Tag: Tourism
Sewage! Smokestacks! Corroded Shipping Containers! It’s the Urban Ocean Boat Cruise.
by Michael Yessis | 03.23.10 | 1:33 PM ET
This ain’t whale watching. From the Los Angeles Times:
The aim of the Urban Ocean Boat Cruise—run by the Aquarium of the Pacific and Harbor Breeze Cruises—is to ply Southern California’s most compromised waters to show the environmental effects of trade, fishing, industry and other human activities.
The tour balances lessons on tainted seawater and polluted air with an appreciation of the port as a bustling commercial hub that remains home to sometimes surprising amounts of marine life. Or as tour guide Dominique Richardson puts it: “The multiple and conflicting uses of our urban ocean.”
Aquarium president Jerry Schubel, who came up with the idea after taking an architecture cruise last year in Chicago, said he asked himself: “What is it about Long Beach and Los Angeles that’s distinctive? And I realized that Southern California is one of the most heavily used areas of coast in the nation.”
Good story. Great idea.
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Yahoo! BuzzSeeking the Holy Grail? Try Valencia.
by Spud Hilton | 03.17.10 | 1:35 PM ET
iStockPhoto Breaking news: Spud Hilton has unlocked one of the world's greatest secrets
76-Second Travel Show: A Short History of Spring Break
by Robert Reid | 03.09.10 | 11:23 AM ET
Robert Reid looks back at the origins of the annual pilgrimage, and offers tips for meeting people on the road
Video: Lars Von Trier to Direct Denmark’s New Tourism Ads
by Eva Holland | 03.04.10 | 2:38 PM ET
The Onion has an exclusive first look:
(Via Kottke)
Why Tourism is Not a Four-Letter Word
by Eric Weiner | 03.01.10 | 12:47 PM ET
iStockPhoto On travel snobbery -- and why paying 30 bucks to get pummeled by a guy named Mustafa isn't such a bad thing
Machu Picchu to Reopen April 1
by Eva Holland | 02.18.10 | 1:29 PM ET
The Peruvian Times is reporting that the iconic site will once again be open to tourists April 1—the first time since last month’s devastating floods. The story also hints at a new approach for Peruvian tourism going forward. Said the president of the Cusco region: “This disaster should give us an opportunity to redesign the tourism activity, we can’t focus everything on Machu Picchu.” (Via @laurably)
Must I Get ‘Off the Beaten Path’ When I Travel?
by Rolf Potts | 02.01.10 | 11:15 AM ET
Vagabonding traveler Rolf Potts answers your questions about travel and the world
Give Me a Guide who Offers Flavor, Not Facts
by Spud Hilton | 01.29.10 | 10:46 AM ET
On the times when a little "flexibility" with dates and definitions can be a good thing
Iowa’s New Tourism Campaign: ‘Arrest a Traveler’
by Eva Holland | 11.12.09 | 9:47 AM ET
Promotional campaigns just keep getting weirder. The latest: A small town in Iowa that had its sheriffs “arrest” a pair of motorists with out-of-state plates and offer them a free night’s stay. Predictably, accusations of abuse of police power have been flying—though not from the “arrested” couple, who noted that the town is “darling.” Mission accomplished? (Via @BudTravel)
Looking East: 20 Years After the Fall of the Berlin Wall
by Rick Steves | 11.11.09 | 5:08 PM ET
On the delights of the former Eastern Bloc
Travel Writer as Curator
by Rick Steves | 11.03.09 | 9:51 AM ET
On the state of newspapers and the role of tour guides and guidebook writers
Escape From Thamel
by Eric Weiner | 11.02.09 | 10:19 AM ET
On hawkers, banana pancakes and tourist ghettos from Kathmandu to Bangkok
More Fun With Bad Tourism Slogans
by Eva Holland | 10.16.09 | 10:12 AM ET
There’s never any shortage of laughs to be had at the expense of bad tourism slogans, is there? This Just In has been collecting readers’ suggestions for the very worst, and they’ve got some great ones. My favorite? The reader who submitted Santa Fe’s slogan, “The City Different,” and wrote: “‘The City Different’ is the slogan lousy.”
