Travelography #45: US Passports, Moroccan Train + Birds Head Indonesia

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

Now is the time to get your US passport if you plan to visit Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean in 2007. Morocco plans the first the Arab world's first high speed train. And scientists discover the riches marine ecosystem in the world in the Bird's Head area off the west coast of Papua in Indonesia.

New passport rules to take effect Jan. 8

Arab world’s first high-speed train planned

50 New Marine Species Discovered in Indonesia

Stunning finds of fish and coral in Indonesia This podcast was originally posted on Sept 29, 2006. I was at the Podcast and Portable Media Expo on that day and forgot to post the show notes here, as I usually do.

Travelography #44: Thai Coup Impacts, China - US Travel, & Travel with Skype

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

The coup in Thailand is impacting tourist arrivals, but hopes are high that a new government will have more success in dealing with Muslim rebel attacks in southern Thailand that killed a Canadian tourist last week. More Chinese want to come to the US and four US airlines vie for a coveted new route between the US and China. And Skype goes shopping for a travel industry partner.

Click on the title above to go to the PCN website for links to these stories.

Click Here for the .MP3 File

G4T #41: Power, Politics and Tourism - Prof. C. Michael Hall

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

Another Presentation from the Graduate Workshop on Researching Tourism in Asia, sponsored by the Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore, and the Dept. of Tourism at the University of Otago, New Zealand.

Today's presentation by Prof. C. Michael Hall of the University of Otago, New Zealand (cmhall@business.otago.ac.nz). The title is:

Studying the Political in Tourism: Ethics, Issues, Methods and Practicalities

Here is the original abstract from the workshop:

Issues of politics and policy are widely regarded as a significant factor in tourism. However, the number of studies that examine such issues remain small in relation to the supposed importance of tourism policy and politics. The presentation will arguethat this situation exists because of the very nature of what such studies entail, i.e. examining issues of power, and therefore this may create substantial stresses in terms of the relationship of the researcher to their subjects and the institutional environment within which they operate. The presentation will discuss issues of method in examining tourism policy and politics and examine the practical dimensions of undertaking research that arise from different methods that are adopted and the aims and objectives of studies. Emphasis in placed on the importance of being aware of intended audiences for such research as well as the potential effects of such studies on research subjects, participants and other stakeholders, including the researcher. Key issues include the relative implications of prescriptive and descriptive approaches to policy analysis; describing power; and implications of scale of analysis. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of ethical considerations in conducting research on political issues in tourism and the importance of the development of policy arguments as a practical consequence of such research.
_______________________________________________________
Michael Hall is Professor and Head of the Department of Tourism, University of Otago, Dunedin and Docent, Department of Geography, University of Oulu, Finland. He is the co-editor of Current Issues in Tourism and has published widely on issues of tourism, regional development and environmental history including three books on tourism policy and politics.

Released under a Creative Commons Copyright - noncommercial, attribution, share-alike.

G4T #40: Defining Modernity in Asia (graduate research workshop)

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

This week's Geography for Travelers podcast starts a series of recordings that I will be doing that come out of a couple of meetings that I attended in Singapore last week. The first was a graduate student workshop about doing research in Asia. I was one of four keynote speakers at that workshop, and today's podcast is an edited recording of my talk. The title was "Defining and Redefining Modernity in New Asia." Not exactly tourism, but closely related. The sound quality of the recording was not ideal, but I think I edited it to a level that can still be listened to. Let me know if I am wrong.

The second meeting was a three-day conference on Asian tourism in Asia. I hope to put presentations by other people from both meetings up over the next couple of months, along with some soundseeing audio. Both meetings were sponsored by the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Here is the abstract of my presentation from the Workshop program:

I will discuss the issue of meaning of modern and traditional in contemporary Asia, with a focus on the East and Southeast Asia. In my 30 years of living and studying in Asia, the contradictions between the modern and the traditional in these societies (especially in the built landscape) have always been of particular interest. I will present some theoretical perspectives on this topic, and my own opinions. This will, hopefully, lead to a discussion of the challenges of researching modernization in Asia.

Platial and Neogeography

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Platial News and Neogeography:

Platial.com is a social mapping website. Starting with something like QuickMap.com or Flagr.com, but with del.icio.us or Yelp.com social bookmarking and commenting. You can create maps to bookmark your favorite restaurants or restaurants that you want to try out this weekend. And you can create social maps that people contribute to, like this one where people indicate where they were on September 11, 2001:




The makers of Platial refer to their website as Neogeography, which they define as:

"a diverse set of practices that operate outside, or alongside, or in the manner of, the practices of professional geographers. Rather than making claims on scientific standards, methodologies of neogeography tend toward the intuitive, expressive, personal, absurd, and/or artistic, but may just be idiosyncratic applications of 'real' geographic techniques."

