Half a million micro firms turn over 200 billion dollars and extra juicy profits up for grabs!
 
Once upon a time travel was about going there doing stuff and coming back. The key was… Where was there? The pulling power of the destination dragged the passengers in.
 
Now 50 years later the business has become bigger, ordered and homogenised margins are as thin as ever.
 
Ever a leader, TUI, with its 30 million or so pax, has morphed into something really interesting. No longer a tour operator, TUI has reconstructed itself as an experience-provider.
 
Why? Because they can, not only make much more money out of experiences, they can also own them. If you want a TUI experience (like a TUI cruise or a TUI hotel) there’s only one place you can go – that’s TUI.
 
In this way they can pick the best out of an astonishingly fragmented market - globally about 450,000 suppliers turning over some $200 billion - and give their clients great curated experiences backed up by TUI credibility.
 
So, their 30 million or so clients get to their destination with their holiday paid for, a wish to enjoy themselves on a new experience and money in their pockets.
 
This is a massive profit, branding and customer satisfaction opportunity. Look at the power that TUI has -
 
Their customers already trust them, TUI knows who they are and are already in communication with them, they probably already know what they want. They’re not out in the webspace looking for business - they know who their customers are, they are travelling with them after all.
 
The only competition is local excursion/experience suppliers (who TUI probably already work with) or internet suppliers like Airbnb and Tripadvisor who offer a random, un curated, un guaranteed range.
 
What a risk clients would take if they booked outside the box at this stage.
 
And it’s a massive financial opportunity too. Margins on experiences are much higher than the bread and butter of travel and accommodation alone. Plus with TUI it’s a branded value-added offer, no-one else can offer the same or as good.
 
On top of all that, TUI can use the experiences rather than the destinations to widen their brand appeal and pulling power.

So TUI starts 2020 as another kind of company entirely. Like in the 1970’s they have become more vertically-integrated and focused on fulfilling customer needs rather than competing in the rush to the lowest price.
 
The Experience Economy is a new world for tourism – one in which there are opportunities for all.
 
The Sustainable Tourism Report 2020 deals in depth with this subject and outlines the opportunities available for everybody. A limited number of review copies may be subscribed now at a 50% discount
 
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CORSIA envisages 2035 as the date that airlines are compelled to take responsibility for their emissions - it is too late.
 
In 1947 after the war global economic activity needed to be kick-started hence the Chicago Convention was agreed by the UN which gave airlines everything they needed to prosper. They were to pay no tax on fuel or spare parts and everything was done to help them to expand
 
Success! They expanded beyond anyone’s dreams. Now, 73 years later they are still expanding and have fostered an industry which supports 10.1 million jobs directly - making planes, in airports, and operating airlines. The International Air Transport Association claims that airlines create $2.7trillion in global economic activity.
 
And the future is enormous - massive expansion is still forecast for the years to come as international travel increases apace.
 
However, in the seeds of their success there is also, now, danger. Obviously, air travel pollutes. Some 80% of tourism-related emissions come from air travel and, as international travel grows, this gets worse year by year.
 
Even though the airlines still claim the benefits of the Chicago Convention of 1947, they have used this authority to endorse their claim to fly free of carbon emission restraints. And they have powerful friends to make their case.
 
So, when the European Union sought to include intercontinental flights via Europe in their EUETS cap and trade system in 2012 (which has so far contributed to reducing the carbon footprint of the European aviation sector by more than 17 million tonnes per year), world airlines fought their case in court. Having lost the case, the airlines brought in their friends including the plane-makers like Boeing and the US government. They fought a full-on no-holds-barred battle. The result? After the set-to with the EU - it was agreed that an effective plan re global airline emissions was to be created by the ICAO (the organisation set up by the Chicago Convention). The plan was to be in operation by 2016.
 
The result is a plan called CORSIA, announced in 2016 which, to say the least, does not treat the situation as a climate emergency - here are its demerits:

• CORSIA is voluntary - not all airlines need to join until 2035 by which time emissions will at least be doubled.
• CORSIA only covers Carbon Emissions rather than the broader Greenhouse Gas Emissions
• If the airlines break their emissions caps eventually they'll have to invest in forests through carbon offsets to mitigate their emissions. Given current forecasts of growth the world will become one enormous forest - until the trees die when all that stored carbon will be released.
  

