowance.

US carriers also started charging a surcharge for tickets bought at popular flying times such as Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year.

And Ryanair got rid of all check-in desks and charged passengers £5 each way to book online. Rumours that it will start charging passengers to use the loo onboard have not been ruled out.

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Winner’s Showcase

Meet the man behind the world’s best airline: James Hogan, Etihad Airways In March you said: “The aviation industry is facing its toughest challenge for many years as a result of the current global economic crisis but Etihad Airways will seek to continue its expansion plans during 2009 in a measured, considered and controlled manner.” To what extent do you feel you have achieved that?

JH: Etihad, the fastest growing commercial airline in aviation history, is currently a US$3 billion dollar business. We have nine new aircraft arriving in 2009, which will boost our fleet to 52 and enable us to serve 57 destinations. Etihad has continued with its expansion during 2009 in a measured, considered and controlled manner which means more routes, investment in infrastructure and continued focus on exceptional service delivery.

Our network expansion continued in 2009 with six new routes – Melbourne (March); Astana (May); Istanbul, Athens and Larnaca (June); Chicago and Cape Town (September); and Hyderabad (November).

We are constantly reviewing our route network and looking for additional opportunities to expand our services and grow our brand. We now have 18 code share agreements in place and expect more options to become available in the months ahead.

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We are continually investing in our product and services – including the launch of our new first class product in May of this year, which will be retrofitted on all aircraft by the end of 2010. We announced the largest engine order in aviation history at this year’s Paris Air Show, and we will continue to grow.

Etihad has set its sights on flying 25 million passengers a year to at least 100 destinations by 2020. We have no intention of sitting still.

Also in March, you stated that you plan to increase passenger numbers by 15 per cent this year to 7m.

Are you on target?

JH: The first six months saw the number of passengers carried by Etihad Airways increase by eight per cent to 3.01 million passengers, compared to 2.78 million during the same period in 2008. Load factors continue to hold up well. Across the airline’s network, the airline achieved average load factors of 72 per cent for the first half of the year which, despite the most challenging of conditions, was just a single percentage point below last year.

We are still on target to carry close to seven million passengers, and achieve a growth of 15 per cent, even in the current economic climate. January to June of

this year saw seat factors of 70.5 per cent from London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi and 78 per cent from Manchester to Abu Dhabi.

A major reason for our ability to improve loads, even in the current downturn, is the diversity of our customer base. We have large customer segments in many different areas: premium long and short-haul business travellers; leisure travellers going to and from different geographies; very large VFR levels; labour traffic from Asia and the Indian sub-continent into the Gulf; and the regular religious pilgrimage traffic into Saudi Arabia from across the world.

At this year’s WTM you will be discussing Etihad’s “market place position”. Could you elaborate on this theme?

JH: We are not trying to be the biggest airline in the world but we aim to be the best. We have a very clear commercial mandate and are focused on delivering it.

2009 has been a tough year for everyone in the airline industry but because of Etihad’s investment in its product, fleet and home-base airport, as well as the development in Abu Dhabi, we are confident we can continue our impressive growth.

And also the airline’s “future strategy” – could you also tell us about these plans?

JH: In 2008 Etihad Airways placed one of the largest aircraft orders in commercial aviation history at the Farnborough Air Show and in June this year we announced the largest engine order in aviation history.

Our future strategy includes plans to fly 25 million passengers a year to at least 100 destinations by 2020.

You have just been voted “World’s Leading Airline” at the World Travel Awards. What does it mean to you and the team to win such a prestigious award?

The premium economy cabin is becoming increasingly popular on airlines. Do you have any plans to launch a premium economy cabin?

JH: We do not need a premium economy cabin because I believe our standard economy product is already that good. However, we are planning upgrades to our business and economy class cabins with improvements to the seats and on-demand in-flight entertainment systems. We do not seek to be like US and European airline businesses – our segmentation is different and this in turn strengthens our business model.

What routes are you planning on launching in 2010?

Etihad’s vision is to be the best airline in the world, so to be recognized in this way is very important to us.

We are committed to investing in our product, and pride ourselves on our high levels of customer service.

