For a country with such a small population, Australia carries a lot of weight in the international travel area. I don't have hard numbers to back this up, but I imagine that a higher percentage of Australians have traveled overseas when compared with Americans and perhaps other western-based tourists. Australia's impact on its smaller neighbors is especially large: Fiji Visitors Bureau wants the Government to improve health facilities in the west as it embarks on aggressive marketing to lure the 'silver market' while Australia important for Tahiti tourism growth. New Caledonia, Bali and NZ also get a heavy number of visitors.
Watch out backpackers! Sydney hostels risk lives and the goverment is powerless to stop them! Well, according to this study at least, which claims that "about 100 �shonky� hostels operate in and around the city, offering 1,350 beds, according to a report by the Australian Tourism Export Council. Most are overcrowded and dangerous, with no smoke alarms, fire extinguishers or sprinklers, as well as inadequate exits." Although I do think there should be some standards for these hostels, it's up to the backpacker to ensure his or her own safety as well. Think about it - saving three bucks isn't really worth it if you're far away from exits and the smoke alarm has been disabled by the smokers in your room.
NZ tourism is worried because Overseas travel hits domestic market after a 22% increase in international travel last year. Australia's worried because Tourism fears Japanese getting over Down Under. Where are they all going instead? China.
Don't get your medical work done in expensive Australia, Europe or the U.S. - head to Thailand! A New breed of tourists are heading to the country for cheap medical care that is on par with that they would receive at home, with numbers only expected to rise. Especially cool? The "dental resort". Swweet.
A Dingo bite on dead tourist's camera has authorities worried on Fraser Island. Less than a month after a fatal dingo-mauling of a 9-year-old boy, a tourist went missing. His body was discovered 2 years later. Authorities suspect that he may have been injured and then attacked by dingos, which he attempted to fend off using his camera (hence the reason there are marks on it). Better keep an eye out...
As some of you may or may not know, prostitution is legal in much of Australia. An interested article entitled: Ten Reasons for Not Legalizing Prostitution maintains that sex trafficking, enslavement of Asian 'working girls' and other unsavory things have resulted from the legalization of the world's oldest profession, using the state of Victoria as an example. An interesting read for those who are interested. Just a note - at least in Sydney (although I am sure about else where), on street solicitation is ILLEGAL, although officers look the other way in King's Cross. Only licensed brothels can provide such services, and many cater to foreigner's tastes (i.e. country/ethnic specific workers).
Tour groups in rugged wilderness sometimes lure people into a false sense of 'lemming-like' security. Last week, 11 Lost tourists were led out of gorge in WA after one had been evacuated after falling into a gorge. However, it actually Boosts WA tour company's bookings, despite the fact the operator is likely to get sued by said lost tour group. The Tour system check after rescue is now being conducted in WA.
Authorities Move to stamp out illegal backpacker operators in a new taskforce designed to protect backpackers and guests that visit New South Wales. "There are real dangers associated with trying to cram people - more than you should - into premises that haven't been set up and designed for backpacking," said NSW Tourism Minster Sandra Nori. There are about 380,000 backpackers that visit the state every year. I'm sure everyone but the operators thinks this is a good idea after the fire in Queensland a few years ago that killed 15 travelers, but may cause a price increase some people won't be happy with. See also Move on illegal backpacker operators and NSW move supports backpacker industry.
Boycott Bali, Schapelle Corby, and the "whinge" factor is an excellent quickie article about Bali and the affects the 'Bali Boycott' is having on the country after the Schapelle Corby case. The author makes an excellent argument that it's hard to judge how effective the boycott is since you don't know who was actually ever planning to go to Bali in the first place.
Fury in Australia over the jailing of a young woman in Bali for drugs smuggling has puzzled ordinary Indonesians, and given the world's most populous Muslim nation a chance to display a new maturity, analysts say.From Indonesia displays maturity in Australia drugs caseBut a series of threats to Indonesian diplomats and missions in Australia following the 20-year sentence given to trainee beautician Schapelle Corby on May 27 could play into the hands of Indonesia's radical, anti-Western Muslim fringe, they said.
