Just 5.23 million passports were issued in the year 2008-9, compare to 6.2 million in 2006-7. The cost of passports and the increasing trend for holidaying closer to home has seen the demand for passports fall by more than 10 per cent over the past two years.

The increase in passport prices is also putting UK holidaymakers off renewing until the last possible moment before a trip.

The cost of an adult passport has increased from £66 in 2006 to £72 in 2007. With another rise earlier this year, the price currently stands at £77.50. Thus, renewing a family of four’s passports could cost in excess of £300.

Home Office Permanent Secretary Sir David Normington said, “What has been happening in the last two years is that demand for passports has been falling and we think that is because, as the recession has come on, people are delaying renewing their passports.”

When compared to other holiday costs, such as cheap flights on budget airlines and bargain hotel rates – all of which have been falling to try and attract cash-strapped holidaymakers – the cost of passports seems ever higher.

I recently flew to Stockholm, Sweden for the weekend with my partner – our combined flights £60, Ryanair cost less than the renewal of one passport.

It’s the same story in the USA too. The U.S. airline industry is projected to carry 41 million fewer passengers in 2009, a decline that will continue through 2010, according to Boyd Group International. U.S. passenger levels may not again reach 2008 levels until after 2014.

Waiting times for a US passport have now been slashed by a quarter and there are 12 million requests for new passports rather than the predicted 17 million.

The Identity and Passport Service has also cut its staff due to the lack of passport demand.

For more information on overseas properties and the property market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information, please contact:

Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650

Once the global economic crisis really started to hit home, the vast majority of countries saw the amount of foreign investment interest dwindle rapidly.

In a bid to boost the stalled economy, the Government decided to look at restructuring the Trinidad property tax system and alongside that meant a rise in property taxes.

Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira said the Government proposed to introduce a new four-tiered property tax regime on January 1st, 2010 and this it would be based on the present market values of properties.

Residential properties will be taxes at three per cent come January 1st, with commercial properties being taxed at five per cent and agricultural properties at one per cent.

These planned increases could see some unlucky property owners facing an increase of between 100 per cent and a whopping 600 per cent on top of what they currently pay.

Critics of the plan are deeply concerned that it will have a negative impact on both the rental and buying sectors in the country.

Whilst it is expected that some owners will sell up in a bid to avoid the higher taxes, others, both local and international property/ buyers, will be far less inclined to buy.

Property owners and tenants of rental properties alike are all expected to be affected by the new rules. Rents will increase as property owners will have to pay higher taxes, thus forcing them to up the price they charge their tenants to cover the costs.

In Trinidad, property taxes are tied up with mortgage payments, so another negative effect of the new rules is that mortgage payments look set to increase, something which could force even more to rethink their purchase or get out of the market altogether.

Foreign buyers are predicted to be looking to countries with more favourable tax regimes following the announcement, which would be bad news for the Trinidad property market, tourist sector, and economy – the latter obviously relying heavily on both of the former.

For more information on international property/ and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650

Always a favourite with British investors and holidaymakers, property in France scaled the chart to claim victory in August and even nabbed third place too.

So what is behind France's dramatic rise? Well, industry experts are busy predicting that traditional locations will emerge victorious from the global market downturn.

Mortgage specialist, Conti, found that British investors are sticking to ‘proven' locations that offer less risk.

Its latest Hot Spots report found that France created the most interest from investors, accounting for 31 per cent of enquiries received by the company so far this year.

Spain, another traditional hotspot, followed with 22 per cent. The credit crunch has been particularly hard on Spain, with hoards of unsold apartments lying unfinished as developers fell foul of the credit crunch.

Now, huge discounts have led to the bargain hunters circling again, pushing demand for Spanish property back up.

For France and Spain, enquiries have increased considerably with the countries accounting for 53 per cent of all 2009 enquiries so far, compared with 29 per cent in the same period last year.

And, as our Investment Property Watch chart found, interest in the USA declined.
Conti's Operations Director, Clare Nessling, says, "British buyers are sticking to the more traditional overseas locations, especially those with history of providing good rental returns.

"The smart investor is no longer simply looking to where the best bargains for a swift return can be found, but to where security lies for a longer term investment," she added.

And France isn't just of interest to those investors looking for residential property or holiday homes – international commercial-property investors looking for prime assets are beginning to target the country too, as it emerges as the second-most popular market after the U.K.

Investment levels in France doubled in the second quarter, the biggest increase for that period in Europe.

"Nine out of 10 investors we meet cite France as a top-three target country, alongside U.K. and Germany," said Giles Wilcox, Head of real-estate adviser Savills PLC's European cross-border investment.

France's lack of volatility attracts buyers of both the residential and commercial ilk, many of whom are looking for a low-risk, established market in which to invest in these troubled economic times.

