7 Days, 7 Travel Stories
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1. A carnival in Venice...More than a century ago author Henry James once observed: "Though there are some disagreeable things in Venice there is nothing so disagreeable as the visitors." And to that end, more than 20 million tourists are expected to visit Venice this year. Many are day-trippers who, experts say, wreak havoc on Venice's delicate ecology and architecture without leaving behind a financial footprint that would help officials neutralize their impact.

Enter Augusto Salvadori, Venice’s city official in charge of public conduct. Salvadori recently launched a campaign to encourage tourists and Venetians to treat the city in a manner befitting its stature. The campaign features signs advising visitors not to picnic in public places, treat the canals as if they were a beach, and write messages for fellow travelers on the monuments. Violators face fines of $67, and the city has deployed enforcement stewards.

Enter again, Pierluigi Sacco, a professor of design at Venice's University IUAV. Sacco's prescription is to raise cultural offerings to heighten tourists' commitment to the city. Venice currently sponsors an annual film festival and, every two years, a contemporary art show called the Biennale, which draws several hundred-thousand visitors.

Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari has ruled out charging an entrance fee to the city as unmanageable, but is pushing Rome to reconsider a lodging tax of a few dollars on overnight visitors to help cover the costs of such services as trash removal - which must be done by hand cart in many Venetian quarters. AP

2. Greenpeace Southeast Asia said the Guinness World Records had accepted its proposal to include Indonesia in its 2008 record book as the country with the fastest rate of deforestation in the world. Indonesia's forests cover roughly 91 million hectares and harbor diverse life forms that include 11 percent of the world's plant species, 10 percent of mammal species, and 16 percent of bird species.

With that said, Indonesia plans to launch a "Visit Indonesia Year" in 2008. The Culture and Tourism Ministry hopes to attract 6 million foreign tourists and generate around $5 billion in foreign exchange earnings. Environmental groups hope some of this revenue will go toward protecting Indonesia's unique natural assets. One environmental expert says that 60 percent of Indonesia’s protected and conservation areas have been badly damaged by illegal logging and palm oil plantations. The technique of clearing land for plantations emits large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which destroys the natural habitats of endangered species like the orangutan and the Sumatran tiger. UPI

3. A generation ago only penny-pinched backpackers and granola-eaters would seek out a rustic hotel with a compost heap in the back and solar panels on the roof. Today, with global warming at the top of the world’s political and social agenda, it’s the well-heeled traveler who wants to know that a hotel or tour operator is doing what it can to protect the environment. TravelAge West looked into its crystal ball and came up with 11 ways that climate change and the eco-conscious travel movement will change the way travel agents do business. The bottom line: Travel agents who want to stay ahead of the curve will have to offer eco-options to clients without being asked. To maintain credibility with clients and overseas travel partners, agents will also have to adopt environmentally responsible business practices in their own offices. In the future, it can be expected that travel agents will have to pass on at least some of the additional costs for a greener industry to their clients.

4. According to a recent study, business travelers brought family members along with them on 14% of 435 million trips last year, up from 11% in 2000. The travel trend is prompting hotels to alter their marketing efforts to attract the travelers. "More and more, younger boomers and Gen Xers today are looking for ways to easily mix business with leisure and family fun," said Bill Marriott, chairman of Marriott.

[don't forget about www.itinarod.com for all of your travel planning.]

5. China announced plans to turn a rough path into a tarmac route of “blacktop highway” from the Chinese side to Mt. Everest’s base camp at 5,200 meters. The four-month project aims to turn Everest into a resort destination. It will also ease the path of those bearing the Olympic torch, which is expected to be the most ambitious Olympic torch run in history--a 130-day, 85,000 mile relay that begins in Beijing on March 31, 2008, crosses five continents and ends in May atop the 8,850 meter peak of Mount Everest. China’s name for Mt. Everest is Mount Qomolangma.

6. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) committee held a meeting recently to discuss whether its World Heritage Sites are in danger from mass tourism. The committee, representing 21 states, debated whether war, over development, and neglect are posing new dangers to the sites. Greenpeace and the Climate Justice Program are among several organizations petitioning the committee to include Mount Everest and the Great Barrier Reef in the in danger or under threat category. Others included in the list are the Galapagos Islands, Machu Picchu, Dresden in Germany and Tower of London. There are currently 830 World Heritage Sites covering properties, cultural, natural and mixed status in 184 countries on UNESCO's World Heritage Site List. ETN

7. At the Paris Air Show...Airbus confirmed that it had booked an order from an individual for its A380 super jumbo jet. The price tag for the 525 seater, $300 million. Lines also formed at Falcon’s new 7X, a gleaming $41 million eight-seat super large business jet. Separately, a private group wants to bring back the supersonic Concorde, which had its last commercial flight in 2003. Club Concorde hopes to raise nearly $30 million for the venture and is seeking approval to fly from the British civil aviation agency. A lifetime membership in the group costs $20. So far more than 30,000 people have signed up. NY Times

8. Online...A site where hotel employees let loose: www.community.livejournal.com/hotel_workers/. Budget Travel magazine says the best way to search travel online is to start with the meta-search engines like Kayak and SideStep. Once you have found a good deal, grab it then keep looking on other sites. They suggest deleting the cookies in your Web browser that tell a travel site you have been there . That way they will treat you as a new customer each time you visit. Also members of loyalty programs get better service, experience fewer hassles, less paperwork and great freebies and perks. NY TImes

9. Fairway views...Golf course designers and professionals agree that the worst place to build a house is the right side of a hole about 150 to 200 yards from the tee. Directly behind or to the side of a green is risky too, even if the home is high above it. NY Times

10. Ganga Ma is everything to Hindus and an important part of reaching nirvana. But the prayer rituals carried out at the water’s edge many not last forever—or for that matter—even another generation, according to scientists and meteorologists. The Himalayan source of Hinduism’s holiest river, they say, is drying up. The Gangotri glacier, which provides up to 70 percent of the water of the Ganges during the dry summer months is shrinking at a rate of 40 yards a year, nearly twice as fast as two decades ago, scientists say.

Environmental groups, such as the Sankat Mochan Foundation, which have long focused on the pollution of the Ganges, are redirecting their energies toward the melting glaciers. The Foundation and other environmental groups want to see the Indian government enforce strict reductions of greenhouse gas emissions, the primary cause of climate change. Scientists predict that the Himalayan glaciers that are the sources of the Ganges could disappear by 2030 as temperatures rise. Washington Post

Extra Reading... TravelPost.com’s top 5 trips to take before you have kids: Running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain; March to New York City for St. Patrick’s Day: Let loose in Amsterdam; Trek Thailand’s Golden Triangle; Visit the Exit Row one last time...EU regulators blocked a hostile takeover bid by Ryanair for Aer Lingus saying it would limit consumer choice and boost ticket prices. The $1.9 billion takeover already appeared doomed after nearly half of Aer Lingus’ shareholders vowed to block it... Cruisers on the three largest cruise lines last year spent $4.4 billion for extras such as spa treatments and upscale wines. On deck: Botox treatments and cashless slots.

Rich’s Weekend Reader is published by AndTyler222 Communications. All rights reserved. Information from various sources and mostly rewritten. andtyler222@verizon.net