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For most of us the Beijing Olympics are now just one of those fading memories of too many hours spent staring at the television, but Chinese officials are hoping that predictions of a boom in tourism following the Olympic Games turn out to be true. Tourism is a growing industry in China and hopes that it will become a major income source are high.

Before the Olympic Games, we heard stories about hotels being under-booked, security issues being worrying for tourists and problems with visas to get into China - especially for anyone trying to combine a business trip with an Olympic outing. There were also predictions of smog problems and pro-Tibet protestors causing disruptions but in the end, it has to be said that the Games ran remarkably smoothly. And from the Chinese point of view, one of their goals of increasing tourism for the longer term looks like it has been achieved.

After the Olympics Come the Tourists

Although a lot of travel operators and hoteliers overestimated the numbers of tourists who would come to China during the Olympic Games, all the research seems to say that those who invested in improving their services or upgrading their facilities will benefit from now on. They say that the number of tourists coming to China is likely to increase by five per cent for the next three years - the prediction is that because of the exposure China got from the Beijing Olympics, in 2009 a record number of 146 million tourists will come to take a look around China.

Paralympics Keeps Spotlight on China

And of course, the whole Olympic fever thing isn’t quite over yet. Tomorrow the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games will take place in Beijing and while the media coverage from this will not be anywhere near as extensive as for the Olympics, it will still serve to keep Beijing and China in the minds of potential tourists.

New Advertising Campaign Final Key in Chinese Tourism Push

As if both these large sports events weren’t enough, Chinese officials have been smart enough to add a major marketing campaign to the mix with the aim of further increasing tourism in China. The advertising campaign in the United States in conjunction with Time Warner and in Britain on the BBC are expected to help boost the numbers of Western tourists - desirable because apparently they spend more than other tourists.

There are hundreds of travel guides to the great continent Down Under, but not many that focus on the more unusual sightseeing spots like where you can watch the annual wheelbarrow pushing race, famous spots where miracles have taken place or where the oldest fish farm in the country is. If that’s the kind of sightseeing you’re after, then you need to read Cassowary Crossing: A Guide to Offbeat Australia by David Astle.

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Since Monday, many eyes have been on Hurricane Gustav as it barrels through the Caribbean and causes havoc for locals and tourists alike.

It’s not unexpected to have a storm like this at this time of year, and Gustav is the third hurricane of the 2008 season, but that doesn’t make it any easier to handle. The effects of Gustav are devastating, both in terms of tragic losses of human life, and economy damaging losses due to damage and lost income from tourists.

Preparations and Warnings in the Caribbean

The Cayman Islands have basically been closed for business since Wednesday. Additional flights were put on to enable tourists who were there to return home before the hurricane hit, and no further tourists will be allowed onto the islands until the risk has passed.

In Jamaica, responses have included diverting cruise ships to safer ports (mostly in Mexico) as well as issuing general alerts and warnings.

Gustav Makes Landfall in Haiti

The poor nation of Haiti has had the worst experience of Gustav so far, after the then tropical storm made landfall there on Tuesday. Unfortunately many local residents had ignored warnings to prepare for the storm and floods and mudslides caused the deaths of around 60 people.

Labor Day Weekend Fears

With the Labor Day weekend approaching, many tourist operators in the United States are also concerned that the hurricane will mean that visitor numbers will drop compared to what they’d usually expect over this normally very popular traveling weekend. Higher fuel prices have already meant that many people who would drive to states like Florida for the weekend have canceled their trips, and the hurricane threat is likely to make visitor numbers fall even further. With some areas already reporting losses after many travelers canceled last weekend because of fears about Tropical Storm Fay, it could be a financially stressful time for hurricane-affected tourist regions.

Tips for Tourists

Ring ahead if you are planning to travel to an area that might be affected by Gustav. Check both on the current situation there and what the cancellation policy is for your bookings. Many good hotels in hurricane-affected areas waive cancellation fees during a hurricane so you might find you don’t have to lose your deposits or be charged hefty fees. Some airlines are also offering one-off changes in policy like allowing you to change your ticket without paying a fee if it is to a hurricane-affected destination. Check if any insurance policy you have covers losses you might experience due to the hurricane.

The worst nightmare of many travelers happened again this week, with a plane crash killing 153 people, the vast majority of them tourists and holidaymakers.

