Sustainable Bicycle Eco Travel in Chile, South America – Wine Country and Pacific Coast

One of the most prestigious “new world” wine producing regions, Chile’s central valley has produced award winning wines in recent years. Enjoy a bicycle tour of the Chilean wine country, pedaling through vineyards of the Central Valley, then turning south and bicycling along the stunning beaches of the scenic Pacific Coast. We stay in historic colonial cities such as Santa Cruz and Constitucion and visit secluded villages and beach resorts. This is an excellent trip for both wine and food lover – and photographer!

Highlights
Historic Vineyards of Chile’s central valley
Colonial Chilean Cities such as Santa Cruz
Fabulous cycling along valleys and coastal roads
Three wine tastings and winery visits
Unique Aspects

No other bicycle tour allows you to explore Chile’s central valley and its famous wine region as this trip does. After our bicycle ride through the vineyards we head towards the Pacific coast. Far from the touristy towns further north, we’ll explore smaller towns that have historical importance and a local ambiance.

Sustainable Local Travel in Cappadocia, Turkey

The rich history and magical lunar landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey can be experienced today in a unique type of accommodation: the cave hotel. Built straight into the rock or the facades of old manmade caves, cave hotels are no dark dungeons or cold, musty homes. Instead, Cappadocia’s got everything from 5-star caverns to brightly lit grottos for tourists on a budget. They’re positively primeval! And they’re just one part of an overall approach to travel that emphasizes what’s local and sustainable.

Lodging Underground

The first cave hotel opened its doors in 1990 in the Cappadocian town of Ürgüp. Beginning an abandoned 5th-century cave that had all but collapsed, the owner began by gathering stones and rock hewn from the interior of the cave as sustainable building materials and hired workers from the town in order to keep the restoration local. Upon opening its doors, the Esbelli Evi Cave Boutique Hotel was an immediate success.

There are now more than 400 cave hotels in Cappadocia ranging from family-run grottos to lavish 50-room underground resorts. The cave-hotel industry in Cappadocia has become a unique selling point in this region of Turkey.

Exploring Cappadocia

The otherworldly experience of staying in the 5th- and 6th-century caves of Cappadocia is matched only by the unusual natural landscape. Dotted with ‘fairy chimneys’, the moonlike surroundings have inspired artists, travelers, philosophers and historians since as far back as the days of Herodotus. For a bird’s-eye view of the extraordinary geography, hot-air balloon trips are a truly special experience. (more…)

Making Tourism Sustainable In Vietnam With Asian Travel Vietnam

In growing numbers, visitors from all over the world are now arriving in Vietnam, whether for the sandy beaches, to explore the Unesco World Heritage listed sites, to escape to the mountains, or simply to experience the warmth of the Vietnamese people. Vietnam must grasp this unique opportunity and ensure all its visitors are given the best that the country has to offer. Following the trend taken by tourism and other industries throughout the world in the 21st century, Asian Travel Vietnam now familiar with terms such as “sustainability”. The question now is how to ensure Vietnam takes the right path to become a sustainable yet attractive tourist destination. Not only does Asian Travel Vietnam want to take you to the farthest corners of the Vietnam, we want to do so in a way that preserves the local environments and communities we sell. This way the nation’s most exciting regions will stay that way for generations to come. For that reason, a portion from each Asian Travel Vietnam branded tour booking is donated to local community causes or to preserve eco-friendly tourism in our top selling regions. We not only to help lure first time- visitors to the country but importantly, to create an environment which will encourage visitors to return to Vietnam time and time again.

Asian Travel Vietnam  is a leading independent travel company offering unbeatable value for Vietnam travel. Asian Travel Vietnam offer an unique luxury experience for discerning travellers who desire quality, style and gracious service. Asian Travel Vietnam offer a full range of in-store and online services catering for both the leisure and corporate business traveller in Vietnam.

Our experienced staff also have personally travelled to hundreds of destinations in Vietnam and Asian . Their first hand knowledge of the Vietnam’s most exciting cities, remote beaches and hotels ensure that your tailor made holiday is perfect in every way. Utilising Asian Travel Vietnam’s special rates impressive savings on flights, hotels, tours and insurance can be realised. (more…)