JH: In early 2010 we will launch flights to Sri Lanka and Japan, with further announcements to be made in the coming months.

You are rolling out a new first-class cabin as premium passenger numbers plunge across the world. Can you tell us a bit more about premium demand – your views on its future?

We are constantly reviewing our route network looking for opportunities to expand our services and grow our brand. By the end of 2009 we will operate to 57 destinations.

JH: A downturn is exactly the time when an airline needs to demonstrate its commitment to the very highest standards of service excellence. The economic turbulence that the aviation industry is currently experiencing will give way to better times, and when it does our investment and product innovation will ensure that we are well placed to capitalise on the market.

I believe our new first-class cabin will continue to reaffirm our position as market leader in terms of luxury air travel. The first aircraft with the new firstclass cabin entered service in August 2009 and is now available on two of the three daily flights departing Heathrow for Abu Dhabi. The new suite marks the culmination in a series of enhancements in the last 18 months – including the introduction of a new cabin crew position called the food and beverage manager; and the opening of our new lounges at Abu Dhabi, Frankfurt and most recently T4 at Heathrow.

Are there any plans to open more premium lounges in the world?

JH: In 2009 Etihad opened two dedicated premium lounges outside of the UAE, in Frankfurt, Germany and Heathrow Terminal 4. The new lounges are a

significant milestone in Etihad’s development and a step forward in the airline’s commitment to deliver products and services of the highest possible standards. The lounges offer five star dining, a range of entertainment options and a Six Senses Spa. These two lounges will be followed by others in international markets in the near future.

The airline sponsors Abu Dhabi F1? Are there any more sponsorship plans in the pipeline?

JH: Sports sponsorship is a major part of Eithad’s marketing and brand-building strategy. In 2009 the airline announced a three year shirt sponsorship deal with Manchester City, which joins our other major sponsorship deals – the Ferrari Formula 1 team, All Ireland Hurling Championships, the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Chelsea Football Club, Harlequins Rugby Club and the Abu Dhabi Golf Championships. In March the Telstra Dome in Melbourne was also renamed the Etihad Stadium.

Well placed sponsorships in key markets can significantly increase brand awareness for a young organisation such as ours. Prominent sports amass a substantial following with unprecedented loyalty.

Although the airline is predominantly involved in sport sponsorships, we do not discount any sponsorship that would provide a tangible benefit to our international marketing mix and we continue to consider new opportunities where appropriate.

On which routes do you predict sustained premium demand?

JH: First class performance is currently being driven by greater numbers of passengers travelling on our European, Australian and American routes, with all three now showing strong pick-up and performances that surpass those in Q2 / Q3 this year.

In addition to the current upturn in premium class passengers, Etihad is also seeing the strongest revenue performances in premium class since January / February this year – reflecting both volume upturn and the quality of revenue.

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Beauty travels with a purpose

The World Travel Awards celebrated its most spectacular Grand Final in its 16-year history with the ultimate glamorous accompaniment – all 120 contestants in Miss World 2009 were made guests of honour at the star-studded gala ceremony in London.

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A Fine Balance

Celebrate the winning spirit of the Commonwealth Games in India.

OCTOBER 3-14, 2010

The beauty queens reflect the truly diverse and global reach of the World Travel Awards, which this year received votes from 183,000 travel professionals in 166 countries.

The “Oscars” of the travel industry has grown into a truly global search for the world’s best travel and tourism brands, with winners from seven regional ceremonies competing in Sunday’s Grand Final at Mayfair’s Grosvenor House, JW Marriott Hotel.

The evening also included a donation to water aid charity, Just a Drop, with over 1,000 attendees at the awards digging deep.

The Miss World finalists are also bringing a large sprinkling of glamour to World Travel Market today, when they will be visiting their respective country stands to congratulate the World Travel Award winners.

At 3pm today, three finalists will assist World Travel Awards Founder and President Graham Cooke present to WTM chairperson and Just a Drop Founder, Fiona Jeffery, the donation from Sunday’s final.

The contribution compliments the “Beauty with a Purpose” programme, which this year has raised £1 million to support surgical, nutritional and educational projects in Haiti, Palau, Philippines, Ghana and India.

