Ever wanted to ask questions of PhoCusWright, Abacus, Wotif, Wego, T2 Impact, Expedia and Yahoo!?

Well now you can! I am co-moderating a panel on day one at the Web In Travel conference in Singapore (Oct 21-22) along with conference boss and industry commentator Siew Hoon Yeoh. The session is called "the WIT Challenge" (full programme here). Siew Hoon and I will be firing questions at a fantastic panel including the following:Ram Badrinathan, Senior Director, Research, PhoCusWright Inc;Brett Henry, Vice President, Agency Marketing, Abacus International;Robbie Cooke, CEO, Wotif;Martin Symes, CEO, Wego;Timothy O'Neil-Dunne, Managing Partner, T2 Impact; andKen Mandel, Vice President & Managing... Read more »

Webjet vs Wego: sometimes an OTA is better than meta-search

An industry insider sent me me a email pointing out a very interesting quirk that can give OTAs a functionality advantage over meta-search. Typically I would have thought that top notch meta-search are going to be better at delivering customers to the top fare combinations versus OTAs. The OTAs would have the advantage in packaging, customer rewards, content and community and other retail elements but that meta-search would have the lead in the search and user friendliness.But in the Australian domestic market the airlines have structured their fares in such a way that they are very user unfriendly... Read more »

The BOOT Recommends - The Observatory Hotel Sydney

I have just spent the loveliest of weekends away at the Observatory Hotel in Sydney. Located in Sydney's "historic" Rocks area, this Orient-Express hotel is one of Sydney's finest. [side bar - You have to put the word historic in quotes when describing the Rocks as it is embarrassing to say that for white Australia all you need is a 150 year old building and suddenly it is historic. The current Rocks is little more than a tourist trap shopping area, albeit with fantastic water views.] It is not often that I do reviews on the blog but when I am very impressed with a property I am drawn... Read more »

10 Questions (8) for: Erica Johansson of Blissful Travel

Happy to present Erica Johansson to you. It took me some time to figure out which portrait to use. I decided to use her Facebook avatar, as she is a bit elusive…or simply shy :-) (However, see also the update below.) 1) Who Are you? My name is Erica Johansson, I’m 23-years-old, was born in Halmstad on the Swedish west coast and grew up in Sweden. Work wise I’m the founder and editor of Travel Blissful, a freelance writer and photographer. Personality wise I’m always an optimist. 2) What do you like about what you do? Everything. That I’m being able to travel in... Read more »

Hix Island House, A Vieques Hotel

If you yearn for a romantic escape to a tropical Caribbean Island paradise, your quest has ended. Hix Island House rewards you with a luxurious retreat amidst rustic Zen-like architectural elegance. Offering refreshingly unique comfort for body and soul, Hix Island House is located in a 13-acre natural refuge of native trees, tall grasses, birds and butterflies where you'll be at one with nature and savor the peaceful bliss of privacy, silence, and tranquility (no phones, television, or typical room and turn-down service). At Hix Island House the outdoors becomes indoors. Our innovative... Read more »

Design for Human-Centered Living

The goal of our work is "inclusion." It's the perfect work. The goal is universally appealing. By the time you have succeeded nobody can understand why the world would have ever been otherwise. That is why these reviews of universally designed homes are so illustrative. They document the cultural shift towards the "new common sense" approach to the built environment. One by one people all over the world are making a lifestyle change. As homes are redesigned for owners to live in them for much longer periods (aging-in-place) they also naturally become available as places of hospitality... Read more »

Australia Leads Support for People With Disabilities in Asia Pacific

Australia released the draft strategy for consultation at the International Conference on Disability, Disadvantage and Development in the Pacific and Asia held 29 September – 1 October as part of its strategy to become the regional leader in promoting disability rights. Australia has recently ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and, in addition to a disability strategy for its aid program, is preparing a national disability policy to be released in 2009. With a longstanding program promoting Inclusive Tourism Australia could take global leadership by... Read more »

Web 2.0 Expo Berlin - lohnt sie für TouristikerInnen?

Ich wurde seit meiner Ankündigung, wieder an der Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin teilzunehmen, mehrmals gefragt, ob sich der Kongress für TouristikerInnen lohne. Meine klare Antwort: Ja! Aber nur, wenn Sie bereits ein Grundwissen und idealerweise auch praktische Erfahrungen in der Anwendung von Web zweinulligen Tools im Tourismus gemacht haben. Sinnvoll ist es natürlich auch, sich schon vorher zu überlegen, mit welchen Fragen Sie sich gerade auseinander setzen müssen. Gibt es unter den Referenten solche, die Antworten inspirieren, oder von deren Erfahrungsberichten Sie profitieren könnten. Die Investition... Read more »

Tumbled beach at French Cross

As you can imagine, the 100 billion tonnes of sea water that moves in and out of the Bay of Fundy impacts our beaches in a variety of ways. Here's an interesting example of how Fundy's waves grab craigy pillars of basalt off the tall cliffs then tumbled them on the beach below. The result?... smooth, giant pebbles such as these at French Cross in Morden, Nova Scotia.Check out the beachscapes tab here on my blog for more images of beaches like sculpted sandstone, sandy, mud flats, and reefed beaches. Read More →