7 Days, 7 Travel Stories

1. Lost In Space...The public space travel industry is going and growing. There is already more than $1.5 billion invested in new air transportation ventures and an estimated $1 billion in new commercial space ventures. Public space travel experts gathered recently at "Flight School 2007 — Flying: Beyond A to B," a workshop for commercial space and private aviation ventures. Among the issues discussed: harnessing the technology, dealing with regulations and finances, and satisfying customer needs and desires. Read more at http://www.space.com/ or www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19618732. MSNBC

2. A survey of AAA travel-agency managers in April identified these cities as "hot spots" for summer 2007. 1 Orlando. 2 Las Vegas. 3 Seattle. 4 New York. 5 Los Angeles.

3. Way down upon... Boaters on Florida’s Suwannee River are keeping a sharp eye for sturgeon who like to jump high out of the water before returning to the depths with a stunning splash. Every so often, however, the sturgeon miss the water and strike someone onboard a boat. Leaping sturgeon have injured three people this year. 8 were hit last year. And it can hurt too...A sturgeon, at 8 feet long with its armored girth, can weight more than 200 pounds. NY Times

4. The current membership fee for Exclusive Resorts, a destination club whose members vacation in luxurious, club-owned homes throughout the world: $425,000, along with $29,900 in annual dues. What you get in return—a 45 day stay at any of the club’s 345 private homes, usually with 3,000 to 4,000 square feet and three to four bedrooms plus lots of high-end amenities and concierge services. NY Times

5. Paris has joined Lyon, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Barcelona and London with a city bike system where people can rent bikes to move about the city. Called Velib, Paris’ program allows riders to pick up and drop off a three-speed bike at any one of various stations spread throughout the city. The first 30 minutes is free; after that the cost is 1 euro, or about $1.35 for the first half hour, 2 euros for the second half hour and 4 euros for each half hour after that. Copenhagen has a free bike system that requires only a small deposit that is returned when the bike is relocked. London uses a debit card. Proposals for similar programs are being considered in Chicago, Washington and NY. NY Times

6. As domestic sales slow, online travel sites are looking to Europe to grow. About 30 percent of domestic travel is booked online with room to grow to possibly 50 percent. In Europe, online travel represents only about 20 percent of sales and just 12 percent in Asia. American online travel agencies have become dominant in Europe in recent years by buying competitors or increasing the share of their own businesses. Most active are Priceline, Expedia and Travelocity.
Experts say Expedia has the been the most successful in building its foreign operations from the ground up, introducing 13 Expedia-branded sites in Europe that will generate about $5.6 billion in bookings. Travelocity’s biggest international push came in early 2005 with the acquisition of LastMinute.com for $1.1 billion. Priceline’s acquisitions include Active Hotels and Bookings BV, now http://www.booking.com/. Entry in markets such as China remain difficult because of significant infrastructure hurdles and credit card adoption lags.

7. The people of the Micronesians, whose islands spread from near the Philippines in the west to five hours from Hawaii in the east, require no charts or graphs to see that the rising ocean is a critical and constant presence in their lives. When the moon is full, the waves at high tide are several feet higher than ever, according to long-time island residents.

And to that end, many of the tropical islands across the Pacific, which depend heavily on tourism--often with a focus on scuba diving, snorkelling and sport fishing—are being threatened by climate and ocean changes. The same goes for the region’s living coral reefs. Among the many islands under threat, Kiribati, formerly the Gilbert Islands, has lost two small islands to the ocean and is facing the possibility that its 100,000 people will also have to find another homeland. Will there be anyone left to hear them fall? Visit http://www.visitmarshallislands.com/travel.htm. Toronto GlobeMail


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