Travelography #126: Tourism Challenges All Over the Globe

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Stories discussed in this podcast are from the Travelography Twitter Blog for the week of 8 September 2008. This podcast is also available at Blubrry.com and Travelgeography.info.

Thousands stranded by XL collapse

Chairman Phil Wyatt said he was "totally devastated" by the failure which has grounded XL's 21 planes. The company flies to about 50 destinations. There are 67,000 stranded who booked directly with XL, and another 23,000 who booked via other companies.

XL Leisure Group Plc [including XL Airways] goes into administration [bankruptcy]

My kids are sat at the TV crying -- Taking a holiday to Greece this weekend and I have just told them them that we will not be now.

Caribbean Islands Assess Damage From Hurricane Ike

According to The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, thousands of pink flamingos on the island of Great Inagua were unharmed when their breeding colony — the world's largest — took a direct hit from Ike. All the country's hotels and other tourist facilities are open.

BEIJING 2008: TOURIST NUMBERS FELL DURING OLYMPIC GAMES

Far from causing a tourist boom, the Beijing Olympic Games actually caused a drastic fall in the numbers of visitors to the Chinese capital. ... In August, hotels in Beijing welcomed a total of 708,000 guests from other areas in China, 47% less than last year.

Rain washes away £200m on tourism [in SW England]

Britain had its wettest August since 2004 with Devon and Cornwall getting 179% of the 1971-2000 average and Cornwall 157% say the Met Office. Malcolm Bell, chief executive of South West Tourism, said: "Tourism is a massive industry for Cornwall, it's worth about £1.5bn.

Tourism Authority of Thailand issues situation update

TAT has also participated in several online travel forums such as Tripadvisor.com, Lonely planet.com and VirtualTourist.com. ... As part of Thailand’s tourism recovery plans, TAT will be hosting a “Thailand Invitation” mega familiarization trip (‘fam’ trip) for over 800 media representatives and travel operators from around the world.

Infamous Abu Ghraib prison gets a museum makeover

Abu Ghraib, which housed about 2,000 inmates, of which the prison's U.S. commander estimated 90 per cent were innocent, was closed in 2006. There's no mention in the announcement whether the abuses by U.S. soldiers will be covered in the museum's exhibitions.

Italy's Tourism Hits Defining Moment

Though plenty of visitors flock to Italy's cities, beaches and countryside all year round, over the past three decades the country has lost its primacy as a tourist destination to France, Spain, the U.S. and -- more recently -- China.

Spanish tourism feels pinch of economic downturn

After 50 years of uninterrupted growth, Spain's overbuilt and relatively expensive resorts seem ill-placed to cope with a downturn, at a time of increasing competition from cheaper, less-crowded destinations like Croatia and Turkey.

The ice melts quickly, generating polar disputes that may fester for decades

Among the trends that concern them are reports that fishing fleets are venturing farther north in search of new grounds as stocks become depleted at traditional fishing sites. Cruise ships are also making headway into Antarctica and the European and Canadian Arctic, raising concerns over the negative ecological impacts of ship discharge and solid waste disposal.

Travelography #125: The Trickle Down Travel Contraction

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Stories discussed in this podcast are from the Travelography Twitter Blog

for the week of 1 September 2008. This podcast is also available at Blubrry.com and Travelgeography.info

Hanna-caused detour prompts 'mutiny' on Carnival Miracle

The New York-based ship was supposed to head to the Caribbean... But thanks to Tropical Storm Hanna, the 2,124-passenger vessel ... will be spending Friday more than 1,000 miles off course in -- get this -- Newport, R.I. The drastic change to the ship's itinerary -- no other ship has been forced so far afield by this week's storms -- has cause a virtual mutiny on board, according to passenger posts on cruise-focused websites.

Airline Flight Cuts End Up Hurting Airports and Hotels, Too

The carriers' misery is spreading, or is expected to spread, to virtually every industry they touch in the travel economy: hotels, rental cars, convention centers, websites that book travel, airports and others.

Gas Prices Cause Airline [in Canada] to Remove Life Vests

...all of Jazz's flights operate within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of shore. ... A commercial-style life vest weighs roughly a half-kilogram, meaning 25 kilograms would be saved by removing them from a Dash-8 aircraft with 50 seats.

