During and following this summer’s class in Cultural & Heritage Tourism Development I learned a lot about tourism at World Heritage sites and did my final paper on  endangered world heritage. It’s a sad issue that, in my opinion, doesn’t get near the coverage that it should.

Although I’ve never been to Galápagos, it’s always interested me stemming from research I did as an undergrad about the economic situation in Ecuador (archive of an old tripod page that defies all laws of good design-sense). I think tourism is just one of the many ways that Ecuador can develop and recover, but at what expense?

Ecotourism  is a huge boon to some regions, but when a site is placed on the danger list, what’s the responsibility of tour operators and tourists?

It’s a good question that I’m not sure I know the answer to.

This weekend’s New York Times article Getting Beyond the Ferry is timely. A lot of questions have come up regarding what there is to do in New York with the vast majority of Broadway dark. There’s one possibility. Those of us who live here know how much more there is to the city beyond Broadway but sometimes it’s hard to get those who’ve come for a specific purpose to hear that.

From the WSJ:

“With this strike, there is “an immediate and palpable sense that the wind has been sucked out of the sails,” says Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, a businesses association for the Times Square neighborhood, where most Broadway theaters are located.”

The writer’s strike hasn’t really affected New York, but it’s going to be interesting to watch how this plays out.

• tracking social media/alternative exposure for CultureFest 2007. That’s been an interesting project because, unlike traditional media, there isn’t a standard list of places to check. Each time I do even a preliminary Google search I come up with venues I’ve never heard of – let alone having thought to check there.
• I can say some of the same for this semester’s consulting project with Hershey. While I can’t go into details, it too involves social media. At the outset of this project I realised how little I knew about social media. With regard to tourism and hospitality, TripAdvisor, Going.Com, WeJustGotBack, Facebook, MySpace, etc. are only the tip of the iceberg – to say nothing of the numerous blogs!

I’ve got my work cut out for me, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s also inspired me to get back into Wikipedia. While I’m not sure about the accuracy of Wikipedia in general, although the Nature article reproduced on Wikipedia sheds some light on the research that went into the study, I think it is a good starting point. I often turn to it when I have no idea where else to start on a topic and its citations can point me in the right direction – much like encyclopedias of my elementary and middle school days. A quick look at the YHA and backpacking articles showed me another fun project and reminded me of another project with good intentions. Memo to self: I don’t need another idea for a financial techniques/advanced projects idea. More on both of those later. 

I do look forward to following the authors’ blog. More on the book itself when I have free time and a few non-fried brain cells.

While this isn’t a trip, commuting by train is a new adventure, so this is appropriate. In true form of trying to find something while travelling, I’m stuck. This time, I can’t even blame the language barrier. I’m looking for a pass case, preferably one that doesn’t cost $80 and ideally has two windows. I figured I’d find one easily at one of the street sellers but so far, no dice. I did find these two at the Transit Museum store at GCT but I don’t particularly want to pay $18/$12 either. Decisions, decisions. Am going to try the KMart at Astor Place on Thursday before class even though the website doesn’t indicate they have any. Target sells them so I imagine KMart would as well. Of course as soon as I buy one, I’ll probably find my old Naz one that I’m sure is still around somewhere.

Off to do my e-commerce reading that I’ve put off all week. I’m still not in school mode.

Much like For Love and a Beetle, Unlikely Destinations/Once While Travelling tells the story of travel in days long gone. I’m finding it interesting to see how Tony and Maureen Wheeler got the idea to start up Lonely Planet and what their own early days of travel entailed. It’s also causing me to get LP some slack. I was a long-time LP devotee until I get fed up. I still find it frustrating that their guides are under-update, but I understand it isn’t easy to find someone to research and update the books. I no longer automatically reach for Lonely Planet, though I still end up reaching for them more often than not. I wasn’t wowed with Rick Steves’ Guides this summer when I tried them and was never overly thrilled with dk/Eyewitness either. I guess I just see LP as being good but would love to see them be great. There’s something to be said for their continued success over the last thirty years.

Also like this book and some others I’ve read, I find them interesting in that they cover some areas where I have very little interest in travelling. I’ve heard wonderful things about SE Asia and know many friends and coworkers who travelled there from Japan. There are some places I would like to see: Angkor Wat is the one that comes to mind first, however I don’t do heat and humidity well. I know that I’d be highly unlikely to enjoy these places, but they’re wonderful to read about. There’s also the other side of the backpacker culture that I don’t find to be much fun, the partying to excess. I think that’s part of the reason I have little to no desire to visit Bali, some of the Thai islands, etc. Nothing wrong with it, I just wouldn’t enjoy it. I remember looking hard to choose a Whitsunday trip where the focus wasn’t drinking to excess and in the end, I enjoyed the Port Douglas reef trip far more, although the views in the Whitsundays couldn’t be beat.