The generally accepted tenet is “The polluter pays”
 
Airlines are polluting our atmosphere now. They need to pay immediately, not 15 years from now when the bill for the human race will be unpayable.
 
Whatever their benefit to the global economy as a result of expensive powerful lobbying they have kept their perks far too long and they should not add to them an emissions free ride.
 
Some airlines are coming up to the mark now - including Easyjet who are offsetting all their emissions now. OK offsetting is not perfect, but at least it is NOW not in 2035.
 
Maybe more airlines will be shamed into following their lead.

Air travel emissions are becoming a bigger and bigger issue - the subject is discussed in detail in the latest Sustainable Tourism 2020 ...It will take a truly objective view.
 
The Sustainable Tourism Report 2020 deals in depth with this subject. A limited number of review copies may be subscribed now at a 50% discount HERE
 
There will be a masterclass to discuss this and other sustainable tourism matters – location Bath, date 7 February. To register for a place just email valere@tourismvision.com
 
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OK so it’s cheaper to go to a country that cares less about human rights than the tourist dollar. Maybe it presents better ‘value’ but actually when the holiday is over do visitors take the value home with them or their memory of the total experience?

We live in a dangerous world. A number of governments are at odds with their citizens - there are still many human rights abuses. This leads to disempowered citizens, millions of climate and political refugees, and fosters the growth of both regional and international terrorism.

Add to this challenging background of the internet, 24 hour news and the fact that disasters are good press and you have very good reasons for people with grudges to use violence to get them aired internationally using tourists to do so.

Moreover in many less developed countries with human rights issues hospitality workers are very low on the food chain, it stands to reason that they do their jobs for money, not for love and see rich tourists simply as full wallets, which can often lead to resentment when they are treated with distain.

Another issue that stirs anger is the changing of historic local culture to entertain tourists. In many cases host communities’ culture is the little that they have to hold on to, and to see foreigners, who know little about their history, treating them as items of entertainment, photographing their families and their homes as though they were unpaid exhibitd can understandably lead to irritation and bitterness.

Against this background it is easy to see how tourists can form political targets particularly in countries that are already subject to unrest.

In many countries the difference between rich and poor is insurmountable, and, naturally it is the powerful that control tourism. Foreign tourists often are just fodder for an economic machine that extends globally.

As the world becomes more unequal it is likely that tourists will become more segregated from the host community. Is this a formula for a happy relaxed holiday or would tourists get a better, more fulfilling experience in a destination that was more harmonious?

OK so it’s cheaper to go to a country that cares less about human rights than the tourist dollar. Maybe it presents better ‘value’ but actually when the holiday is over do visitors take the value home with them or their memory of the total experience?

Bhutan is leading the way with Its Gross National Happiness policy - a philosophy that guides its government. It includes an index which is used to measure the collective happiness and well-being of a population. But there are other countries that are also making strides to deliver holidays with real hospitality.

And there are many other countries and destinations following Bhutan's lead.

Why not deal with a happy country in 2020 for your holiday rather than a troubled one just because it's cheap?

Security is becoming a bigger and bigger issue - it is discussed in detail in the latest Sustainable Tourism 2020 ...It will take a truly objective view.

Maybe 2020 is the time?
 
The Sustainable Tourism Report 2020 deals in depth with this subject. A limited number of review copies may be subscribed now at a 50% discount HERE
 
There will be a masterclass to discuss this and other sustainable tourism matters – location Bath, date 7 February. To register for a place just email valere@tourismvision.com
 
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How Globalisation has commoditised addictive travel and creates a big opportunity for a better world.
 
I do it all the time - watch the crowds in leisurewear with name badges, often in matching Pac a macs, circling in the great queue round the duomo in Florence; almost filling St Marks Square and all the way around the lagoon to the Arsenale in Venice; in the Abbey Churchyard in Bath; in the Quadrilatero in Bologna; in Piccadilly Circus in London. I watch squadrons of 50 in marching order tramping behind flag-waving guide/leaders sometimes on bikes or segways in Paris or Prague or Amsterdam or wherever there is a tick-box sight to be seen and photographed.
 