For more on neogeography, click here.

There is also a "mini-mapper" Firefox plug-in that works with the Platial website. This, and other mapping and Platial topics can be found on the Platial blog.

I personally did not find it the easiest site to navigate and search, it was a bit frustrating at times. And there is a quote on the front page from National Geographic Magazine stating that Platial combines mapping and blogging. I am so sure how accurate that statement is -- I guess it depends on how you define "blog". Despite that, I think it is a worthwhile site that people who like to think spatially could organize their notes around.

Worldmapper: Travel and Tourism (and more) Map

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before

The WorldMapper site shows a wide range of social and demographic data, including a whole series of tourism and travel related maps.

The example below the relative number of international tourists that each country received in 2003. If you click on the title above, you will go to this map. Click on next and you will go to many more tourism-related maps.



The maps are really cool. And this one also shows a particular pet peeve of mine. It is obvious that the countries of Europe receive more international tourists than any of the others. Only the US and China outside of Europe have any significant size comparisons. However, are the borders within Europe really international borders? Personally, I do not think so. Passing from one country to another in Europe is no different from passing from one state to another in the US or Australia, or from one province to another in Canada or China. As such, the international arrival numbers are considerably over-inflated in Europe, in comparison to the rest of the world.

Anyway, these are the numbers that we have to live with today thanks to the World Tourism Organization (aka UNWTO) -- a bogus United Nations affiliated organization that charges for most of the data it collects and the services it provides to developing countries -- unlike other true UN bodies.

NEW: Another great source of Thematic Maps (as well as traditional political, street and physical maps) is National Geographic's Map Machine.

Tags: maps,map making,geography,cartography,tourism,travel,statistics,data,unwto,worldmapper

Travelography #39:London Terror Travel Impacts + Magic Mushroom Troubles

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

This week's Travelography discusses some of the short and longer term impacts that may come from last week's arrest of terrorists in the UK. Plus, a couple of American tourists get themselves into some unusual trouble in Europe with magic mushrooms and muggers.

UK terror threat level downgraded

Airlines question ban on carry-on items

Airport security regime hits an executive nerve

Business Travel Coalition

Naked American tourist runs amok

Tourist beaten for chasing muggers!

Naples mayor apologizes to tourist

Tags: London,UK,terrorism,airlines,security,TSA,business travel,Switzerland,Naples,Italy,magic mushrooms,muggers,PCN

Melbourne's Penguins -- and a whole lot more

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

In this week's Geography for Travelers podcast I talk about my recent visit to Melbourne, Australia. We did a lot during our three full days there, but the highlight for me was the penguin Parade on Phillip Island, south of Melbourne. There are a few soundseeing audio clips sprinkled in the podcast that I hope you will find of interest. You can find photos and a travel diary of my Melbourne visit at both VCarious.com and MyLifeOfTravel.com.

Click here to go to Martin Fluker's Travel Show Podcast (from Melbourne)

This is a long one -- 41min, 40 sec. -- mostly due to the soundseeing clips

And what they say about doing soundseeing tours is right -- it sure takes a long time to edit those!!!

Travelography #38: Record Air Fares, Gas Prices, + Last Minute Travel Sales

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

Last minute travel travel has reached $10 billion in sales a year, as more people procrastinate while looking for the best deal. US air fares reach all time record highs, at least for most airports, as do US gasoline prices. Also, everyone loves going to the beach!

Last minute travelers are $10 billion business

US air fares reach record levels

Survey: Gas prices up 2 cents to record high - Jul. 23, 2006

Tia - The American Love Affair With Beach Travel

Travel Zoo's Last Minute Travel

Tags: travel,tourism,last minute travel,discount travel,air fares,gas prices,beach travel

Quikmaps.com - maps for the masses

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Quikmaps.com - Maps for the Masses

This may or may not be "Travel", but I did think it was something that geographers and budding geographers should know about, given our historic love affair with maps!

Quickmaps.com allows you to "Draw pictures and label things on a google map using simple clicks and drags." This is Fun! It is still in beta, and the "draw Lines" tool did not work for me in Firefox, but the "scribble" line drawing tool did work. This is a neat way to draw the maps that you want - to your house, to the party, and to the beach!

I have not tried these other options yet, but according to the website, once you have drawn your maps you can:

"Blog it! - Post the map on your blog or website. Quikmaps hosts your map, so you don't need to sign up for a 'google maps api key', or anything like that. All you need is a blog.

