7 Days; 7 Travel Stories

1. World Tourism Day

While you were sleeping, destinations around the globe celebrated World Tourism Day on Thursday, September 27. The day is organized by The UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). http://www.unwto.org/wtd/index.php.

According to the UNWTO, global tourism set a new record in 2006, with 842 million arrivals worldwide and global tourism-related spending reaching $735 billion. The United States leads the world in global tourism receipts and is ranked third among world destinations in terms of visitation. The United States’ share of world arrivals has been steady for the last three years (6.1%) and is on pace to set a new record for international arrivals and spending in 2007. The US welcomed almost 51 million international visitors who spent a record $108 billion on travel and tourism-related goods and services, positioning international travel as one of the country’s largest service exports. ETN

2. The Day the Travel Industry Stood Still

Mark your calendars. On June 1 the industry association (IATA) that handles ticketing for most major airlines will stop issuing paper tickets. Some small regional and foreign airlines will continue issuing paper tickets, but they’ll be few and far between. Paper tickets cost airlines $10 to $17 on average, compared to $1 for electronic tickets. Paper tickets have fallen to less than 14 percent of the 400 million tickets IATA processes each year. AP

3. Virtual Tourings

Welcome to virtual vacations at Second Life. There is no need for money, no plane tickets, no suitcases, not even another language to learn. All it takes is choosing an avatar, or virtual persona, downloading a free program, a few mouse clicks, and a little help from a veteran Second Life "resident" like Tim Allen. Allen created the dragon in 2003 as a way to give tours to "newbies," as newcomers to Second Life are known.

According to Catherine Smith, director of marketing at Linden Lab, makers of San Francisco-based Second Life, it makes sense that virtual tours would become popular in this world with an average population between 40,000 and 50,000 at any given point in a day. For Smith, the fact that 70 percent of the audience in Second Life is from other countries makes it a good way to explore new places and learn about different cultures from all over the world. It also provides an opportunity for those who can't travel to experience what a trip to a certain place would be like using an engrossing three-dimensional platform. Mercury News

4. Travel Insurance Buying Tips

The following tips from the St. Petersburg Times can help you determine what kind of travel coverage is right for you.

1. Familiarize yourself with what's out there. Travel insurance can include trip cancellation, trip interruption, accidental death or dismemberment, medical and dental care, transportation to medical facilities, loss of luggage or personal possessions, and protection against the bankruptcy or default of your cruise line or tour operator.

2. Determine whether you're already covered. Many homeowners' and renters' policies provide coverage for theft and other losses away from home. Your medical and auto insurance may be valid in other countries. And airlines must reimburse you if they lose your bags.

3. Remember your credit cards and auto club membership. Check to see what travel protection you have from your credit cards. The American Express Platinum Card gives generous accidental death and dismemberment coverage, and insurance for car rental loss and damage.

4. Buy through a third-party insurer. Travel agents, tour operators and cruise lines sell travel insurance, but your safest bet is to obtain coverage through an established insurance company. You can compare rates at InsureMyTrip.com (www.insuremytrip.com.

5. Ask the right questions. Ask insurers: What disasters are covered? What restrictions apply? How does the reimbursement get determined?

6. Know the drill with trip-cancellation coverage. In the case of natural disasters and other dramatic events beyond a travel provider's control, you're likely to get a refund if your trip gets canceled.

7. Avoid flight insurance sold in vending machines. Have you ever spotted such offers in airports? They're situated there to play on people's fear of flying, but remember: The least expensive way to insure your life is through a term life insurance policy. And your credit card may provide such coverage.

8. Understand cancellation waivers. Many cruise and tour operators offer these waivers for about $40 to $60 in case you have to cancel your trip. The waivers provide some protection, but they often have many restrictions and are not regulated by the state Office of Insurance Regulation.

9. Consider extra coverage. If you must travel with expensive electronic equipment, sporting gear or jewelry, you could consider a floater for your existing homeowners' or renters' policy.

10. Recognize the value of emergency medical assistance coverage. This would cover you if you must be airlifted off a mountain, receive prolonged treatment in a foreign hospital or be flown home because of serious sickness or injury. Before you buy, find out whether your health insurer would cover you overseas and pay for your flight home if an emergency strikes. If you have Medicare, this coverage could be valuable because you're probably not covered outside the United States.