Started in 1951, Miss World is the longest-running beauty pageant in the world, and has raised over £150 million for good causes since its inception. It is now broadcast in 180 countries and seen by audiences of over one billion viewers, making it the world’s most watched annual TV show.

The Miss World 2009 final will take place on 12 December at the Gallagher Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa when 120 contestants will compete in the world’s most coveted beauty pageant. www.worldtravelawards.com www.missworld.com www.justadrop.org

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Middle East Ceremony Abu Dhabi breaks new records at World Travel Awards The stars of Middle East travel and tourism turned out in force for the industry’s highest accolade – the World Travel Awards, held at The Monarch, Dubai on 5 May 2009.

Abu Dhabi was star of the show, picking a recordbreaking ten awards, including Etihad winning “Middle East’s Leading Airline” and Abu Dhabi Tourism Association voted “Middle East’s Leading Destination Marketing Campaign”. Etihad also won the inaugural World Travel Awards Prix d’Or – attendees at the gala ceremony voted live on the night for the brand that they thought had contributed most to the Middle East’s travel industry over the past 12 months.

Over 500 travel and tourism brands from across the region were nominated for the awards, which is hailed as the “Oscars of the Travel Industry” by the Wall Street Journal.

The event was graced by a number of senior professionals from the travel, tourism and hospitality trade at a ceremony packed with award winners, nominees and press.

Dubai remained the Middle East’s favourite destination by winning the highly-contested “Middle East’s Leading Destination” and “Middle East’s Leading MICE destination”.

Emaar’s The Address hotel was voted “Middle East’s Leading New Hotel”. Another unanimous vote was for “Middle East’s Leading Tourist Attraction”, which went to Petra in Jordan.

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Commenting on the award winners, Graham Cooke, Founder and President of the World Travel Awards said: “I am excited to see that the Middle East’s tourism offering is quickly diversifying and new players are taking great interest in being destinations, airlines or hotels of choice. It is particularly impressive to note that some of the award winners tonight are very new companies that have quickly set themselves to be leading players in the travel, tourism and hospitality business - not only in the Middle East but worldwide.”

The awards are determined by a polling process that invites votes from over 183,000 travel, tourism and hospitality professionals around the world. This year around 42,000 voters participated in selecting winners for the Middle East’s best airlines, hotels, destinations and other tourist attractions.

For a full list of winners visit www.worldtravelawards.com

“

The World Travel Awards Ceremony is a fantastic event and a great opportunity for the travel industry... it makes sense to partner with a high profile and well-connected event like WTA...”

BBC World News

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A Year in Hospitality

The big trend in hotels this year was the move away from full-service five-star properties to budget hotels. So which players are reaping the rewards in this new age of austerity?

This was predicted back in February at the Business Travel Show with the release of a report commissioned by travel technology company Amadeus and conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The report predicted that a “new age of austerity” in terms of business travel was dawning with travellers taking fewer, shorter and cheaper business trips and opting for basic efficiency and good service over ancillary services.

As corporate budgets were frozen or slashed, more and more travellers opted to do this.

The net effect was that many five star properties found themselves taken off corporate travel policies, forcing them to try and get themselves re-categorised as four star hotels.

The trend was not solely confined to business travel, however, with many luxury properties forced to close floors to save money as occupancy levels sunk to

new lows.

This was most acute in Mexico, where at the height of the swine flu panic occupancy rates dipped to single figures.

The capital also led the world’s cities with the lowest average room rates for five years in the first half of this year, of just £49.

However, according to the head of the Mexican Tourist Board in the UK, Manual Diaz Cerebran, the country is now past the worst and there were a number of campaigns in place to stimulate tourism to the country. These include a Mexican Season which started with the official opening of Moctezuma: Aztec Ruler at the British Museum, and is followed by Revolution on Paper: Mexican prints 1910 - 1960.

However, he added: “Despite the fact that consumers might be expecting lower prices, we must stress that Mexico is not about to become a cheap destination.”

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Construction around the world, most notably Dubai, ground to a halt in the first few months of this year.

