22 Feb, 2012
Chinese Online Travel Giant Ctrip Revenue Soars 21% in 2011
SHANGHAI, Feb. 21, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ — Ctrip.com International, Ltd. (Nasdaq: CTRP), a leading travel service provider of hotel accommodations, airline tickets, packaged tours and corporate travel management in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and the full year ended December 31, 2011. Highlights for the Fourth Quarter of 2011 Net [...]
more…22 Feb, 2012
Android Now the Most Targeted Mobile Platform by Cyber-criminals
SAN JOSE, Calif. and BEIJING, Feb. 22, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- A new report from NQ Mobile Inc., (NYSE: NQ), a leading global provider of consumer-centric mobile Internet services focusing on security and productivity, indicates that from 2010 to 2011, Android officially overtook Symbian as the most targeted mobile platform in more…22 Feb, 2012
UNCTAD’s Lone-Voice Early Warnings Ignored At First, But Proven Right Today
Geneva, 21 February 2012 – Experts marking the 30th anniversary of one of the world’s more influential economic annuals said Monday that themes long sounded in UNCTAD’s Trade and Development Report retain current prominence – particularly those citing the questionable wisdom of unbridled free markets. Other prominent themes concerned the more…21 Feb, 2012
Australia Proposes First Regulatory Package to Curb Problem Gambling
The Australian Government on 17 February released the draft National Gambling Reform Bills 2012 which will deliver long-lasting reforms to help the five million Australians affected by problem gambling. This is the first time the Commonwealth has taken national action to help problem gamblers and their families. The package is more…16 Feb, 2012
Israel’s Leaders Are The Real Liars — Times of India Commentator
15 February 2012 - In Oliver Stone’s JFK, Kevin Costner, playing an attorney who wants to dig out the truth behind President Kennedy’s assassination, meets X, a former CIA operative, to know who really pulled the trigger on JFK. ‘X’ chuckles and says, “The real question isn’t “Why?”… The “how” is more…15 Feb, 2012
Financial Markets A “Systemic Threat” To Global Economic Stability – UNCTAD Chief
Bangkok – Dr Supachai Panitchapakdi is not very well-known to most people in travel & tourism, except perhaps to my readers in Thailand. The 65-year-old former Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister was closely involved in rebuilding the devastated Thai economy in the wake of 1997 currency attack by more…13 Feb, 2012
What’s Cooking? New Study on Food Trends Can Boost Culinary Tourism
What and how we eat today might look quite baffling to anyone who’s missed the past decade: buying gluten-free treats from a food truck, for instance, or “Foodspotting” an order of locally sourced, heirloom vegetables. Yet at the same time we’re reconnecting with our past, looking to eat more communally more…11 Feb, 2012
Islamophobia is America’s Real Enemy
The hysterical campaign to stigmatise US Muslims poses a far greater threat than radicalisation to America's civic union. Daisy Khan is executive director and co-founder of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and co-founder of the Cordoba Initiative 9 February 2012 -- A report released this week has at last confirmed what more…10 Feb, 2012
India-ASEAN Links Grow: Myanmar A New “Bridge”, Bangkok A New Hub
BANGKOK - The Look East Policy of India and the Look India Policy of ASEAN will combine the 600 million population of ASEAN and the 1.2 billion population of India into a multi-dimensional cooperative network. Two important developments to watch are the emergence of Myanmar as a bridgehead between South more…10 Feb, 2012
Australia Invites Comments on “Asian Century” Issues Paper
Canberra, February 9 2012 (Australian Ministry of Trade Press Release) - Australian Trade Minister Craig Emerson on February 10 will meet peak business and industry associations to canvass their views on the 'Australia in the Asian Century' White Paper. The meeting will include high-level representatives from the agriculture, mining, services more…8 Feb, 2012
Australian Inbound-Outbound Movements: 10-Year Analysis
CANBERRA - Figures on international movements through Australian border crossings over the last 10 years show some remarkable changes. Short-term visitor arrivals from Japan, once the blue-eyed boy of Asia-Pacific tourism, have fallen from 673,600 in 2001 to 332,600 in 2011 with a commensurate fall in market share from 13.9% more…8 Feb, 2012
China Again Blasts EU: Cannot Act As Sole Toll Bearer of the Skies
Full Text of Commentary reprinted in the official Chinese publication People's Daily Online Beijing - China has taken a tough stance against the EU charges on carbon emissions from flights in and out of the EU by forbidding domestic airlines from taking part in the carbon-emissions system on Monday. According to more…7 Feb, 2012
Asia, Emerging Markets Led Air Travel Surge in 2011: World Airports Report
Montreal, 3 February 2012 (Airports Council International) – The international traveller is leading the global growth curve in passenger traffic since the stock of international passengers has risen by almost 7 percent year over year in December 2011. Overall passenger traffic posted gains of 5 percent for both the month of more…6 Feb, 2012
China Hits Back, Bans Airlines From Paying EU Carbon Tax
BEIJING, 6 February 2012, (Xinhua News Agency) - China's airlines are not allowed to pay a charge on carbon emissions imposed by the Europe Union (EU), and neither to hike freights nor to add other fees accordingly without government permission, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said Monday. The more…4 Feb, 2012
New Report Out: European Tourism 2011 – Trends & Prospects
Brussels, 30 January 2012. (www.visiteurope.com) - Although 2011 will prove to have been a record year for travel to Europe, the latest report by the European Travel Commission says that the Eurozone economic crisis is set to have a significant impact in 2012. According to Leslie Vella, Chairman, ETC Market Intelligence more…1 Feb, 2012
