Travelography #71: Dangerous Planes, Sleepy Crews, $10 Skybus, Cruise Dumps

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The US government warns of the dangers of flying on Indonesia-based airlines. A sleepy British Airlines flight crew delays a flight from India to the UK by 13 hours. Super-budget Skybus Airlines will offer $10 tickets on all flights starting May 22. And Florida tries to limit sewage dumping by cruises to nowhere.

USA warns against flying Indonesian airlines following crashes

British Air fliers delayed 13 hours after crew refuses to fly, citing sleepiness

Skybus starts with $10 air fares on May 22

Law would crack down on cruise ships

Geography for Travelers

Travelography on Ning

G4T #52: Geography and Tourism Road Trip, with Victor Teye & Dallen Timothy

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

Today's Geography for Travelers podcast is a recording that I made a few days ago when I was driving back to Arizona after the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers in San Francisco. My two travel companions were Prof. Victor Teye and Prof. Dallen Timothy, both of who are geographers who teach tourism classes at Arizona State University.

This is a follow-up to last month's podcast in which I summarized the 115 papers at the conference that had Tourism as a keyword. The three of us discuss how we personally perceive the relationship between Tourism and the discipline of Geography. I removed some of the background noise using Soundsoap, and while not perfect, it is listenable.

Length: 35min, 5sec

Full show notes are at http://TravelGeography.info

Released under a Creative Commons Copyright: non-commercial, no derivatives, attribution.

Travelography #70: Asia Cruises, Mega Cruise Ports, and a Mini Potala Palace

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The cruise industry is hoping to expand cruising in Asia. Ports in the Caribbean, including Miami, are needing major upgrades to handle the new crop of mega cruise ships. And China is building a scaled version of the Potala Palace to divert some of the large numbers of visitors traveling to Tibet from the real palace.

Travelography: World Travel News

Asian nations begin push for more exposure in cruise market

Supersize me: Caribbean ports struggle to cope with mega-cruiseships

Lhasa to build mini Potala Palace amid tourist boom

Geography for Travelers

Travelography on Ning

Travelography #69: Europe's Fast Trains and Cars, and Long Tunnels

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Four travel news stories today: France unveils the world's fastest train. Germany debates putting speed limits on its autobahns to protect the environment. The Swiss are building the worlds longest tunnel under the Alps. And China shows off the world's longest bus.

Train à Grande Vitesse: France Christens High-Speed Rail Link

Talk of speed limits on autobahn revs up Germans

Swiss dig world's longest tunnel

'World's largest' bus debuts in Shanghai

Blubrry.com

Travelography #68: Nepal is Up, Aussies are Flat, and Cell Phone are Out

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

To the relief of many, Nepal's tourists arrivals show a healthy growth in early 2007, while Australia is wondering why their tourist arrivals for 2006 only grew 1% -- despite the much discussed "Bloody Hell" advertising campaign. Also, a Bird Flu pandemic would hurt tourism-based economies the most, and the US FCC will probably not permit cell phone use on planes -- much to the relief of many passengers.

Nepal tourism records significant growth

Where the hell were the extra tourists? WHAT the bloody hell happened?

Bird flu would hit tourism states hardest

Jet passengers may not get to chat on cellphones after all

Travelography News website

G4T #51: Tourism at the Geographers Big Meeting in San Francisco

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

In today's podcast I give an overview of the 115 (updated number) tourism-related presentations that will be part of the annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 17-21 April 2007, in San Francisco.

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(25min, 27 sec - Creative Commons Copyright: non-commercial, attribution, share-alike)

PAPER TITLES WITH THE KEYWORDS TOUR, TOURIST & TOURISM
- from the preliminary program of the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers, 17-21 April 2007