A number of big-name brands including Six Senses in North East Brazil and Four Seasons in Barbados were forced to delay projects or scale them back considerably while the recession continued to bite.

However, it was not all bad news as a number of properties and destinations managed to buck the worldwide trend.

In September, the Langham Hotels Group announced a US$1bn expansion to its portfolio of luxury hotels by 13 over the next few years.

The group will focus on Asia Pacific, with properties planned for Tokyo, Singapore, Thailand and Thailand, and the Middle East.

It also plans a conference spa facility in France, and a hotel in Liverpool and a 224-bedroom Langham Place, Resort & Spa, Port St George, Bahamas.

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Relais & Chateaux reported a 39% increase in bed nights in the third quarter of this year, reservations up 35% and average length of stay up 3%.

Starwood also continued to open hotels worldwide throughout 2009, with plans to have 100 hotels in China alone by 2012.

And the world’s largest hotel group, IHG, announced that it would be spending US$175 million in combined totals for new property announcements throughout Latin America.

Meanwhile, there was no let up in the number of new luxury hotels openings in the Maldives, including a Shangri La Resort & Spa. British Airways also reported strong forward bookings on its newly-launched route to the capital Male.

Abu Dhabi was one of the few cities which continued to build hotels and, due to an acute lack of supply, was also able to up its rates.

In fact, a survey at the start of the year of more than 92,000 room night bookings across the world during the first quarter of 2009 showed Abu Dhabi led the way with the largest increase in hotel room rates.

On average, its year-on-year rates rose by more than 33 percent to become the most expensive in the world at £173.

This is in stark contrast to Dubai which recorded a room rate decrease of 25 percent over the same period.

Meanwhile, the budget hotels upped their game in terms of facilities and slashed their costs, tempting many road-warriors to use brands such as Express by Holiday Inn, Travel Lodge and Premier Inn for the first time.

Premier Inn announced it will be opening four new hotels at London’s main airports from Autumn 2011, two at Heathrow and one at Gatwick and one at Stansted, creating a total of 1,570 new rooms.

It is spending more than £125 million on the developments.

It also opened its first property in Dubai, one of the few budget hotels to operate in the emirate.

This trend to downgrade was backed up by a second report, released in September, which confirmed the predictions by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

The report, by Samsung and OnePoll, found almost 40% of those polled said they were becoming “less convinced” about the added value of premium properties.

And almost a third said they considered staying in a budget hotel to be “a great experience”.

The research also found that 87% of travellers pay on average less than 120 euros per night for their stay.

September marked a flattening out for many UK hotels in terms of rates, occupancy levels and yields.

A report by Deloitte predicted there will be a slowdown in the rate of decline with a pick up in the last three months of next year.

Marvin Rust, hospitality managing Partner at Deloitte said: “The revised forecasts show that for hotels in London and across the UK, the worst falls in revPAR [revenue per available room] are probably behind us now.

“However, both sectors still face further falls in revenue before recovery takes place.

He did not predict a return to growth in the capital before Q4 2010.

Rust predicted that the rest of this year and the beginning of next would be tough for hoteliers, but less so for London – if the pound stays weak. The capital recorded 80% occupancy rates in the first three quarters of this year, a performance described by Rust as “very impressive”, and partly down to strong leisure demand at weekends.

Hotel group Accor saw better results in London than the regions, with a fall of 6% in revPAR in the capital,

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compared to 16% elsewhere. The group continued to expand, opening 18,700 rooms to the end of September, and aims to make a profit of E400mE450m by the end of the year.

In the regions, occupancy rates are starting to creep back up. Edinburgh saw a 3% increase in occupancy rates in August compared to last year, to 91%.

However, rates were down by 7%.

Leeds and Liverpool also saw their occupancy levels increase, by 3% and 7.6% respectively. However, both cities saw sharp falls in yields.

Robert Barnard, partner for Hotel Consultancy Services at PKF, said: “This year was always going to be a tough one for hoteliers and therefore these figures are not hugely surprising.

“It is heartening to see that occupancy rates are creeping back up in many of the cities.

“But, ultimately, if hoteliers can continue to draw in visitors, they will be in a better position to slowly increase room rate as soon as the economic situation allows them to.”

