7 Days, 7 Travel Stories

1. GeoTourism
The term is so new that few tourists use it. But it's on the lips of travel professionals who describe it as a step beyond the better-known and environmentally friendly ecotourism. The term? Geotourism. Consider...traveling to a seaside New England clam shack for fried clams. Listening to jazz in New Orleans. Visiting a small organic coffee farm in Guatemala. These trips would all make for very different summer vacations, but they have something in common: They could all be considered "geotourism," which focuses on a destination's unique culture and history and aims to have visitors help enrich those qualities rather than turn the place into a typical tourist trap.

While geotourism encourages treading lightly on nature, it's also about authenticity and making a place better by visiting and spending money. In May, Rhode Island became the latest region to sign the Geotourism Charter by the National Geographic Society, joining Arizona, Guatemala, Honduras, Norway and Romania in a commitment to the ideals of geotourism. The state will form a "Geotourism Collaborative" to come up with ways to preserve its unique assets, whether it be Narragansett Bay at the heart of Rhode Island or its Colonial-era architecture in Newport and Providence.

Jonathan B. Tourtellot, the National Geographic Society's first director of sustainable destinations is said to have coined the term in a 2002 study. "The enemy of geotourism is sameness," he says.

Learn more:

National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations: www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/

Counterpart International: www.counterpart.org

Tourism Center at Michigan State: www.tourismcenter.msu.edu

United Nations' World Tourism Organization: www.world-tourism.org

2. Over There

In the United States only about 40 percent of companies have any type of travel risk management program in place to help employees deal with medical emergencies, kidnapping and extortion threats or any of the other myriad problems that can occur when traveling abroad. There are many insurance options. International SOS offers a 10-day program for $80 that includes access to its 28 global alarm centers and medical assistance and evacuation. Short-term insurance coverage is available for $29. An annual membership costs $350. HTH Worldwide estimates that its coverage, which includes medical evacuation and cashless access to its worldwide network of 4,000 English-speaking doctors and 750 hospitals, would cost about $4 to $6 a day.

To mitigate risk whether you have insurance or not, make copies of all important documents, like a passport, credit cards, driver's license and medical information and leaving a copy with a colleague or family member. Consider scanning and e-mailing these documents to yourself. Before going abroad find out if your medical policy covers sickness and injuries overseas. Even if policies do promise reimbursement, you might still have to pay any costs up front for medical care. Most insurance policies do not cover medical evacuation, which can easily run into the six figures. International Herald Tribune

3. Tops List

Midwest Airlines was named best domestic airline in Travel + Leisure magazine's annual readers' survey for the 8th time in 12 years. JetBlue came in No. 2 followed by Hawaiian Airlines, USA 3000 Airlines, Aloha Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Horizon Air. Travel + Leisure readers named Florence, Italy, the world's best city, followed by Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Rome, Sydney, New York, Udaipur in India, Istanbul, San Francisco, and Cape Town, South Africa. Udaipur is home to spectacular palaces, gardens and temples. The city also has luxury hotels like the Oberoi Udaivilas and the Lake Palace.

Top 10 large-ship cruise lines in the readers' survey were Crystal, Regent Seven Seas, Oceania, Disney, Cunard, Celebrity, Holland America, Orient, Princess and Royal Caribbean. The survey of nearly 19,000 readers also named Bali the world's best island, Hertz the world's best car-rental agency, and The Peninsula in Bangkok as the world's best hotel for under $250. http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest. AP

4. On The Go

The Japan Travel Bureau says bookings from Japan to Hawaii are up 3.9 percent for the summer vacation period July 15-Aug. 31. More than 213,000 Japanese are planning a trip to Hawaii, some 8,000 more than traveled there during summer 2006. Overall outbound Japanese travel to all destinations worldwide ran to 1.3 million visitors in May, down almost 6 percent from the same month last year. The Japanese National Tourist Organization said travel to Hawaii in May was 10 percent from May 2006 but travel to China was up 11 percent. Travel was down 9 percent to Canada, down 9 percent to Guam, and down 6 percent to the U.S. Mainland. Japanese travel was up 24 percent to Macau and up 27 percent to Bali while down 3 percent to Korea and down fractionally to Taiwan. PacificBusiness

5. Small Things

The first Yotel opened at Gatwick Airport in London. For the clueless, a Yotel is a low-cost Japanese-style capsule hotel. Yotel offers two types of cabins that a guest can reserve for a few hours. The standard cabin, at $50 for four hours, features 75 square feet and amenities for two to sleep, store small bags, Wi-Fi, flat screen TV, radio and 24-hour room service for light meals and drinks. The premium cabin, priced at about $80 for four hours, includes an extra 30 square feet. NY Times

6. Spaniks

Luxury hotel chains like Park Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton and Mandarin Oriental are installing sleek, spa-themed rooms. Among the pampering features: steam showers, saunas, color-therapy tubs, massage tables and workout equipment. NY Times

7. Airseats
Some of the least packed planes to popular European destinations are flown by airlines you might not think of. For example, the LA-Frankfurt route is covered by both Lufthansa with 90 percent of its seats filled, and Air India, with only half its seats filled. Enter a new web site dedicated to international travel and finding those counterintuitive route combinations: www.vayama.com.

One for the road: Outlet shopping, which emerged in the US in the late 1970s, is now all the rage in Europe. At the end of 2006, there were 66 outlet centers in 14 European countries and new ones are being built at a furious pace, especially in emerging markets like Eastern Europe. Catch a glimpse of one at www.chicoutletshopping.com.

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