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Whitney Houston to visit Tenerife

International superstar Whitney Houston will be performing a concert in Tenerife on 30th April 2010. The concert is set to take place on the Costa Adeje golf course where Rod Stewart performed so successfully earlier this year.

Whitney Houston will also be performing in Paris, Dublin, London, Milan,Rome and Zurich as she conducts her European Tour. It will be her first European tour for eleven years.

Tenerife is now firmly on the map as an international pop concert venue, Whitney Houston will follow in the foosteps of other international superstars like Elton John, Gloria Estefan, and Rod stewart. The availability of cheap flights to Tenerife, fine weather, and a large population all make the Island an attractive location for outdoor concerts.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Liquid restrictions for hand luggage on airplanes

In order to protect you against the threat of liquid explosives in aircraft cabins, the European Union (EU) adopted new security rules that restrict the amount of liquids that you can take through security checkpoints.

These rules apply to all passengers departing from Airports in the EU, wherever their destination. The rules were applied on 6th November 2006 and apply until further notice so please check with your carrier for any updates before flying.

You are only allowed to take small quantities of liquids in your hand luggage.  These liquids must be in individual containers with a maximum of 100 millilitres each. You must pack these containers into one transparent resealable bag of not more than one litre capacity per passenger.

Liquids include:

• Water, other drinks, lotions and oils.
• Perfumes
• Sprays
• Gels, including hair and shower gels.
• Contents of pressurised containers, including shaving foam, other foams and deodorants.
• Pastes, including toothpaste.
• Liquid-Solid mixtures.
• Mascara
• Any other item of similar consistency.

In order to help screeners detect liquids, you must:

• Present all liquids carried to the screeners at security checkpoints for examination.
• Take off you jacket and/or coat. They will be screened separately whilst you are being screened.
• Remove laptop computers and other large electrical devices from your hand luggage. They will be screened separately whilst you are being screened.

What has not changed?

• You can still pack liquids in your luggage which will be checked in for transit in the aircraft hold.
• You can carry  medicines and dietary requirements, including baby foods for use during the trip. You may be asked for proof that they are needed.

Read more about prohibited articles in hand luggage and luggage which will be checked in for transit in the aircraft hold.

If you  have any doubts, please ask your airline or your travel agent in advance of travel.

You are also advised to be courteous and co-operate with airport security and airport staff who enforce these regulations.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Current Canary Islands Tourism Statistics – September 2009

A bleak picture has been painted today by the four major tourism sector employers in the Canary Islands this week.

The Canary Islands has lost 15% of their normal tourist numbers compared with the same period last year which is a dramatic decline. Last year the Canary Islands received over 9.2 million visitors so that represents a fall of 1.38 million tourists. Occupancy rates are well down and people are not staying as long to reduce their costs.

The Canary Islands have a fragile economy principally supported by tourism, so this news is a major setback for the Islands. It is estimated that 50,000 jobs could be lost as businesses find it harder to cut costs.

If you look at the economics, an average tourist visiting the Canary Islands will spend around €60 Euros per day on the Islands. Multiply that by the number of lost visitors that is an 83 million Euro shortfall in business, every day.

The statistics also reveal a 13-20% reduction in the number of flight slots over the coming months which signals that things are not set to improve. As a result, many employers will have no choice but to reduce staff numbers.

President Zapatero of Spain is due to visit the region shortly and everyone is hoping he will completely remove airport taxes to stimulate the number of visitors to the Canary Islands. Airport taxes have already been reduced but it does not seem to have had much effect to date.

Currently, Canarian residents enjoy a discount on flights to Spain and the tourism sector is now pushing for a reciprocal arrangement for residents from mainland Spain. This would attract more visitors from the Iberian Peninsula at a time when they are desperately needed.

Unemployment levels in the Canary Island have already risen dramatically over the past 12 months and rising levels will place an even heavier burden on the Government in terms of benefit payments. If unemployment levels reach 30%, which is quite possible, it will cost them 300 million Euros per month in unemployment benefits, significantly more that the lost revenue from abolishing airport taxes.

