Germany's Air Food One is a subscription service that lets anyone get airline meals delivered to their home once a week. Offered by online grocery retailer All You Need, members can choose between two options: classic or vegetarian. The service has teamed up with LSG Sky Chefs which provides airline food for Lufthansa to prepare a different meal each week that matches the business class menu on airplanes. The idea is that the healthy subscription meals can be ordered by busy professionals who would otherwise be ordering a takeaway. Additionally, the service lets LSG Sky Chefs get rid of the excess meals not needed by its flying customers avoiding waste and acting as an advertisement for its food quality.
Further information: https://www.allyouneed.com/airfoodone
Philippines-based airline Cebu Pacific created a sidewalk advertising campaign during monsoon season in Hong Kong promoting the country's sunnier climate. Created by ad agency Ogilvy Asia, the campaign used a water-repellent spray that was stencilled onto the sidewalks of Hong Kong in busy locations. When the weather was dry, the ads weren't visible. But when the rain fell, the streets became wet and the sprayed sections stayed dry, spelling out the tagline 'It's Sunny in the Philippines.' The ads also featured a QR code that offered information and discounts on flights to the Philippines when scanned with a smartphone.
Further information: http://vimeo.com/94505970
Tourism Australia is partnering with Austrade and an award-winning and renowned Director / Cinematographer Warwick Thornton to produce a short film promoting Australia's Indigenous tourism experiences to international visitors. Based on consumer research, the project aims to bring to life the range and depth of Australia's world-class Indigenous tourism experiences and dispel some of the misconceptions that they can only be found in hot, dry and remote areas. The film will be shown globally through different media channels and in high traffic areas such as Sydney Airport.
Further information: http://www.tourism.australia.com/news/news-10894.aspx
The Legendary Pacific Coast has launched a social media campaign with some of Australia's leading travel writers, passionate community advocates and the regional tourism industry. From October to December, a team of writers will visit major destinations along the route before posting across social media platforms and blog to promote the journey, people, places and experiences that make up the fabric, colour and personality of each of the 15 regions along the way.
Further information: http://pacificcoast.com.au/
Japanese start up SpaceMarket is aiming to be the Airbnb for events and corporate functions. It enables those with any kind of venue to list it on the site in order to let others rent it out for their own events. With a focus on luxury and unusual spaces, it currently provides more than 775 spaces for business to use for anything from meetings, training courses or creative getaways. These include an array of unique settings, such as unused sailing vessels, heliports, baseball grounds, old Japanese-style houses in an historic village and an uninhabited island.
Further information: https://spacemarket.jp/
Tourism and Events Queensland has unveiled a new events calendar which profiles a selection of major and regional events across Queensland's 13 diverse tourism destinations under the marketing banner 'It's Live! In Queensland.' The calendar features 126 sporting, arts, cultural and lifestyle events throughout the state from November 2014 through to October 2015. The integrated marketing campaign will include outdoor, TV, cinema, print, digital and social media activity.
Further information: www.queensland.com/events
The Victorian Government has launched a free public Wi-Fi pilot allowing visitors with a Wi-Fi-enabled mobile, tablet or laptop to use the free service which will be provided by internet company iiNet. Designed to help improve the tourism experience for visitors, the first locations where the network can be accessed are Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne, Sturt Street at Victoria Square in Ballarat, and the View Street Arts Precinct in Bendigo.
Further information: http://www.digital.vic.gov.au/
Tourism Victoria has launched the Victoria's Trails Strategy 2014-2024 and a new website allowing visitors to explore Victoria's off-road walking, cycling and mountain biking trails. The Great Trails Victoria website has been purpose-built with high-quality data and content including interactive mapping, GPS data files for download, highly detailed journey guides, suggested itineraries and inspirational images and trail descriptions.
Further information: http://www.greattrailsvictoria.com.au/
The Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand has developed the Safer Journey Guidelines for rental vehicle operators to help educate international visitors on driver safety. Working with representatives from the rental vehicle and campervan sector and the New Zealand Transport Agency, the voluntary guidelines reflect industry good practice for communicating with visiting drivers before and during their journey around New Zealand. The downloadable guidelines will be distributed to rental vehicle and campervan operators, travel wholesalers, visitor information centres, activities and attractions, international education providers and second-hand car dealers.
