G4T #9:Travel and Tourism Statistics

(click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

In this week's podcast I discuss international travel arrivals statistics, including which countries get the most visitors and just how trustworthy such statistics are. I also mention a few news items related to geography and travel.

There is some microphone noise for about 10 minutes of this 25 minute podcast -- my apolgies. I finally figured out how to place my microphone to minimize the an excessive 's' noise when I speak. I pushed the mict down below might chin (this is a headset side mic). However, that position tends to get rubbed up against my shirt collar which, I believe, caused the intrusive noise in the podcast. Next week I will reach number 10 in my podcast he life, which some say is the magic number for getting this medium down. No promises, but hopefully that will work for me as well!

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Here are the web sites that I mentioned in today's podcast:

Infoplease.com - Travel and Transportation
- Travel Statistics: Most-visited countries, U.S. states, and U.S. cities;top destinations for American travelers, and more
- Travel Resources: Travel warnings, tipping, passport and customs info, state tourism offices, and other resources for travelers
- (Infoplease.com - World Atlas - not mentioned, but worth visiting)

Travel News Wire:
- Exec says Las Vegas's tourism model should be emulated elsewhere
- Singapore tourism figures see a 20% boost, but minister warns of increasing global competition
- Billions drop off tourism forecast
- Lonely Planet - Hot Spots: LP Staffers' Top Destinations for 2005

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- Click on the title above to download this podcast
- Podcast Homepage
- To subscribe to the RSS Feed - use this URL in your podcather: http://travelgeography.libsyn.com/rss
- .MP3 File was updated on 9/24/06

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My Odeo Channel (odeo/c999d1834d25cb33)
- just claiming my odeo channel, please ignore this link

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G4T #7: Leisure and Tourism

(click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

Today's podcast focused on some general definitions of leisure, and how these give us some insight into the tourist experience. In addition to what I mentioned in the podcast, I wanted to point out that religion is often considered a leisure-form of activity. This is, I think, directly related to the definition of leisure as a state of mind. Furthermore, there is a concept that has gained in popularity in recent years known as work, or volunteer, tourism. It is also know as working holidays, or working vacations. Last year I had students in my class examine web sites that promoted working vacations, and then answer some questions about them. Would you want to go on a working vacation? Isn't that an oxymoron?

Well, I think I have finally hit my stride with this podcast thing. My daughter commented, after listening to my last podcast, that I had a problem with the S sound. My S's tended to be quite loud and a bit annoying. So this evening I played around for a couple of hours with my microphone in different locations, and with different ways of editing my podcast files, to see if I could reduce the S sound. I think I did manage to do that by moving my microphone to a certain location. On the other hand, I have an implant that replaced a tooth and I had damaged when I was in the third grade, playing kickball. That implant is right in front of my mouth, and is larger than my regular teeth, causing me to have a bit of a lisp, especially with the letter S. Anyway, I think today's podcast went very well, and I don't think it will be such an annoyance in the future.

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Download this podcast: Click on the title above
Podcast Homepage: http://travelgeography.libsyn.com/
Subscribe to the RSS Feed using: http://travelgeography.libsyn.com/rss

This podcast was edited, renamed and reposted on 25 Sept 2006

G4T #6: Geography of New Orleans

This week's podcast was somewhat of a departure from my focus on the relationship between geography and tourism. In response to the tragedy brought by Hurricane Katrina to the U.S. Gulf Coast, I have instead provided a brief background to the physical and human geography of New Orleans. Hopefully, this will bring some context to the swirling news stories that have dominated radio, television and newspapers this past week. At the same time, however, the basic geographic knowledge provided in this podcast is the kind of information that can greatly enhance the tourist experience of a place.

The following link is to my online New Orleans photo field trip that I mentioned in the podcast:

http://www.geog.nau.edu/courses/alew/ggr346/ft/south/index-new-o.html

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Podcast Homepage: http://travelgeography.libsyn.com/
Subscribe to the RSS Feed using: http://travelgeography.libsyn.com/rss

A Very Spatial Podcast

I received an e-mail from Jesse at http://VerySpatial.com introducing himself and his web site/blog/podcast on all things geography. He has a great web site and does an outstanding job with his co-anchor Sue in presenting news and other topics of geographical interest in a half hour weekly rss feed. It is all a bit more sophisticated than what I'm doing, and I think that's great. They tend to focus more on GIS and mapping technology aspects of geography, though they acknowledge the broader areas of interest among geographers, and hope to bring some of those other aspects to the show, as well. I wish them all the best and encourage my students and other listeners to check them out.

If anyone knows of other geography and travel podcast that are particularly interesting and insightful, let me know what I will share them on these pages and in my weekly podcast.