1. Regional Development Through Tourism in the Republic of Georgia
2. Viewing Historical Sites through the Gaze of the "Other"
3. Locating Queer Key West: Between the Closet, the Resort, and the Bridge
4. Moose head guaranteed: 'Indian' guides, white tourists, and the politics of race and nature in Temagami, Ontario
5. The Impact of Nature Tourism on Biodiversity Change in the Russian Federation
6. An Economic Analysis of Florida Beach Tourism
7. Commerce and Cruises: a comparative study of Caribbean waterfront transformations
8. Out of Globalizing Taipei: Cultural Imagination, Local Identity, and the Case of The Festival of Austronesian Cultures in Taitung
9. Just wasting away on vacation: using environmental justice theory to frame ecotourism-related waste management crises
10. Fish, Floatboats and Feds: "Directions and disparities in policy surrounding the Endangered Species Act and listed Snake River Chinook salmon on the Sawtooth National Recreation Area."
11. The Visual Landscape in British West Indies Travel Narratives, 1815-1914
12. Local effects of ecotourism: a case study of the Nono-Mindo Road in Ecuador
13. Spillover Effects of Recreation-Led Growth in Rural America
14. Are We "Natural" Enough? The Ecological Tourism and Social Development in Taroko National Park Area and San-Chan Tribe, Taiwan
15. Au Bon Endroit: surrealism, creative play and passion
16. Accommodating Green?: Overcoming Barriers to Sustainability in China's Tourism Industry.
17. Do we really need more tourism in Jamaica? Exploring the highs and lows of merging tourism with agriculture in the bid to create alternative livelihoods
18. Management of Protected Areas in Mexico
19. Seeking Shangri-La: Domestic Tourism in Yunnan, China
20. Weaving stories in Taiwan: Japanese colonialism and Atayal culture
21. Spacial Patterns of Touring Circuses Within Europe
22. Spring Mill Pioneer Village as Symbolic Landscape
23. Developing a fall foliage observation route through New England during peak season
24. The Battle of Richmond Re-enactment: An Examination of an Emerging Living History tourist destination in Madison Co., Kentucky
25. Environmentalism in Jiangxi's Tourism Development
26. Do we need them Clustered? Competition, Cooperation and Innovation between Tourist attractions
27. Landscapes of Silk Road Tourism: on the Road to Samarkand
28. Delivering urban renaissance through the revitalization of ethnic neighborhoods as places of leisure and consumption
29. The Largest Industry! Myths and Realities about the Tourist Industry
30. Tracing Irish Ancestors within Diverse Tourism Spaces: A Proactive Approach to Developing New Models of Genealogical Tourism Promotion and Management
31. Gender of Work: A regional study of employees' perceptions of ecotourism jobs
32. Developing America's Playgrounds: National Parks and the Evolving Vision of Outdoor Recreation 1916-1939
33. Many homes for tourism: engaging with embodied spaces and virtual places within second home mobilities
34. On Surfari: Surf Tourism Flows from California
35. Competing carrying capacities and sustainabilities: Setting the limits of growth in tourism
36. Spatial Analysis of Tourism versus Mining in Yunnan, China: Comparing economic and environmental impacts
37. The Shophouse Hotel: Vernacular Heritage in Creative Singapore
38. Good-bye Humboldt, welcome McKinsey - Tourism and Leisure Geography in Germany in the context of current educational policy changes and the complex challenge of globalised educational structures
39. Forging New Linkages in a Changing Global Economy? The Case of Cooperatives and their Link with the Negril Tourism Industry, Jamaica.
40. Displacing Destinations, Becoming Tourists
41. An Evaluation of the Potential and Limitations of Ecotourism as a Vehicle for Conservation and Sustainable Development in India
42. A Defense Against Tourism: The formation of a cooperative system in Smangus, Taiwan
43. Authentic Spaces of Bicycle Tourism
44. Setting the Stage: Guanajuato's Historic Center
45. Ecotourism in Protected Areas: The Case of Kakum National Park in Ghana
46. Canada's emerging wine culture and conflicts in the new countryside
47. Is domestic tourism a domestic phenomenon? Development, the state, and global connections in the mountains of Western Sichuan, China.
48. "Going Global: Ecotourism and globalization in the Niti Valley, Garhwal Himalaya, India"
49. Actor-Oriented Management of Protected Areas and Tourism in Mexico
50. Tourism in Austria - Growing Tourism Centers and Suffering Peripheries
51. Welcome to Paradise! Domestic Tourism and the Myth of the Frontier in China
52. Returning the Gaze: Exploring the Possibility for a Dialogical Tourism
53. Myths of Beirut: The Politics of History and the Seeds of Memory
54. Organics-Aesthetics: Authenticity as a Regional Development Instrument
55. Image, Advertising and Medical Tourism in India
56. Boating on the Sea of Grass: Western Development, Tourism, Resistance, and Local Empowerment
57. Eyes Wide Open: Post-Jacobean Infrastructure Projects