Feb 4: US Activist Groups Invite World to Join Protests Against Attack on Iran
Source: International Action Center A broad spectrum of U.S.-based anti-war organizations, including the IAC, agreed on a Jan. 17 conference call to hold coordinated protests across the country on Saturday, Feb. 4. The demands will be: “No war, no sanctions, no intervention, no assassinations against Iran.” The ad-hoc group that took part more…31 Jan, 2012
Thai Professor Alerts Travel Industry to Impact of Attack on Iran
BANGKOK - A prominent Thai economics professor has alerted the Thai tourism industry to the impact of an Israeli attack on Iran, including high oil prices and the dangers of a wider conflict. Addressing the joint annual meeting of the Thai Hotels Association and Association of Thai Travel Agents on Jan more…30 Jan, 2012
Former Thai Tourism Chief Says Industry Has “Lost Focus,” Needs New Roadmap
(First in a multi-part series of dispatches on the Thai tourism industry 25 years after Visit Thailand Year) BANGKOK: 25 years after the historic 1987 Visit Thailand Year, a number of industry veterans are voicing concern about the state of the industry and its future directions. With the number of arrivals more…27 Jan, 2012
Financial Short-Termism Obstructs Sustainable Change in Business: Experts
Nairobi/ Paris, 26 January 2012 - Financial short-termism represents a critical barrier to businesses’ transition to sustainability, according to a new poll. The latest wave of The Sustainability Survey - GlobeScan and SustainAbility’s regular survey of attitudes across businesses, NGOs, academia and government - reveals that a very large majority more…25 Jan, 2012
Labour Leaders Demand Jobs, Growth And Equity In Davos
25 January 2012 (ITUC, WEF media releases): The international union movement has put its case for the reform of capitalism at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week with five principles for dealing with current economic challenges. Addressing political and business chiefs, trade union leaders from Indonesia, USA and more…24 Jan, 2012
Western Economic Crisis Has Cost 27 Million Jobs, And It’s Not Over Yet
The global economic crisis increased the number of total unemployed by 27 million, raising to 1.1 billion people the number of people out of work, most of them young people, women and those already poor, according to a blistering report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), a United Nations agency. more…23 Jan, 2012
World Economic Forum: Most Global Experts Fear Looming Geopolitical Disruption
Davos-Klosters, Switzerland, 23 January 2012 (World Economic Forum media release) – Fear among international experts of a major geopolitical disruption over the next 12 months has risen significantly to 54%, just as confidence in the state of global cooperation has dropped, according to the World Economic Forum’s third Global Confidence more…20 Jan, 2012
Post-floods Thai Tourism Surged 46% in Dec 2011, Arrivals Hit Record 19 mln
BANGKOK: After slumping in October and November 2011 due to the flooding crisis, visitor arrivals to Thailand rebounded by 46.2% in December 2011. The odds-defying surge allowed Thailand to end the year with a record 19.09 million arrivals, up 19.8% over 2010. more…19 Jan, 2012
India’s “People Power” Diaspora Now A Major Agent Of Change
JAIPUR, Rajasthan: When the Q&A began after one of the plenary sessions at the overseas Indian diaspora caucus on January 9, the first person to raise her voice was Dr Rashmi Dickinson, a former Hampstead, UK-based cardiologist. After narrating a brief story about her career in the UK, she said more…16 Jan, 2012
World Economic Forum Lists 50 Biggest Global Risks, Cites “Seeds of Dystopia”
The 7th Global Risks report issued by the World Economic Forum last week could be a watershed in the history of such reports. Alongside a listing of 50 of the most pressing risks facing the world, the report for the first time mentions the word “dystopia”, defined by the Oxford more…15 Jan, 2012
Professor Lists 10 Reasons Why The U.S. Is No Longer The Land Of The Free
In the decade since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has comprehensively reduced civil liberties in the name of an expanded security state, and is now in the same "troubling company" as Russia, China, Cuba, Iran and other countries it criticises, according to Jonathan Turley, the Shapiro Professor of Public more…10 Jan, 2012
India Again Presses The Point, Cites High Economic Cost of Gulf Conflict
Jaipur, January 9 - For the second day running, India reiterated its concern for the safety and welfare of its six million strong diaspora in the Gulf, this time couching it in terms of their importance to the national economy. Addressing representatives of the Indian diaspora in the Gulf attending more…8 Jan, 2012
India Warns Against Gulf Conflict, But Prepares for Another Evacuation Operation
JAIPUR, Jan 8, 2012: Voicing concerns about the safety of millions of Indian migrant workers and citizens in the Gulf, Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh today sent a strong warning signal to the various countries against triggering yet another conflict there, but said that an evacuation plan has been more…5 Jan, 2012
25 Years After “1987 Visit Thailand Year”, New Tourism Era Set to Dawn?
BANGKOK - Recent announcements by the Thai travel & tourism industry indicate that a long-overdue mindset-change is under way in the future approach to development and sustainability. After spending 25 years since 1987 Visit Thailand Year (VTY) doing heavy-duty marketing, the Thai tourism industry is poised to enter a new more…5 Jan, 2012
The Only English-language Books Ever Written About Historic 1987 Visit Thailand Year
Way back in 1987, Travel Impact Newswire Executive Editor Imtiaz Muqbil was the only industry journalist to realise the long-term significance of Visit Thailand Year, and how the momentous event would forever change both the country and the industry. To help this foresight benefit future generations, he chronicled the historic tourism more…21 Dec, 2011
