Canada’s Tourism Commission puts Canadians in the director’s chair for new video
Sacramento Bee
Move over Hollywood, get ready TIFF, there’s a new show in production as Canada becomes the country-wide set for a tourism video, one where the stars—and directors—are all local and getting reel.
The Canadian Tourism Commission (CTC) is reaching out to Canadians through its 35 Million Directors project to help create a new video to inspire more travellers from around the world to choose Canada for their vacation. Starting today, Canadians can upload experiences from coast to coast to coast, videos or images, to a new website. Footage and photos must showcase Canadian travel experiences – from a favourite hike to a music festival, a sporting event to dining al fresco downtown. ‘Directors’ will want to capture moments that will whet the appetite of international travellers looking for unique and authentic examples of what is available across Canada.
Resort tourism plan for Australia’s Great Ocean Road
The Age
A NEW tourism blueprint for the Great Ocean Road is calling for a big jump in resort tourism facilities to be built along the world-class route to accommodate more than 10 million visitors a year by 2030.
The report, funded by industry and state and federal governments, calls for an additional 3440 guest rooms in the Great Ocean Road region over the next 20 years.
Under a high growth visitor estimate, up to four new ”large resorts”, five new backpacker hostels, five new caravan or tourist parks, up to a dozen new hotels, 50 bed and breakfasts and 90 farm-stay accommodation options would be required, the report states.
Airlines cut deeper into legroom to help boost profits
Boston.com
Justin Klein is 6-foot-3, which means he is acutely aware how close his knees are to the seat in front of him on a plane. And on a recent business trip from Nashville to Chicago on a newly reconfigured Southwest Airlines plane, the 33-year-old regional sales manager immediately noticed he had lost an inch of legroom.
His knees were jammed in so tightly that he couldn’t stretch out his legs under the seat in front of him. When he reclined in his seat, he could lean back only two inches instead of the usual three.
“It’s ruined the Southwest flying experience,” said Klein, 33.
Southwest is one of several airlines squeezing seats closer together in order to pack in more passengers, create rows with extra legroom for people willing to pay more, or both. Southwest Airlines has started adding six more seats to its planes, losing an inch of room between seats in the process. WestJet, out of Canada, is whacking several inches of space to make room for a section of higher-fare seats with extra legroom.
Convicts cook for tourists on Italy island
Bizcommunity.com
Holiday makers arriving on the white sands of Pianosa island off western Italy are welcomed by hosts unlike any others, five prisoners still serving time who help manage a local hotel.
At first sight, there is little to set apart the island, one of seven in the Tuscan Archipelago, with its quaint port, schools of fish and waters as turquoise as those in the Indian Ocean around the Maldives.
The concrete wall of a high security prison attests to its past as a penal colony, where mafia bosses considered particularly dangerous were once sent before the prison closed in 1998.
But a handful of convicted criminals are back on Pianosa, earning their keep and rustling up food for tourists thanks to a program started in 2000 by a local cooperative called San Giacomo in conjunction with the prison on nearby Elba island.
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