According to Professor Wang Qiyan, director of the leisure economy research institute from Renmin University, a country will experience a travel boom once a country’s GDP exceeds $3,000. By the end of 2006, China has accorded Approved Destination Status (ADS) to 132 countries and regions.

For years, we got away with touting year-round warm sun, sand and sea as if those qualities were unique to us. We soon discovered that there were other places in the world that not only started to make the same claims but were selling their year round sun, sand and sea products at lower prices and at better values than the Caribbean. No one should therefore be surprised that our market share of tourism plummeted.

It’s that time of year again, when pre-hurricane season forecasts begin to roll out of Colorado State University’s Tropical Meteorology Department, headed by veteran tropical weather researcher William Gray.

An environmental group said Thursday some of the world’s greatest natural treasures are threatened with destruction because of global warming, from the Great Barrier Reef to the Amazon rain forests and the unique ecosystem of the Mexican desert.

Eighty-six percent of corporate travelers feel business travel today is as or more difficult now than it was two years ago. However, 70 percent of business travelers who booked their trip online have had positive experiences in doing so. These are among the key findings released as Orbitz for Business “Takes 5” to survey the opinions of corporate travelers.

Hotel prices rose by 15 percent across the world between the fourth quarter of 2005 and the fourth quarter of 2006, according to the Hotels.com Hotel Price Index.