I’ve noticed an interesting trend in the business side of the travel world which reflects the mentality of travelers out there. These trends can also, if looked at correctly, allow insight into where to expect great deals in the future and where to avoid tourists.

Thomas Cook, a major European travel firm, recently announced that they are cutting back on short haul flights from the UK to central Europe due to the pound losing value against the dollar. According to Thomas Cook, European travelers prefer to pay more to get to countries where their money goes farther.

This is an interesting mentality in that it underscores the fact that travelers, at least European ones, regard travel as more of a necessity as opposed to a luxury. People are willing to pay the premium of a long haul flight and potentially hedging their costs by visiting countries where their money can go farthest. This ‘strategy’ doesn’t imply that it would be cheaper to do so as opposed to going to somewhere in central Europe, it simply means that for roughly the same amount of money travelers would pay to spend their vacation in Europe, they are able to experience more somewhere farther away and more exotic. Those travelers who would still prefer to stay in Europe are making their way to eastern European countries like Turkey and Croatia. These countries still offer vacationers value for their money.

The obvious economic factors such as the strength of the Euro, gas prices etc. are impacting the movement of travelers away from countries which traditionally have generated strong tourism revenues. This can have a significant impact on countries such as Spain and Greece. The Balearic islands have been a favorite travel destination for many UK travelers, but this year, due to the afore mentioned economic factors, Spain can expect a smaller British invasion. As for Greece, still reeling from the damages from the forest fires, the impact of tourism being diverted is a reality which is hard to swallow. A significant amount of tourism revenue which could be used to rebuild and reinvest into Greece’s tourism infrastructure could be redirected to the coffers of other countries such as Thailand, Mexico and the Caribbean countries.

Third world destinations such as Thailand, Mexico and the Caribbean would do well to push marketing efforts in European countries at the moment. Perhaps not so much Thailand since they are coming out of a record year, it has always been a popular destination and their economy is doing quite well (which to me is another indicator of things to come – I’ll save that for another posting), but Mexico and the Caribbean, in fact, any country that relies on US tourism revenue, could benefit on the current state of the tourism world. These countries meet most of what European travelers are looking for:

1. Cost effective travel where their money can go a long way

2. Countries which have significant amounts of promotions due to the fact that their reliance on American travelers may impact their revenue stream given the state of the US economy and

3. They are far away and exotic.

When taken on an aggregate, tourism revenue on a global basis continues to increase exponentially. Meaning, there is always money being poured into travel and that on a whole, people are traveling more. It is more the movement of revenue which highlights and impacts a lot of destinations and determines where a majority of travelers end up vacationing. So if we can understand the movement of money we can understand the movement of travelers. Likewise, politics and social environments determine movement as well. Therefore, I believe, it is safe to say that if you want to travel off of the beaten path, understanding these factors could help you find some places where tourists won’t tread, for now at least.

So when are they going to turn the International Space Station into a 5 star hotel? You need to have somewhere to stick the in-law’s after all!!

Here in Washington, DC the splashing water can only be heard in stories and memories of those who had the opportunity to witness the madness of the Buddhist celebration. Nevertheless, Song Kran has its place in the district. Every year Wat Thai DC (a Thai Buddhist temple in the suburbs of Washington) celebrates Song Kran by having their own festival on the temple grounds.

The insanity of the water fights does not exist here, instead, the Song Kran festival focuses on prayers, performances, and of course food. The later being the highlight for many local Thais, Thai-Americans and the general public that make their way over. Stalls are set up throughout the temple grounds selling all sorts of food and wares from all over Thailand. This is, for many, is the one opportunity to indulge in delicacies that fans of Thai food in the US would be hard pressed to find anywhere.

Take for example, Kanom Krok. I have been dreaming of returning to my favorite Kanom Krok vendor who can be found in the first line of stalls at the main entrance of the Chatuchak market in Bangkok (near the Skytrain platform) since I left in 2000. To my great surprise I found a Kanom Krok vendor at the Wat Thai on Songkran and needles to say I was more than willing to pay the premium (which was $5 for 10 pieces and about a 30+ minute wait in line) to get my hands on them.