Further information: http://www.tianz.org.nz/
TripAdvisor has announced plans to extend its GreenLeaders program into Australia, joining the other markets of Canada, New Zealand, US, UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy and Spain.
Ecotourism Australia has partnered in the development of the programme which aims to help travellers around the world plan greener trips by highlighting accommodation providers that engage in environmentally-friendly practices.
For the first time, accommodation providers in Australia are able to apply for Tripadvisor GreenLeader Status, joining a thriving international market. Properties will be tiered between Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum awards, with each award shown prominently on the property's listing on TripAdvisor.
The programme is a voluntary scheme, with no cost to join for ECO Certified operators. Ecotourism Australia hopes that, once established, the GreenLeaders Programme will be expanded to incorporate tours and operator managed attractions.
The program was first launched in the US in April 2013 and has since awarded over 7,600 properties in 21 countries including Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, Best Western International and Accor Hotels.
Further information: http://green.tripadvisor.com.au/
One of the world's largest green travel companies, UK-based responsibletravel.com, has developed a two minute guide to watching the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis). The self-help guide highlights some of the key responsible tourism issues tourists and tour operators should consider when booking a trip to that part of the world as many trips bring tourists into contact with the indigenous and nomadic inhabitants of northern Finland, Sweden, Norway and Russia.
Further information: http://www.responsibletravel.com/holidays/northern-lights-watching
Westin Hotels & Resorts has announced a partnership with Lark Technologies, a leader in the technology and wellness space to create a new Sleep Sensor Wearable-Lending program. The wearable technology was developed to help users achieve optimal sleep through sleep pattern tracking and virtual coaching during their stay. Westin Hotels & Resorts has been a leader in wellness and hospitality for more than a decade with 200 hotels and resorts in nearly 40 countries and territories.
Further information: http://westinwellbeing.starwoodpromos.com/eat-well/overview/
In Japan, a hotel is hoping to make cyclists feel more welcome with accommodation designed especially for bike-riding tourists. Hotel Cycle is located on the shoreline of Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture and takes advantage of the hills and beautiful scenery of the city which is popular with cyclists. The space was designed by Suppose Design Office, who renovated a seafront warehouse to create accommodation that caters for the special needs of bike owners. Each room comes with a wall rack so bikes can be safely and securely stored when not in use.
Further information: http://www.onomichi-u2.com/en/hotel_cycle.html
The UNWTO Global Report on Adventure Tourism provides insight on the relationship between adventure tourism and responsible tourism. This joint publication with the Adventure Travel Trade Association provides an overview and history of adventure tourism as well as a discussion of current trends and timely issues
Further information: http://affiliatemembers.unwto.org/publication/global-report-adventure-tourism
TripAdvisor has announced the results of its second annual Air Travel Survey. The survey of 4,800 Australian respondents saw the top five qualms with air travel in 2014 were uncomfortable seats or legroom, loud or crying children, costly airline fees, long security lines and flight cancellations. The top five improvements were better in-flight entertainment, streamlined checking-in process, more affordable flights and a more streamlined booking process.
Further information: http://www.tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-i289-c1-Press_Releases.html
Tourism Research Australia has published The State of the Industry 2014 report which shows an increase across both domestic and international sectors to a record $101.6 billion. This annual report provides a valuable assessment of how Australia's tourism industry is tracking in 2013-14 as well as identifying longer-term issues likely to affect its future performance.
Further information: http://tra.gov.au/documents/State-of-the-industry/TRA_State_of_the_Industry_2014_FINAL.pdf
The winners of the 11th Responsible Tourism Awards were announced recently at World Travel Market London. The awards were founded in 2004 and have become the global benchmark for responsible tourism leadership. They are based on a simple principle that all types of tourism from niche to mainstream can and should be organised in a way that preserves, respects and benefits destinations and local people. Candidates are nominated by the public with a rigorous judging process ensuring winners are deserving of their honours.
Further information: http://www.responsibletravel.com/awards/
The Sport Tourism Conference in Coimbra, Portugal from 10 - 12 December 2014. The conference brings together researchers, professors, students and professionals to discuss the challenges that globalisation has brought to Sport Tourism.