And I think are they enjoying their experience of anonymous mass tourism?
 
They stay in a nice hotel or on a cruise ship, possibly eat some foreign meals, see some world famous sights and maybe meet some nice people. But at the end of the day they probably won’t remember much. But they did escape for a little while.
 
Was it worth it? After all, the price they’ve paid has been high. There’s not only the hefty price they’ve paid to the tour or cruise operator, travel agent or whoever, there’s also their time and commitment and the stress they’ve endured to get there.
 
There are, of course other costs too - mainly those that are borne by the rest of the world (“Us” in other words). Travel does not come without its environmental, social, cultural and economic costs - airline, hotels and land travel emissions spewed into our communal atmosphere.
 
Then there are the costs paid by the destination host community like higher priced homes, the commodification of their local culture, crowded markets. In other words the social costs of hosting visitors.

But, tourism is thought to be one of the world’s great success stories increasing from just 1 billion international and domestic travellers a year in 1970 to around 8 billion today.
 
Amazing, but how did all this happen so quick?
 
Globalisation caused it. As usual globalisation simply created prices that are just too good to miss.
 
In the same way that the rich west has gorged on cheap tech, cheap designer clothes, cheap coffee and tea, now we have become addicted to cheap holidays too.
 
Globalisation means that modern day slaver companies don’t need to move their slaves around the world to produce, for instance, addiction-creating sugar from cane. They can leave them at home to work on similar working conditions to produce clothes, tech, drinks and, since the 1970’s, holidays.
 
Of course, eventually, there will be a brick wall. Currently, the inhabitants of the developed countries consume resources at a rate almost 32 times greater than those of the developing world, who make up the majority of the human population. We simply can’t consume as much as we do on a long term basis. It is simply environmentally unsustainable.

Also we can’t holiday forever in areas where there are human rights and workers rights problems - like Sri Lanka, Turkey, Egypt, Mexico, Myanmar, Dubai and the Maldives. It is simply politically unsustainable.
 
And we won’t be able to pile in to top iconic destinations that are now overfull like Venice, Florence, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Paris or Santorini. It is simply not socially sustainable.
 
Finally, without the massive demand and the mass numbers of tourists, the big global purveyors of commodity travel become economically unsustainable.
 
Of course there is a better way. At its heart tourism is an amazing activity with enormous benefits for everybody, but while we are all addicted to cheap throwaway clothes, easily replaceable tech and cheap holidays we are not likely to find it...
 
It will take a truly objective view. Maybe 2020 is the time?
 
The Sustainable Tourism Report 2020 deals in depth with this subject. A limited number of review copies may be subscribed now at a 50% discount HERE
 
There will be a masterclass to discuss this and other sustainable tourism matters – location Bath, date 7 February. To register for a place just email valere@tourismvision.com
 
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The most ambitious infrastructure plan in world history – China will change tourism for ever
 
China’s tourism route to massive global economic power and political influence
Great New Silk Roads trillions already committed
 



Just imagine that you’ve woken up on the first of October 2049 - the hundredth anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. How do you see the world?
 
Well, for a start, the world of tourism has dramatically changed. China has seen to that. By now the massive economic area free trade zone envisaged by the ‘Belt and Road’ scheme - has come into full operation as forecast. Extending all the way from inner China to the heart of Europe, Chinese high speed trains are bringing avid travellers to stay in Chinese branded hotels, to buy Chinese manufactured goods and souvenirs and to eat Chinese foods.
 
Today in 2020 China is number 1 in outbound tourism with around 200million international travellers a year. By 2049 at the present rate of growth the figure is likely to be more like 600 million even maybe a billion. All of these travellers will have billions to spend and you can be sure that China’s centrally-managed tourism will make sure that it is spent where China wants it to be spent.
 