Over the past year the Government has been well aware that tourist numbers have been falling yet they seem to have done very little to resolve the problem. Perhaps any measures the Government make now will be too late to be effective because the airlines have already began their withdrawal. There is a more time lag in tourism than any other industry because of pre-booking and change takes time to implement.

Perhaps the Government should not only abolish airport tax but pay a reverse subsidy to encourage the airlines. The airlines and travel industry will target destinations where they can be competitive and offer good value, otherwise they cannot be profitable in the current climate.

The Canary Islands could be considered a medium haul destination so airlines cannot offer massive discounts because of fuel costs. That is why flights to the Islands are expensive and why the tourists have been going elsewhere.

The real victims of this failure are the residents, most of who depend on tourism for their livelihood.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Live Exchange Rate Converter – Real Time Conversion Rates

The following live exchange rate converter will help you quickly carry out up to date currency conversions using real time conversion rates:

Sorry we could not get the iframe to work reliably on this WordPress blog so here is a link to our main website where the iframe does work. Live Currency Converter

Visit Tenerife and reduce your Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint

Tenerife Tourism – a green alternative

A carbon footprint is a term used to describe the measure of impact of our activities have on the environment, particularly in respect of climate change. It is a measure of greenhouse gases produced during our routine daily life.

For example, 10% of greenhouse gas emmissions are produced by private transport, 3% by public transport, 12% by electricity use in the home and so on. Almost every action we take has an impact on climate change which is why it is so important to try and reduce your own personal carbon footprint. Buying a new car accounts for 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions and even food production contributes a further 6%.

There is now a great awareness that climate change needs to be tackled head on but how do we contribute if we don’t understand what we need to do. The good thing is that conserving energy also has a cost benefit. Using a bicycle or your feet for short journeys will also have a health benefit. Using a bus is also better than taking a taxi, remember the bus is running on a schedule , so you will be saving all the fuel the taxi would use.

Well if you are a tourist you will probably already have contributed to the 6% global greenhouse gas emissions resulting from air travel. Some airlines are trying to do something about this in the future, one day aircraft may use alternative low carbon fuels known as biofuels. A biofuel is naturally produced from plant crops, there is also a secondary advantage because plants absorb carbon dioxide which depletes greenhouse gas already in the atmosphere.

The Tenerife Government are already doing their bit by employing extensive renewable energy sources such as wind farms and photovoltaic cells. They have invested heavily in this so by coming to Tenerife for your holiday you will probably be reducing your carbon footprint. At least you can feel that the carbon emissions from your air travel has been offset beause a good proportion of energy you consume whils’t here has been naturally produced. Tenerife has a temperate climate so air conditioning is not really necessary here, neither is heating, another carbon footprint bonus.

So your are here, what can you do to reduce your carbon footprint in Tenerife other than trying to avoid using motorised transport. Use of electrical energy is another important factor, so turn off lights as much as possible and use electricity sparingly. If your accomodation does have air conditioning try not to use it unless absolutely necessary, it does consume a lot of energy. Solar energy is becoming increasingly popular for hot water heating which also reduces energy consumption on the island. Another green solution.

If you buy anything on the island try and think about how energy may have been consumed to produce it. Production of metal plastics and glass are high energy operations so avoid them if alternatives are available. Food packaging even consumes energy so buy loose items if you can and reuse your carrier bags whenever you can. Consider eating salads sometimes to avoid energy consumed by cooking food. If you are having a drink, remember bottles or cans are recycled because it saves money, however if you drink draught beer no recycling is necessary.

If you are buying foodstuffs, remember locally produced food will have less of an impact on greenhouse gas emissions because transportation is significantly reduced. Any imports to Tenerife by air or sea contribute significantly, so if you are buying anything try buying local. This maybe taking things a bit far but remember that eating meat increases your carbon footprint because animals emit methane during their life cycle, yes another greenhouse gas.

If you buy items of clothing, try and buy something which does not need ironing after washing, especially welcome when you are on holiday. Select natural fibres where possible because energy is consumed producing any man made material. Remember also that anything which is recycled will not have consumed as much energy during production.

When you visit Tenerife, if you follow the advice we have given you will be reducing your carbon footprint. You carbon footprint will almost certainly be less than it would be with most other tourist destinations. By coming to Tenerife you are helping to reduce global warming. The carbon footprint of people living in the Canary Islands is one of the lowest in the world. The longer you stay the more you will be reducing your carbon footprint. Also think about the size of your carbon footprint had you stayed home.

