‘Palin Effect’: Next Stop, Eastern Europe

Travel Blog  •  Julia Ross  •  09.18.07 | 2:42 PM ET

imageLikeable travel host Michael Palin launched a new series on BBC over the weekend, and UK tour operators are bracing for the fallout. It seems Palin’s “New Europe” series—in which he explores the length of Eastern Europe, from Estonia to Albania—could trigger something tour companies have dubbed the “Palin Effect”: a spike in bookings to any country the Monty Python alumnus highlights. “Previous Michael Palin series including Himalaya and Sahara resulted in a surge of interest in countries such as Bangladesh that were previously not really on the tourist map,” one tour operator told the Telegraph. “We were surprised by the effect it had.” Let’s hope Palin’s fans leave a lighter footprint than the stag party weekenders lately buffeting cities like Riga and Prague.

Related on World Hum:
* British Secondary Schools Add Michael Palin’s ‘Himalaya’ to Required Reading List
* Prague Latest Magnet for Misbehaving Brits

Related on TravelChannel.com:
* Destinations: Prague

Tags: Europe, England

Julia Ross is a Washington, DC-based writer and frequent contributor to World Hum. She has lived in China and Taiwan, where she was a Fulbright scholar and Mandarin student. Her writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Time, Christian Science Monitor, Plenty and other publications. Her essay, Six Degrees of Vietnam, was shortlisted for "The Best American Travel Writing 2009."


1 Comment for ‘Palin Effect’: Next Stop, Eastern Europe

TSR 09.20.07 | 3:22 PM ET

I think its great Michael Palin is highlighting countries like Bangladesh (where I was born).  Estonia is also an interesting country.  I just ran into a website about Estonia the other day - it is a Documentary about Estonia’s Singing Revolution:
http://singingrevolution.com

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