World Travel Market 2005 will be the largest ever. This year sees its fourth consecutive increase in exhibitor space of more than 3 percent increase. Over 5,000 national tourist offices, industry organizations, tour operators, hotels, cruise lines, airlines, other transport operators and technology companies from more than 190 countries and regions will be participating. The global business event takes place at London ExCeL between Monday 14 and Thursday 17 November 2005.

Underscoring the increasing dependence on Internet and technology from booking to check-in, a recent Accenture Survey has found out that technology has become a large part of many business travelers´ experience. As per the findings, the semi-annual survey found that almost three-quarters (74 percent) of the more than 500 US business travelers queried said they book trips online, up from 61 percent in the 2004 survey and 57 percent in the 2003 survey.

It has taken most of the three years since the 2002 Bali bombing for hotels and resorts to recover. Hotels saw a drop of 80 percent in tourism bookings in the aftermath. The hard work to persuade large numbers to return to the paradise island has been undermined spectacularly by the latest attacks, and it could take much longer to recover this time. By a cruel twist of irony, the London newspaper, the Sunday Telegraph had Bali as its front-page feature in this week´s travel section, celebrating Bali´s recovery as an exotic and beguiling destination for winter leisure travel. Under a banner headline, “Having a Ball in Bali,” the article says, “Bali´s back. Three years after the bomb, and a year after the Foreign Office rescinded its advice to avoid the island, new hotels are opening and the number of visitors to this most exotic and culturally beguiling of southeast Asian destinations is increasing.”

The newest bombings in Indonesia should remind the entire tourism industry that terrorism continues to be a threat to tourism throughout the world. Unfortunately too many tourism professionals act as if 9/11 was a one-time event. Nothing could be further from the truth. One of the lessons to be learned from the newest Indonesian bombing is that despite the desires of tourism and national leaders, terrorism will be with us for a long while and will threaten the tourism industry throughout the world.

Two weeks ago, crowds of locals and Hurricane Katrina evacuees gathered in Lafayette, Louisiana, for the Festivals Acadiens. The annual celebration of Cajun culture has a slogan, “Still Standing”, that commemorates the 250th anniversary of the Cajuns´ expulsion from Nova Scotia and migration to Louisiana. But after Hurricane Rita, which slammed ashore near the Louisiana and Texas border, “Still Reeling” more accurately describes the state of tourism along much of the Gulf Coast.

Pollution caused by aircraft enter the ozone layer a lot faster than cars making it more damaging to the environment, according to facts revealed Tuesday. Citing the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change, Reuters said aviation causes 3.5 percent of “man-made global warming.” This figure is forecast to spike to 15 percent by 2050.