Remember reducing greenhouse gas emissions will reduce global warming and reducing your carbon footprint does really matter, so please tell others.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Blog Statistics and the World of Spam

We would like to say a big thank you to all the visitors to our blog, which we only started last November.

According to our blog statistics, during the month of June our blog had 4259 visitors which is a lot of people searching for Tenerife related search terms. This month we are also ranked 43rd with WordPress as the fastest growing blog. I am not sure we will be able to keep that up but we will do our best.

What we have been surprised about though is the amount of spamming which goes on. The world of spam is one of the most irritating things we have encountered. Does anyone actually benefit from spam, guess the answer must be yes or no one would bother indulging in what must be a very time consuming habit.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Currency exchange save money use a currency broker for the best exchange rates

Do you know the advantages of using a Currency Broker for you Currency Exchange?

If you are buying a property abroad, you will normally have to pay for the property in the currency of the country you are buying in. We recommend you use a specialist currency broker to send money overseas. We have negotiated preferential rates through a specialist currency broker the Foremost Currency Group, and have a dedicated dealer Callum Wiper who will provide a first class level of service as well as highly competitive exchange rates, to save you time and money on your property purchase.

There are no commission charges with this service, and you can get a quote without any cost or obligation. Typical savings against high street banks can run into thousands of pounds, and you can secure and guarantee exchange rates for up to 2 years ahead, for peace of mind in avoiding volatility in the foreign exchange markets.

The specialist currency broker offers several ways to buy, send and receive your foreign currency. No two requirements are the same and therefore they will make sure that you get the most suitable contract for you. Here are some examples of the options open to you:

Spot Contracts – for the best exchange rates available. If you need to transfer money quickly, at the best available exchange rate, you should use a ‘Spot’ contract. Your currency will be available as soon as you have paid for your contract – typically 2 working days after the order has been placed.

Forward Contracts – for a guaranteed rate up to 2 years ahead. If you know that you will need to buy currency, but don’t need to take delivery yet, a Forward Contract could be perfect for you. The exchange rate can be fixed up to 2 years ahead, giving you the peace of mind of knowing, in advance, how much you need to pay, while protecting yourself against adverse market movement.

Time Option Contract – for a guaranteed rate up to 2 years ahead Similar to a Forward contract a ‘Time Option’ contract can be fixed for up to 2 years ahead, you can set up a contract to draw down the currency in part, for example when several stage payments are required over the course of a property build.

Overseas Regular Payment Plan – for smaller, monthly or quarterly payments. If you have an overseas mortgage, or a UK pension or other income to send abroad regularly, the automated Regular Payment Plan offers an excellent solution. There are no bank charges in the UK or abroad, no commission, and transfer charges of only.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Internet Marketing and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Tenerife

Internet Marketing SEO Search Engine Optimisation

 We would say that it is much easier to design a website and undertake SEO (search engine optimisation) at the same time. We learned that building our second website having spent so much time adjusting my first website to dovetail it with SEO. We are Tenerife Estate Agents with a very keen interest in SEO as well as the Tenerife property market.

In terms of search engine optimisation, there are a number of very important factors which affect organic traffic growth. From our own experience we have produced a shorlist of the main factors:

On Page Optimisation

1. You need to give consideration to choice of keywords. Carry out detailed research and look at you competitors sites so that you can target keywords which will bring traffic to your website.
2. You can use different keywords for each page, each page should target one main keyword, or keyword phrase, with other secondary keywords which relate to the main keword. You can always add keywords and other optimised web pages later.
3. Don’t miss out on any keyword opportunities.
4. Choosing your domain name is important, ideally you need your main targeted keyword in the domain name. eg. your home page may be wuuw.expediatenerifeproperty.com if you were targeting “Tenerife Property” as a keyword.
5.  Other web pages with a long tail URL’s such as  wuuw.expediatenerifeproperty.com/los_cristianos_property_properties_apartments_villas.htm could be used to target the keyword “Los Cristianos Property“, and so on. The keywords need to be at the correct percentage in the URL’s.
6.  The meta descriptions for each web page need to be keyword rich but overdone which would be considered spammy.
7. Each page needs to use keywords in the text at the correct percentage.
8.  The homepage needs to have text links to the inner pages using anchor text. e.g “Los Cristianos Property”
   There should be text links from the inner pages to other inner pages using anchor text, a linking strategy needs to be developed and implemented.
9. Each page needs to use H1/H2/H3 headers which are titles using selected keywords.
10. The percentage of keyword use is important in all these aspects. You need to evaluate those percentages which are acceptable by reviewing competitors web pages. Maximum  possible keyword use is required for best optimisation.
11. When the site is complete add a sitemap and submit it to the major search engines.