Spanair Flight JK5022 Crashes

The Spanair Flight JK5022 from Madrid to Gran Canaria, a vacation island popular with Europeans almost took off at its scheduled time of 1.00pm, but the airplane returned from the runway telling passengers there were some technical troubles to be resolved. Satisfied that there was no danger, the plane then returned to take off about an hour and a half later but very soon after leaving the ground, the left engine appeared to catch fire and the plane crashed. The resulting fire meant that most of the passengers were unable to survive the incident.

What Really Happened on the Madrid - Gran Canaria Flight?

Like many airplane crashes, it takes time to piece together the real story of what occurred, and this incident is no exception. Even the cause of the inital troubles, which caused the pilots to abort the first take off attempt, is disputed across different media outlets. While most agree that there was a “red light alert”, there are different theories on exactly what the alert referred to. Some say it was a problem with a temperature gauge, while others cite a problem with the air intake system. Some say the problems were resolved, while others say that equipment or gauges were simply “turned off” because they were non-essential and not dangerous.

There has also been discussion about pilot decision making processes during the second take off. Witnesses and the few survivors say that the plane dipped from side to side before it finally crashed, and some say that this is a sign that the pilots were trying to take off without having gained enough speed, and a different quick-thinking pilot action could have prevented or at least improved the outcome of the crash.

What Does this Mean for Spanair?

Spanair is actually a subsidiary of SAS (Scandinavian Airline Systems), although since mid-2007 SAS have been trying to sell their interest. Before the crash, there was already discussion of a financial crisis for Spanair, and since the crash, there has been criticism that the planes they are using could be too old to be as safe as possible. There was also a very recent threat by Spanair’s pilots to strike. All these factors, combined with the fatal crash, mean that the future of Spanair is looking fairly bleak.

After months and months of rising gas prices, it looks as though things might be looking a little bit more positive. In the last few weeks most people across the United States have seen a fall in how much they have to spend to fill a tank - in some areas, gas prices have fallen as much as twenty per cent - and that’s been a welcome relief for those heading out on driving summer vacations. On top of that, the US dollar is looking stronger which is another bonus for travelers if they’re heading abroad.

But despite the current optimism, the reality that gas prices will not drop to former low levels seems to have sunk in, and it’s changing the way a lot of people travel.

One example is in the numbers of people using public transportation to travel medium and long distances, such as on Amtrak trains or Greyhound buses. In the last year, the numbers of riders has increased dramatically. Across the United States, the number of passengers riding on Amtrak has risen over 11 per cent just between October 2007 and July this year. Investigations seem to make it clear that the single biggest reason for more people to be using trains and buses for traveling is the high cost of gas - it’s now often considerably cheaper to ride a train or bus than it is to fill your car’s tank.

Another big change in the travel industry that rising gas prices have brought is in the area of RVs and campers. Sales of RVs are falling, especially for the largest motor homes which have become super expensive to haul around or drive. Fuel efficiency has suddenly become an important selling point and the industry is suffering. The segment that isn’t suffering, however, are manufacturers of more fuel-friendly campers and haulable tents. Small trailers that don’t add much to the fuel burden and convert into a trailer with a tent at night are becoming much more popular amongst road travelers.

Curiously, up in Canada, the trends are a little different. Studies are showing that despite rising fuel costs, Canadians are driving more and buying up big on less fuel efficient vehicles. With incomes rising 35 per cent in the last five years, most Canadians aren’t in a position where they need to look into ways to save money on their travels. If the current dip in price doesn’t last and gas prices head up higher, only then might the trends of the United States end up crossing the border and affecting Canadian travelers too.

Marc Llewellyn’s new book Finding Nino tells the story of Llewellyn, his wife, new-born baby and dog moving to the Italian island of Lipari. Spending a year or two in a Mediterranean country is not really the makings of a new and original travel story, although many of the most famous predecessors seem to focus on life in France rather than Italy, but Llewellyn does manage to put an original spin on the idea.

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Wherever you are in the world this week, everybody’s attention is heading for Beijing - especially today with the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games taking place. The latest travel news out of Beijing includes these stories:

Plenty of hotels have rooms available - and a lot of news reports mentioned that checking up on availability at hotels found that even for tonight, rooms were still available; and many hotels were now offering big discounts on the previously inflated prices for the Olympic Games period. Travelers who got organized early and booked ahead will probably be pretty annoyed now to see that the people in the next hotel room paid half the amount that they did.