A Beach Holiday in The Gambia?
by Eva Holland | 10.13.09 | 10:49 AM ET
I’ve always admired the Brits for their more adventurous winter sun-seeking. Every winter, it seems they’re as likely to be found lounging in Kenya or the Seychelles as in the usual Caribbean hot spots—and, once again, the U.K. travel media is going way beyond Cancun with this Times Online profile of a little-known (to North Americans, anyway) West African beach destination. Writer Alex Spence notes: “There are only six sets of traffic lights and a couple of ATMs in the entire country.” Take that, Puerto Plata.
This Week in Tourism Slogan Mishaps
by Eva Holland | 10.02.09 | 12:45 PM ET
It’s been a rough week for a couple of local U.S. tourism boards. First up, the Wisconsin Tourism Federation changed its name—to the Tourism Federation of Wisconsin—after catching on that the federation’s acronym, WTF, means something different when the kids say it. And then Reno’s mayor vetoed a proposed slogan that, as far as I can tell, doesn’t mean anything at all. The short-lived idea? “A Little West of Center”—which, said Mayor Bob Cashell, “doesn’t do a thing for me.”
Indeed. As the kids might say: WTF?
Dan Brown Tourism Hits D.C.
by Eva Holland | 09.30.09 | 12:06 PM ET
That was quick. Two weeks after the release of his latest, “The Lost Symbol,” and the Dan Brown-themed travel stories about the city where it’s set—Washington, D.C.—are already piling up.
Alaska and the Cruise Industry Go to Court
by Eva Holland | 09.29.09 | 2:12 PM ET
With several major cruise lines headed into the courtroom to challenge Alaska’s $50-per-cruise-passenger “head tax,” Rob Lovitt takes a broader look at the uneasy relationship between the cruise industry and the state. Here’s his take on a return visit to Skagway after a 20-year absence:
I was gobsmacked by the changes. Instead of one ship, there were three, each of which probably carried 2,000-2,500 passengers. With 6,000-plus cruisers unloading simultaneously, Broadway was more or less impassable, and while the Sweet Tooth and Red Onion were still there, they were joined by the likes of Del Sol, Tanzanite International and other absurdly out-of-place outposts of Caribbean kitsch.
And it’s not just Skagway. A recent editorial in the Juneau Empire bemoaned the “yuck factor” created by the dozens of jewelry stores and trinket shops along the city’s main tourist drag. Written, surprisingly enough, by a local economic development booster, the piece didn’t single out the cruise industry, but it doesn’t take an advanced degree in tourism management to realize that cruise ships and curio shops go together like buffet lines and bulging waistlines.
It’s Been a Great Year for America’s Parks
by Eva Holland | 09.23.09 | 12:15 PM ET
The travel industry as a whole may have struggled through 2009, but the country’s national parks are on track for record attendance numbers this year. The AP offers some thoughts on what’s driving the increase.
Visit Denmark! Knock Somebody Up!
by Eva Holland | 09.16.09 | 5:03 PM ET
Forget about Australia’s “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign. There’s a new winner in the controversial tourism campaign sweepstakes, and it comes from, of all places, Denmark.
The Danish ad plays like a homemade webcam clip, featuring a young woman who claims to be looking for her baby’s father—a foreign tourist whose name she can’t remember. I’m not totally sure how it’s intended to entice visitors to the country—I don’t think accidental parenthood is on most folks’ dream itineraries—but, predictably, the spot was greeted with indignation and has been removed from VisitDenmark’s YouTube channel. The AP quotes a VisitDenmark representative as saying that it was meant to be “a nice and sweet story about a grown-up woman who lives in a free society and accepts the consequences of her actions.”
Of course, the ad didn’t get yanked before copies, parodies and responses started popping up. Here’s a re-posting of the original:
New Orleans: The Tourists are Back
by Eva Holland | 08.28.09 | 11:43 AM ET
With the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina being marked this weekend, and the re-building still ongoing, there’s some hopeful news for New Orleans: Tourism in the city is creeping steadily back towards pre-disaster levels. USA Today crunches the numbers.