According to the Investment Property Databank Index, throughout the crunch, France has held up better than many other markets in Europe.

While the U.K. property capital returns fell around 26 per cent last year, capital returns in France fell only about six per cent.

Other movers and shakers

Snapping at France's heels was Portugal in second place and Brazil in fourth. Surprise entry Canada took fifth place, followed swiftly by far-flung paradise Thailand. Morocco made an appearance at number seven. Last month's winner the US of A had to be content with eighth place on August's chart, but the country shouldn't feel too down – it also took ninth place. Rounding off the chart was Turkey – proving it's not just for Christmas.

For more information on investment property and the market in general, please visit http://investment.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650

If you are keen to enjoy a good value holiday (and who isn’t?) then word on the street is to check out eastern Europe.

New research by Tesco Travel Money has found that there are some brilliant bargains to be had in countries such as Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria.

The capital of the latter, Sofia, offers particularly good value while one-week holiday expenses in Bulgaria for a family of four are less than in Brighton in England.

And its not just Tesco that tipped Bulgaria is the cheapest holiday destination.

Teletext Holidays’ ‘World's Best Value Breaks Report’ found that the country was cheapest when measured against a variety of factors, from the cost of flights, food, drink and accommodation, to the quality of accommodation and the weather.

It also found that flights cost an average of £58 and the average taxi journey cost £1.45, while a three course meal with service costs just £7.

As with most of the eastern European countries, Poland has long been synonymous with cheap and cheerful food and accommodation.

A beer in a Warsaw bar is around £1, while a two-course meal with wine can cost as little as £10-£15. A night at the cinema typically costs £3 a head.

The capital of Warsaw has been named as one of Europe's most culturally affordable capitals. You can check out one of the Polish National Philharmonic’s performances for a mere £9.

A Tesco Travel Money Spokesperson said, “Those looking for a bargain break would be wise not just to look into the cost of travel but also the expenses they are likely to incur once they are there.

“If families really want to holiday on a shoestring then they need to do their research to really make their money go further.”

For more information on properties overseas and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650

The ship has already created a wave in the shipping industry and it seems that it deserves all the hype.

Royal Caribbean International will launch the ship, which is 23 metres longer than the current largest passenger ship, the Independence of the Seas, on December 12th.

Weighing in at a whopping 220,000 tonnes, it’s a wonder this ship can even stay afloat, let alone carry 5,400 guests. It was constructed across 13 different ports in Norway, costing a massive £755 million.

More of a mini city than a ship, Oasis of the Seas has streets with lamp posts, parks, small lakes and even cinemas.

The shopping mall of the ship will be the biggest shopping mall ever, on both land and sea, plus nightclubs, swimming pools and spas.

The ‘Neighbourhood concept’ themed areas are: Board Walk; Royal Promenade; Pool and Sports Zone; Vitality at Sea Spa and Fitness Centre; Entertainment Place and Youth Zone.

The cabin rooms will be divided into various categories, from split level family cabins up the luxury President's Suite.

Currently undergoing sea trials, the ship will be based in Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, USA and will take its first cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, with ports of call at Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas; Philipsburg, St. Maarten and Nassau, Bahamas.

Starting on May 1st, 2010, Oasis of the Seas will alternate its Eastern Caribbean itinerary with the Western Caribbean itinerary, which will call at Labadee, Royal Caribbean’s private beach destination in Haiti; Costa Maya and Cozumel, Mexico.

As if all this wasn’t enough to get you back in the water, in 2010, Oasis of the Seas will be joined by a sister ship, Allure of the Seas, which is expected to be even bigger.

For more information on property in the property in the UK and overseas and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com
0207 952 7650

Ever wondered which streets are really paved with gold – well, now a new survey conducted by UK-based news and wealth analysis provider Wealth-Bulletin can tell you – it has put together a list of the world's ten most expensive residential streets – and Avenue Princesse Grace in Monaco is the top of the props…

Just one measly square metre of space on the prestigious Avenue Princesse Grace in the tax-haven of Monaco will set you back a whopping £73,000.

Properties on the avenue, which is named after the iconic Hollywood star Grace Kelly, who was married to Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, change hands for up to £25 million – and many of them are fairly modest four-bedroom apartments.

You will get a view of the Mediterranean though and a bolt hole in possibly the most exclusive enclave in the world. If you’re paying that amount for an apartment, you’ll probably be mixing with some of the Monaco regulars like most of the wealthiest elites from the Middle East that visit the principality at least once a year, a smattering of Russian billionaires and, of course, the glamorous Monaco royal family.

Prices of properties on this street have not escaped the wrath of the credit crunch, which values plummeting by as much as 12 per cent over the last year, but the super rich are starting to flock back in, boosting prices skywards once more.

