Lee Foster (fostertravel.com)

Beijing Olympics and World Travel

2008-08-27T11:27:52-07:00

The success of the Beijing Olympics is likely to have many profound and far reaching effects on world travel.

The worldwide TV audience has been alerted to the splendors of China, such as the Xian Terracotta Warriors and the Great Wall. It is likely that demand for China travel will grow.

The world also sees the prodigious modern wealth of China. Outbound Chinese travelers to the rest of the world will be an increasing aspect of world travel. My own hometown nearby city, San Francisco, is favorably poised to be a longterm recipient of these Chinese who want to see the world beyond China.

China’s role in the worldwide arts scene has been augmented. A country that can put on that opening and closing ceremony show can do just about anything in the arts. China will be going for the gold in the arts and in other intellectual pursuits as well as in athletics.

China has shown that it is no longer technologically backwards. China is state of the art in modern technology. When China puts its own astronauts on the Moon, this will be confirmed to the worldwide audience. My first impression of China some 25 years ago, in my first visit, was that I was surrounded in Beijing by perhaps a million well-educated young people, with their university degrees, impatient to participate in the modern China transformation. They are now in charge.

That China can now win more gold medals in sports than any other country is an astonishing stride. When I first went to China, the country was still relatively backwards. Now, Beijing and Shanghai are thoroughly modern cities. The ability of the Chinese to focus on progress, in sports or any other sector, is truly wondrous. The maglev train that takes people to the Shanghai airport is world-class transportation infrastructure.

China has already established itself as an honest merchant, offering good value at a favorable price. I recently printed a book in China, my title Travels in an American Imagination. The quality of the color photos in the book and the overall quality of the printing experience made me want to do business with them again.

I have been to China three times, about 25 years ago to see the icons of China, about 15 years ago to see China after the Beijing political incidents, and then about five years ago to see the Three Gorges Dam. Each trip has been a major life experience for me. You can read of my trips and see some photos with the links.

As China feels better about itself, feels more confident and proud, its positive contribution on the world stage will increase. China has never been an aggressive country, historically. Indeed, the issue has always been—is there anything of interest to China beyond China? China is a world unto itself. A confident China will not do something rash, like trying to take over Taiwan by force rather than peaceful unification. I wish that Russia was as confident, and not nurturing a grudge that it has become a threatened backwater region, unappreciated, increasingly threatened on its western side. People and countries that feel good about themselves are better citizens in the world scene.

Solar Electric Production in Death Valley

2008-08-09T20:56:41-07:00

If you happen to travel to Death Valley in the near future, you will be able to see one of the world’s largest arrays of solar photovoltaic panels.

Xanterra, the concessionaire that runs the park, has covered five acres with the solar cells. That’s about five football fields. The entire park is 3.3 million acres.

Death Valley happens to be one of the sunniest places in the country, so solar electric makes sense here.

The system will generate one megawatt, which is about 1/3 of all the electricity needed to run the various Death Valley facilities, including Furnace Creek Inn, Furnace Creek Ranch, Furnace Creek Golf Course, and various employee offices and housing.

If there is a larger solar array at any U.S. tourism entity, I am not aware of it.

It is difficult to imagine and describe the effect of this solar array, which is fed right into the Southern California electric grid rather than stored in batteries.

It is said that the array will eliminate the emission of 29,000 tons of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and sulfur dioxide, primary contributors to global warming, acid rain, and smog.

That’s roughly the equivalent of removing 5,100 cars from the roadways of California.

If these kinds of large solar arrays become viable, we could see the deserts of California emerge as a “harvestable” area, with sunlight as the crop.

I look forward to seeing these solar cells when I go back to update my coverage of Death Valley, which is at

www.fostertravel.com/temp-CADEAT.html

Institute For Travel Writing and Photography

2008-07-27T11:12:16-07:00

Anyone who wants to comprehend the real world of travel writing and photography would benefit from attending the 14th annual Institute For Travel Writing and Photography, sponsored by the Society of American Travel Writers.

