In The News

WTD 2009 – Experts Discuss Role of Tourism in Globalization

Victor Nze October 6, 2009
Many believe globalization undermines cultural diversity through its tendency to homogenize. But this year's World Tourism Day (WTD) celebration included a debate over strategies to partner globalization with diversity through tourism. After all, the panel concluded, diversity can be an economic asset, as different communities serve as resources of “social wealth” that attract increasingly...

Swine Flu Fears Hit Saudi Religious Tourism

September 30, 2009
Mecca, the birthplace of the prophet Mohammed and city to which many Muslims make a pilgrimage as a tenet of Islam, is gripped with fear about the swine flu. Hotel occupancy rates have fallen 33 to 55 percent compared to last year. And the prime period of Hajj, when the majority of pilgrims convene in Mecca, is still two months away. While Saudi Arabia generally doesn’t attract as many tourists...

Overseas, Under The Knife

Arnold Milstein, Mark D. Smith, Jerome P. Kassirer June 16, 2009
Relaxing on the beach isn’t the only reason to go abroad these days. Increasingly, Americans are traveling to foreign countries for “medical tourism” – electing to receive hospital treatment in a foreign country. The majority of medical tourists seek lower-cost medical procedures due to poor or no insurance coverage in their home country. But the deep discounts on medical care in foreign...

Guadeloupe Riots Turn Paradise Into War Zone

Lizzy Davies February 20, 2009
Some economic patterns are troublesome: A stunning locale captivates visitors, a tourism industry emerges, land prices skyrocket as foreign investors compete, until local residents can no longer afford to live in their own community. On the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, more than 70 percent of people live in government housing, a global economic downturn has diminished tourism, and a...

Regional Fallout from Thai Turmoil

Bertil Lintner January 15, 2009
Bitter political division in Thailand against the backdrop of the failing health of the constitutional monarch and the resultant instability has been affecting trade and tourism for neighboring nations that rely on the country as a regional hub, explains journalist and author Bertil Lintner. After years of irregularities and a military coup in 2006, the former ruling People’s Power Party was...

Asia's Tourism: Boon and Bane

Patricia Kowsmann December 10, 2008
The global crisis, precipitated from the US financial market's losses, affects real economies in Southeast Asia: As travelers feel the squeeze, countries lower prospects for their once-lucrative tourism industries. Across the region, including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, authorities revise estimates for 2008 and no longer forecast a large annual gain in the tourism...

Don't Go There

Elizabeth Becker September 3, 2008
In an increasingly crowded world, travelers find it more difficult to find remote and natural settings. “Thanks to globalization and cheap transportation, there aren't many places where you can travel today to avoid the masses of adventure or relaxation-seekers who seem to alight at every conceivable site,” writes Elizabeth Becker for the Washington Post. The industrial nature of modern...