Travelography #67: Grand Canyon Skywalk Opens + Open Skies over the Atlantic

(click on the title above to go to the PCN TRAVELOGRAPHY web page)

Just two news stories today. The Grand Canyon Skywalk opened last week, though the ticket price is as steep as the canyon cliffs. And Europe finally approves an open sky agreement with the US, promising more flights, cheaper fares, and more jobs for both sides of the Atlantic.

First visitors set foot on Grand Canyon Skywalk

Canyon view for sale - AZ Daily Sun

Fliers could see lower fares, more choice as open-skies deal gets OK

Travelography News Feed

G4T #45: Ecotourism and the Grand Canyon, with Prof. Claudia Jurowski

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

In this podcast I interview Professor Claudia Jurowski of Northern Arizona University about her involvement with BEST Education Network and her research on different types of tourists to the Grand Canyon National Park, with some focus on the slippery topic of ecotourism and the ecotourist. Claudia teaches in the NAU School of Hotel and Restaurant Management (not Hotel and Tourism Management, as I stated in the podcast intro -- oops!)

To see the Grand Canyon Visitor Study (upon which Prof. Jurowski based her research study), go to the Tourism Library page of NAU's Arizona Hospitality Research and Resource Center. This site also contains many other tourism studies related to communities around the state of Arizona.

Length: 29min, 26 sec

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/>