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POPSTed Turner Launches New Sustainable Tourism Strategy What exactly is sustainable tourism? While many have tried to clarify the concept, it often seems like a collection of vague ideals. But today Ted Turner and a newly founded coalition of 27 organizations have put forth specific criteria. It includes jobs for locals, including in management positions; support for local entrepreneurs; and protection of important archeological, historical, spiritual and cultural sites. Do you think these guidelines will help protect destinations and the people who live there?
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POPSWorld's Greenest Museum It took 10 years to build and cost $500 million, but the California Academy of Sciences finally unveiled its new green home. The single building hosts a planetarium, natural history museum, aquarium and four-story rain forest. Some of the green components include floor to ceiling windows that provide natural lighting; a "living roof" with solar panels and native plants; and insulation made of recycled blue jeans.
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POPSDevastation of World's Coral Imminent? According to a new study in Geophysical Research Letters, the world's coral could be devastated by rising CO2 levels. This isn't just an issue for science --- the tourist economy in various countries would also be devastated if coral reefs were to vanish. I've written about this before here: http://www.forbes.com/2008/03/06/travel-sustainable-coastlines-forbeslife-cx_rr_0307travel.html. More recently, I wrote about endangered natural wonders and the business of tourism here: http://www.forbes.com/travel/2008/09/15/travel-endangered-ecosystems-forbeslife-cx_rr_0915travel.html.
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POPSFrench Cuisine Worthy of World Heritage Recognition? Some French chefs, with support from President Nicolas Sarkozy, are spearheading a movement to have French cuisine recognized as a world heritage cuisine by UNESCO. The United Nations body is known for recognizing sites like Machu Picchu, the Great Wall of China, and even storytelling of Kyrgyzstan, but it has yet to recognize a cuisine. Do you think it should?
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POPSAirline Fees Here to Stay This article dispels any notion that the airlines might be persuaded to roll back fees now that the price of oil is dropping. Their logic? Air travel has been a stagnant business for years and unbundling -- or charging for what was once free -- is breathing new life into the airline business.
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POPSThousands Stranded as UK Tour Operator Goes Bust Compared to what happened on Wall Street today, the news that the third-largest UK tour operator collapsed last week seems insignificant. But within the British travel industry, it's becoming a huge deal. Many are blaming a weakened travel market and high oil prices, and according to this article, this won't be the last firm to go under.
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POPSNo More Billboards in Xi'an This from the blog of Intelligent Travel: the city of Xi'an has plans to remove billboards from the capital's walls. The move is part of a larger effort to restore Xi'an's heritage by controlling development and population growth.
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POPSFarewell to Coney Island's Astroland Coney Island's Astroland, one of the city's historic (and affordable) attractions, was shut down yesterday. It meant different things to different people and this story brings that out well.
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POPSThe New Yorker's Summer Staycation I've been hearing about staycations all summer long. As a rule, I've been trying to avoid the very trendy word. But this tongue-in-cheek story about regular New Yorkers enjoying their staycation is the perfect read for a Friday afternoon right before a holiday weekend marking the end of summer.
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POPSArtificial Sand Dune to House New Museum According to this blog post on Gizmodo, the new Museum of Modern Arab Art in Doha, Qatar is being built in an artificial 350,000 square foot sand dune. It won't be completed until 2011, but in the meantime take a look at the mock-up.
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POPSHot Destination: Lagos, Nigeria I haven't read much about travel to Nigeria, save George Packer's great article in the New Yorker (see here: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/11/13/061113fa_fact_packer) about the city's informal economies. A New York Times reporter recently surveyed the city's nightlife, malls and substandard housing and found a huge gap between the wealthy and poor. I think it will be awhile before it becomes a real destination, but it should be interesting to see how travel there increases in the coming years.
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POPSImage of the Day As the blog Jaunted points out, one of the great reasons to travel is to see something unusual or unexpected. The above image is just one example of quirky public art created by an artist in France. Check out the full gallery here: http://www.filthyluker.deviantart.com/gallery/
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POPSMexico More Expensive as Dollar Falls Against Peso If you were planning on heading south of the border for a good travel bargain, you might want to reconsider. According to this article, the dollar has declined in value nearly 10% against the Mexican peso since the beginning of the year.
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POPSMost Ethical Destinations? Worried about your travel footprint? Want to support tourism in a developing country but don't want to support bad environmental practices or human rights abuses? Check out this list of "most ethical destinations" compiled by ethicaltraveler.org.
