It has, to use an understatement, been a very strange year for tourism. Certainly International tourism has taken a severe hit from the global pandemic. That applies to incoming visitation to the USA from overseas, as well as outbound tourism. My contacts tell me that even the movement of leisure travelers within the country has … Continue reading September 2020
Travel has been an ever changing activity since the first ‘tourists’ started taking the Grand Tour around Europe in the 18th century. First, they went by horse drawn carriages but by the mid 1800s they were traveling on the newly laid railroads and that essentially continued through to World War 2. That event effectively brought … Continue reading August 2020
It would be wonderful if I could give you the latest updates on local and world tourism but things move so quickly these days that there may well have been changes by the time I get to the end of the article! Luckily I can share some good news about our local area. The Northern … Continue reading July 2020
What does a committed and passionate traveler do when they they can’t travel? Well, as I’ve admitted in previous editions of Conexión you plan your next trips of course. In my case you also look back on past expeditions and seek inspiration from other peoples experiences. I’ve been revisiting shows and documentaries about travel. Through … Continue reading June 2020
Last month I was suggesting that we should spend our time in isolation planning our future trips. I stand by that as planning is as much of the journey as the trip itself. Of course it’s also fun, so plan away! As I type this there are signs that some countries and indeed some areas … Continue reading May 2020
You may wonder why Conexión is having a Let’s Talk Tourism column at the moment. Well, despite the confusing and worrying times we’re all living through at the moment, as the saying goes “This too will pass”. As has always been the case, tourism will restart and we’ll all be getting out and about again. … Continue reading April 2020
We all know that our region gets a huge number of tourists. Nothing new there. However it’s interesting to see some of the details. The University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management have recently released a report on the impact that the vacation rental industry has on the Florida economy. Although the report … Continue reading March 2020
It’s amazing how quickly things change isn’t it? Last month I wrote about the growth in tourism world wide and about trends in tourism here on the Northern Gulf Coast. Particularly I pointed out that Chinese tourism had grown from 47 million in 2009 to 166 million in 2019 and was on track for 400 … Continue reading February 2020
Happy New Year! Well, actually Happy New Decade. As we start 2020 I got to thinking how much has changed from a tourism point of view in the past ten years. It appears to have changed quite a lot. One of the words (two words in fact!) that has been used a lot towards the … Continue reading January 2020
How many times have you heard people say that the journey is as important as the destination? I looked to see if there were any relevant quotes but it appears that every notable person in history has said the same thing! Of course most were what we call these days ‘inspirational quotes’ and none appeared … Continue reading December 2019