The 55th annual conference of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), is just about to wind up in Pattaya, Thailand.  According to eTurbo News,  the keynote speaker of the conference, Mr. Ho Kwon Ping of the Banyan Tree Group, suggested that three driving forces changing tourism today are:

“The aging Baby Boomers
The rise of the urban middle class of China […]

Happy shiny travel experiences are great.  Thats mostly why we go travelling.  However, travel is said to come from the French word “travail”, which means “hard work”. Travel can be hard work, especially when things go wrong…
Has it ever happened to you? Have your travel plans ever gone belly-up? Has your greatly anticipated travel experience […]

Would you like to share your most treasured travel memories with other like-minded people here on the TPN Travel Show?
If yes, then just click on the ODEO button below, and as long as you have Macromedia Flash Player installed, you will be able to record your short story and send it to me, Doc Martin.  […]

The Travel Show Podcast #014 (MP3 – 7MB - 19min)

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Alex is 22, Ozzie, and has just come back from a trip to the USA and Canada.This is a great story for any other young people who are thinking about embarking upon a solo overseas journey and would like to hear what others […]

While the inventive term “Touronauts” (see Travel Show Weblog #26) was a new tourism related collective noun for me, this one is even more unusual.  Have you ever engaged in “Psephology Tourism”?
I had to go to the MacQuarie Dictionary to find out what the word “psephology” actually means, and it is “the study of elections […]

The Travel Show Podcast #013 (MP3 – 15.5MB - 44.5min)
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE
The Warrenmang Vineyard and Resort is situated in Moonambel, about 15 minutes from the pretty little country town of Avoca in central Victoria. Brad and Georgia Eshuys are the Resort Managers of Warrenmang and I took time out to chat with them […]

The Travel Show Podcast #013 (MP3 – 15.5MB - 42min)
LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE
This is the first of my “Nomads” interviews. Nomads is an extremely funky backpacker hostel located very close to the Victoria Markets, here in Melbourne. I’m hoping to do a number interviews, over a beer, with travellers I meet at Nomads.
In this […]

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Doc Martin.

Following on from Travel Weblog #29, I thought that I would have a quick chat about swimming at Australian beaches.
I’ve had some near death experiences in the ocean.  Most of these have occured when I have been either surfing or working on fishing boats and they have usually happened when the sea is very big. […]

I just heard on News Radio this morning that two German tourists were rescued in the Kimberley.  Luckily, all they suffered was some minor sunburn, but it could have been worse. Much worse in fact.
Recall the story of Kim Hardt, who in 2002 was found bogged down on the Canning Stock Route with a packet […]