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How to Enter 2010 The World Travel Awards serves to acknowledge, reward and celebrate the achievements of the brightest players in the global travel and tourism industry.

If you think your organisation stands in a class of its own then visit worldtravelawards.com for an online entry form.

Self nomination for 2010 opens 11 January.

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Praia d’El Rey Golf & Beach Resort (Marriott Hotel) | Óbidos | www.praia-del-rey.com Tel. +351 262 905 005 The CampoReal Golf Resort & Spa (CampoReal Hotel) | Torres Vedras | www.camporeal.pt Tel. +351 261 960 900 Golden Eagle, Residence & Golf Resort Rio Maior | www.goldeneagle-golfresort.com Tel. +351 243 940 040

t s a o c r e v l i s c i st a t n a f u A o y r o f wa it i n g

Bom Sucesso Design, Leisure & Golf Resort Óbidos | www.bomsucesso.net Tel. +351 262 965 310 Vimeiro Golf Resort (Golf Mar Hotel) | Torres Vedras | www.hotelgolfmar.com Tel. +351 261 980 800 Botado Golf Club (Atlântico Golfe Hotel) | Peniche www.atlanticogolfehotel.com Tel. +351 262 757 700 Royal Óbidos Spa & Golf Resort (open 2011) | Óbidos | www.royalobidos.com Tel. +351 262 960 241

GOLFOESTE Rua Direita, n.º 87 – Apartado 42 – 2510-914 Óbidos – Portugal Tel. +351 262 955 060 – Fax +351 262 955 061 golf@turismodooeste.pt | www.turismodooeste.pt

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LISBOA Major Regular Events

LISBON FISH FESTIVAL

INDIELISBOA

ROCK IN RIO LISBOA

April

April - May

May

The festival celebrates the great food speciality of Lisbon, fish, in its diverse preparations, recipes and side dishes. There will be tasting, cooking demonstrations and entertainment for all. www.visitlisboa.com

International Independent Film Festival - IndieLisboa is the greater film festival of Lisboa.

The main aim of the Festival is to discover new films and new directors, in the universe of independent cinema. www.indielisboa.com

Rock in Rio - considered the biggest music festival in the world - takes place every two years in Parque da Bela Vista in central Lisbon. Lisbon is set to welcome top international music acts, and thousands of their fans in early summer. http://rockinrio-lisboa.sapo.pt

FESTAS DE LISBOA

OCEANS’ FESTIVAL

JAZZ AT THE CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION

June - July

August

August

These celebrations take place in the historical quarters of Lisboa. At the street parties people dance, listen to Fado, eat grilled sardines and drink. It is also traditional to hold a collective wedding ceremony where the brides are known as “Brides of Santo António”. www.egeac.pt

The Oceans’ Festival is a thrilling tour of the seven seas, made on dry land. It attracts thousands of locals and visitors to the Tagus riverside area where they can watch concerts, urban interventions on the theme of oceans, multimedia shows and musical pyrotechnics. www.festivaldosoceanos.com

An initiative set up by the Gulbenkian Foundation in 1984. The programme includes concerts by world acclaimed musicians,whilst promoting current trends in contemporary Jazz. www.camjap.gulbenkian.pt

DOCLISBOA

ARTE LISBOA

NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY

October

November

December

In October the world fits into Lisbon. The only Portuguese competitive festival entirely dedicated to documentaries, it will bring the best of the contemporary national and international production offering 11 days of an intensive program. Doc Lisboa focuses on breaking new ground and on the great diversity and vitality of this cinema of reality. www.doclisboa.org

International Art Fair gathering the most prestigious art galleries in Europe thus promoting Contemporary Art in Lisboa. One of the most important objectives for ARTE LISBOA - Contemporary Art Fair, is to stimulate the development of patronage and artistic production. In the Nations Park of Lisbon. www.artelisboa.fil.pt

This super-event marks the transition from the Old Year to the New Year. Staged usually in the waterfront of the river Tagus, performs concerts with some famous names as well as street entertainment and, of course, fireworks. www.visitlisboa.com

www.visitlisboa.com

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