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POPSTourism for American Soldiers in Iraq Unfortunately this article is behind a pay wall. I clipped what was available, but I recommend finding a way to read it. The piece focuses on a tour of the former presidential palace in Iraq. It is led by an Army sergeant who hands out full-color brochures and sketches of how the buildings looked prior to being bombed in 2003. Because of safety concerns, troops stationed in Iraq rarely travel outside of heavily protected bases. This tour is an opportunity to do so and 3,000 people have participated to date.
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POPSThe Guided Tour, Disney Style Disney deserves some credit for its latest push into the tourism market. Since 2005, the company has been quietly sending families on guided tours to places like Peru, Italy and England. The tours involve activities for both parents and children but don't have the feeling of being "Disneyfied". Put another way, these tours have some degree of authenticity and don't make participants feel like they're stuck in a theme park. Overall, it's a great concept for the brand.
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POPSGhost Town Tourism For a modern-day travel mystery, try visiting a ghost town. I'm not referring to a town with paranormal activity, but one that has been abandoned or forgotten. The article I've clipped discusses this practice and points out that it can be exciting and a little dangerous.
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POPSWhen Forced to Sleep at the Airport I've been writing about flying lately and this latest story about more travelers being forced to sleep in the airport doesn't surprise me. The article offers a few good tips, but I think the bottom line is that American airports are ill-equipped to assist passengers forced to stay overnight. And airport staff are often less than sympathetic. For more background on the situation, check out two of our latest stories: World's 10 Best Airports (http://www.forbes.com/forbeslife/2008/07/14/airports-best-world-forbeslife-cx_rr_0714travel.html) and the Summer Flying Survival Guide (http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/03/summer-travel-survival-forbeslife-cx_rr_0703travel.html).
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POPSAirlines Ask Customers to Help Lower Oil Prices There's ongoing debate over whether or not speculators are responsible for the price of oil, but the CEOs of several major airlines are not so uncertain. In a letter to their frequent fliers, they've asked customers to petition Congress to lower the price of oil by regulating speculation. Do you think this tactic will work? Is it a publicity stunt designed to make the airlines look sympathetic to nickel-and-dimed fliers? What do you think?
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POPSLuxury Travel in the Down Economy? This article from USA Today argues that the down economy has yet to hurt luxury travel. I've heard the same thing in interviews with multiple sources, but it's still tough to quantify the luxury travel trend. When I spoke with Peter Yesawich, of the research firm Ypartnership, he said the only income bracket to remain unaffected is the top 1% of American households with adjusted gross incomes of $364,000. That's a very small group of people.
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POPSHiking Across the Czech Republic If you need any inspired travel ideas, read this story about a man and his wife who hiked the well-marked trails of Bohemia. Along the way the couple passed World War II bunkers (also used during the Cold War,) saw stunning vistas and drank locally-brewed beer.
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POPSEarthquake Creates New Tourist Spot in China Yesterday I clipped about visiting man-made disasters and today I came across this story about Chinese officials considering how to convert one of 34 'quake lakes' into a tourist destination. There are no specific details yet, but the idea is to draw visitors to a lake in Beichuan country, which was newly formed by earthquake-related flooding.
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POPSA Travel Guide to Man-made Disasters I've clipped this because it's completely counter-intuitive. Good Magazine has compiled a short list of anti-tourist destinations where man-made disasters have scarred the landscape. If you're at all curious, the link will take you to further tips on what to do at the various locations. (Full disclosure: I've written for Good previously.)
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POPSCan't Get Time off for a Vacation? In a recent survey one in five workers said they had trouble getting time off because a co-worker had already asked for it. According to these bloggers at the Journal, this might account for why more than half of U.S. workers fail to use all of their vacation days each year. Have you had this problem before? Is it something that can be solved amicably or is it first come, first served?
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POPSDrug-Related Violence Hurts Tourism in Mexico This story focuses on what's happening in Tijuana as a result of increased drug and gang violence. I have not been to Mexico for nearly two years, but even then I noticed stories about the violence in the papers. Have you thought twice about traveling to Mexico as a result of increased violence or at least the perception of it?
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POPSWould You Feed a Customer at a Hunger Cafe? This story is about cafes in India that serve the hungry for very low prices. The catch is that they have to sit outside and wait for someone to donate money for their meal. I've clipped it because I thought it was a very interesting window into Indian culture. And if travel is about anything, it's about exposure to culture. I also think that when we travel it's important to be aware of different cultural practices when it comes to things like charity. Do you think you'd be more prone to donate money to people sitting in front of a hunger cafe while traveling as opposed to someone who was walking the streets asking for money?