If you can't quite stretch to Monaco levels, how about a home on the world's second most expensive street – Chemin de Saint-Hospice, in Cap Ferrat in the South of France. Here, a square metre of prime real estate in one of the 15 luxury houses will only set you back a mere £60,000.

Another bonus is that the street is only a stones throw – well, 30 miles to be precise – away from the number one Avenue Princesse Grace, so you can rest assured your neighbours will be rather well-heeled too.

Across the pond in New York, the famous Fifth Avenue would cost you £43,000 per square metre. Fifth Avenue has the most iconic status of all the streets on the list. The Avenue stretches from Washington Square in lower Manhattan, all the way up to Harlem, but the residential properties in the Upper East Side of the Avenue that attract the sky-high prices. Some apartments are likely to sell for as much as £36 million at exclusive addresses like Plaza Apartments, linked to the famous Plaza Hotel, and 834 Fifth Avenue, where the press baron Rupert Murdoch bought an apartment for £26 million in 2005.

Other streets paved with gold include Kensington Palace Gardens in London and Avenue Montaigne in Paris, which is close to the Élysée Palace, official residence of President Nicolas Sarkozy.

For more information on international property and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson

Managing Director

www.themovechannel.com

0207 952 7650

Two stunning and well-known locations in Australia and one in New Zealand have made it onto the shortlist for the global contest to select the new Seven Wonders of Nature – but sadly, not one place in Blighty has made the cut…

The natural landmarks of the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru (Ayres Rock) in Australia have been chosen as finalists from a long list of 77 worldwide hotspots competing to be named one of the new seven Wonders of Nature.

Twenty-eight finalists have been chosen via public voting from an original list of 441 nominees from 222 countries.

The New7Wonders of Nature competition is expecting to attract more than one billion votes from all over the world as voting draws to a close and the seven winners are announced in mid-2011.

Organiser Bernard Weber said, “This campaign should contribute to the appreciation – to the knowledge – of our environment and not just the one in our country but worldwide.

“If we or our children want to save anything, we should first appreciate it,” he added.

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s biggest coral reef comprising more than 3,000 individual reef systems and beaches, whilst Uluru in the Northern Territory is the world’s largest monolith.

Over in New Zealand, the stunning Milford Sound – a fjord in the south west of the wild South Island, within Fiordland National Park and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage site – was also named as a finalist.

These two natural icons are up against others including the Grand Canyon in the United States, the Amazon Rain Forest, Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro and Halong Bay in Vietnam.

The competition is similar to that for the seven Man-Made Wonders of the world chosen in 2007.

The winners then were the Colosseum, Italy; the Great Wall of China; the Taj Mahal, India; Petra, Jordan; the Christ the Redeemer Statue, Brazil; Machu Picchu, Peru; and the Pyramid at Chichen Itza, Mexico.

The full list of finalists in the New7Wonders of Nature is as follows:

Amazon
Angel Falls, Venezuela
Bay of Fundy, Canada
Black Forest, Germany
Bu Tinah Shoals, UAE
Cliffs of Moher, Ireland
Dead Sea
El Yunque, Puerto Rico
Galapagos, Ecuador
Grand Canyon
Great Barrier Reef
Halong Bay, Vietnam
Iguazu Falls, Brazil/Argentina
Jeita Grotto, Lebanon
Jeju Island, South Korea
Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Komodo, Indonesia
Maldives
Masurian Lake District, Poland
Matterhorn/Cervino, Switzerland/Italy
Milford Sound
Mud Volcanoes, Azerbaijan
Puerto Princesa Underground River, Philippines
Sundarbans, India/Bangladesh
Table Mountain, South Africa
Uluru, Australia
Vesuvius, Italy
Yushan, Chinese Taipei

For more information on UK and overseas property and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson

Managing Director

www.themovechannel.com

0207 952 7650

One of the biggest dates in the golfing calendar is The Open Championship, which tees off today in Turnberry, on the Ayrshire coast in Scotland and canny locals are making the most of the limelight, renting their homes out to golfing visitors for up to £10,000 a week…

A huge sporting event will always shine a spotlight on a venue and attract hoardes of tourists – just look at Wimbledon or the Australian Open in Melbourne.

One way to make a fast buck is to put your home up for rent for the duration of the tournament – and that is exactly what Ayrshire residents are doing.

With golf fans from all over the world flocking in for the event, accommodation is booked solid and beds are sought after. Such is the demand that even a small two-bedroom property in Ayr can achieve a rental of a whopping £7,500 for the week.

Event organizers are expecting an influx of more than 120,000 people to the tournament and local estate agent CKD has already let out more than 200 properties situated nearby in the run up to this year’s tee-off.

International visitors are the most likely candidates to book a property as Brits usually get in early and book up bed and breakfast and hotel accommodation.