Off Page Optimisation

1. Each web page needs incoming links from other websites such as directory links, I normally use directories, forums etc but you may have friends and associates with websites who may exchange links with you, the other alternative is soliciting link exchanges via an email campaign. You need about 100 inbound links using all of the keywords.
2. Without incoming links, the search engines will display the results of others with more links, this is a confidence thing, websites with links are more trusted. I recommend only setting up links with websites that already have a Page Rank of 3 or more to avoid page rank dilution.
3. Each incoming link to each page should use the keywords for anchor text. The anchor text needs to be varied and balanced.
4. Social networking is another important factor using Digg, Reddit, Tecnorati etc. Submitting the pages to social websites breeds search engine confidence.
5. You need to have a few outgoing links, preferably using your keywords as anchor text.
6. You might like to consider starting a blog, such as the one you are reading. Every blog post provides valuable links back to the main website by means of links in the signature.
7. Article writing is another way of gaining links.

The whole point of off page optimisation is to get in the same position as your competitors and gain their traffic as your search engine ranking positions improve. This stage can take many months because the search engines expect to see natural growth. There is no quick fix and you don’t want to get banned by moving at a greater than organic pace.

Obviously our list is not exhaustive, there are a few other factors which affect SERPs. (Search Engine Ranking Position). Many in the world of SEO will not go as far as we have to achieve organic success. If anyone offers you less then there is a good chance it will not work, how many times have you heard that story?.

We conduct our own in house SEO and Internet Marketing campaigns. Our results have been impressive, for example for the highly searched term, “Tenerife Estate Agents” we are in first position on Yahoo and second position on Bing. We are knocking on the door of Google page one and expect to be in the top 5 when the results of our link building bear fruit.

If you require consultancy in Internet Marketing or Search Engine Optimisation why not email us with details of your website via our contact page to see if we can help you. Our in house team are set up with all the knowledge and ability, we also have all the latest software necessary to acheive the best results.

We have had some interesting comments on this blog post, please have a read below and submit your own comments, we will reply with any questions.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property

Climate Change in the Canary Islands

Climate Change

The Canary Islands Government have produced a report outlining their strategies to counter climate change and biodiversity loss. The report was presented to the EU in Paris last summer and it is in the public domain. The report was presented in a bullet point format and it is reproduced in this blog post.

Please also read our own comments at the foot of the post.

The Specific Challenges of Climate Change

• Population: The total population of the Canary Islands is more than 2 million inhabitants.
• Energy Vulnerability: “The risks and consequences associated with oil disruption are many times higher in the Canary Islands rather than in a territory in the mainland of Europe”.
• Weather and health vulnerability: The probability is also higher of “extreme weather events” of or new infectious diseases to humans or vegetation.
• Biodiversity loss: Overabundance of endemic wildlife and vegetation.
• Extreme dependence of tourism. Risks associated to “supply crisis” and “global warming” gradually diverting tourism flows.
• Climate Change and Environmental migrations: The Canary Islands would be the last outpost of the EU in the face of water and clima provoked, migration floods.

