World Travel News

While the world was preoccupied last week with the London bombings, a group of vocal non-governmental organisations in India last week warned that they do not intend to lose sight of a parallel form of terrorism taking place in the Asia-Pacific region.

Although the NGOs were focussed on Indian issues, they warned that forests, heritage, wildlife and tribal lands are being terrorised regionwide by an “unholy trinity” of politicians, bureaucrats and investors in the name of economic and tourism development.

Convening under the aegis of the Bangalore-based NGO Equations, the grouping of environmentalists, academics, social workers and other activists said that deregulation and privatisation of Indian tourism would extract a huge price on what’s left of the country’s forest cover, water and other natural resources.
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London won a surprise victory on Wednesday to host the 2012 Olympic Games, sending the worldwide sporting event to the British capital for the first time since 1948 and holding the potential for billions of pounds in construction spending.

London’s victory over favored rival Paris, by a 54-50 margin, elicited cheers from Trafalgar Square to the City of London financial center.

It may result in some 10 billion pounds ($17.5 billion) being poured into the U.K. construction sector. The news sent U.K.-based tourism, home-building and construction stocks higher.

Gainers in London included British construction group Hanson PLC (HNSHNS)(HAN), which rose 1.6%, caterer Compass Group PLC (CPGCPG), which gained 2.4% and hotels company Hilton Group (HGHG), which rose 1.4%.
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London offers 2012 travel package

London’s Olympic bid team has offered athletes and team officials a package including free flights to the Games if the city wins hosting rights for 2012.

Promises also include £53 each in telephone calls, free train travel and free accommodation for family members.

On Sunday, London’s team revealed a number of incentives for members of international sporting bodies.

The announcements are aimed at boosting London’s case against Paris, New York, Madrid and Moscow for the vote in July.

London’s bid leader Lord Coe made the pledges, which would be likely to cost the organising committee about £15m, at the Sport Accord conference in Berlin.

It is the last major gathering before the International Olympic Committee’s session in Singapore, where members will choose the host city for 2012.

And all five rivals, who presented their plans to delegates on Sunday, are lobbying hard.

More: news.bbc.co.uk

Camilla to travel world, not Elizabeth

In the ultimate triumph of the royal mistress, Britain’s future Queen Camilla will travel the world instead of her ageing mother-in-law, the current monarch, it’s been announced.

News that Queen Elizabeth II, who will be 80 next April, is to scale down her overseas visits and symbolically hand over the royal reins to Camilla and Charles has sparked off furious speculation that the brand new Princess of Wales is already being groomed to be queen.

The speculation, tom-tommed by the British tabloid press, comes barely three days after Charles married his long-time, live-in love of 34 years in a civil ceremony that broke with centuries of royal tradition.

Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Global Travel & Tourism Poised for Continued Growth in 2005

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) released its 2005 Travel & Tourism forecasts for 174 countries and the world and an assessment of the impact of the Indian Ocean Tsunami on the industry today at the 5th Global Travel & Tourism Summit in New Delhi, India.

Releasing forecasts prepared on its behalf by Oxford Economic Forecasting, which follow the United Nations standard for Tourism Satellite Accounting, the WTTC reported that the record robust recovery started in 2004 should continue through 2005 at a healthy rate. WTTC also reported that the December 2004 tsunami, which struck some tourism destinations around the Indian Ocean, had a significant, but limited overall impact on the tourism economies.

Worldwide for 2005, WTTC is forecasting:

Demand: Encompassing all components of Travel & Tourism consumption, investment, government spending and exports is expected to grow 5.4% (real terms) and total $6.2 trillion in 2005. The ten-year annualized growth (2006-2015) forecast is 4.6% per annum illustrating the outlook for strong long-term growth.
Visitor Exports: The continued strength of the Pound and Euro against the US dollar, is expected to push Visitor Exports to nearly $820 billion in 2005 or real growth of 7.3%.
GDP: Travel & Tourism’s contribution to the world economy is illustrated by the direct industry impact of 3.8% of total GDP and the combined direct and indirect impact of the Travel & Tourism economy expected to total 10.6% in 2005.
Employment: The global Travel & Tourism industry is expected to produce 2.1 million new jobs in 2005 over it’s 2004 level to total 74.2 million jobs or 2.8% of total world employment. The broader perspective of the Travel & Tourism economy (direct and indirect) is expected to create more than 6.5 million new jobs for the world economy for a total of 221.6 million jobs dependent on Travel & Tourism or 8.3% of total employment.

WTTC President, Jean-Claude Baumgarten said, “We turned the corner in 2004 and it’s full steam ahead for Travel & Tourism in many countries and regions around the world. Much of the pent up demand from three previous years of terrorism, war and health concerns has been released in a record level of Travel & Tourism demand. Consumers and business travelers have voted their confidence in the economy by returning to holidays and business trips in massive numbers. We’ve haven’t seen such a rebound in Travel & Tourism growth for quite some time, it’s really quite exciting. For 2005 we expect the rebound to continue at a sustainable pace.”

Speaking about the impact of the tsunami on the industry, Mr. Baumgarten continued, “The tsunami was perhaps the most tragic humanitarian crisis of our lifetime. Fortunately we have seen a massive response from governments and industry to this tragedy. Although a number of Travel & Tourism destinations and businesses suffered significant loss, steps are well underway to restore these destinations and bring back the visitors. The key is to inform and educate potential visitors about what is open and available for business. The sooner visitors return to affected areas, the sooner these economies will recover. Each and everyone of us can do our part to rebuild and restore these economies by returning to our regular Travel & Tourism routines.”

More: hospitalitynet.org