I am one of the founders of this structure, which began in Boise, Idaho 14 years ago. Today I am a specialist in web publishing and in travel photography creation and marketing as the various faculty members divide responsibilities.

Whether you are a beginner thinking of a career in travel writing/photography or a seasoned pro looking to upgrade your skills for the new media, the Institute can meet your needs. The Institute is set up to assist perhaps 60 registrants a year to become more savvy professionals.

Here is the press release for the next event, which will be in Orlando in January 2009. Contact Herb Hiller, as mentioned at the end of this press release. If you have any questions, feel free also to contact me, Lee Foster, 510-549-2202, or lee@fostertravel.com.

Leading Writers and Photographers Convene
14th Annual Program for Careers in Travel Journalism January in Orlando

The 14th annual Society of American Travel Writers’ Institute for Travel Writing & Photography will take place January 9-11, 2009, in Orlando, Florida, with a faculty that includes leading North American travel writers and photographers.

New faculty members this year will include award-winning broadcast journalist and website producer-publisher Bea Broda, and Florida expert Sandra Friend, author of some 20 books, 12 of which cover Florida travel and the outdoors.

They join established faculty members who include USA Today Deputy Managing Editor for Travel Veronica Stoddart; online travel journalism pioneer Lee Foster; self-publishing authority M. Timothy O’Keefe; award-winning guidebook expert Christopher P. Baker, and University Press of Florida Editor-in-Chief John W. Byram, among others.

Open to beginners and experienced professionals alike, the Institute is considered North America’s foremost program dedicated to assisting aspiring travel writers and photographers launch successful careers, while providing established professionals with the latest tools, insights, and tips for greater success in today’s unpredictable media times.

“From the beginning, the Institute has emphasized the career aspects of travel writing and photography,” says Institute chair Herb Hiller, author of two top-prize books and past contributor to The Atlantic, National Geographic Traveler and The Washington Post.

“It’s all about guiding the ship, not getting rocked by the boat.”

Faculty members will teach classes on marketing, working with editors and publishers, self-publishing, developing Internet opportunities, negotiating contracts, selling photography and travel video production.

A keynote speaker still to be announced will open the Institute, whose supporters include the Orlando Downtown Development Board and Orlando/Orange County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Recent speakers have included Arthur Frommer and National Geographic Traveler Editor-in-Chief Keith Bellows.

Registration costs $395 and includes most meals. Sessions take place at the Courtyard by Marriott Orlando Downtown

For further information, visit the Institute’s website at www.satwinstitute.org, or contact Hiller at hiller@funport.net, or 386/467-8223.

The Future of Travel Journalism

2008-07-13T07:27:00-07:00

There is much discussion nowadays about the phenomenon of crowdsourcing, meaning the increasing number of publications that generate their content for free from the users, the public, the ireporters, etc. There is also much discussion about travel journalists who give away their content for free, for various reasons, and whether there is any “grand design” of later monetizing in their visions.

As a contribution to the discussion, I submit the following for your consideration:

A Modest Proposal

Given the rush to crowdsourcing and the new champions of the concept of giving away travel writing/photo content for free, possibly a new travel writer organization is required.

It could be called the Society of American Travel Writing Hobbyists or SATWH for short.

The main criteria for membership would be that a candidate send in a notarized document indicating his or her financial support, certifying the candidate as a true hobbyist. The organization would not want any for-profit journalists infiltrating the group.

The form for membership could have a simple checkoff list.

“I certify that my financial support is from funds other than selling travel journalism. I attest that I have sufficient funds to support my lifestyle from

__trust fund
__retirement pension income
__spousal support
__past business entrepreneurial efforts
__recent inheritance
__won the lottery

I warrant that I am not in this travel writing activity to make a buck.”