Security has been tightened - especially after terrorist attacks in another part of China - and all the Olympic venues are now protected by police, tall fences, cameras and, apparently, even anti-aircraft missile batteries. The airport was shut down for the opening ceremony and high risk spots for demonstrations like Tiananmen Square were also completely closed off. Many people without tickets had also gathered outside the Olympic Stadium in the hours leading up to the opening ceremony but despite the peaceful nature of the gathering, police dispersed it. There are said to be 110,000 security personnel at work in Beijing right now.

The famous Beijing smog is there - despite desperate measures by the Chinese government to limit pollution from cars and factories in recent months, there have been plenty of reports of Beijing’s smog and complaints by many about the poor air quality and the risks and difficulties this will pose to athletes; strangely enough few tourists are protesting about it, but they probably should be!

Pro-Tibet protesters are also in Beijing - but some of them have already been rounded up and sent home. A British pair, for example, who climbed the Bird’s Nest stadium on Wednesday, unfurling Tibetan flags and two large banners, had their visas revoked and were sent back to Britain. In other parts of the world, such as in San Francisco at the Chinese Embassy, pro-Tibet protests are also taking place - here two protesters climbed on top of the consulate as part of a protest from their group “Students for a Free Tibet”.

Non-Olympic tourism has not been forgotten - for example, just in time for the influx of Olympic tourists, Beijing reopened Qianmen Street, a long strip of restaurants, markets and historical buildings. It had been undergoing extensive renovations and has now been remodeled to look as it did in its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s.

Travelers who teach English as a second language to get around are a dime a dozen, and more of them are producing books about their experiences: but Gillian Kendall’s Mr Ding’s Chicken Feet is a bit more than “just another English teacher’s trip”.

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Qantas might have been made famous by Dustin Hoffman’s character in Rainman when he repeated said he wanted to fly Qantas because “Qantas never crashed”, but anyone reading the headlines this week would have felt a bit less secure about flying on Australia’s national airline.

Hole in Side of Qantas Jet

The week started with an explosion in the side of a plane after it departed from Hong Kong, leaving a large hole in the side of the aircraft and causing it to suddenly drop twenty thousand feet. The oxygen masks were released and the cabin was cold and depressurized, but the pilots were able to make a safe emergency landing at Manila in the Philippines - and no passengers were hurt. After they disembarked and saw the extent of the damage, many were ill and in shock, but nothing worse. Investigations so far blame the explosion of an oxygen bottle for the emergency.

Unfortunately, the rest of the week kept Qantas in the headlines and another incident occurred to unsettle the flying public. A flight leaving Adelaide for Melbourne was forced to turn around and return to Adelaide and make an emergency landing because a door on a wheel bay had not closed. Such an incident would usually be insignificant but with the accident earlier in the week some passengers were too nervous to fly another Qantas jet and refused to board the replacement flight.

Other Problems for Qantas

As if airlines around the world didn’t have enough problems to deal with, especially in light of rising oil prices, once they hit the headlines for something then everyone finds a reason to complain - and the case of Qantas is no exception. This week they started using a new check-in system which has had some hiccups and seen economy class passengers bumped to later flights in favor of business class passengers, and an uproar began in the media over this.

Then a flight to Queenstown in New Zealand made the headlines because they had to divert to Christchurch and circle for an hour or so before landing, and because pilot left the seatbelt light on the entire time, many passengers were angry because they needed to go to the bathroom. Again, a small incident made bigger because we’re hungry for Qantas stories this week.

Qantas has still had no fatal accidents, so Dustin Hoffman’s character might still be right about Qantas being relatively safe to fly, but hearing stories about it in the headlines is certainly unsettling and might see some losses in passenger bookings for the carrier.

Mark Smith, also known as The Man in Seat 61, is iconic in European travelers’ circles for developing his incredibly comprehensive website, www.seat61.com. This site started as a kind of personal database explaining in a straightforward way how to travel by train anywhere in Europe, and now beyond as well. Smith’s personal preference for seat number 61 on the Eurostar train started the phenomenon and the website is the perfect first stop for anyone contemplating a rail journey. Read the full story