At the recently held Illegal Wildlife Trade Conference 2018 in London, online travel agencies C trip and trip.com made certain pledges to fight the illegal trade. First of all, they would make use of their websites, offline stores and mobile applications to increase awareness of the illegal wildlife trade among its combined three-hundred million user base. There will be complete compliance with the diktats of the WTTC (World Travel and Tourism Council) in this fight, and support of the WWF. These two have also pledged to develop more of ecotourism and to especially encourage more Chinese tourists to be part of this business innovation. They are also set to tie up with environmental organizations to campaign among the user base against buying any products connected to this trade. Fighting this illegal wildlife trade has become one of the key projects of the UK government.

Source:https://www.apnews.com/b094d66acc6263f8e4df862818f266e5

Uploaded Date:15 November 2018

The books of Aldous Huxley or Isaac Asimov do not seem fictional any more. Robots for instance are now a regular part of the tourism industry, aiding in several routine functions. The Henn na Hotel chain in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan uses robots as hotel receptionists. The Crown Plaza in San Jose, USA has robots for concierge and other room services. On cruises such as the Quantum of the Seas, they can be seen in the form of bartenders. Robots also act as guides and assistants at airports such as the Schiphol in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. A business innovation called Care-E developed by Dutch airline KLM uses robots to guide passengers regarding the shortest routes for boarding. It is equipped with sensors to track passengers’ moods.

Source:https://www.tourism-review.com/robots-in-tourism-are-growing-in-numbers-news10740

Uploaded Date:15 November 2018

Senior members in the tourism boards and companies in both Hong Kong and mainland China are equally upbeat over the newly introduced high-speed rail link between the two. Medium-haul journeys are being encouraged to places such as Changsha, Guizhou and Chaosan. Leading Guangzhou-based tour operator GZL International Travel Service has even tied up with Disneyland and Ocean Park to bring in more mainland visitors to Hong Kong. Plans are afoot for more outbound tours in the near future. Wing On for examples plans about 150 to 200 such trips each month. This is bound to generate numerous travel jobs for the region. The local industry is also bound to benefit from this milestone achieved.

Source:https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/2165380/travel-agencies-hong-kong-eye-growth-high-speed

Uploaded Date:14 November 2018

The newly opened high-speed rail connecting Hong Kong to mainland China is seeing tremendous interest. Tour operators are enjoying the bumper collections from this initiative. The first week beginning in October was called the Golden Week. Tickets are also available from the online platform of Hong Kong. This business innovation will be a boom for local tourism. This is especially for people living in far off Chinese provinces such as Hunanand Jiangxi. In case foreign travel gets expensive, people form these places can always use this train to reach Hong Kong. Even for Hong-Kong-ers, short-haul journeys will be a big draw. For them, Guangzhou South remains the most popular desintation on mainland China, followed by Xiamen, Chaoshan and Fuzhou.

Source:https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/2164357/high-speed-rail-set-bring-bumper-golden-week-hong

Uploaded Date:14 November 2018

Ever since the rise of mass tourism, around the 1960s, one segment that has risen the fastest is the city break. Cities today make up 45% of all global travel, as per business intelligence received from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). Some cities have grown excessively dependent on tourism for its GDP, contributing disproportionately. Cancun in Mexico tops this, with a GDP contribution of just short of half the total. Marrakesh in Morocco stands second. Majority of Marrakesh’s visitors tend to be French. Macau in China, Orlando in the US state of Florida and Antalya in Turkey take up the next two spots in tourism dependency as part of city GDP. Dubai, Las Vegas, Bangkok, Venice and Dubrovnik n Croatia make up the rest of the top ten.

Source:https://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2018/11/09/worlds-most-touristy-city-by-gdp/

Uploaded Date:13 November 2018

Coinciding with the World Travel Market (WTM) held in London, Sri Lankan Tourism launched the ‘So Sri Lanka’ destination brand identity. Dignitaries from various stakeholder groups attended this launch. Even the Lonely Planet has recognized Sri Lanka as the best travel destination for 2019. This business innovation was the brainchild of marketing communications agency J Walter Thompson Sri Lanka. The idea is to attract a good number of visitors to the country. There was a reason for the UK launch. UK is one of the leading markets for inbound travelers to Sri Lanka. To add to this, the WTM even recognized the Cinnamon Elephant Project in Sri Lanka for the category of “Best in Responsible Tourism”.

Source:http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/sri-lanka-tourism-launches-its-new-brand-identity-so-sri-lanka/

Uploaded Date:13 November 2018

It is no secret that the travel and tourism sector contributes substantially to Greece’s economy. The figure stands at roughly 19.7% of GDP and worth 35 billion euros as per business intelligence supplied by the World Travel and Tourism Council. In 2017, there was a six percent rise in the total sector revenues. The contribution is nearly double of the world average which stands at 10.4%. In addition, just short of a million people are engaged in various tourism jobs. Another 332,000 jobs are expected to be added to the sector in the next ten years. The Greek Tourism Ministry is very keen on close collaboration with the WTTC to keep expanding the good work done.

Source:https://news.gtp.gr/2018/10/02/greece-earned-e35-billion-travel-tourism-2017-says-wttc/

Uploaded Date:12 November 2018