The Chinese government calls the massive Belt and Road initiative "a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future". Cultural and economic initiatives are merged in tourism and the Silk Road tourism initiatives will certainly be geared to Chinese tastes. There have already been plans for major Las Vegas style casino cities and winter sports centres in and around Kazakhstan and there will certainly be more.

All along the central Silk Road, through China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan all the way to Hungary and Europe, to the US via the North Silk Road and Africa via the south will be interconnected in economically-protected tax haven free trade zones. This is also likely to bring to the fore historic Silk Road Cities (of which there are hundreds) such as Samarkand, Kabul, Shiraz, Almaty, and many more. Add to these the destinations in South East Asia and this equals massive economic power.

The initiative calls for the integration of the region into a cohesive economic area through building infrastructure, increasing cultural exchanges, and broadening trade. Apart from this zone, another area that is said to be included in the extension of this 'belt' is South Asia and Southeast Asia. Many of the countries that are part of this belt are also members of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). North, central and south belts are proposed. The North belt would go through Central Asia, Russia to Europe. The Central belt goes through Central Asia, West Asia to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. The South belt starts from China to Southeast Asia, South Asia, to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan. The Chinese One Belt strategy will integrate with Central Asia through Kazakhstan's Nurly Zhol infrastructure program.

The Silk Road Land Corridors:
 
·      The New Eurasian Land Bridge runs from Western China to Western Russia through Kazakhstan, and includes the Silk Road Railway through China's Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland and Germany.
·      The China–Mongolia–Russia Corridor will run from Northern China to the Russian Far East. The Russian government established the Russian Direct Investment Fund and China Investment Corporation, a Chinese government investment agency, partnered in 2012 to create the Sino-Russian Investment Fund, which concentrates on opportunities in bilateral integration.
·      The China–Central Asia–West Asia Corridor will run from Western China to Turkey.
·      The China–Indochina Peninsula Corridor will run from Southern China to Singapore.
·      The Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor, runs from southern China to Myanmar and is officially classified as "closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative".
·      The China–Pakistan Economic Corridor (also known by the acronym CPEC), also classified as "closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative is a US$62 billion collection of infrastructure projects throughout Pakistan that aims to rapidly modernize Pakistan's transportation networks, energy infrastructure, and economy. On November 13, 2016, CPEC became partly operational when Chinese cargo was transported overland to Gwadar Port for onward maritime shipment to Africa and West Asia.
 
Maritime Silk Road
 
The Maritime Silk Road, also known as the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" is a complementary initiative aimed at investing and fostering collaboration in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and North Africa, through several contiguous bodies of water:  South China Sea, the South Pacific Ocean, and the wider Indian Ocean area.
 
Like its sister initiative the Silk Road Economic Belt, most countries in this area have joined the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
 
Ice Silk Road
 
In addition to the Maritime Silk Road, Xi Jinping also urged the close cooperation between Russia and China to carry out the Northern Sea Route cooperation to realize an "Ice Silk Road" to foster development in the Arctic region. China COSCO Shipping Corp. has completed several trial trips on Arctic shipping routes, the Transport departments from both countries are constantly improving policies and laws related to development in the Arctic, and Chinese and Russian companies are seeking cooperation on oil and gas exploration in the area and to advance comprehensive collaboration on infrastructure construction, tourism and scientific expeditions.
 
East Africa
 
In May 2014, Premier Li Keqiang visited Kenya to sign a cooperation agreement with the Kenyan government. Under this agreement, the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway was constructed connecting Mombasa to Nairobi. After completion, the railroad stretches approximately 300 miles (480 km) costing around $250 million USD.
 
In September 2015, China's Sinomach signed a strategic, cooperative memorandum of understanding with General Electric. The memorandum of understanding set goals to build wind turbines, to promote clean energy programs and to increase the number of energy consumers in sub-Saharan Africa.
 
Hong Kong
 
During his 2016 policy address, Hong Kong chief executive CY Leung's announced his intention of setting up a Maritime Authority aimed at strengthening Hong Kong's maritime logistics in line with Beijing's economic policy. Leung mentioned "One Belt, One Road" no fewer than 48 times during the policy address, but details were scant.
 