The organization could also have a new branch of Associate members, which would be those new magazines that will spring up to publish content from hobby travel journalists and charge only a small fee. This is the progressive new pay-for-placement model that we have heard so much about. This model would be greatly beneficial to the hobby travel journalist, for example, wishing to take a few $3,000 cruises, which he or she would get because of the successful placement of cruise content in the new-style magazines. Since the hobby travel writer may wish to take a spouse, the value, of course, would be $6,000. Magazines that wanted to join the new SATWH organization in this new category of Associate membership would have to certify the following:

“Our pay-for-placement fees will never exceed 50% of the net value of the free travel that placement in our magazine earns for our writers.”

A sliding 50% scale would be the only fair way to charge writers for their placements.

For example, $3,000 would be the writer’s fee payable to the magazine for the $6,000 cruise trip.

For a simple article on a weekend getaway, where the writer’s value in the B&B hosting and in hosted dining might only be $500, the sliding scale payment that the magazine would require of the writer would only be $250.

Hobbyist travel writers would need to pay magazines the fees up front, of course, when their content is accepted. The concept of payment on acceptance has always been cherished by writers. The pay-for-placement system works based of the projected future value that hobbyist travel journalists will get from hosted trips. This is an important aspect of the “new professionalism” we have heard so much about. This “new professionalism” separates the dedicated and passionate hobbyist from the mere dilettante.

Death in the Family, Cody's, De Lauer's, and Tax Injustice

2008-06-30T14:04:35-07:00

Those of us who live in the Bay Area of CA, and have a longterm interest in the distribution of travel books and travel magazines, as well as a general interest in the distribution of all books and magazines, note with much sadness the commercial passing of two landmarks, Cody’s and Delauer’s.

Cody’s has been one of the leading independent bookstore voices in the U.S. from time immemorial. Cody’s on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley was a major force in the last half of the 20th century. But times changed. Telegraph grew inhospitable, overrun with the homeless, among other issues, and Cody’s morphed to the trendy 4th Ave in Berkeley, and then also branched out to San Francisco, and then retreated from both of these to take a last stand on Shattuck Ave in downtown Berkeley. The final Cody’s store on Shattuck closed this week.

One aspect of this death is the gross injustice of taxation burden imposed on Cody’s, but not on its Internet competitor, Amazon. People came into Cody’s or come in Book Passage in Marin County, another major player, and browse. They love all the author programs. The love to look at books and sip a cappuccino. But they don’t buy their books there because they have to pay an additional 8.75% sales tax. On Amazon, there is no sales tax. California desperately needs tax revenue for basic services, yet all the books sold on Amazon and shipped to CA generate $0 in tax revenue. This structural issue also wipes out the local economy, pushing Cody’s in bankruptcy.

A similar adverse tax structure damages my purchases of photo equipment in CA. My best place to buy a new $1,800 Nikon D300 camera would be at Calumet in San Francisco. But I have to pay 8.75% sales tax. I will buy over the Internet from B&H in New York to avoid the sale tax. This is arbitrary and unjust, and damages the local economy, and deprives CA of the tax revenue needed for basic services. It is a mystery to me why Internet sale continues to be seen as a sacrosanct area where no sales tax should be collected.

The death this week of De Lauer’s Super Newsstand in Oakland, after 101 years, is a parallel story. Over the years, I have enjoyed going to De Lauer’s to get magazines, though they also sold books. They had every magazine in existence. But the magazine world is changing. Internet access to specialty magazines has cut into the print versions, which De Lauer’s sold. Fewer people today actually pick up a magazine in a magazine store, especially where they have to pay an extra sales tax.

Wise governance in the society should have closed this tax loophole a decade ago. But that didn’t happen. So we are left to survey the local tragedies.

Cruise Outlook 2008

2008-06-12T11:47:43-07:00

Despite the turmoil in travel affecting travel in general, the cruise industry appears to be fairly well positioned to ride out the energy costs storm, at least for awhile.

My colleagues in the cruise world, CLIA, the Cruise Lines International Association, have released their current assessment of the scene, and it is a rosier prognosis than that supplied by some other sectors in travel.