Sustainable Climate Change Strategies

• Impact Analysis: Insufficiently developed. Most EU funded research programs (PRUDENCE,ADAM, PESETA) leave out the Canary Islands for geographical reasons.
• Mitigation: Less potential of intense mitigation efforts (lower emissions per capita, lack of heavy industries, relatively higher energy for transport requirements).
• Adaptation: The costs of adaptation are relatively higher, associated with the specific risks, the lower GDP per capita and the territorial fragmentation and distance from the mainland.
• Mitigation and Adaptation are positive to reinforcing security of energy supply.
• Potential for renewable energies: Important potential for fostering renewables (specially wind, solar and geothermal) and also to better energy rational use.
• Laboratory of experimentation in climate change adaptation: The Canary Islands are close and suitable launching platforms for European technologies and know-how, related to climate change and renewable energies.

Facts and main impacts

• Climatic conditions are changing.
• Difficulty of accurate Climatic Scenarios: Because of dimension, topography, micro climes).
• The standard grid resolution UE: 50 km (Prudence Model) or 20 km (Ensembles Model).
• The resolution and meteorological models used in the case of the Canary islands are not so precise.

The future based on Meteorological forecasts.

• Temperature: sea surface (+ 1ºC in 20 years). In land 2030: + 1ºC (sea level) + 2’5ºC (top mountains) 2060: + 2ºC (sea level)
• Extreme heat waves (x 4 in 20 years) with more warmer nights (+ 35% in 20 years)
• Humidity: + 1% a 2% every 10 years
• Winds: Shifting direction (more high pressure weather conditions) and appearance of tropical storms.
• Rain: – 20% in 2025 (with a higher incertitude).

The expected main impacts of Climate Change in the Canary Islands

• Temperature Rise: Moderate in the medium to long term
• Less Rain: High probability in the medium to long term
• Sea level rise: High probability in the medium to long term
• More extreme events: Moderate in the short to long term
• Tropical diseases: Moderate in the medium to long term
• Impacts on biodiversity: High probability in the medium to long term
• Higher transport costs: High probability in the short to long term

Greenhouse gas emmisions by sector during 2005

• Energy 94.4%
  • Electricity production and oil refining: 52.5%
  • Land Transport: 27.9%
  • Air Transport: 5%
  • Maritime Transport: 1.6%
  • Other Sectors: 7.4%
• Industrial Processes: 1.8%
• Solvent Uses: 0.7%
• Agricultural Uses: 3.1%
• Land use and reforestation: -3.5% (Negative)
• Waste: 3.5%

It is forecast that a “business as usual approach” will result in an 89% increase on the 1990 figures by 2015. Even so, greenhouse gas emissions per capita will still be 60% of the average level of the 27 EU member states.

Compromises and Strategies: What are the Canary Islands doing

It is planned to concentrate highly on the energy and waste sectors to redress the balance by 2015, as follows:

• Energy: 89.2%
• Industrial Processes: 1.4%
• Solvent Uses: 0.1%
• Agricultural Uses: 0.1%
• Land Use and reforestation: 0.3%
• Waste: 7.0%

A summary of measures to meet these targets

• Towards a “greener taxation” promoting mitigation and sustainability.
• Extensive R+D program:
  • Focusing on Climate Change impacts. Promoting energy technologies adapted to local conditions. In depth studies on local biodiversity safeguarding. Adaptation models and patterns
  • Reinforcing international cooperation of local Universities and research centers
  • Information and education: From “cradle to grave”.
  • Schools, universities, media and social groups educational active involvement.

Challenges and Obstacles

• Most of the emmisions are linked to basic social needs, (electricity, transport and  water) or related to tourist activities.
• A hisotrical extensive use of territory with an induced strong mobility demand.
• High Vulnerability (environmental, economy and social)
• High adaption costs ( remoteness, geographical conditions and few locally produced raw materials.

Social Attitudes

• Enery use reduction associated with loss of quality of life.
• A large number of public administrations involved.
• The need to mobilise and change public attitudes.

Monitoring and updating the strategy

• Produce an annual report.
• Carry out a detailed regional inventory of greenhouse gas emissions every two years.
• Update the strategy every 4 years of as circumstances dictate.

The EU Government have agreed extend the results of studies to include the Canary Islands. They have also created a regional fund for the Canary Islands to cover the cost of adaption. They also propose to use the Canary Islands to experiment with European technology related to renewable energy and climate change mitigation. Tenerife has already gone some way towards experimenting with wind and solar energy.

Blog posted by Expedia Property SL – Tenerife Estate Agents for Tenerife Property