I don't really know what any of this has to do with 'maturity'....maybe because Australians are whinging so much and Indonesians have made efforts to largely ignore the case?
This article on the Post-everything generation confused the hell out of me for the first third of the article- I couldn't understand what the journalist was saying about university students. Eventually I figured out that according to some sources named in the article, students are becoming increasingly right-wing conservatives, hanging pictures of the queen, holding beauty pagents (complete with swimsuit competitions) and overturning the ideals of their parents. Although the premise is interesting enough, the author spends too much time trying to be cute instead of laying out the information.
As airfare prices continue to climb with the escalating cost of fuel, taxes and 'security fees', business travelers are trying to put their foot down by attacking air security fare-rise plan. According to Australasian Business Travel Association, business travelers would bear the brunt of the cost. I wonder if they'd be singing a different tune if a domestic attack was carried out on Australian soil...
More reasons to avoid travel to Bali and elsewhere in Indonesia: according to the Australian government, terrorists are in the 'advanced stages' of planning attacks. The warning has been updated appropriately. My question is this: if the Australian government can know that terrorists are in advanced stages of planning, should they be able to figure out what those plans are? Maybe I'm just missing something here...
Another trail in the news blows my mind: A Western Australian man accused of sexual acts with a child has been deemed too fat to attend trial in Brisbane, Queensland. The charges stem from an incident 20 plus years ago...I'm assuming he wasn't quite as fat then. Do not worry, however, justice hasn't been thwarted: a small legislative contingent will travel to WA to try the man. Good grief. Prison should thin him out a bit.
The drought situation continues to grow worse in many parts of Australia. To combat the effects the lack of rain is having on farms - and the economy, Emergency water is arriving for the towns running dry. 91% of NSW is now in a drought emergency and there are fears that a dramatic climate shift is now making farming and living in certain parts of the country no longer economically feasible.
In the United States, migrant Mexican workers do significant amounts of fruit picking, especially in California. In Australia, the government is hoping English backpackers will be able to fill the ranks by offering an extension on working holiday visas for a year for those who spend their first three months in the bush. The government is already seeing a large shift in people eager to participate in the program. I wonder about other backpacker jobs becoming saturated, however, if more and more travelers flood the country on working holiday visas. The time to participate in this program would be now, at the beginning.
Now that Bali is once again on the outs and Fiji has been long discovered, I predict that still-more-stable-than-PNG East Timor will be the next major tourism destination for beach-seeking Aussies. The IHT calls the place, a scruffy island paradise, which isn't a bad thing to be. Unfortunately, it's not 'easy' to travel in so it can't draw the honeymooning crowd yet, and what restaurants and accommodations they do have, they're expensive (catering to the UN and aid-worker crowd), so the backpackers haven't shown up either. Give it ten years, though, and it'll be the place to be.
Another Australian has been jailed for 20 years for attempting to send small amounts of heroin from Vietnam to Australia via photographs. The uber-dork and his 10-year-younger girlfriend were given the lightest sentence, with the ultimate penalty being death.
More good news for Indonesian tourism: as if enough people weren't avoiding Bali and the rest of the coutnry already, Australia says militants planning hotel attacks in Indonesia. Sources say that they're due to occur around noon at Jakarta hotels frequented by foreigners. What they're hoping to accomplish, I have no idea. Hopefully they'll be stopped and this will just be another empty threat.
Ever wondered why it is you got targeted at customs while the long-haired hippie backpacker slid right on through? An excellent article entitled, "Cold targeting: the front line" gives readers inside access to the jobs of customs officers trained in " observational and psychological techniques to recognise the out of place, the unusual" including dresses where the buttons were slightly too large (full of heroin), a group of men who all wore the same style of shoes (also carrying drugs) and a bodybuilder who had a pouchy stomach (was wearing strapped on narcotics). According to the article, they have "a pretty good idea about 90 per cent of the people who come through, so we know who we want to look at. There is a lot of information that we have before people arrive, so it's not just a gut feeling." Something to keep in mind the next time you're waiting for your baggage and shifting anxiously from foot to foot.
