Sustainable Tourism is the Key

Sustainable and responsible tourism is something I feel very strongly about. It is something that I am trying to implement in my job now and I see it being a reality sooner than later.

In all my travels I strive to make as little a footprint as possible, and to give back in one way or another.

In Zambia I spent a day in a rural village with the local children, playing and providing them with school supplies and clothes.

In South Africa I spent the day touring Cape Town and the surrounding area with a former resident of District 6 and a survivor of Apartheid.

In Thailand and Cambodia I visited orphanages and brought with me reading and colouring supplies and had memorable days with amazing warm and loving children

In Vietnam I met with Agent Orange victims of the America War and spent time with local families learning about their way of life,

And in Laos I attended morning alms-giving and provided food to the Buddhist Monks and helped new Laos friends with their English school work and communication skills.

I took all local transportation (outside of flights required to get from North America to Africa and Asia), I ate local foods and bought locally made and traditional gifts and clothes.

All of this brought me closer to the people and places of where I was. All of it made the experiences more important to me. It opened my eyes to things I thought I knew about, but realized I had no understanding of. I made me want to go home and do more.

I aim to just do that in 2011.

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted by consensus at its 65th session three separate resolutions emphasizing the role of tourism in sustainable development. The three resolutions, on the implementation of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, on the promotion of ecotourism, and on the importance of sustainable tourism for Small Island Developing States stress the significance of the sector to the development agenda in terms of sustainability, employment, and poverty elimination. The resolutions further welcomed the efforts and work of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in promoting sustainable tourism for poverty eradication.

Read more here: UN General: Sustainable Tourism is Key for Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication:

BEACH TRAVELLERS ON CBC RADIO 1

Reposted from the BT Website:

As life in Bangkok has finally begun to return back to normal, so have our phonelines, email accounts and day to day activities here in Canada. While our travellers have been running wild around the globe in all our feature countries this May, the two remaining gentlemen sacrificed some time on the road this season to stay behind and manage the day to day duties & responsibilities @ our BT office

Adam got a call last week from the CBC asking me to come down to the studio for a live interview on CBC Radio 1 with Stephen Quinn. In the midst of all the chaos and breaking news about Thailand, CBC wanted to hear from Beach Travellers about what was really going on over there. TJ is currently in Thailand and I speak with him every second day about the current situation there and we handled this live interview @ CBC studios with confidence.

Listen to the interview @ the link below. (Scroll down to Thursday, May 20)

http://www.cbc.ca/onthecoast/

Our travellers (and at times like these their worried parents as well) are always our #1 priority..Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns at all.

- Graeme

The Man in the Arena

Inspiring doesn't do this passage justice.

Nelson Mandela gave a copy of this speech to François Pienaar, captain of the South African rugby team, before the start of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, in which the South African side eventually defeated the heavily favoured All Blacks.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat

http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trsorbonnespeech.html

FREE THAILAND VISA!

I was hoping that this would happen, given the last few months of political turmoil. And it has! SWEET!

They had originally offered an exemption from May 2009 - May 2010, so I was bummed that I would be just missing the cut off. But no more! Now my double entry visa is FREE and I dont have to fork over the $80. Thats equals out to 3 days of travel in Asia for me.

Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced an exemption for tourist visa fees for all foreigners that apply for a Tourist Visa, for the period of 11 May 2010 to 31 March 2011. The tourist visa fee exemption includes Visa on Arrival application fees.

Due to the Tourist Visa exemption, those wishing to apply for a Tourist Visa with multiple entries into Thailand must provide documentation, such as copies of airline tickets or a travel itinerary, clearly indicating the number of times the tourist will enter Thailand. If no such documentation is provided with the Tourist Visa application, then the application will be considered for a single entry Tourist Visa.

Please note that the visa fee exemption is for Tourist Visas only, and does not include Non-Immigrant Visa and Transit Visa fees.

Bangkok: Back to Business

As reported by CNN and other media outlets, the anti-Government protesters known as the Thai Red Shirts have come to an agreement with the Thai Government which includes new elections to be called for in November.

Bangkok has been inundated with aggressive protests and demonstrations for the last few months, with Britain and the US issuing travel advisories to the region.

Now it would seem that the city is moving back to a sense of normalcy and tourism is back on track.

Read the full CNN article here: Thai Red Shirts 'reach deal to end protests'

BBC report here: Thai PM promises 'road-map' to solve mass protests

2010 World Cup: Spotlight on South Africa

Cape Town, South Africa

“Sport has the power to change the world,” Nelson Mandela once said, “the power to inspire, the power to unite people in a way that little else can.”

That is the lead line for a recent article in the Toronto Star, entitled 2010 World Cup Preview: High-stakes game for South Africa.

Touching on the historical and current political and racial tensions, as well as the expected effects of the massive influx of tourism and exposure South Africa will be facing over the next month, the writer highlights the countries diversity, from its people to its geography.

Tourism is a vital element of the South African economy and this summer will be its true test. What happens during and to a more important extent after the 2010 World Cup will be the true indicator of the events success.

Inflation is part of the Game

With World Cup just around the corner, the biggest sporting event in the WORLD (yes, its bigger than the Olympics), I am shocked to keep reading on message boards that people are still looking for accommodations, transportation and the like.

Sure, I over plan and maybe think a tad too much about getting things in order for any of my travel adventures, but when it comes to attending a global event where there the expectation is for the population to swell by some 400,000 people, I like to think that getting your plans in order is not a bad thing.

And then you read things like this and it makes even more sense to get your act together in advance:

Inflation of prices, especially on accommodation and transportation, are part of the Olympics and World Cup, but the South Africa 2010 World Cup may be different, as South Africa Tourism’s campaign to keep a price freeze during the South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup is yielding results.

According to a press release by the body, hoteliers in the Eastern Cape part of the country have promised to freeze prices.

SA Tourism Update Online has compiled a database of tourism suppliers that are not price gouging, which can be accessed by their inbound tour operators. The rates they consider fair will be loaded into the frequently updated database.

While its nice to see that the things are trying to be corralled and controlled so that gouging is not out of control, its still makes for finding a reasonable price on accommodations a hard tickets at this point.

Good thing we have our hostels and family members booked and ready for us!