A Sporting Future for London

With the hope that the Olympic Games will become a catalyst to encourage participation in sport by all sections of the community and help tackle issues such as obesity, ill health and crime, a new report by the Greater London Authority sets out how the Mayor of London plans to achieve these goals.

Tourism Crises

An article by David Beirman entitled 'A Strategic Approach for the Global Tourism Industry to Overcome the Global Economic Crisis : a 10 point plan', is now available online. David Beirman is a leading tourism destination crisis and recovery management specialist and is author of 'Restoring Tourism Destinations in Crisis'.

'Post Crisis Marketing', an article by Dr Peter Tarlow, can also be viewed online. It discusses the importance of developing a tourism crisis recovery plan and how to communicate with the media following a crisis. Dr Tarlow is a specialist in tourism sociology, tourism safety and security. He is currently the president of T&M.

In the News...

A medieval football game in Cumbria is under threat by supermarket development. It's played in the port area of Workington by hundreds of people whereby two rival teams attempt to hail or lodge a specially made football over the gates of Workington Hall. Despite Tesco threatening to take over the main pitch, supporters of the game are planning to keep the game alive more...

The International Cycling Union is ready to prosecute its first cases of dope users. It's 'biological passport' programme was launched last year but had so far not caught any cheats more...

The Birmingham open-top tour bus is back in operation again following a 13 year break, offering a variety of tours to attractions around the city. Read the story on how it was put back on the road, here...

Also back again this summer, will be the beach in Chamberlain Square. With more than 110,000 visitors last year, it will again be open daily for 10 weeks to include live music performances in the evening more...

New publications

Research Highlights have published their latest newsletter which includes a special feature on climate change and tourism as well as market studies on China, India, Russia and Japan.

The Euromonitor Global Trends Report considers forecasts for North America, UK, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia.

Following the recent National Tourism Summit organised by VisitBritain and DCMS, the final report has been published which provides a detailed view of the current state of the British Tourism industy including a SWOT analysis and a 10 point strategy for Britain. VisitBritain's latest newsletter provides details of conferences, events and tourism trends containing statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority.

Frommer's list of top destinations for 2009 has now been published and is available online.

The new Journal of Tourism Consumption and Practice is available online; articles include:
  • Is Wellington environmentally friendly?
  • Engaging Auschwitz: an analysis of young traveller's experiences of Holocaust tourism
  • Edward Lear landscape painter and Italy
  • Moving with the times: visual representations of the tourism phenomenon
Also includes book reviews and conference reports.

Destination World news carries a feature article on customer loyalty.