58. Constructing Alterity? The Walt Disney Company and urban landscapes in the Paris Basin
59. The Geography of Medical Tourism
60. Tourism in China—an industry undertaking capitalism and individualism
61. Baltoro glacier - a victim of high mountain mass-tourism?
62. Black Rocks and the Big Bend - Energy Production, Wilderness, and Development on the U.S.-Mexican Border
63. Sustainable tourism on commonages as an alternative to traditional agricultural-based land reform in Namaqualand, South Africa
64. Mountain Shepherds Inaugural Women's Trek: Evaluation of a community initiated and operated tourism project in the Uttarakhand Himalayas
65. Conserving tropical rainforest: a role for ecological education?
66. Driven to the margins: neoliberalism, taxi drivers, and tourism in the Caribbean
67. An Interactive Information System as a Tourism Marketing Tool - The Example of Two Austrian Communities
68. Cruise Ships and Regional Development in Coastal Alaska: A Political Ecology Approach
69. D-Day Tourism: Sites and Paths of Memory
70. "Gay Camp": Analysis of Outdoor Recreation in Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Culture and the Economic Impacts in the Ozarks.
71. Journey to the west: tourist traps, Tibet and the independent tourist in contemporary China
72. Neighborhood Revitalization in the Historic District of San Felipe de Neri, Panama
73. Safari Tourism, Technology, and Local Resistance: The Socio-ecological Significance of CB Radios and Mini-vans in an East African Park
74. Reconstructing Disaster Areas through Development Aid: The case of Phang Nga, Thailand
75. Community-based ecotourism in Ghana
76. "Get Back to Where You Once Belonged": Okinawa's Pursuit of Increased Substate Autonomy through Return-Visit Tourism
77. Commodity Chains and the Mobility Turn in Tourism
78. Tourism and the Mormon Culture Region Periphery: Heritage Tourism and the LDS Colonies of Mexico
79. Nature based tourism - some economic linkages revisited
80. Destinations and places seen as part of an innovation system
81. The relevance or irrelevance of environmental ethics? Do they matter in tourism
82. Reviving Tourism in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India: a Challenge for the Crisis and Disaster Management Planners
83. Tourism development in the national periphery: Discourses of the Finnish-Russian border in the process of region-building
84. Isoepa: Polynesian Heritage Site in the Utah Desert
85. Integrating GIS with Database Systems to Identify and Analyze Feeder Market Places of Second-Home Based Tourism
86. The Early Development of Cover Design of Foldout-Maps
87. Consumption of Place: Exploring the Sociospatial Implications of the Coffee Trail and Agrotourism in North Central Nicaragua
88. The New Space Tourism: The Privatization of Space Travel
89. Environmental Regionalism as Discipline: The Northern Forest of New England and New York
90. Processes and tendencies of the residential tourism in the Balearic Islands (Spain): ¿ Immigrants of luxury or tourists of long stay?
91. Medical tourism in India; who benefits and who pays
92. Tourism and Recreation in the Emirate of Dubai
93. Gendered Aspects of Ecotourism
94. Representations of Waikiki: An analysis of tourism through hotel brochures
95. The Marketable Identities of Major American Cities
96. Tourism and Portering Labour in Shimshal, Northern Areas, Pakistan
97. 'Workers' paradise' or entrepreneur's dream? Communist heritage tourism in Nowa Huta, Poland
98. Where you want to go to get away from it all: Theoretical Models of Cruise Tourist Behavior
99. Economic and Ecological Factors Influencing Tourism Operations in Southern Africa's KAZA Region
100. Introducing National Park Reserves into Rural Tourism Industries: Assessing the potentials for integrated, sustainable tourism in the South Okanagan and Lower Similkameen areas, British Columbia, Canada.
101. A New Map to Promote Tourism in Virginia's Wine Region
102. Island Ecotourism - Iriomote Island Case Studies
103. WE Riders of Oakland: Urban Geography as Performance Art
104. Staying Afloat: State agencies, local communities, and international involvement in marine protected area management in Zanzibar, Tanzania
105. "Tubin and Groovin along a Texas River: Contested Spaces and Conflict over the Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas"
106. International Involvement in Tourism Development in a Peripheral Region: Lessons from Ghana
107. Web 2.0 Virtual Travel-escapes
108. Evaluating tourism geographies in the United Kingdom: will moving the goal posts make any difference?
109. Cartography, GIS, and Teaching the Geography of Wine
110. Tourism Geographies: a Renaissance in the 21st Century
111. Identity Shift in a Post-Military Society: A Case Study of Quemoy
112. Much Ado About Nothing: A Geographical Analysis of Industrial Clusters
113. Tourism, power, culture and the creative industries in the core's periphery
114. Tourism User Fees: A Tool for Protected Area Management
115. Development of Tourist Information System Based on 3-D Satellite Image Maps