But I think that’s the best thing about independent travel and, along the same lines, the Lonely Planet guides. They allow you to pick and choose among activities that you would like and still have an amazing trip. A better trip, I tend to think, than being herded around. But that’s me…

Unlikely Destinations,  although billed as being written by both Tony and Maureen, is written primarily from Tony’s point of view, much in the same way that For Love and a Beetle was. Maybe I’m strange, but I’d like to hear more from the woman’s point of view, to see what their takes on the trips would be.  The interesting thing, having just read Bad Lands also about Tony’s recent trips, is seeing where the two converge: in both he reflects on missing the Buddhas of Bamiyan in the 1972 trips and consequently never having the chance to see them.
I’d love to one day meet the Wheelers and just have the chance to pick their brains, but for now this book is a good start. Can’t wait to read more tomorrow.

For those who didn’t know, I got the internship I really wanted at NYC & Company. I’ve been there for three days and am working on both arts/culture fact sheets and CultureFest 2007. I really enjoy what I’m doing because a) it’s fun and b) it allows me to learn about goings on in the city that I had no idea about including Robert Capa’s This is War!, which reminds
me a lot of ABC’s Through Australian Eyes, which I saw in Canberra in May 2005. I’m already three days behind in my internship journal so maybe when I get caught up on that I’ll have more to say here.

So, semester so far… First big chance, I’ve succumbed to  the temptation of the train. I got tired of fighting the traffic and a summer of not having to do it spoiled me rotten. Plus, I did the math. I’ll average going in five days a week this semester. My cheap garage has gone up to $14 so that’s $15 with tip x5. $75/week x 4 weeks/month. Parking alone would be $300 whereas a monthly pass from Tarrytown which allows me unlimited travel on both the Harlem and Hudson lines and includes the round trip on the Tappan Zee Express is only $243. It will be even cheaper when I buy it ahead of time online next month. It doesn’t take significantly longer to get home and it’s so worth it to be able to relax before and after work/class.

Classes so far. Wednesday is e-commerce and Thursday is financial techniques.  I don’t  really have an opinion on either yet but I think all three classes this semester (tomorrow is consulting) will flow together.

I ended up writing the paper on The Socio-Cultural and Economic Impacts of Sports Tourism with a special focus on Prague’s chances of hosting a future Olympiad. This wasn’t the direction I’d intended on, but the research seemed interesting so I went with it. Final paper was just shy of 25 pages. The C&HT paper isn’t due until the 18th but I’m going to get it done so I don’t have to worry about it in Australia. Will be nice to have a month off without having to think about school. Love the program, but I need a break. I also want to read for fun since I’ve gotten a lot of good books of BookMooch.
Speaking of Australia…I leave on Wednesday. One week from now I’ll be lurking at LAX waiting for my flight for Melbourne to leave. I’ll be there for just about two weeks, shorter even then my first trip.  It’s interesting for me to have a trip with a purpose *and* I’ll be carrying a suitcase. That’s going to be an odd feeling.

I haven’t started to pack, but I think I have everything I need, including Neutrogena Sheer BodyTint to deal with the farmer tan (dress is sleeveless). I think I know what this weekend’s agenda when I’m not writing the paper will be.

Newest Wonders  of the World Prompt More Than Wonder from today’s New York Times is an interesting article.

“We believe there is a risk that these sites will become tourist attractions like Disneyland,” said Sue Williams, a Unesco spokeswoman, adding, “The campaign seemed quite commercially driven and another way to lure in more tourist dollars.”

While I understand the risk that over-development and over-touristing can damage a destination, it’s not as if any of these wonders are new destinations. That’s not to say precautions shouldn’t be taken to ensure their continued viability, but I think there’s a huge difference between tourists choosing to visit a destination due to this designation and them turning into Disneyland.

Holland America’s cruises will provide increased access but some such as Petra Jordan and Maachu Pichu are still more of a challenge to access.  Significant time and money is required to visit all of the sites, with the possible exception of The Colosseum, and I’m not sure this new designation has/will receive enough attention in order to dramatically increase tourism in the manner in which UNESCO is worried.

Overall, I think this contest has created more controversy than I bet the creators imagined. Seems as if everyone has had something to say about the results, and it isn’t likely to end any time soon. Personally, I’m not that excited about the results – but I’m not as worried either. This summer’s class taught be more about the issues related to culture and heritage tourism, but I still am not convinced that increased visitors is necessarily always a bad thing.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, especially as they move forward with the nominations for the Natural Wonders.  At the very least, I’m getting lots of fodder for my C&HT paper.

