Join celebrity TV chef James Martin for web chat

16.02.2006 Celebrity chef James Martin will provide expert holiday food advice online to Thomson customers during a live web chat on Tuesday 21 February from 11.00am - 12.00 noon at www.thomson.co.uk. James’ web chat is the latest in a series of chats by Thomson experts and celebrities which have been weekly since the start of January.

Travel enthusiasts and food fanatics can register their questions online by following the ‘web chats’ link on the web site from Thursday 16 February, or alternatively they can wait until Tuesday 21 to chat live to the popular, ballroom dancing chef.

Thomson research has shown that on average over a third of people’s total holiday spend goes on eating and drinking. This works out to be approximately £100 per person and is further proof that food has an important part to play in the making of people’s holidays.

From advice on where to buy the best ingredients abroad when self catering, to recommendations of what local specialities to enjoy in a destination, James will be on hand to get through as many questions as possible.

Since starting his television career in 1996 on various cooking programmes, James’ popularity has rocketed, particularly following his recent success ballroom dancing his way to primetime Saturday evening television.

The web chats, which have been taking place on a weekly basis since January, are proving to be a huge success and are attracting a greater audience each time, with hundreds of questions being put forward to out Thomson and celebrity experts.

Previous experts and celebrity contributors have included Olympic skier Martin Bell, TV travel presenter, Russell Amerasekara and most recently, one of Radio 1’s most popular DJs, Scott Mills, who last year flew his Radio 1 team out to Majorca with Thomsonfly to broadcast the breakfast show live from Magaluf. Scott’s web chat generated the most interest so far as he chatted freely about the best party places to go abroad and his own personal favourite holidays which included Thailand, Ibiza and Dubai.

All of the previous web chats including Scott’s ‘Best Places To Party This Summer’ and those featuring Thomson’s own experts are still viewable online by clicking on the ‘Archived Websites’ link on the web chats page.

The web chats idea is just one of Thomson’s new online innovations. Other new features include more than 1,500 video brochures, downloadable destination podcasts, customer reviews and a Thomson Holidays overlay of Google Earth.

For more information about the web chats and Thomson click onto www.thomson.co.uk.