Malcolm Booth, a Spokesman for The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, said, “There’s a pretty eclectic international mix that will include people from Asia, the United States and other places around the world.”

The Open Championship, which runs from today until the 19^th of July, will generate around £72 million for the local economy.

Find out more about this year’s tournament at the official website www.opengolf.com/ChampionshipGolf/TheOpenChampionship.aspx

For more information on properties in the UK and overseas and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson

Managing Director

www.themovechannel.com

0207 952 7650

Now, it’ll come as no surprise that the vast majority of (mostly female) tenants willing to pay that bit extra to rent from Clooney would be hoping he would turn up, stepladder in hand, tight T-shirt on, when anything needed fixing at the property.

I’m telling you ladies – a Hollywood A-lister (who once rented a house to the Beckhams) would not be doing his own mending, so you’ll likely never get a glimpse of the heartthrob you are paying a premium to be ‘close’ to.

The research, carried out by property services site Smartlandlord.co.uk, found that just one celebrity attracted tenants willing to pay a premium – Clooney – whilst most had the opposite effect.

Tenants were definitely less enthusiastic about renting from property magnate and Apprentice supremo Sir Alan Sugar, with most saying they would request a 5.1 per cent discount to rent from him.

The ‘celebrity’ (and I use that term very loosely in this case) that most tenants would ask for the biggest discount to rent from was Anthea Turner’s other half, Grant Bovey, who recently lost his property company to the credit crunch.

Despite the public’s fascination with footballers, tenants are the most unenthusiastic about footballers as landlords – on average they’d demand 10.46 per cent off the rent to live in a footballer’s property.

Wayne Rooney’s real estate investments in London and Florida are estimated to be worth £25 million.  But despite the scale of his investments, tenants said they’d need a 15.4 per cent discount to move in to a property he owned.

Men demanded a larger discount (17.5 per cent) than women (14.5 per cent) while teenagers said they’d want nearly a third off their rent (30.4 per cent) for living in a Rooney property.

Michael Owen proved to be the most popular footballer – women would demand only 4.8 per cent off their rent if Owen was their landlord.  Men were less enthusiastic about the Manchester United striker and would demand as much as 14.4 per cent of their rent if they found out that he was their landlord.

Keshav Thukaram, Managing Director of Smartlandlord.co.uk said, “Despite the so called culture of celebrity, tenants insist they’d demand a discount from most celebrity landlords.

“Having said that, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who’d turn down the opportunity to live in a property owned by George Clooney.  Just ask the Beckhams,” he added.

For more information on UK and overseas property and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson

Managing Director

www.themovechannel.com

0207 952 7650

Everyone loves a good old summer holiday – sun, sand, sea of hell – er, yes, that’s what the environmental bods at Greenpeace are calling the Mediterranean now – hardly the most tempting turn of phrase and a worrying glimpse at what climate change is doing to our rivers, seas and oceans…

The Med conjures up a cocktail of semi-clad bronzed tourists, suntan lotion and sunny summer holidays, but new research has found that the reality is more alien fish, algae and slime.

The effects of climate change have meant that the sea is now chocka with alien species such as poisonous puffer fish which are killing off other marine life, whilst algae are coating the seabed with slime.

In the new Greenpeace report, the ‘emergency in the Med’ has been documented for the first time and highlights the rising water temperature, which is attracting species from warmer seas and altering the native fish stock.

As the Med is home to between 5 and 15 per cent of the marine species known to man, despite representing less than one per cent of the world’s oceans, these findings are especially worrying.

Barracuda, previously found only in Sicily, are now also swimming off Liguria. A drop in whale and dolphin populations between Tuscany, Liguria, Monaco and Corsica could also be linked to climate change.

Greenpeace’s Alessandro Gianni, who compiled the dossier, said, “Until now we have only traced individual alarms for the Mediterranean, but now we finally have the complete picture of what’s happening in tourism and the environment.”

The Med’s deep waters were showing an annual temperature increase of 0.004 degrees, while surface waters and those along the coast were registering much greater increases.

It’s not just fish that are being affected either – sea sponges and coral are also in danger.

But other experts said the picture painted by Greenpeace was alarmist, but still agreed that it was crucial to step up research into the effects of climate change.

One of the best ways to help stave off the decline of the Med’s health is to create a series of marine reserves, so this is being looked into.

For more information on overseas property and the market in general, please visit http://www.themovechannel.com/

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:

TheMoveChannel.com is a property website that was founded in 1999 as an online resource for buying, selling and learning about property. It now receives as many as 300,000 visits per month and advertises over 50,000 properties in nearly 90 countries, which are listed by over 500 partner organisations.

For further information as well as images and interview possibilities, please contact:

Dan Johnson
Managing Director
www.themovechannel.com

0207 952 7650