Responsible Tourism Awards 2008

I recently received a message from Alex Lyons at Responsible Tourism announcing that nominations are now being accepted for the 2008 Responsible Tourism Awards. It is pretty rare that direct messages like these actually make it through to the blog, but in this case, I really like the subject matter and I am passionate about the idea. In their own words: The idea behind the Awards is that all types of tourism – from niche to mainstream – can and should be operated in a way that respects and benefits destinations and local people. The Awards recognise individuals, companies and organisations... Read more »

Travel is doing a lot for sustainability

The main topic at this year’s Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Dubai was sustainability and what the travel industry is doing to promote it.  I was really quite surprised at the amount of discussion around how “we” collectively can make a difference and do things on a corporate level to reduce our impact on the environment and make travel more sustainable.  The cost of fuel was of particular interest especially with the large airlines that attended the summit.  What many seem to forget is that the travel industry actually only accounts for about 2% of the global carbon... Read more »

Android + Travel = Location Based Services

Mobile applications are not really my passion, but I have to say that after playing with my wife’s iTouch and viewing the latest videos about Google Android, I am truly excited about what the mobile web has to offer. I had a discussion with my colleague Phil Caines just today about AirG, a Vancouver based company that has developed a mobile social networking platform. It is very cool but I wondered how sustainable the model is given that mobile technologies will eventually support regular web applications. Phil’s argument was that our mobile market (North America, Japan, and Europe)... Read more »

Airlines are Looking for the Value Adds

Kevin May, over at the Travolution Blog, recently wrote that Ryanair has developed a user generated listing service which allows property owners to upload their own properties to the site. This allows Ryanair to sell unique accommodations along with the air fare. The article goes on to state that Ryanair already has a deal with Isango.com and Easyjet has a similar deal with competitor with Viator. Another great reason for suppliers to get their unique destination products into a system like, oh I don’t know, Rezgo maybe? Hey Westjet or AirCanada, are you interested in adding destination... Read more »

Small Travel Agencies have advantage in Social Media

It’s not very often that small travel agencies have any kind of advantage over their much larger and better funded counterparts, but when it comes to Social Media they have a distinct advantage.  Small agencies whether they have one employee or many tend to be better prepared to handle personal requests and offer one on one service.  Large agencies, especially OTAs, are generally more focused on volume and, although many have excellent customer service, their smaller margins and focus on the bottom line mean that personal interaction in social media needs to have a clear and measurable... Read more »