These are just a few of the hundreds of mega-million dollar initiatives. There will certainly be more.
 
China is already no1 world tourism source market, it is unlikely that this position will change for the foreseeable future particularly given the fact that it is forecast that up to 3billion Asian residents will become middle class by 2050.
 
Already the power of Chinese tourism is having a major effect on the Silk Road countries, for instance around Lake Baikal in Siberia there is local agitation as Chinese people buy property; near Almaty in Kazakhstan a major tourism development is taking place to attract Chinese to gamble and relax, also in Kazakhstan a mass tourism ski development is taking place to attract Chinese skiers.
 
It is a short step to Chinese branded hotels, restaurants, shops and other Chinese-run businesses all along the Silk Road even to Germany and Italy. It is an even shorter step to China centrally-organised tourism taking place from China to the Mediterranean.
 
Furthermore, China will own land, railways, ports and duty free shopping centres all along their road. The fact is that they already do.
 
The benefit to China? Wielding economic and political power through outbound tourism.
 
Bournemouth University’s tourism school has been seeking to gather a wide range of knowledge and study. They say “While there has been considerable scholarly work on soft power and the Belt and Road initiative (BRI), the political and economic investment in Chinese outbound tourism deserves greater attention. Whereas the number of trips abroad taken by Chinese citizens was in the tens of thousands in the 1980s, the current figure is well over 130m per year. While it may remain a marginal phenomenon in demographic or trade terms, tourism is a crucial issue in contemporary China, a major object of governmentality and a means to push soft power initiatives to receptive countries. As China exercises soft power using outbound tourism (and arts and culture more broadly), the growth of Chinese tourism has on the surface benefited the economies of Southeast Asian countries, who were traditionally reliant on long-haul, seasonal travellers from the west.”
 
“Tourism has been used by the Chinese authorities to enforce the construction of borders and boundaries in the South China Sea, leading to rising tensions. Just as many countries have eased their visa requirements for Chinese tourists, China has increasingly sought to police ‘low-end’ tourists who might undermine the Chinese authorities as they attempt to boost their influence on the international stage. The authorities have sought to attract members of the overseas Chinese community to Chinese through Root-Seeking Tour Summer Camps, organized by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the State Council, so as to teach the Chinese language and culture.”
 
“Questions have emerged about the linkages between tourism and politics, tourism and human rights, tourism and international migration patterns, and the impact of returning Chinese tourists on Chinese society.”
 
“These questions place the landscapes of Chinese tourists into a broader context. Chinese media increasingly highlight the growth of outbound tourism to particular counties, potential revenue and links to the Belt and Road Initiative.”
 
“While pitched as tourism projects, China has been accused of hiding its search for political, economic and military influence through tourism. As tourism projects embed infrastructure that supports the development of trade routes (global network of rail, roads, ports, pipelines, fibre-optic cables), does Chinese investment bring wealth, or will it be mainly kept within a closed loop of overseas Chinese communities and state linked businesses?”
 
“In Forest City, Johor Bahru (Malaysia), Chinese tourists are encouraged to buy Chinese-built apartments in a US$100 billion development mean to boast international schools, shopping malls, hotels and an immigration centre for approximately 700,000 Chinese residents.”
 
“The construction of the $1.4bn (£1.1bn) Port City project in Sri Lanka by the state-owned Chinese engineering firm China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) on 665 acres (2.6 sq km) of land is been marketed as a new Dubai, with luxury hotels, shopping malls and a marina.”
 
 While China pledges that the New Silk Road will be open, transparent and environmentally friendly, many of these projects appear to lack transparency and accountability. There are concerns that the standard 99-year leases for these projects will lead to social, economic and environmental challenges, such as opaque funding, exorbitant claims of their tourism potential, corruption, and population displacement. Questions are emerging as the differences between these projects and the past/current ones dominated by the West.”
 
“While the New Silk Road spans 65 different countries, Chinese tourism, more broadly, holds the potential to redefine tourism, infrastructure, economies and even the governance of many more countries, as Beijing establishes its own norms, rules and institutions.
 