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

Travelography #66: Toxic Tours, Transplant Tours, and Web 2.0 Video Travel

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

A couple of Dark Tourism stories today: the "Toxic Tour" in Los Angeles is free and growing in popularity; and China works to end organ transplant tourism. Then I discuss a couple of Web 2.0 Travel Sites from Emily Chang's eHub site: DigiLondon.com and GeoBeats.com. And related to this, the giant travel review site, TripAdvisor.com is starting to experiment with user videos.

L.A.'s 'Toxic Tour' takes passengers to sites of pollution nightmares

Call for marking an end to brutal practice of organ tourism in China

DigiLondon - The London visitor resource

Geobeats travel videos

Travolution Blog: TripAdvisor quietly unveils video tools

TripAdvisor Video

PCNTravel on Delicious

Geography for Travelers

Web 2.0 Travel Tools

Travelography #65: Oasis Air Deals, MySpace Break, Voluntourism + Food Tours

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

Hong Kong's Oasis Air will start trans-Pacific budget flights this summer. MySpace.com is hosting Spring Break parties in FL and TX. Volunteer tourism is boosting the economies of coastal Louisiana and Mississippi. And Food Tourism is emerging as one the hottest new niche travel markets.

Asia's discount airlines reach for the West

MySpace is Officially Taking Over the World

www.myspace.com/myspringbreak

Katrina 'voluntourists' make labor a vacation

Traveling to eat: Food tourism grows in USA

Del.icio.us - PCNTravel tag

Blubrry: Travelography

Travelography #64: Thailand, Tanzania, Las Vegas, Cuba, and PCNTravel

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

Terrorism and crime hits tourist destinations in Thailand and Tanzania. Las Vegas had a record year in tourist arrivals in 2006, and expects more growth in 2007. US citizens may soon be vacationing in Cuba. Virginia offers customized song to promote its music road. And checkout "PCNTravel" on Del.icio.us.

Surge of terror acts along Thai border towns dampen celebrations

Somali bandits attack, rob tourists in northern Tanzania

Las Vegas hosted record number of visitors in 2006

American Travel to Cuba On the Horizon

Virginia tourism site enables visitors to write personalized song

The Crooked Road: Virginia's Heritage Music Trail

Del.icio.us - PCNTravel tag

Travelography Travel News on Ning.com

G4T #50: Ben Ayers - Insights on Social Change in Nepal's Khumbu

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

This month's podcast is one of the interviews from our recent trip to Nepal. We administered the interview to Ben Ayers, the founder of Porter's Progress, an NGO devoted to supporting the porter who carry heavy loads on their backs up the Khumbu Valley of Nepal. Today he works for the dZi Foundation, a community development NGO that works throughout the Himalaya region.

In this podcast, Ben discusses how the Khumbu has been modernized and transformed in recent years, and the challenges that this presents to Sherpa culture and society today.

Please support these worthwhile organizations...

• Porter's Progress
• dZi Foundation

Travelography #63: Bill of Rights for US Airline Passengers + Lost Luggage $$

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

US Airline News: Recent incidents of 6 to 10 hour waits on airport tarmacs have prompted the US Congress to consider an Air Passenger Bill of Rights. In the meantime, Jet Blue, whose passengers suffered the most a couple of weeks ago, has announced its own Passenger Rights policy. And you can now claim up to $3000 for lost luggage in the US, if you can get past airline road blocks.

PCNTravel on Del.icio.us

Petition for an Airline Passenger Bill of Rights - TheTravelInsider.com

JetBlue woes spur call for fliers' bill of rights

'Bill of rights' for fliers questioned

JetBlue tries to make up with fliers

Airlines' actions put spotlight on passenger rights

Payment goes up for luggage lost by airlines

Travelography #62: Israel and the US Tourism Challenges, + Green Silverjets

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

Despite last year's record number of tourists arrivals (reporteded last week on Travelography), Israel and the US have been struggling to increase their international tourist arrivals. The Travel Industry Association [of America] has proposed a three phase plan to the US Congresss to grow international travel to the US. And the new airline Silverjet goes green with carbon offsets.

Israeli tourism industry hampered by war-influenced drop in arrivals

TIA Touts New Long-Range Plan to Reverse Decline in Travel to U.S.

Travel industry proposes 'trusted traveler' plan for foreign visitors

Silverjet, World's First Carbon Neutral Airline to Take Inaugural Flight

Travelography #61: A Record 842 Million International Trips Taken Last Year

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

The World Tourism Organization's 2006 preliminary numbers show a record 842 million international trips were taken in 2006, up 4.5% from 2005. Africa saw the highest percent growth, while North America grew the least. Tourism in any Asian countries is growing fast, which China being pegged to surpass Spain by 2010 to be the second most visited country in the world, after France. And ASEAN countries hope to promote more intra-regional travel.

Another Record Year for World Tourism

Asia’s Travel Industry Charges into 2007

Record Year for Singapore as Tourism Exceeds 2006 Targets

Asean Tourism Forum Opens

Open Skies, Single-Visa Regime Key To ASEAN

World tourism sets record in 2006, U.N. agency says

UNWTO: China set to surpass Spain by 2010

Vietnam tourism industry keen on achieving a new record in 2007

Korea targets 10 million inbound visitors by 2010

Travelography #60: Budget Long Haul on AirAsia X, and Nepal's Slow Recovery

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

I am back from my trip with two travel new stories. Nepal's tourist arrivals for December 2006 were dissapointing. Malaysia's AirAsia X will be the first long haul budget airline in Southeast Asia when it starts flying in this summer.

Nepal tourist arrivals rise in November on peace hopes

Tourist arrival posts marginal growth in December 2006

AirAsia aims to X long-haul rivals

AirAsia X London flights from RM9.99 (US$3)