Travel and Tourism Analyst

In our sessions this week we referred to a publication called Travel and Tourism Analyst. These are printed reports which are stored with the printed journals in the moving stacks. The report which we showed you was issue 8 from 2008.
Here is a lttle video about using the moving stacks!

Hospitality and Tourism Complete

In our sessions to you in the Pods this week, we recommended the database Business Source Premier for finding articles about adventure holidays. This is the major business and management database.

In addition you should try Hospitality and Tourism Complete, which concentrates on the tourism industry. There is lot of full text material here.

You can access both these by going through the databases for my subject - Business Studies list. I have put a link to this here.

Defining Adventure Tourism

If you are starting work on the Adventure Tourism piece of work, here is a definition from Ralph Buckley....

Adventure tourism means guided commercial tours where the principal attraction is an outdoor activity that relies on natural terrain. It usually involves sporting equipment, and excitement.

Tourists would not necessarily operate equipment. They could be passengers ( eg in a raft ). Excitement for the tourist appears to be the key requirement ( Buckley, 2006 p1)

Buckley, R (2006) Adventure tourism, Wallingford:CAB International

Chapters in the book include river journeys, rafting and kayaking, surfing, snowboarding.

Gentler forms of excitement, which might appeal to the older consumer ( see below ) could also include mountain biking and hiking.

SAGA holidays ( an organisation aimed at the over 50's ) are currently offering holidays to Nepal.

Do they still sell CD's ?

Having heard that HMV is struggling I was surprised to find a new branch in Bedford ( see left ). In fact it's just relocated down the High Street.

Rack upon rack of games and dvd's, but very few CD's on display. Sales of discs must be at an all time low as more music is downloaded.

How on earth will I spend my birthday vouchers ?

Wonder of Woollies

Hearing a programme on Radio 4 the other day reminded me that a good measure of the current state of the UK economy might be the number of unoccupied Woolworths stores.

The store in Bedford (pictured) is still empty. In Luton M & S moved into the former Woolworth store well before the collapse.

In my home town of Sleaford ( Lincs ) a company called Yorkshire Trading Company seems to be doing brisk business. It's a bit like Wilko's....