A full report on the New Silk Road, it’s challenges and opportunities will be in Sustainable Tourism 2020. You can get a half price review copy if you subscribe now.
 
Independent, Incisive, Iconoclastic, the annual Sustainable Tourism Report has been published since 2003.
 
Subscribers include: Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, Rezidor Hotel Group, Northern Ireland Tourist Board, University of Brighton, Tourism Ireland, The Nature Conservancy, Cleaner Climate, Virgin Group, Micato Safaris, Hilton Hotels Corp, Visit Britain, Canada Tourism, Tourism Innovation Group, Dublin Institute of Technology, Sabre Holdings, EplerWood Consultancy, Nichols Tourism Group, The Adventure Company, Exclusively Canada, University of Wales, University of Guelph, Sustainable Side of the Street, IFC, Discover Ltd, Griffith University, Australia, Yukon Tourist Board, Ipswich College, Prince of Wales International Business Leaders Forum, The Tourism Company, Citizen Development Corps, University of Hertfordshire, Disney Corp, Anglia Ruskin University, Kidderminster College, Olive Green Group, Six Senses Group, and many, many more.
 
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We all know that tourism is on a precipice. OK we play up the positives (usually numbers getting ever bigger!). But actually we know in our guts that it can’t go on like this.

Too much tourism related emissions, too many top destinations drowned by tourists, too much of tourism revenue being syphoned off by the OTAs, too many tourism-related terror outrages and natural disasters. Sooner or later the carousel is going to have to dramatically change or stop.

And that will affect all of us.

Whether you work as a DMC, for an OTA, at a DMO, travel marketing company, cruise company, airline, hotel, as a tourism teacher or student, whether you are a travel writer or blogger, if your career depends on tourism - tourism in crisis is going to affect you.

And you will need to make decisions. Then, obviously you will need the best information you can get. Not salesy stuff but quality, unbiased information.

You need to know the next wave so that you can jump on it - and you need to know that from an unbiased, independent, fact based, experience-based source - not from someone who wants to sell you something.

When the first Sustainable Tourism Report was produced some 17 years ago, many thought that it was just about the environment. Then they read it and loved it realising that sustainability means how we go forward - economically, culturally, socially and, yes, environmentally too. We are bound together by sustainability, as without it there would be no future.

In past reports we have highlighted many issues that have come to the fore and now there are many more.

Sustainable Tourism 2020 deals with some hard issues that will affect us all:

Readers will learn about the New Silk Road weaponizing tourism all the way from China to London; Mass tourism as a symptom of global addictions; how global security will play out in our dangerous world; how the airlines will pay for their emissions; how the Experience Economy is replacing tourism; how travel agents will come to the fore and one MASSIVE FINANCIAL OPPORTUNITY for everybody that could radically change our world for the better.

You can not only read it but you can be a part of it too. Subscribe for a report now and agree to write a review and you’ll get it half price HERE

It’ll be the best decision you’ll make in 2019.

Award ceremony to include new ITB Earth award

After its major success last year at the Paleis Stage, the Top100 Sustainable Destinations 'Best of the Best' awards will take centre stage again this year - even bigger and better!

The Awards presentation, 6 March 2019 4pm, will be hosted by ITB Berlin, the world's leading travel and trade show. 2018 and 2019 Top 100 destinations have now submitted their success stories in the following categories:

ITB Earth Award: Destination showing global leadership in combatting climate change and environmental degradation.

Best of Culture & Communities: Global leadership in protecting culture and tradition, involving local communities, and avoiding overtourism.

Best of Cities:  City showing global leadership in urban sustainability and avoiding disruptive mass tourism (overtourism).

Best of Nature: destination showing global leadership in protecting wildlife, natural habitats and landscapes.

Best of Ecotourism: destination showing global leadership in offering responsible ecotourism opportunities

Best of Seaside:  coastal or island destination showing global leadership in offering sustainable water-related tourism and leisure opportunities

Best of the Planet: the best green destination of each continent.

Finalists for the Awards are destinations recently selected in the Sustainable

Top100 competition and submitting sustainable tourism success stories. The innovative character of these will be decisive for Award selection.

