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The economic downturn has been brought into sharp focus in Italy by the news that the palatial and celebrated Grand Hotel in Rimini is to close over the winter months for the first time.

The luxury hotel on the Adriatic was a favourite of the film-maker, Federico Fellini, and featured in many of his movies, most notably as a sumptuous backdrop to his 1973 picture, Amarcord. It was officially listed as an Italian national monument in 1994.

The current proprietor, Antonio Batani, said plain financial necessity had forced his hand – there simply weren’t enough guests. “It’s a painful decision but I really had no choice,” he said.

The regional tourism councillor, Maurizio Melucci, added his voice to the concern at the news. “I hope this is just a temporary measure. The Grand Hotel is not only the symbol of Rimini and Italy for the summer, but for the whole twelve months of the year,” he said.

Boasting 117 guest rooms and suites, the Grand opened in the summer of 1908 and remains the only five-star luxury hotel in Rimini – and the only one with a private beach. Its imposing appearance is complemented by rooms decorated with 18th century Venetian and French antiques, together with original, restored parquet floors and chandeliers.

by Andy Moreton

Book the Grand Hotel in Rimini through Luxique – after Easter 2011.

Mexico’s biggest airline has stopped flying after the failure of a last-ditch bid to rescue it.

Mexicana suspended all operations almost a month after filing for US bankruptcy protection. It had been bought last week for a nominal fee by a group of local investors, who planned to make all cabin crew redundant and then rehire about a quarter of them. However, the cost-cutting plan couldn’t be agreed with the unions.

The group operated 69 aircraft under the Mexicana brand and 35 under the low-cost MexicanaClick, which it started in 2005. MexicanaLink, a separate unit which opened last year, had 15 planes.

Mexicana served more than a dozen routes to the United States, as well as flights to Latin America and Europe. Over the past couple of years, it’s lost market share to budget airlines, and the whole industry suffered when tourism dropped last year in the wake of the swine flu outbreak and the economic crisis. Reports about violence in Mexico have also continued to discourage travel.

by Andy Moreton

Plenty of other airlines have flights to Mexico’s resorts, and Luxique can help you book the best luxury hotels.

This is quite the most bizarre special offer I’ve come across. A luxury resort in the United States is offering rooms for $19 (£11) a night, but you have to sleep in a tent and bring your own toilet paper.

The Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, California has introduced what it calls its ‘survival package’. It starts at $219 (£132) a night, but as you take away each amenity, it gets cheaper. Thus the $19 tariff means no bed, towels, toiletries, loo paper or even lighting.

You’d have to be mad, wouldn’t you? Well, apparently when a similar promotion was run in June, 100 people took up the offer.

The declining economy has taken its toll on the Rancho Bernardo, which boasts three pools, a golf course, three restaurants and a spa in a 200,000-acre luxury resort.

“During a brainstorming session, we were talking about discounts and promotions and wanted to come up with something different,” said Rancho Bernardo’s General Manager, John Gates.

“We wanted to do something fun and clever. It’s a way of making the best of these bad economic times and trying to give customers an experience.”

The promotion has again proved so popular that it’s apparently been extended to September.

by Andy Moreton

The UK’s national airline, British Airways, is in deep trouble – some say it’s fighting for survival.

The company has just posted its worst first-quarter figures for 22 years – a pre-tax loss of £148 million ($247 million). It’s shed 1,450 employees since the end of March and could potentially cut another 3,000 from cabin crew and ground staff. Talks with unions about job and pay cuts are in a cooling-off period, although a deal with pilots has been agreed.

The Chief Executive, Willie Walsh, said there were no visible signs of an improvement in trading and BA faced its biggest challenge since privatisation in 1987.

The pain will inevitably be felt by passengers. Seven routes from London Gatwick are being cut – to New York, Alicante, Barcelona, Krakow, Madrid, Malta and Palma – and 22 long-haul aircraft are being grounded through the winter season.

In addition, BA is doing away with free meals on thousands of short-haul flights. No meals, rolls or sandwiches will be served after 10am on flights from London Heathrow lasting less than two-and-a-half hours – that includes destinations such as Madrid. In Economy, the most you’ll probably get is a bag of nuts or a snack bar.

The range of free alcoholic drinks on short-haul flights is also being reviewed as part of the changes, which the airline says could save £22 million ($36 million) a year.

by Andy Moreton

Malaga on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain was Picasso’s birthplace and the city is rightly proud of its most famous son.

There’s a museum dedicated to the paintings and drawings he gave his family or kept for himself. And the latest exhibition, which runs to August 30th, is of his later sculptures.

The museum is housed in the 16th century Palace of Buenavista, right in the heart of the historic centre of the city, with the dramatic backdrop of the Alcazaba Fortress and Gibralfaro Castle close by.

Separate from the museum, a short distance away, is the Casa Natal (Picasso’s birthplace), which is also open to the public.

Advance bookings, with or without an English-speaking guide, can be made online at www.museopicassomalaga.org

And Luxique has the best available rates at two luxury hotels in Malaga – the rustic and traditional Cortijo Valverde and the contemporary Room Mate Larios.

Elsewhere in Spain, hotel workers on the Costa Blanca, which is particularly popular with British tourists, are threatening strike action over pay in August.

Unions say wage rates for chambermaids in the region, which includes Benidorm and Alicante, are the lowest in the country.

