tourism | Digital Crosstalk

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Brian and team, who work for a digital marketing agency run this Digital Crosstalk blog.
Occasionally we might blog about companies and people we work with but for the most part we'll simply be blogging about stories and events which we find interesting.

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18th
FEB

Machu Picchu to reopen to tourists from April

Posted by Brian | Filed under tourism

: Image by teague03 via Flickr

The ancient Incan ruins of Machu Piccu are set to reopen to tourists on 1st April. The site has been closed to visitors since heavy rain stranded hundreds of tourists in January, creating mud slides that cut off roads and blocked a railway line between the site and the nearby city of Cusco.

Tourist officials in Peru have said that the waterline of the Vilcanota River has dropped enough to allow for repairs to be carried out to the railway line after which the historic site can be reopened.

In January, tourists had to be airlifted from the site after becoming stranded while more than 10,000 people were affected in the region surrounding Machu Piccchu.

Tags: Cusco, Machu Picchu, Peru, Rail transport, South America, tourism, travel, Urubamba River

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20th
JAN

Nepal to promote gay tourism

Posted by Brian | Filed under tourism

: Image via Wikipedia

Nepal will celebrate its legalisation of gay marriage by promoting the country as being the gay tourism capital of Asia says Pink News.

Gay marriages were legalised in the land-locked country in 2009 by the country’s Supreme Court and the government is to begin drafting a law in the upcoming months. A conference in February will be held to discuss how the country can attract more gay couples.

Meanwhile, Sunil Babu Pant, the country’s only out gay MP has created and launched a travel company called ‘Pink Mountain’ which will offer wedding ceremonies at the base of Mount Everest and processions on horseback. The MP believes Nepal’s economy could benefit from a substantial boost if the country can attract one-tenth of the world’s gay population to the country.

Until 2007, homosexuality was illegal in the country but the past few years have seen profound changes for gay rights and Pant – a gay activist hero around the world told the Daily Telegraph the government had a target to increase tourist numbers from 400,000 to one-million in the coming year and that by looking to attract gay visitors the country could reap the benefit of additional tourist revenue.

In the past, Nepal was once a strongly conservative country and gays suffered persistent persecution from security forces during the absolutist rule of King Gyanendra, while harassment of lesbian, gay and trans-genders continued at the hands of Maoist rebels.

Tags: mount everest, sunil babu pant, tourism

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7th
JAN

Turkey expect 2010 tourism boom

Posted by Brian | Filed under tourism

: Image via Wikipedia

As a regular visitor to the tourist resorts of Turkey, especially those on the Aegean Sea, I already know why the country has become a popular tourist location. Yet the Turkish tourism minister has suggested that tourism for the country is only going to get better in 2010.

Ertu?rul Günay, the country’s Culture and Tourism Minister stated that as many as 30 MILLION tourists could visit Turkey in 2010, despite ongoing economic pressures around the globe. The minister stated that the tourism industry in Turkey was attempting to improve the quality of the all-inclusive system in order to attract more tourists to Turkish resorts.

Also, as a country steeped in archaeological heritage, it was important to mix Turkish heritage and culture into the country’s tourism experience.

Turkey attracted almost 26 million tourists in the first 11 months of 2009. Between the January and November period, mostly German, Russian and British tourists chose Turkey as a holiday destination and tourists mainly visited the Mediterranean region.

Turkey has already made giant strides in attracting new tourism, especially with the introduction of winter sports tourism and also the golf complex found at Belek.

Tags: tourism, travel, turkey

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9th
DEC

Calls to curb Antarctic Tourism

Posted by Brian | Filed under tourism

: Image by Ludovic Hirlimann via Flickr

Antarctica – one of the world’s great wildernesses – has come under increased threat of human and environmental disasters due to the burgeoning number of tourists who visit the frozen continent.

Antarctica has become something a magnet to tourists in recent times, lured by the opportunity to experience earth’s last great wilderness; its pristine environment and unpredictable – and extreme – weather conditions.

However, these and other factors such as its vast areas between habitation and expansive uncharted waters pose extreme problems and danger for rescuers in the event of any emergency as well as vessels which attempt any journey around the continent’s land and surrounding sea.

That, however, didn’t stop some 45000 tourists from visiting the area on cargo vessels designed to carry fuel, oil, chemicals and refuse; their presence in the area can contribute to polluting the region. In the past, most shipping in the region had been limited to scientific vessels carrying researchers or supplies.

Existing tourism rules bar tourists or tour operators from leaving anything behind — like garbage or human waste — and regulate tourists’ conduct to protect animals’ breeding grounds in the region.

Now countries that manage the continent are seeking controls on ships visiting Antarctica in order to try to curb the potential human and environmental dangers, and have called for regulation. Few of the ships which traverse the region have strong enough hulls to withstand ice or crews experienced in navigating around icebergs thus putting both cargo and lives at risk.

“Without regulations, we are going to have a disaster where a lot of lives are lost and where oil spills out into the environment, and we see penguins being smothered and poisoned by fuel oil in their rookeries,” said Trevor Hughes, the head of Antarctic policy at New Zealand’s foreign ministry.

New Zealand is one of the dozen founding members of the Antarctic Treaty, along with the United States, Russia, Britain and others, and is among those leading the push for shipping regulation.