Kanom Krok is a sweet coconut mixture which is cooked in a cast iron, molded pan. They are topped with scallions and sometimes dried shrimp. When cooked they are a little crunchy on the outside and have a jelly-like consistency on the inside. Absolutely fantastiche! You can find Kanom Krok street vendors all over Bangkok and they are priced at around 10-20 Baht for 8-10 pieces (about a quarter to fifty cents).

All the different dishes at the festival were great and sold for around $5. There may not have been a water fight, but with all that delicious food around, who wants one?

*For more information go to www.watthaidc.org

It is always interesting to hear a pro’s experience in the travel world. As I mentioned in the previous posting Andrew Zimmern was at this Adventure Expo in DC. I had the opportunity to meet him and talk for a little. First off, he is a really nice guy – doesn’t come off as pretentious or anything. It turns out that his travel background is pretty similar to mine in that we both had fathers that insisted on the importance of experiencing what the specific place is all about.

In Zimmern’s experience, his family would travel everywhere and along the way they would stop by a specific restaurant that his father had researched to sample their specialty cuisine. He explained how, as a child going to all these different restaurants, there would be the natural tendency to go for the hot dog or pizza or something familiar. His father on the other hand would insist on trying whatever the house specialty was. As a young child, Zimmern learned how myopic the United States was when it came to food. During his presentation, he explained how the US is the only country in the world where fresh milk (straight from the animal) was illegal and where chicken breast comes wrapped in plastic. His childhood experiences inevitably led Zimmern to where he is now, hosting Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel. The success of which, he points out, has to do with the myopic US environment. “The United States is now just getting into organic and around the corner food. The rest of the world has been doing that for centuries…” Zimmern says.

My father was very similar in that not only would he insist we try the local specialties but he would do his best to avoid the luxurious tourism spots – mostly to the dismay of my mother. He didn’t feel that those types of experiences, although they have their place, didn’t represent the people and their culture which we were visiting. My father’s style of traveling introduced to me what the definition of what a traveler is. The details were filled in by other travelers and experience on the road itself provided its true meaning to me.

Here is a bad picture of Zimmern and myself. I was unhappy with the fact that my eyes were closed so I decided to take a picture with the pretty carnival lady from Aruba to make up for it- and to promote tourism to the Caribbean of course! I apologize for the poor picture quality, I had to use my cellphone.

I made it to the Adventures in Travel Expo here in Washington, DC last weekend and was quite impressed at the turn out. There were a significant number of reps from tourism boards, agencies, operators and gear outfitters. The amount of effort being poured into the marketing systems for these organizations has taken a significant jump. You can tell just by looking around that everyone in the travel industry is bracing for impact but at the same time they are being proactive about the state of the world economy and actually are reaching out to people.

Representatives from the Caribbean nations were out in full force as were the reps from Central America. I was surprised to see that there weren’t as many South American operators/officials but in hindsight, South American nations don't rely heavily on the US for tourism revenue. There was a significant showing of representatives from the African nations, which would make complete sense since restoring tourist confidence in the African tourism structure should be a major focus in the region. The political upheavals in Kenya did a very good job of taking that confidence away, resulting in significant economic losses for Kenya its surrounding neighbors such as Tanzania.

Some of the keynote speakers included Andrew Zimmern - host of the Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods show and Tony Wheeler – Founder of Lonely Planet Publications. They provided some great insights into the world of Travel media and the travel landscape as we know it.

Despite their insight I found that the true indicators of where the travel world was headed could be found in the crowd itself. First off, there was a good amount of people, which means that there was a lot of ‘shopping’ going around. Members of the crowd were carrying multiple plastic bags filled with publications and other marketing ‘goodies.’ To me this says a couple of things:

1. People could actually be looking to get away for a little bit
2. People need good bathroom reading material with beautiful pictures of exotic places
3. People are always going to be interested in the possibility of and Adventure of a Lifetime experience. Who isn’t?
4. Everyone is always looking for a good travel deal
5. It is not that hard to reach out to people because the interest in travel will never go away.

In this slowing economy it is obvious that people will always make an allowance for a getaway no matter how quick. If they can’t afford to, they will save to go at a later time. It is right now, though, that most people do their travel research and begin to formulate their plans. Likewise, this is the perfect time for all travel firms and tourism boards to show the best that they can offer in order to attract the attention of the millions of travelers ready to hit the road .