Spain is already suffering from a decline in British visitors because of the recession and the falling value of the pound. Tourism Minister Miguel Sebastian says he expects foreign tourist arrivals to drop by up to ten per cent this year.

by Andy Moreton

The French are seemingly coming round to the view that tourists deserve to be greeted with a smile.

Hard on the heels of the Japanese company that’s using technology to measure the smiles of its employees, the Paris tourist board has set up stands at popular tourist areas staffed by ‘smile ambassadors’.

Officials are worried that it’s the Parisians’ reputation (deserved or undeserved) for unfriendliness, as well as the economic downturn, that’s led to a 17 per cent drop in visitor numbers this year. A recent survey found Paris to be the most over-rated city in Europe, with people citing its high prices and disagreeable residents.

“We have to work on striking and simple images. There’s nothing as telling as a smile,” said Paul Roll, who heads the tourist board.

Another tourism official, Daniel Fasquelle, said that French from all walks of life needed to play their part if tourism was to remain a major economic sector.

“It’s the American tourist lost in Paris that we inform politely, it’s the English person looking for the way in northern France who we don’t get impatient with by honking our car horns,” he said.

by Andy Moreton

You’ll find the friendliest of welcomes at all the varied luxury and boutique hotels in Paris listed on Luxique.com.

One effect of the worldwide recession has brought mixed blessings for Prague.

For some years, the capital of the Czech Republic has been the favoured haunt for that final fling before marriage – the stag (bachelor) or hen party. It was a particularly British pre-nuptial tradition inspired by Prague’s cheap drinks and beautiful scenery.

But with people trying to cut down on the high costs of weddings, this seems to be changing. Tom Chesshyre, writing in the London Mail On Sunday, says some companies that organise stag parties in the city have gone bust and those that continue are reporting stagnant bookings.

That’s bad news for the city’s bar owners because takings are down by at least a third. But it’s good news for the residents as there’s been a marked reduction in the number of drunken Britons roaming the cobbled streets.

One man running a ‘stag-hen’ tour company in Prague said: “It’s amusing. We used to get hotels that said ‘we don’t want stag parties.’ Now they’re begging us for bookings.”

“So,” says Chesshyre, “I think, as I take in a Mozart and Dvorak concert at the wonderfully ornate St Climent Cathedral, this Prague Spring should be a bit different from recent years. A little more peace, calm and culture.”

by Andy Moreton

If you’re destined for the Czech capital and its rediscovered calmness, take a look at Luxique’s city guide and great selection of luxury hotels in Prague.

New tax cuts mean that drinking and dining in France will be cheaper this summer.

Value Added Tax (VAT) is being slashed from 19.6 to 5.5 per cent on July 1st, which means that French restaurant and café owners should be able to bring down the cost of meals by about 10 per cent.

Announcing the news, France’s economy minister, Christine Lagorde, said: “The reduction in VAT is going to let France conserve and improve its culinary reputation.” She added that the cost in lost revenue would be offset by the increase in restaurant business.

For British visitors, the move will help offset the weakness of the pound against the euro. Although the pound has strengthened in recent weeks, its current value is about 12 per cent less than last summer.

by Andy Moreton

To find and book a hotel at the best possible rates, take a look at Luxique’s extensive selection – not just luxury hotels in Paris, but places to stay throughout France.

The swine flu outbreak in Mexico has caused the virtual collapse of the tourism industry there.

Many holidaymakers are cancelling their visits, cruise ships are making detours and hotels are down to an occupancy rate of less than 20 per cent. Major tourist resorts like Cancun are beginning to look like ghost towns. It’s estimated that Cancun lost $2.4 million (£1.6 million) of business in one week.

To try to woo tourists, some Cancun restaurants are offering two-for-one dinners, while handicraft stores have $1 specials on dolls and necklaces. “It’s imperative that our hotels have tourists,” said Rodrigo de la Pena, President of the Cancun Hotel Association. “We are in a serious economic crisis.”

Mexico’s tourism minister, Rodolfo Elizondo, said the blow to the industry would be “very strong”.

Tourism is one of the country’s top three sources of foreign income and analysts say it will take a strong and sustained push by the government, along with irresistible bargains, to revive it.

by Andy Moreton

The global recession is having a severe effect on the Caribbean region - five countries are reporting double-digit drops in tourist visits.

Statistics released last week by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) show Anguilla taking the biggest hit, with a decline of 18.8 per cent in the early months of 2009.

Visits are down in all twelve reporting nations and territories except Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico’s Cancun region. Tourist traffic fell 14.3 per cent in Antigua, 13.7 per cent in St Lucia, 11.6 per cent in Montserrat and 11.3 per cent in the Cayman Islands.

Winfield Griffith, acting Director of Research at the CTO, said the steep declines in the first quarter were the worst since the tourism slump that followed the Sept. 11th attacks in 2001. “The point at which it will hit bottom is not clear,” said Mr Griffith.

He said the small islands were finding it hardest, partly because airlines have started removing flights to save money.

There’s also been a decline in arrivals of cruise ship passengers, although these have considerably less economic impact because they don’t involve overnight stays on the islands.

by Andy Moreton

Now might be the time to get a top deal in the West Indies. Luxique has a wide selection of luxury Caribbean hotels at the best possible rates.