Phone Apps for Travellers

Tour directing and guiding is getting easier and easier thanks to phone apps. I like all of these.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/10/18/helpful.travel.apps/index.html

Collette has Announced a New Tour Package

More great news for those of us in travel and especially tour directors. Collette has announced, “...business — sales are up 61 percent from 2009 — the tour operator is launching a new brand of tours: Explorations. ...during one of Collette’s most successful years ...the goal of Explorations is to allow clients to taste, live, explore and connect to a destination, clients also receive the benefit of an all-inclusive tour.”

I recommend filling in the online application and posting your resume on their website asap. Collette normally starts their new hiring right after the Christmas holidays. With a new program they may start earlier.

http://www.travelagewest.com/travel/tours/Info/Collette-Vacations-Gains-Clients/

Win an Eco-Adventure

Here's a way to donate to a good cause and maybe win a great adventure. "Prizes...include a seven-night cruise for two on a luxury yacht through the Galapagos Islands...a trek along Peru's Inca Trail to Machu Picchu...a stay at Nepal's Tiger Mountain Pokhara Lodge nestled deep within the Himalayas."

http://www.travmedia.com/north-america/pressrelease.php?id=62861&mo=3&referencekey=d66cd2092d34039ac4ad8d092024d19a

Free national parks field-guide phone app

This sounds like a wonderful app for Tour Directors, Guides and leisure travellers. Sure would help with questions, animal sightings, plants and etc.

Free national parks field-guide phone app
By Kitty Bean Yancey, USA TODAY

No need to wonder what flora and fauna you're viewing at a national park or to lug a heavy guidebook.

New field guides to 50 of them can be downloaded free to your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch from iTunes, courtesy of the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association.

The guides contain park info, show animals and plants; they even have recordings of bird calls, says the association's Megan Cantrell, who is senior coordinator of member engagement.

The idea is to make a park visit "more interactive," says Cantrell. And anyone who has ever been in a park, seen a strange animal and thought, "What the heck is that?" will be enlightened now. "There are a lot of maps" and park guides, Cantrell says. "But these are the first comprehensive field guides." You need to be in an area with cell service, though. And if you take an iPad or iPod touch into the field, you need a Wi-Fi connection.

Posted Oct 7 2010 12:15PM

Tourism Progress and Peace Conference

“Throughout history humankind has looked into venues (other than war) to enhance sustainable peace and harmony in the world. Why not tourism? How?” These are the questions being discussed at the Tourism Progress and Peace Conference in Jordon next March.

Are you working on this in your travel career? Have ideas? The conference is looking for abstracts (a brief summary) of your ideas. The link will give you details on the conference. The link to submit an abstract in the upper left hand column.

I personally feel the importance of tourism and world peace has been greatly overlooked. I’m glad to see the conference.

http://www.tourismprogressandpeace.com/index.html

World Clock

This is useful, educational and fun. It's a world clock that includes time and every kind of world statistic you can imagine. It easy to get lost in the spinning numbers.

http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.swf

Traveling Cairo to Cape Town--Pam Barrus

Many of my past students know Pam Barrus, a tour director, travel staff, author and adventurer. Pam traveled throughout Africa this year alone. The link below will take you to her blog.

Hi Cherie,

It's Pam Barrus, …the URL of the blog I ran during the Cairo to Cape Town trip this summer, so here it is: pamafricanqueen.blogspot.com The most entertaining part, imo, is in July with Somaliland, Las Geel, and Jubba Airways. :-) In October I'm giving a talk about the trip, but for only about 20 minutes on a panel to some university women's group. It's to encourage women to travel alone. Hopefully, they won't be scared off.

Have a terrific year, and I hope there's a new get-together soon!

xoxo
Pam

"Travel Abroad at a Young Age Enhances Education, Career Growth and Success"

I agree! Some of my students have found the student market a great way to get experience in tour directing and guiding. It’s also a market that has done well in spite of the economy challenges. This is the time of year to start contacting the companies.
http://www.travmedia.com/north-america/pressrelease.php?id=61984&mo=3&referencekey=d66cd2092d34039ac4ad8d092024d19a

Good Resource for Tour Operators

Travelage West has always been a good resource for new and experienced Tour Directors. It makes it easy to keep up with Tour Operators and their new tours and programs. I enjoy seeing new itineraries and the variety of interests covered, something for everyone and every age. It’s also a helpful resource for leisure travelers.

http://www.travelagewest.com/Travel/Tours/

Resume Suggestions

Tory Johnson from ABC Good Morning America has some very good resume suggestions. I particularly like her suggestions on how to present dates. Many new tour directors and guides are mature but you don’t want to appear ‘old’ on your resume.

I’m often asked about ages. If you go to Collette’s webpage you’ll see a picture of their tour directors. A wide range of ages are represented.

http://t.co/kNhglZI

Student Tours

Liz Moran has written a wonderful new section for the “Tour Director Training Guides”. on student tours. Here’s a section I think you’ll find very helpful if you’re considering student tours.

“A one-stop resource to finding a list of student tour operators can be found on the Student and Youth Travel Associate website at www.syta.com. On the home page, locate the tab “For Educators/Group Leaders” and from the drop down menu choose “Find An SYTA Tour Operator.” This will bring you to another page where you can search for operators by country, state or types of tours. Do not conduct a search under “Origination Locations” because it doesn’t matter where the tour operator is located! I work for student operators located in Northern California, Michigan and Illinois! Just conduct a broad search: Under “Destination Locations,” choose United States from the drop down menu. This will give you a list of ALL student tour operators who are members of SYTA.”

Tourism Continues to Rebound!

Good news. Tourism continues to rebound in 2010. “...international visitors spent an estimated $11.1 billion ...marking the sixth consecutive month of growth ...spending has increased, on average, $732 million a month in 2010. ..Travel purchases of travel and tourism-related goods and services ...$8.6 billion during June, an increase of nearly 14 percent... Passenger Fare Receipts: 17 percent to $2.5 billion for the month, an increase of $362 million...visitors have spent an estimated $64.6 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services year to date...an increase of 7 percent ...“

http://www.travmedia.com/north-america/pressrelease.php?id=61276&mo=3&referencekey=d66cd2092d34039ac4ad8d092024d19a

New Surveys Give Insight Into U.S. Travelers and Spending Trends

Interesting survey on the direction of tourism. “Among men who were surveyed, the top destination was Australia, while most women chose Italy.” After seeing the Italy pizza scenes in “Eat, Pray, Love” I’m guessing Italy will become even more popular with women.


http://www.travelagewest.com/article_ektid44980.aspx

Eat, Pray and Love

We’re all counting on the movie boasting international tourism. Tour operators are already adding “Eat, Pray and Love” tours. Should be fun tours to lead. I'm ready! I love Bali.

http://www.straitstimes.com/SME%2BSpotlight/Lifestyle/Story/STIStory_562318.html

New Travel Gadgets

I like the solar charger and especially the Kodak Playsport. My cell video just isn't enough.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2010/07/12/whitfield.tech.for.travel.cnn