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POPSWhat's Causing the Drop-Off in Travel to China? As this article points out, new visa restrictions, the tension over Tibet, the Sichaun province earthquake and rising inflation are discouraging travelers from visiting China. Given all of these conditions, would you travel to China?
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POPSWorst Airline Ever This is at least according to airline industry guru Joe Brancatelli. He has a throrough breakdown of everything United Airlines has done wrong for the past 30 years. He has heated criticism for a lot of their failures, but one in particular seems to rankle him the most: executives getting rich off of the company's shares while employees and customers suffer. While we rarely think of the business aspect of flying, it's probably not a bad idea these days to consider which airline you'd rather have in business -- as consumers, that is.
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POPSEco-Tourism on the Great Plains Efforts to restore wilderness to the Great Plains has sparked a new industry: eco-tourism. This story has great details about wildlife safaris, hunting, jeep tours and birding trips.
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POPSWhere to Live to Live the Longest Sardinia and Japan are two of the countries where certain groups of people live the longest. Author Dan Buettner tries to figure out their secrets for "happy old age" in a new book. He has some interesting findings. What I'd like to know is if you've traveled to a place where you thought life would be paradise. My vote goes to Dingle, Ireland.
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POPSHotels without Casinos in Vegas? The San Francisco Chronicle has picked up on a growing trend in Las Vegas: more sophisticated hotels. In a reversal of development strategy, some hotels are foregoing the gaudy casino in exchange for more upscale environs. Which hotel would you rather stay with?
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POPSSaudi Arabia "Sleeping Giant" Tourist Destination I clipped a story yesterday about efforts to turn Haiti into a tourist destination. This story is about what's happening in Saudi Arabia. The situations are completely different in both countries, but what's interesting about Saudi Arabia is how they will attract Western tourists while communicating clearly about expectations, particularly where cultural customs are concerned. Would you go to Saudi Arabia?
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POPSKidnappings, Riots Mar Tourism Efforts in Haiti When I wrote about the world's most dangerous destination in January (see here: http://www.forbes.com/2008/01/16/travel-world-dangerous-forbeslife-cx_rr_0117travel.html) I received a lot of criticism from Haitians who felt the news about their country was always bad. This story looks at efforts to turn Haiti into a tourist destination, including expanded cruise service and improved access to historic sites. Political instability has since interrupted those efforts, but organizers are hopeful that the situation will get better. The key thing here is that Haiti is missing out on a billion dollar industry as a result. How can they turn things around?
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POPSBudget Airlines Bad for the Environment? Low-cost airlines in Europe have encouraged more people to fly in recent years, but this also means an increase in total CO2 emissions from the European Union. Do you think this is a problem that needs addressing?
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POPSAirlines Get Creative in Cutting Costs One analyst in this article even jokes that airlines may start charging passengers by their weight. For now, airlines are doing things like flying slower and washing planes more frequently to save on very expensive fuel.
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POPSWorld's Most Impressive Subways Wired has a fun slideshow of the most impressive subways. The piece is inspired by the anniversary of the first test run of Chicago's L train in 1883. Each slide contains interesting historical facts about the various subways.
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POPSBlogging to Save Africa's Wildlife When tourism in Kenya declined sharply earlier this year (see my 2/29 clip), it threatened not only the livelihood of locals, but also the country's wildlife. As this story points out, when tourism declined, the Mara Conservancy had to scrape together funds to pay rangers responsible for keeping animals safe from poachers. An entrepreneurial ranger did his best soliciting donations via his blog, Twitter and Flicker. Now he's helping other rangers adopt the same approach. See his website here: http://maratriangle.wildlifedirect.org/.
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POPSAirport Screeners Swiping Your Stuff? According to this blogger, the Transportation Security Administration has a little stealing situation on their hands. What are they allegedly taking? Everything from an engagement ring to cash to designer eyewear to electronics. How can you safeguard your belongings? Elliot's recommendations include leaving valuables at home or taking them with you on the plane instead of putting them into a checked bag.
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POPSThe Latest Flying Fee American Airlines ventured into uncharted territory today by announcing that it will charge most passengers a $15 fee for checking their first bag. As Rick Seaney points out, the trend is likely to catch on with other airlines as well. Between increased fuel surcharges, $8 sandwiches and $10 "prime" seating, is there a certain threshold where consumers will say enough with flying?
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