More info: http://sustainabletop100.org/


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Fireflies and picnics in Romagna - how 12 US visitors enjoyed a surprisingly magical day

It looked like tomorrow was going to be fine so we suggested at dinner that our clients may like to have stroll in the valley and a picnic. The suggestion was received with great enthusiasm so now we had to do the work!

When you're organising a picnic everything depends on the weather - you have little time to prepare. So, with only 12 hours notice, we told our clever friends at the Michelin-rated restaurant Dei Cantoni to prepare something local and seasonal for a picnic. Then it was down to us to scout out a particular place in the valley that had a special seasonal plus.

The cherry blossom was in bloom so Tamara and I went to the heart of the ancient cherry valley where we knew there was a lovely spot to check out not too far away for a gentle stroll.

When we got to the tiny little ancient valley church, I told Tamara that I had been there a year ago when my friend Roberta organised an enchanting evening with music and poetry and of course food and wine to see the millions of fireflies.

At that moment, as if by magic a big 4wd vehicle screamed to a halt - it was Roberta. "Hello, what are you doing here" she said. We told her that we wanted to bring our 12 US tourists to the valley the next day. We wondered if Mr Calandrini would let them wander in his beautiful garden and if Dom Fernando would mind if we used his church. "Of course" said Roberta - 'And I have the keys to the church!" OK job done, we only had to check out the walking route all would be organised.

There was another surprise awaiting for me at the little church in the valley when I arrived with the picnic. Roberta and her daughter Nicole were hard at work mowing the church lawn so it would look a beautiful setting. They had already cleaned out the inside of the church so it was sparkling and naturally they had lit candles. Outside they had cleaned the old wooden table and put a tablecloth on it, set it with fresh flowers. For an extra flourish - Roberta had baked an enormous fabulous fruit flan as a gift.

And when our guests arrived, complete with Miss Horse, it soon became the epitome of a country picnic picture. What a luxury they enjoyed - rest and peace in the sun away from all the pressures of life.

They sat and talked, ate some fabulous food, drank some great wine and explored Mr Calandrini's superb garden. And then they walked back to their lovely Italian country house accommodation at Aloggio San Girolamo  and at Casa Grilli  just in time for another glorious sunset, more extraordinary wine - and, of course aperitivo snacks specially prepared by Marisa!

Everyone enjoyed a day of perfect peace that will be remembered for many years. Something different, something special, a real personal experience of kindly, thoughtful hospitality! It's certainly an antidote to stress.

Other group surprises have included visits to artisan fashion factories, local sculptures, visits to ceramicists by invitation only events and many many more…

And there is so much more to discover in Romagna HERE 

More info: http://www.BestofRomagna.com

Are you a travel agent or group organiser? Find out about recently launched small group 2019 FAM trip program http://www.totemtourism.com/agent-fam-visits.html

China's New Silk Road praised by bank - rejected by communities


Whilst Takehiko Nakao the President of the Asian Development Bank welcomed the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), saying that it is nice to build connectivity between countries through the initiative. In Laos villagers are blocking the way to having their land surveyed.


Hailing the Belt and Road Initiative as a good idea, Nakao said "We can cooperate through BRI to support the countries that need our help. Together with other development banks like the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, we have a memorandum of understanding for cooperation with the Belt and Road Initiative,"


Proposed by China in 2013, the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa based on ancient land and maritime trade routes.


But Lao villagers living in the scenic Vang Vieng region north of the capital Vientiane are blocking attempts to survey their land for the foreign-invested development, fearing they will be displaced from their homes by a new Chinese tourism project, sources in the Southeast Asian country say.


The project, managed by the Chinese firm Lao-Vang Vieng New Area Development Company, will affect 22 villages lying to the west of the Xong river and has been given permission from the Lao government to proceed.


But attempts by company employees to survey the area were blocked at the end of December when villagers objected to the plans, the head of one village told RFA's Lao Service this week.


"The company tried to survey the villagers' homes and land, but the villagers objected, and there were verbal confrontations," the village leader said, speaking on condition of anonymity.


"The confrontation ended only when district authorities came by to calm things down," he added.