I think the results are interesting but not particularly surprising. I’ve been to one (Rome) , and while I have an interest in the others, this designation isn’t going to make me any more or less likely to visit.  I’m not sure I could rank the others in terms of where I’m more likely to go than others…

I voted for Kiyomizdera in Kyoto because it’s one of my favourite places in Japan, if not the world, but I’m not surprised it didn’t win. Of course I completely forgot about the announcement: I spent 7/7/7 at Yankee Stadium.

I do think UNESCO’s comments are interesting: but they make their own rankings and designations as well. Of course theirs are more valid in their own eyes but really, any list is subjective. I think Hawass’ comments are sad:

“This contest will not detract from the value of the pyramids, which is the only real wonder of the world,” Egypt’s antiquities supremo Zahi Hawass said. “This competition has no value because it is not the masses who write history.”

Elitism drives me crazy. I agree that the pyramids are a wonder but they didn’t stand alone then and they don’t know. Sure, they’re a wonder for their architecture and ability to stand the test of time, but to say they’re the only real wonder….

And then of course, the Vatican has to get into it. My favourite:

” But according to Avvenire, the Italian Catholic daily, the Vatican believes that these have been selected as tourist attractions, rather than as Christian sites”

so wait, they not only have to be listed but also for precise reasons??? I’d hate to break it to the Cardinal, but I think many people see the Sistine Chapel as a tourist attraction as well. The two terms aren’t mutually exclusive.

When I think about the trip as a whole, I get Rainbow Tour in my head:

Let’s hear it for the Rainbow Tour
It’s been an incredible success
We weren’t quite sure, we had a few doubts

That’s a change. When I think about travel it’s usually Truckin’ i.e. “… Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.” but I don’t think this trip was quite long enough for that designation.

I wasn’t sure what to think about the two classes initially. I wasn’t sure how intense they were going to be. I mean I’ve handled two semesters of grad school well, but I wasn’t sure about four weeks of class. I also wasn’t sure about four weeks in Prague. Boland summed it up well when he said “People don’t come to Prague for two weeks–they come for three days or three months.”

I like Prague, but I don’t love it. It’s a fun city for a visit, but culturally, it doesn’t have enough to keep me interested for four weeks. I think that’s why, as was the case last time, I travelled out of the country every weekend. The class trips (Terezin, Karlovy Vary, Cesky Krumlov, Kutna Hora) allowed me to see the other parts of the country for free so I was glad to use my weekends to see other places.

My favourite city was still Rome, with Berlin a close second. I’m a history geek, I can’t help it Speaking of being a history geek, I’m currently reading Bruce Feiler’s Walking the Bible (I have Where God Was Born on my TBR) and I’m loving it. We had a good discussion in C&HT re: no one questioning the existence of Caesar, etc due to all the monuments ‘proving’ his existence yet people question the existence of biblical figures because there’s no ‘proof’. I don’t know what I believe, but reading the book makes it interesting to think about especially in light of these two discoveries: Herod/Hatshepsut. I’m sure I’ll be thinking about it even more this weekend when Mom and I go to the King Tut Exhibit at the Ben Franklin Institute.

Why isn’t Auschwitz on that list? It is in the sense that it was an amazing educational experience, but I hesitate to call it a favourite. It just seems wrong.
I’ve updated the categories here so that Europe: Summer 2007 shows all the posts from the trip.

I’ve been doing the research for my papers and have tentatively settled on: Socio-Cultural Impacts of Hosting an International Sporting Event in a Non-European Destination and The Impacts of Historical Tourism in a Region. For the sports paper I’ll look at what happened in Nagano, Sydney as well as Japan/Korea for the 2002 World Cup and for the C&HT paper I’ll look at the reuniting of Europe v. it’s history of division. I think both will be interesting.

On another note, while I was travelling in Australia, Skyring said something along the lines of that I was wandering around, leaving a trail of books in my wake. I think I did it again

London: The Sun in My Eyes
Rome: Travels with Charley: I definitely had the most ‘fun’ with this book and am toying with writing it up for BC. Actually started the write up but have stalled.
Prague: 9 books (!) I figured the guide/language books woud go to far better use there than coming back here. Acually, make that eleven! Forgot I switched Crossing Zones midway.
Zurich: My Kind of Place

There would have been more if I had a releasable book at the right time. Now I just need to get better about BCing locally. That would make for two active Rockland County BCers. Christine, do you think your aunt wants some company or enjoys having the county to herself?

I’m also in the process of cleaning up my list of books released in Australia, which is the only one I ever really tracked well. I’m curious to see how many more have been caught. That list is a mess culled from a download of my bookshelf, but I’m cleaning it up to show the essentials and I’ve gotten through “G” so far.