So these aren't directly related to the happenings in the Corby drama, but these articles are definitely spin offs. In Surfers know to lock their bags, the author uses the shitty and lazy lead of "WHEN it comes to international travel, the world's best surfers learned long before the Schapelle Corby case that it pays to lock your bag." Bag-wrapping service booms as travellers fear being next 'mule' is no big surprise, I must admit.
AN Irish backpacker who drowned at the Burren Junction bore baths on the weekend had been celebrating with a couple of mates after finishing a three month working contract cotton chipping on a local property.From Tragic end to adventure Down UnderThe 21-year-old, whose name has not yet been released, was swimming with two friends in the bore at about midnight after having dinner and drinks at the Junction City Hotel.
The local community is still coming to terms with the tragedy as police try to contact the young man's relatives in Ireland to notify them of his death.
Alcohol + water + dark = bad. Why do people think this equation is going to change?
Had your fill of the Corby coverage yet? If not, here are some select articles related to the trial:
Admission of guilt the key to severity of sentence, says Corby judge
Drug case tests improved Indonesia-Australia ties
Drug traffickers scourge of Bali visitors and locals
The Bali Backlash
Respect verdict - PM
Not everyone feels Corby hard done by
Had enough? Don't worry, I am sure this story will be around for awhile if you've not gotten your fill.
Well, you know, I'd have to agree with the wife on this one. $�m 'not enough' for husband death after he died in a plane crash piloted by a stoned and drunk captain. The couple had only been married for 5 days when the man, who was kind enough to give up his seat on an earlier flight so a family could travel together, died.
Well, I don't really know what these guys were thinking when they named their racing greyhound Navi Talim, or Ivan Milat (the name of a serial killer) backwards. If I had to guess, they probably thought they were being ingenious...or funny. After the expected outrage, the group changed Emma's (her 'real' or kennel name) racing name to the ever-so-scary Pooky Bear.
Despite claims that the bookings are not down, "Following the 20-year sentence handed down to 27 year-old Shapelle Corby for drug smuggling on Friday, May 27, the Bali tourism industry has expressed its dismay at reports in the Australian press of calls to boycott tourism in Bali." This is the only thing the Bali tourism board can really do, to be honest, but I don't think it's going to help them much if Australians - and others - do what the vocal group says they are going to do. Bali Tourism Leaders Urge Rationality
Nick over at Bali Blog has done an awesome job of covering the Corby case from his base in Bali. Of particular note is his conversation with her before sentencing, his time spent at the courtroom and his ideas on what people can do to help Corby. All of these threads have been very active, especially this one, where Nick asks Why she brought drugs into the country. I suggest checking them out if you have an interest in the case.
Trying to make a spash, the new Australian Traveller Magazine has kicked off their first issue with the snazzy title of: See it or Flee it - the good the bad and the butt ugly Australian destinations. Before your knickers get in a bunch, you should know that capitals were left out of the love-fest. "All top scorers featured a few things in common: a beautiful natural setting, harmonious and well-preserved architecture, good grub, a weekend's worth of stuff to see and do and (less vitally) a location within staggering distance of a winery." I am pleased to see that my fav area in the country rolls in at a nice #3 on the list.
With all the brew-haha regarding the Corby case, it isn't surprised that little 'ol NZ starts to wonder if they have to worry about baggage handlers stealing things and packing drugs. The bottom line is: they don't. Sure, there are some issues regarding theft, but that's more from sticky-fingered public than anyone else. Apparently there was a ring they broke up awhile back, but the 'intelligence' they have (ie. snitches? other thieves? what?) says there is nothing to worry about. Airport baggage security system in question
Hmmm...now this is interesting. Accoring to this article, as much as Corby and Corby supporters would like to think that people are avoiding Bali and causing trouble my depriving it of tourist dollars, the airline industry says otherwise. In fact, "Wholesalers contacted by balidiscovery.com reported either no cancellations or, at most, a handful of cancelled holidays that could be directly linked with the Corby case and the boycott call." Whoops. Then again, Balidiscovery.com would like to say that it's not working...just as much as the Australian media would like to say that it is. Here are some examples of what Australians are saying about the case.