I am writing this from the Gambia and want to appeal to everyone to spread the word: this country is open for business and it is not affected by the Ebola outbreak – otherwise I would not be here. I am…
Every year, on September 27, the global tourism community celebrates World Tourism Day. This year’s theme is about community development and how tourism can contribute to empowering people and improve…
Bognor or Borneo? Penzance or Paris? Scarborough or Sao Paulo? The decision of whether to spend your annual leave holidaying in a foreign clime, at a campsite in the UK, or even just in your back garden…
Chinese cities are often contradictory bricolages of old and new. They wrestle with extraordinarily rapid rates of economic growth, concentrated urbanisation, the growth of a burgeoning middle class as…
Ouch. I think my entire body physically cringed when I came across the latest story of a misjudged tweet gone viral this week: the case of Breanna Mitchell, the naïve teenager and self-styled “Princess…
Britain has joined the race to become a leading hub of commercial space flight, announcing eight potential sites for a potential “spaceport” within the UK. There are numerous questions surrounding this…
When the powerful gather for the G20 summit in Brisbane this November, the core mandate is to discuss measures to support global economic growth, including trade liberalisation, investment and infrastructure…
Australia’s ski season is finally getting underway, with the first resort, Perisher, opening its ski lifts after some weekend snow fall. But snow lovers are still watching and waiting for good falls elsewhere…
It was day two of our 18 day trek to Everest’s Base Camp when in the afternoon our head guide Lhakpa Nurbu Sherpa sombrely reported to me that 16 Sherpas had been killed in an avalanche on the mountain…
Big Ritchie looks up from his pile of bananas, unperturbed by the flock of tourists taking his photo. Sprawled around him, mother orangutans* and their fluffy orange babies groom affectionately, chase…
When Thomas Cook launched the first group tours to Scotland’s Trossachs in 1846, the attraction was to see the mythical land featured in Sir Walter Scott’s famous poem The Lady of the Lake, written in…
Climbing season on Mount Everest was due to enter its busiest time of year: the May “weather window”. But all has come to a halt on the world’s highest mountain following the worst-ever accident – an avalanche…
For countries that promote themselves as tourist destinations, China has - for some years - been the new Japan. Two decades ago, tourist towns such as Australia’s Gold Coast put up bilingual signs and…
The murder of French student Sophie Collombet in Brisbane in late March has sparked a debate about the safety of travellers in Australia. A man has now been arrested and charged with Collombet’s rape and…
The recent debate in the House of Commons on the cost of going away during the school holidays has reignited a long-running concern about price banding in the tourism industry and the educational impact…
The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has announced it will allow the dumping of three million cubic metres of dredge spoil from the Abbot Point port redevelopment within the marine park’s boundaries…
Anti-government demonstrations in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, have culminated in the government declaring a state of emergency for 60 days over the city. The Thai government hopes that the restriction…
This summer, many of us are heading overseas. Australians are the world’s largest spenders on international travel on a per capita basis. In 2012, one in three of us headed overseas. After New Zealand…