"Most of the villagers here don't want the Chinese company to survey their land, because they are afraid that their homes and property will be taken from them, and if this happens, where will they go to live?"


It is believed that the proposed special economic zone (SEZ) called the Sustainable Tourism Development Project will cover thousands of hectares of land in Vang Vieng, an area of natural beauty already popular with backpackers and river-goers, but officials have not yet published the exact number, the source said.


"They [the Chinese company] are basically exploring the possibilities now for what can be done," a tourism official for Vang Vieng told RFA, also speaking on condition he not be named.


Signed by the Lao-Vang Vieng Company last year in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Laos, the project will run in three phases over 15 years at a cost of U.S. $5.5 billion, and is expected to create 50,000 jobs, according to Lao media sources.


It is unclear how many of those jobs will go to Lao villagers now living in the area, however.


Meanwhile, Vientiane province has granted another Chinese company permission to survey the area of a former airport in Vang Vieng for construction of an entertainment complex, including a shopping mall, hotels, and other structures on 15 hectares of land at a cost of U.S. $200 million, sources say.


As one of the least developed Southeast Asian nations, Laos has become a target for massive foreign investment, especially from companies from neighbors China, Thailand, and Vietnam, which receive attractive investment incentives from the Lao government.


Laos grants its citizens the right to occupy land, and some can sell the right to use their land if their family has inhabited it for generations.


But citizens cannot officially own property, and the government reserves the right to reclaim land when this is deemed to be in the public interest, such as for national development projects.


At least a dozen active special and specific economic zones have already been created throughout the country to attract foreign direct investment to boost development and job opportunities in rural areas since 2002 when the first SEZ was set up.


Under Lao Decree 84 issued in April 2016, Lao citizens who lose land to development projects must be compensated for lost income, property, crops, and plants.


Project owners must also guarantee that living conditions for those displaced will be as good as, or better than, they were before the project was launched.


However, compensation payments are often delayed, sometimes for long periods of time, or are paid out in amounts lower than those initially promised, with newly assigned land sometimes deemed unsuitable for farming, sources say.


Source:  Ounkeo Souksavanh for RFA's Lao Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.


The 'Belt and Road Initiative' is a massive trillion dollar Chinese initiative involving transportation, infrastructure, development and tourism. 65 countries are committed to the project.


Read more about China weaponizing tourism along the Silk Road in Sustainable Tourism02 www.sustainabletourismreport.com


Valere Tjolle

FAM trips to Romagna will combine visits to Venice and Florence with welcoming unspoiled natural Italy

Next year's FAM visitors to Romagna will be in for some very special treats taking advantage of Romagna's position close to everything and a wonderful place to return home to!

Not only will they stay in a lovely country house in the Romagna Hills, but they will also enjoy a stay in a top hotel in a fashionable seaside resort plus a night in foodie Bologna.

And they'll enjoy some very special experiences too. Keeping up their sustainable credentials as a global top100 destination, Best of Romagna are including two trips by public transport.

The trip to Venice takes the boat across the Adriatic lagoon via the island of Pellestrina and the glorious Venice Lido - right to the heart of Venice a canal crossing on a gondola and a lunch in an exclusive Grand Canal side restaurant. The trip to Florence is by the little mountain train through fabulous scenery, gently descending to the glorious city of Art and romance.

FAM participants will also learn to cook Italian in "Italy's Best Cookery School", they'll experience the magnificent city that was once capital of the Roman Empire - and see the1500 year old mosaics and they will visit the world's smallest republic - mountaintop San Marino.

There will be, of course, much more - including tasting the many specialities that Romagna is famous for - great Sangiovese and Albana wines in organic vineyards, superb olive oils in an olive grove that has stayed in the same management for over 500 years, great meals with local cheeses and breads and phenomenal local meats and vegetables and fruits.

And a lot of FUN - after all Romagna is famous in Italy for having the very best time at the very most festivals! Maybe that's because Romagna with all its great food and wine is like the Garden of Eden!

Find out more about 2019 FAMs HERE http://www.totemtourism.com/agent-fam-visits.html