In 2007, 9.57 million Americans took a cruise.

Most of the business continues to go through professional travel agents, especially the 16,000 CLIA affiliates. A traveler can buy a Southwest airline ticket online, no travel agent needed, but for a multi-thousand dollar cruise purchase, a local travel pro adds a major comfort level to the transaction.

One interesting demographic from this year's report is that the median age of cruisers continues to drop. The average cruiser is now only 46, down from 49 in 2006. The old perception that cruising was just for geriatrics is dying. The number of kids on a typical cruise is also growing.

The Caribbean, followed by Alaska, and then Hawaii, Europe, and the Mediterranean/Greek Islands are the major places to cruise.

Nervousness about travel costs and disgust with the hassles of air travel are also a part of the success of cruising. With about 30 embarkation points around the US, a lot of cruisers can get to an embarkation in their cars, and they like that freedom. Once on the ship, of course, there are no more airline-style irritations to absorb during the vacation.

Death in the Forest

2008-05-30T21:44:59-07:00

I had an unusual experience this past week while visiting the great redwood forest at Muir Woods north of San Francisco.

I went for two mornings to walk in the forest and make some photographs as I work on a new travel book about Northern California.

By the end of the first day, I sensed that something was different in the forest. It was not as lush and green as I had remembered it. I seemed to have trouble finding a clean and uncluttered shot, without debris.

As I left at the end of the first morning, I took a closer look. I noticed that a lot of the trees in the understory, especially the tanoak trees, were actually dead. Their deadly remains were cluttering up my photos. It suddenly occurred to me to ask a ranger, "Is this the sudden oak death syndrome that I have heard so much about, but have never seen?"

The ranger confirmed, "You guessed it. Muir Woods happens to be ground zero for this new plant disease."

When I came back the second day, the full scale of the problem hit me, and I got an information sheet from the Muir Woods ranger. I also realized that I could be part of the problem, transporting the disease beyond Muir Woods. I made my photos, but they are not as lush and competitive as photos made a few years ago when the forest was healthy.

Here is what I learned:

Sudden Oak Death (SOD) is a new plant disease killing oak and tanoak trees and adversely affecting 11 additional plant species.

The disease is caused by the pathogen Phytophtora ramorum, but was given the name Sudden Oak Death becuase the trees change rapidly in appearance from green and healthy looking to brown as leaves dry up and die.

No effective treatment is now known.

SOD is now active in 12 counties in Northern CA, virtually all the counties in the greater Bay Area.

Though tanoak, black oak, and coast live oak are among the most obvious victims, there are actually 16 plants known to be affected, and this includes bay laurel, madrone, manzanita, coast redwood, toyon, and buckeye, among others.

The consequences of Sudden Oak Death include increased risk of wildfires, risk of trees falling over and endangering people and property, visual degradation of the California landscape, and impacts on wildlife dependent on the oaks.

There is a California Oak Mortality Task Force (COMTF) and an active website at

http://www.suddenoakdeath.org

Moreover, I was part of the potential problem in spreading the oak illness. I was advised to wash soil off my shoes, car tires, and tools (such as my tripod) after walking through this infected area, Muir Woods.

One wonders if and when Sudden Oak Death will be resolved. Meanwhile, the forest has a pervasive look of death with many leafless skeletons of oak trees, especially the tanoak.

Travel, Earthquakes, and Northern California

2008-05-19T18:33:22-07:00

A traveler to Northern California needs to factor in some risk of earthquakes, whether you are a visitor to the region or someone living here, as I am, and traveling about.

The massive recent quake in China brought this again to top of mind.

I also traveled this past weekend on the 880 freeway between my home in Berkeley and San Jose.

This was the freeway that collapsed in the Loma Prieta quake of 1989, crushing all the people who happened to be traveling by in their cars at that moment. I was not driving by at that moment. My good friend Robert Black, a sculptor, was also not driving by at that time, though that was the usual time of his commute. He was distracted that day and stayed at his studio an hour later.