Further information: http://www.esec.pt/pagina/stc2014/index.php?id=2
Delegates from more than 20 nations attended the Global Eco Forum held as a parallel event to the World Parks Congress in Sydney on 12 November.
Developing the theme Tourism in Protected Areas, delegates were treated to global examples of best practice across planning, development, investment, tools and technology and partnerships.
Ecotourism Australia had strong partnership support with the International Centre on Space Technology for Natural and Cultural Heritage under the auspices of UNESCO, The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Tourism Australia and University of Queensland.
Presentations from the Forum are available at: http://www.globaleco.com.au/conference-proceedings-2014.php
Global Eco is headed to Rottnest Island in Western Australia in November 2015.
Further information: http://www.globaleco.com.au/
The world's largest leading travel trade show Internationale Tourismus Börse (ITB) will take place in Berlin, Germany from 4 - 8 March 2015. This five-day event brings together prominent people from the tourism industry to network, negotiate and do business.
Further information: http://www.itb-berlin.de/en/
Uganda's 10 national parks which contain a variety of habitats, ranging from snow –capped mountain peaks, vast papyrus swamps, tropical forest and open savanna plains, which receive thousands of tourists annually, have embraced sustainable practices which have resulted in a huge economic benefit for the tourism sector.
Jossy Muhangi, Public Relations Manager from the Uganda Wildlife Authority says that as an authority mandated to oversee all activities related to wildlife conservation in Uganda, they have embraced sustainable practices in their facilities. "For example, we have advised all our parks to share at least 20% of the conservation revenues to go to the communities that live around the parks to help them in various community projects. This has helped the community to view wildlife conservation as a venture that has economic benefits to them and therefore they don't encroach that much to the protected areas." He adds that they record a very high number of tourists who come to see some of the primates they have in Kibale and Bwindi Impenetrable national parks which have Gorillas and chimpanzees.
The Uganda Wildlife Act 2013, which has just been reviewed, imposes heavy fines for poachers. Emma Nahayo Mugizi, Public Relations Officer from the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities views wildlife issues as complex when it comes to enacting laws. She says that as a tourism sector, they are now shifting to focus in local tourism as a measure to embrace and sustain their tourism sector. "We have an annual cultural event centered on the circumcision of males at Mbale District and as a ministry we take this opportunity to promote local tourism. This event has become a tourist attraction and we use this forum to educate people on various sustainable practices in regard to conservation."
For example, Lake Mburu National Park in Western Uganda boasts of hosting animal species including 68 mammal species and around 315 bird species. Some of the animals include Impala, Burchell's Zebra and Eland, that are not found elsewhere in Western Uganda. The park covers a 370 kilometres square in size with a gallery of forest, open savanna, acacia woodland, rock kopjes,seasonal and permanent swamps.
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Italia che cambia, meaning Italy that is changing, is a new initiative born from the journalist Daniel Tarozzi who wanted to tell the world about a different Italy, the Italy that is changing its habits and developing new ways of business, the Italy that is sustaining itself even economically thanks to a new approach more sustainable, more responsible, more local-based.
Last year Daniel decided to visit as many realities as possible and meet the people who are bringing this change in Italy . Daniel and Andre, a colleague journalist, have set up a website (currently only in Italian), where they share information about the change in Italy with examples such as individuals struggling after loosing their jobs and the different paths they choose to follow.
One of the most important examples in the tourism sector is Viaggi e miraggi (travels and mirages).
ViaggieMiraggi coop. soc. NGO, was founded in 2000 to promote responsible tourism. It offers a new dimension of tourism, characterised by a dual concern for the environment of the places visited by tourists, and for the wellbeing and identity of the people who live there, while keeping the cultural integrity, everyday processes, biological diversity and the way of life of the area so that local communities are beneficiaries and not the victims of tourism development.
Other new initiatives are starting almost everyday, such as Betulla Network – Natural Business Intelligence. Betulla network (Birch Network) is a start-up located in Tuscany, Italy.
Betulla Network is a group of consultants and facilitators working together inspired by nature (biomimicry) to provide to organisations, businesses and professionals the best assistance to develop skills, projects and products.