Australia issues travel advisory warns of high risks for travelers to US

In a fresh travel advisory issued on Sunday, the Australian government's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has warmed of "high risks" of terror attacks on domestic and international flights in and to the United States.

Fake Bomb Scare Brings Real $23,000 Fine

She asked an airline employee to make the plane come back with her bag and then asked what would happen if there was a bomb in her bag. Finally, she allegedly said that there was a bomb in the bag.

Somali pirates 'kidnap tourists'

Two French citizens and their sailing boat have been seized by pirates off the Somali coast, French officials say. ... The seas off Somalia have some of the highest rates of piracy in the world. The country has been without a functioning central government for 17 years and has suffered from continual civil strife.

Airbus to extend A380 to accommodate 1,000 passengers

Airbus SAS, the world's largest plane maker, is *considering* an extended 1,000-passenger version of the A380 aircraft...The A380, the world's largest commercial aircraft even in its current form, can carry 555 passengers.

Japan's Mt. Fuji draws record number of summer climbers

Some 247,066 people climbed the mountain in July and August, beating the previous record of 220,277, set in 1987, ... Four people also died from injuries sustained while climbing, marking the first deaths since 2005, ...

G4T #14: Hurricane Wilma and Tourism in Cozumel, Mexico

This was my first interview podcast! I recorded it using Gizmo Project -- which is like Skype, but includes a built-in record function. I also interviewed my sister, who has a vacation rental in Cozumel, Mexico, and was there when hurricane Wilma made landfall over Cozumel and Cancun on October 21, 2005. Hurricane Wilma was the strongest low pressure air system (lowest atmospheric pressure) ever recorded in the Caribbean, though it had weakened some by the time it reached Cozumel. (Note that stronger low pressure systems exist in the form of Tornados, but their air pressure has never been measured because they tend to tear the instruments apart.)

The interview is in two parts, which I put together through editing the original interview. In Part 1 she describes what she personally experienced as the hurricane approached and passed over Cozumel. In Part 2 she discusses the impacts of the hurricane on other tourists and the town of Cozumel, as well as her struggle to get back to the US after the hurricane. She arrived back in the US on Sunday, October 30, and the interview was recorded on Monday, October 31.

Click Here to download Part 1
Click Here to download Part 2

About Hurricane Wilma:
* Wilma dumped up to 5 feet of rain in parts of the Yucatan Peninsula; One station recorded 64 inches of rain in a 24 hour period -- a record amount for Mexico, if confirmed
* With 145 mph winds (category 4 storm) and gusts up to 170 mph, Wilma was the worst storm that anyone in this hurricane region could remember, mostly because it lasted so long (36 hours, at least)
* Playa del Carmen, on the mainland across from Cozumel, suffered the worst destruction, with ate least 1,000 homes seriously destroyed
* In Cancun, 1,800 people hid from Wilma in a 9 screen multiplex theater, but were eventually cramped into 3 of the screens as the other 6 became too dangerous -- none of the bathrooms were in working order
* Many beaches were washed away by the strong waves
* Wilma confounded meteorologists, because the hurricane did not follow the paths and characteristics of standard hurricane forecasting models
* Hot on the heals of Wilma, tropical storm Alpha reached the Dominican Republic on Sunday, October 22nd.
* Caribbean countries fear that the record number of hurricanes in 2005 could reduce the number of visitors to the region in the coming year -- Americans have a tendency to perceive a natural disaster in any one part of the Caribbean as affecting all of the Caribbean
* The Caribbean receive 22 million cruise ships and air visitors in 2004 - just over half of whom come from the US

Sources:
* Wilma Lashes Mexico Resorts (TravelNewsWire)
http://www.travelwirenews.com/cgi-script/csArticles/articles/000062/006232-p.htm
* Caribbean Fears Storms Will Hurt Tourism (Yahoo/AP)
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/051023/caribbean_hurricane_stigma.html?.v=1
* Photo of Tourists Evacuees in Cancun (BBC)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/americas_wilma_lashes_mexico0s_coast/html/6.stm
* Wilma bamboozles hurricane experts (BBC)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4365898.stm