Travelography #141: More Birds, Fog, Obama, and Mexico

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Stories discussed in this podcast are from the Travelography Twitter Blog for the week of 19 January 2009. This podcast is also available at Blubrry.com and Travelgeography.info.

• Turkish plane lands safely after bird strike

  The aircraft with 143 passengers aboard had just taken off Monday from Istanbul bound for Denmark when it struck the birds and the pilot was able to return to the city's airport. Nobody was hurt. Turkish Airlines said passengers will be flown to Copenhagen...

• JetBlue flight aborts takeoff on bird strike fears

  None of the 136 passengers was injured, and the plane didn't leave the runway but returned to the gate. The passengers were put on another plane to continue their journey, and the plane was undergoing inspection to see if either of its engines had been hit.

• Paramedics bring Big Macs to stranded AeroMexico passengers

  The flight was diverted from Sea-Tac Airport on Tuesday night, and passengers weren't allowed off the plane in Portland, officials said, because no customs agents were available to process the passengers. Eventually, the plane went back to Mexico, and then it returned to the United States to complete the flight to Seattle.

• Will Obama image translate into tourism?

  This year, the number of foreign visitors is expected to dip for the first time since 2003 as the economic crisis spreads and consumers worldwide curb spending. The U.S. Travel Association, the industry's main trade group, this year expects about 60 million foreigners, or 1.6% less than last year.,

• Mexico City is the world's top religious tourist destination

  A study carried out by the Spanish Office of Tourism found that Mexico's capital is the preferred destination of tourists seeking religious sites, largely because of its Basilica de Guadalupe, which receives millions of pilgrims each year.

• South African Airways crew held over drug haul

  Customs agents found the drugs in three suitcases when the crew members passed through a customs clearance point. All fifteen cabin and flight crew staff including the pilot have been arrested after authorities found 110 pounds of cannabis, worth about $210,000, and 9 pounds of cocaine, worth about $240,000.

• Tumbling peso makes Mexico a hot destination

  Mexico is counting on its weakened currency against the dollar and its proximity to the U.S. to attract recession-shocked Americans and fuel its tourism industry — a major source of foreign income. Tourism officials say Mexico saw 3% more visitors who spent an estimated 4% more in 2008, with tourists flocking to its beaches and cobble-stoned streets even during the global economic crisis. And, unlike most tourist destinations around the world, there is no sign that this year will be any different.

Travelography #140: Inaugural Tourism

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Stories discussed in this podcast are from the Travelography Twitter Blog for the first two weeks of January 2009. This podcast is also available at Blubrry.com and Travelgeography.info.

• Disney hopes to build 1st park on Chinese mainland

  The Walt Disney Company and the Shanghai municipal government have signed a project proposal to build the first Disney park on the Chinese mainland. Under the proposal, the entertainment giant will take a 43 percent stake in Shanghai Disneyland.

• Security Net Wraps Capital for Inaugural

  Though intelligence agencies have detected no credible threat to any inaugural event or to Mr. Obama, law enforcement agencies, operating from a network of centers, will command ground, air and waterborne forces numbering in excess of 20,000 police officers, National Guard troops and plainclothes agents from more than 50 agencies, according to security planners.

• Bathroom Break: Will Inauguration Have Enough?

  "This is the largest temporary restroom event in the history of the United States," ... Don's Johns is providing many of the 5,000 port-a-potties for the inauguration, but other suppliers are at work as well,

• Industry submits travel and tourism stimulus plan to Obama

  ASTA's stimulus proposals include the restoration of a 2001 program of direct low-interest-rate loans to small businesses through the Small Business Administration and the creation of an investment tax credit program for small business investments in information-related technologies, which will be crucial for travel agencies to compete effectively in the years ahead.

• Net usage spikes after U.S. Airways plane crash

  The crash now ranks as the seventh biggest Internet news event since Akamai started tracking spikes in traffic in 2005. The plane crash, which miraculously resulted in no fatalities or serious injuries, ranks just ahead of the post-Election Day 2008 coverage.

• Legoland swears in mini-Barack Obama in mock inauguration

  A 4-inch-tall Barack Obama rendered in Lego bricks will be sworn in as plastic president before more than 1,000 miniature-molded dignitaries at Legoland California’s inaugural pre-enactment

• Cruise industry: 2009 shaping up as another record year

  Helping to prop up the industry is the rapid growth of cruising among Europeans, Latin Americans and Asians. ... The industry's biggest players also have been rolling out significant discounts to keep ships full this winter and for the coming spring and summer.

Travelography #134: Barack Obama's Travel and Tourism Impact

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Stories discussed in this podcast are from the Travelography Twitter Blog for the week of 3 November 2008. This podcast is also available at Blubrry.com and Travelgeography.info.

• Will Obama's holiday habits catch on?

  President-elect and body-surfing fan Barack Obama could break the [previous] trend of White House incumbents by travelling overseas for his holidays. As well as trips to Hawaii to catch a few waves and take walks along the beach with his wife and children,

• Officials Aim To Use Inaugural To Promote Hawaii

  ...national media already are generating interest in Hawaii sites connected to Obama. It likely won't be long before local tour companies are offering tours of Obama's childhood neighborhood, his grandparents' apartment and where he went to school.

• For Inaugural, Obama Faithful Say It's Washington or Bust

  Despite some rates surpassing the $1,000 per night mark, rooms are also booking, on average, three times faster than for the last inauguration, according to the travel Web site Expedia.com. Many hotels have imposed two- and three-night minimum stays.

• Thousands clamour to see realisation of dream

  Officials said the crowd could surpass the 1.2 million who attended Lyndon Johnson's inauguration in 1965. Senator Obama's election set off an instant desire to see his inauguration and frenetic efforts last week to be present for what will be a milestone in American history.

• Barack Obama factor boosts US tourism

  A [UK] Telegraph poll shows that 80 per cent of readers are more likely to visit the US now than they were before the presidential election. Until now many Telegraph readers have said they have been put off the US by its draconian border security arrangements and the foreign policy decisions made by George Bush.

• Some Truth To An Irish O'Bama?

  Moneygall, a town of 300 on the road between Dublin and Limerick, says that Barack Obama's great, great, great grandfather was born there and hopes for an onslaught of American tourism.

• Illinois Banks on Obama Buzz to Boost Tourism

  "experience the city the Obamas enjoy." The Illinois Bureau of Tourism plans to launch a three-day getaway promotion featuring Barack Obama sites.

• Hotel prices, bookings soar for inauguration

  ...a $20,000 "Live Like a President" package. It includes tickets to an inaugural event, replica of an inauguration ball meal prepared by a personal chef, in-room massage and $1,000 shopping spree. There's a sanitizer (to combat germy glad-handing) and lip balm to aid in baby-kissing.

• Jamaica may suffer ... If US lifts Cuban embargo

  On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly voted to lift the American trade embargo on Cuba. The vote in the 192-member world body was 185 to three, with two abstentions. The US, Israel and Palau voted no, while Micronesia and the Marshall Islands abstained.

• Japan’s hottest new tourist destination: Obama

  “We started this as a joke,” said Yasunori Maeno of the “Obama for Obama” campaign he helped organize. “But as we came to know more about him … and his emphasis on community, the more we liked him. It is important to love the place you are from and to work to promote it.”

• Obama may mean higher airline labor costs, fewer route auctions

  Obama's mediation board may take steps such as granting quicker releases from mediation, which would let unions start countdowns to possible strikes sooner, said Andrew Steinberg, former transportation assistant secretary under President George W. Bush.