Travelography #123: Will the Next President Support Travel?

Use the players on this page, or click the title above to listen to this podcast.

Stories discussed in this podcast are from the Travelography Twitter Blog for the week of 19 August 2008. This podcast is also available at Blubrry.com and Travelgeography.info.

• Tourism ads pressure White House hopefuls

  
  
  "Democrats, We'll be Watching." A small box of text calls on presumptive Democratic candidate Barack Obama to outline plans addressing everything from "unnecessary waiting lines at airports" to "marketing the U.S. as a premier destination."
  
  

• United pilots tell CEO to Stop Nickel and Diming Their Passengers

  
  
  The airline claims that rising fuel costs require these changes, although the real reason may be to enable the airline to further reduce flight attendant staffing, which would make onboard service noticeably worse.
  
  

• Wildlife tourism with kangaroos
  
  Our aim is to be the flagship of a ‘See Australia’ promotion based around wildlife tourism with the marvellous mob of marsupials - the kangaroos and their kind. Through partnerships with conservation agencies, tourism organisations, operators and ...

G4T #55: Mike Pesses on Authentic Spaces of Bicycle Tourism

This is a Geography for Travelers Podcast related post (click on the title above to download the .mp3 file)

This is another presentation from the Association of American Geographers annual meeting in San Francisco, California, April 12-21, 2007. Here is the abstract from the AAG.org website:

Author: Michael W. Pesses - California State University, Northridge

Abstract:
In the past thirty years, bicycle touring has become a legitimate form of tourism. This paper serves as an attempt to examine bicycle touring as an "authentic" form of tourism as well as to examine how the trip affects the bicycle tourist's sense of identity. Through a qualitative analysis of the journals of bicycle tourists, this paper will look into how authentic space and authentic experiences affect the individual's concept of identity and self. The authenticity of the toured space is in constant tension with existential authenticity; one cannot exist without the other in bicycle touring. To find meaning in one's travels, and consequently in one's life, both forms of authenticity are constantly being challenged by the experience and the landscape.
Keywords: Tourism-bicycle, authenticity, landscape, produced spaces

Also mentioned in the podcast intro:

• B.E.S.T. Eduction Network Think Tank/Conference
• Photos from my Alaska cruise
• This original blog post (for sploggers)
  

Nepal Research Project - At the Bangkok Airport

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

1 January 07

I am sitting at gate C5 at the Bangkok international airport, listening to the Slashdot Review podcast on a small RCA Lyra mp3 player, while recording some of the sounds of the waiting room on my iRiver. The sounds include different languages and a video screen showing a black and white documentary of the early life of the King of Thailand (the 60th year of his reign is being celebrated in 2007). The video’s narration is in Thai, though I think only a minority of the passengers here are actually Thai.

For the Full Text of this blog entry, go here:
http://seasiatourism.blogspot.com/2007/01/nepal-research-project-at-bangkok.html

G4T #16: Travel, Tourism and the Environment

-- Click on the title above to listen to this podcast --

Today's podcast focuses on the natural environment: how tourists relate to the natural environment, the impacts of tourism on the natural environment, and closing with a few words on ecotourism.

Ecotourism -- Personally, I prefer to pronounce ecotourism as 'ee-co-tourism' - with a long 'e', which I derive from the world "ecology." Some people (maybe the majority?) prefer to say 'e-co-tourism' - with a short 'e', as in 'elephant'. I assume they are basing this on the word 'ecosystem', which is sometimes (often?) pronounced with a short 'e'. Dictionary.com uses the long 'e' pronunciation, so perhaps I am in the majority.

Total Length: 30 minutes, 19 seconds. If you have any thoughts on this feel free to leave a comment, or email me at travelgeographer@msn.com

Here are the links to items mentioned in today's podcast:

* Australia Garners Friendliest Nation in the World Award - Travel News Wire
<http://www.travelwirenews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000063/006311.htm>
* Grand Canyon to Get Glass Bridge - National Geographic News
<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/08/0826_050826_grandcanyon.html>
* City OKs Subsidies for Downtown Hotel - Los Angeles Times
<http://www.knowledgeplex.org/news/118690.html>
* Cruise Ship Repels Somali Pirates - BBC News (also has a link to a video news clip)
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4409662.stm>
* The Amateur Traveler Podcast
<http://amateurtraveler.com/>