5. Earth Hour

Planning to be in San Francisco on October 20? At precisely 8 pm and for the next 60 minutes the people of this city will turn off all unnecessary lights as a way to reduce carbon emissions and preserve natural resources. The “lights out” movement started in Sydney as a symbolic gesture to cut energy use and help reverse global warming. LA Times

6. Just Desserts

The Fortress Resort in the coastal city of Galle in Sri Lankan resort is charging $14,500 for what it calls the world's most expensive dessert, a fruit infused confection complete with a chocolate sculpture and a gigantic gemstone. “The Fortress Stilt Fisherman Indulgence” dessert is a gold leaf Italian cassata flavored with Irish cream, served with a mango and pomegranate compote and a champagne sabayon enlighten. The dessert is decorated with a chocolate carving of a fisherman clinging to a stilt, an age old local fishing practice, and an 80 carat aquamarine stone. The dessert has to be specially ordered, and, to date, no one has yet forked over the money to try it. ABC News

7. Think Small?

Over the last decade the prevailing mood in tourism has been to think small—like boutique hotels, cozy bed-and-breakfasts, and family-run restaurants. But there is growing evidence that the "big is best" model - typified by the skylines of Cancun, Benidorm and Las Vegas - is fast making a comeback. The spark for much of this about-turn is the success of Dubai, the Middle Eastern city that has risen rapidly out of the deserts of the eastern Arabian peninsula and which, in just over a decade, has become one of the world's highest-profile tourist destinations. From a standing start in the early 1990s, Dubai now attracts 6 million visitors a year.

Meanwhile, Cambodia's reputation as a less-developed, more pristine alternative to the well-trodden backpacker tracks that traverse Thailand and Vietnam could be short lived. The county's largely untouched south coast is the focus of a major government-backed project to develop high-end tourism. 61 offshore islands are now available to international investors to develop into a beach paradise.

Often called China’s Hawaii, Hainan Island, which lies off the country’s southern coast is starting to look more and more like the US Hawaii. The main resort's hub, Sanya, now features 18 golf courses with 10 more planned), a thick swathe of beach front and high-rise hotels including international hotel chains such as Sheraton, Crowne Plaza and Marriott.

Planning a safari in Kenya? With more than 1 million visitors flying here this year for the first time ever, a long-term plan is in the works to build three resort cities - one in the safari heartland, the others at the coast. The first resort is planned for Isiolo, a backwater town 65km north of Mount Kenya. One location is situated at the gateway between the lush highlands and the desert scrub badlands that run toward Ethiopia. Resorts are also planned for Mombasa and a second coastal city, possibly Malindi to the north, in the next 10 to 15 years.

Earlier this month, Muammar Qadaffi's 35-year-old son, Saif al-Islam, announced to a slightly perplexed gathering of the world's press that a 3,200km2 area of land between Benghazi and Tobruk in Libya’s north will be the location for a $3 billion Green Mountain Sustainable Development Area. The plan is to incorporate a national park, eco-friendly hotels and even organic farms. It aims to create more than 70,000 jobs and comes with the endorsement of some high-profile names including Sir Norman Foster, Sir Nicholas Stern and the Prince of Wales ... well, the Prince's School of Traditional Arts is involved.

To reach its goal of 10 million holidaymakers by 2010, the government of Morocco estimated that 160,000 new tourist beds would be needed. The result was Plan Azur - a blueprint for six coastal resorts to be built by the end of the decade - five on the Atlantic, one on the Mediterranean.

If Dubai can build ski runs in the scorching heat of its desert, then why can't a beach be recreated up a snow-crested mountain? That is the view of Samih Sawiris, the billionaire owner of the Egypt-based Orascom hotel group, who has announced that he is to fund a huge new resort at Andermatt in Switzerland, complete with swimming pool and artificial sandy beach. Construction starts next year on land formerly owned by the Swiss army and will also incorporate the ubiquitous 18-hole golf course (though few can have been built at such high altitude) and tropical spa complex. Five new hotels will offer at least 800 rooms and help create 2,000 new jobs in a town that has a population of 1,600 and has suffered an economic depression since the Swiss army vacated its training center near the town following the end of the cold war.

The beach will not be the only odd sight in the Alps. The $140 million Matterhorn Glacier Paradise Project will see a 117m steel and glass pyramid built on top of the Klein Matterhorn, taking it to a height of 4,000m - which tourism leaders hope will "make the mountain more attractive to visitors. Taipei Times

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