Vietnam Tourism: Toward Impressive, Sustainable Growth

Growth is impressive … In the past nearly 10 years, tourism service and administration activities have been changed much. The results of tourism activities have reflected important growths and contributed to the cause of national industrialisation and modernisation, demonstrated by the increasing proportion of the industry in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). Vietnam only served 2.33 million international arrivals in 2001, but the figure was 4.235 million arrivals in 2008, representing an annual growth of 8.91 per cent per annum. Domestic visitor arrivals reached 20.5 million in 2008, representing a growth 8.34 per cent per annum. Tourist product systems as well as infrastructure systems have been improved not only in quantity but also in quality in recent years as tourism has increased. With respect to accommodation facilities, in 2008, the country had 4,856 accommodation facilities with 123,050 rooms, including 296 facilities ranked from three stars to five stars. The room growth was 15.16 per cent per annum. The number of international and domestic travel companies continuously increased to serve growing number of tourists. By the end of June 2009, Vietnam had 764 licensed international travel companies, more than 10,000 domestic travel companies, and 6,000 international tour guides (at the end of 2008). Travel companies of Vietnam have caught up with the levels of foreign travel firms, and have increased cooperation and enlarged market shares. The most notable change is the soaring investment capital for the tourism industry by both domestic and international investors. Many world-class seaside resorts and ecological tourist sites have given a facelift to the Vietnamese tourism industry and made Vietnam a promising tourist centre of the region and the world. Incomes in foreign currencies increased from US.3 billion in 2005 to US billion in 2008. Tourism not only has not only been good economically, but also has affected many social aspects of Vietnamn. At present, the tourism industry has 1,035,000 labourers, of which 285,000 people are direct workers and 750,000 people are indirect workers. As much as 42.5 per cent of tourism workers are certified and some 40.8 per cent of the tourism workforce can speak English, Chinese, French and other languages. Human resources training for the tourism industry have been improved. The country now has 40 universities with tourism training units, 43 tourism vocational high schools and hundreds of small-scaled tourism training centres. (more…)

Mexico Expands Its Commitment to Sustainable Tourism

Mexico pledges once again its commitment to sustainable tourism by introducing new market-driven, economic opportunities that support conservation and community development. The Mexico Tourism Board and other Mexicans governmental tourism entities, in conjunction with the World Heritage Alliance (WHA), Expedia, Inc. and the United Nations Foundation, have initiated an educational partnership program for Expedia representatives and members of local communities in Mexico to ensure the protection of the delicate biodiversity, while empowering the rural communities through entrepreneurship.

Earlier this year, Expedia employees traveled to Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to work with Community Tours Sian Ka’an (CTSK) — a local, predominantly Mayan- owned tourism cooperative working to ensure protection of the delicate mix of coral reefs, mangroves, clear deep water pools, and forests, which are increasingly drawing tourists southward from nearby Cancun and the Riviera Maya.

“We are very excited and proud of the benefits that our small local communities are receiving,” commented Mexico Tourism Board CEO, Francisco Lopez Mena on the Community Tours Sian Ka’an. “CTSK is a perfect example of how we can empower a local community with the right entrepreneurial skills, while at the same time protecting the environment and offering visitors a rich and fulfilling experience,” stated Lopez Mena.

A representative of CTSK, Manuel Quezada IX, was recently a panelist during the United Nations’ Dialogue for the Future: Indigenous Entrepreneurship Forum organized with Aveda, Inc., to discuss issues related to indigenous entrepreneurship, opportunities and challenges. Satisfyingly, CTSK has experienced revenue growth of more than 125 percent, and it was recently recognized with the prestigious Equator Prize, given biannually to the world’s most innovative community sustainable development project initiatives.

“Tourism is fundamental for creating a constituency for conservation,” said Mexico Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo, “It is important for us as leaders in this industry, to empower our local communities and bring significant changes, financial and environmental benefits for all to enjoy,” added Elizondo. (more…)

Sustainable Tourism- A Prerequisite of Sustainable Development

This article will provide a brief overview about the historical background, importance, concepts, principles and general debates about sustainable tourism.

Sustainable tourism is one of the pre-requisites of achieving sustainable development. the concept of tourism with sustainability and development gets its historical inclusion from mass tourism that got flourished in 1960s due to advent of jet aircraft and the passions for tourism got tremendous following and it also reached Third World countries (Dann, 2002). It was also argued that this boost pushed organizations like World Bank and UN to examine the cost benefit analysis of tourism and it was acknowledged that potential costs of tourism are far lower than financial benefits in shape of balance pf payment surpluses, infrastructure development, and employment and foreign exchange gains. So that gave rise to the concept of sustainable tourism as one of the source of bringing sustainable development. According to the World’s Summit on Sustainable Development (2002), it is claimed that Tourism is the world’s largest industry where in 2000, 698 million people travelled internationally which 7.3 % more than 1999. Similarly the economic worth of international tourism was US7.9 billion in 2000 (Papers4you.com, 2006). (more…)