If you are traveling in the San Francisco region 2008 and beyond, your chances of surviving an earthquake are better than ever. Of course, there are earthquakes and then there are earthquakes. Go up one point on the Richter Scale, from 5 to 6, for example, and you are going up exponentially in earthquake force. That's why Californians have a special concern when we hear that the China quake was 7 plus.

California is making a huge, quiet investment in infrastructure to make this a safe place. This, in itself, is a controversial matter. If there never is another major quake, then this is wasted money. It should have gone into social services.

But responsible citizens have determined that the investment needs to be made. We can't have schools collapsing on our kids. We can't have freeways collapsing on drivers. The Bay Bridge is being redone at a mega cost. Brick buildings, the likes of the Coffee Roasting Company in Santa Cruz, which collapsed and crushed people to death, are being replaced or retrofitted. Some major historic structures, such as the brick Cooper House in Santa Cruz, are gone forever, but that needs to be accepted for safety's sake.

Downtown San Francisco is going through a building boom, with high rises higher than ever before. The engineering appears to be there to support the risk. Let's hope the calculations are correct if there is another major quake within the foreseeable future.

Many of those of us who live here have our own earthquake emergency supplies system. It's time for me to renew mine. The foods grow old. That is another cost, the renewing of earthquake preparedness systems in the average home. It is an investment that many of us choose to make.

Gas Prices and Travel

2008-04-30T21:30:09-07:00

I doubt that we comprehend at all the vast implications of much higher gas prices on travel.

When an American family begins to realize that a gallon of gas costs $4, and that the car might get 20 mpg, costing 20 cents a mile for gas alone, meaning $1 for every five miles the car is driven, then I think there will be less driving. One wonders how long and how far the rubber tire travel scene will persist.

The gap between the haves/have mores and the have nots will continue to grow. Travel will become only a vicarious and virtual experience for most of the have nots.

One wonders how the long haul and long flight destinations will do, such as Hawaii. With Aloha and ATA dropping into bankruptcy, there will be fewer flights going to Hawaii, and prices will probably rise. Gas costs will also raise the fares. At what point will the consumer simply drop out of purchasing the product?

This past month I went to two travel public relations meetings in which the promoters remained bullish. I went to Maui HI and CA Tourism meetings in San Francisco. Maui remains confident. CA tourism overall is thriving. But how long will this optimism last?

The rising gas prices will affect every aspect of the travel product that a consumer experiences. For example, the restaurant that wants to bring in the local boutique goat cheese for its menu now will be paying more for transportation. Every commodity that becomes part of the travel experience will have a higher energy cost.

One wonders if the golden age of travel in behind us, and the more strained era of ever more restricted travel is before us.

Travel and Hunger

2008-04-16T15:45:42-07:00

The world will be a slightly edgier place this year for people who travel abroad.

There is an invisible stress on the faces of everyone.

The issue is world food prices, up perhaps 40% in the last year. Some analysts put the figure higher, perhaps 55%. The figures are for basics, such as grain, dairy, and cooking oil.

People are rioting, from Egypt to Haiti. In other places the level of resentment, basic insecurity, and fear grows higher.

The factors behind the increase in food prices are difficult to control.

First, more basic grains are going into energy production, rather than food. This is true of corn.

Second, it is said that the wealthy of India now want to eat meat, not grain, so a larger part of the huge grain production there is being diverted to meat production.

Third, transportation costs are rising, affecting all food prices, especially if the distribution chain is long distance and much freight is required.

And fourth, there are some climate changes that are adversely affecting former patterns of food production, especially drought where there has rarely been drought before.

There are few indicators that the situation will get better. Probably it will get worse. People are stressed in the wealthy countries, such as the US, about rising food prices. Image the countries where the average person is getting by on $2/day.

The outlook is grim. Many travelers will glimpse it, especially those wandering in the Third World.