Send it! - Don't have a blog? Want to email a map? No problem -- just send a link to your quik map.

Change it! - Quikmaps hosts your maps, so you can come back and edit them whenever you want. After you save your changes, your maps will update themselves.

Google Earth it! - See your quikmap in 3D with Google Earth."

NEW: Use A Map.com is another online mapping tool that you might want to check out. They describe themselves as: "A free service that provides you with a map that has a short URL, for example useamap.com/ourplace which is easy to remember and share with others."

Tags: maps,map making,google maps,quickmaps,geography,cartography

Where the Hell is Matt?

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Where the Hell is Matt.com

There are a lot of travel diary blogs out there, making it hard to stand out in the crowd. Personally, I write my travel diary blogs as much for myself (to remember), as providing potential information for others to use. However, if you are creative, you can get seen. And that is what Matt has done, in a simple, but effective way: Matt dances around the world. Oh, and he blogs about the places he visits, as well.

Tags: travel,travel diary,blog,blogging,dancing,diary,travel blog

Travelography #36: PCN News: African Windows, Aussie Airfare Scam, + Tibet's Railroad

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

Bill Gates and Microsoft are working with the World Tourism Organization to put Africa's tourist destinations online though the "Windows on Africa" portal. Australians fall for an airline ticket phishing scam. China and India open a third border crossing on the Sikkim-Tibet border. And the new Qinghai-Tibet Railroad (highest in the world) may change Tibet forever.

UNWTO and Microsoft to Boost e-Tourism for Development: Africa to be Primary Target

Tanzania seeks Bill Gates support in tourism publicity

Australian travelers duped by Internet fraud

India and China re-open Himalayan pass of Nathu La after 44 years

Qinghai-Tibet railway brings identity crisis for Tibet?

Tags: Microsoft,travel,tourism,Africa,Windows on Africa,portal,Australia,airfare scam,phishing,Sikkim,India,China,Tibet,border crossing,railroad,culture change,tourism impact

G4T #37.5: Tourism Tech Talk: Teaching Tourism

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

Something really different this week. Like last week, this one comes from my recent trip to Australia and the conference I attended in Brisbane. David Timothy Duval (University of Otago, New Zealand) and I skipped out of a session of papers to sit down and talk about how we use technology in our tourism classes, and in everyday life. I cut a few things out of our over and hour discussion, but I also inserted a few clarifications. We cover a lot of territory, from podcasting to blogging to wikis to RSS aggregators to social bookmarking, and more. The result is my longest podcast yet, at 1 hr, 5 min, 44 sec.

I recorded this using my binaural microphones, with one mic set on one side of the coffee table and the other on the other side. The result is mildly stereophonic, though the telephone ringing at the end is very directional -- it sounds like it is on the table across my office everytime I hear it!

Hopefully you will find it of interest, as David and I are planning to do this again, via Skype, and probably with a more narrowly defined focus.

Relief Riders International - Life Changing Travel on Horseback

(this is a blog, not a podcast)

Welcome to Relief Riders International

This is life a changing trip on horseback - changing the lives of both the travelers and the people in the destination. Relief Riders International take small groups of travelers (about 15) on a truly unique experience. They ride horses to remote villages in India to distribute Red Cross medical and educational supplies, while staying in a wide variey accommodation, including old military forts and tents. The 15 day trip costs $4800.

Visit RRI's website (above) to see its stunning audio-visual presentation, which is powered by Dragonfly.com's multimedia web application.

See also: Experiential Travel Meets Experiential Technology: Relief Rides Come Alive

Tags: travel,tourism,India,development,Red Cross,horse,horseback

G4T #37: Travel 2.0: The Web 2.0 Travelscape

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

Something new! I recorded the paper I presented at the conference I just got back from in Brisbane, Australia. This was at a meeting sponsored by the Tourism Commission of the International Geographical Union. The title of my paper was: "Travel 2.0: The Emerging Virtual Travelscape."

Interestingly, when I asked how many people had heard of the concept of "Web 2.0," only two people in the 30 or so who were in attendance raised their hands. As a regularly listeners of ITConversations.com, this was a shock to me. This major (in my opinion) social trend is apparently not getting much play beyond the blog/podosphere!

Here are a couple of links related to my talk:

- Web 2.0 Travel Tools (this is one my blogs)
- IGU Tourism Commission Website (I am the webmaster for this group)
- My Australia Trip travel blog (at MyLifeofTravel.com)

NEW: Next wave of travel websites feels like MySpace (Christian Science Monitor article)