It’s relevant because most people have travelled and enjoy travelling, whether its for work, a holiday, visiting family etc. even for people who travel for work, they might have sometimes off to explore certain sites, so this is an easy way for them to find something that’s close to them.

It’s relevant to people who want a more authentic travelling experience. For people who don’t want to read blogs.

What does it destroy?
Blogs – it is an easy way to get advice on unique localities all over the world without having to read blocks of opinions and information, which can be tedious and boring. Instead, users see a picture with a small caption underneath of no more than 100 (?) words.

Travel sites such as craiglist and hotels.com. I went to these sites and found them to be really cluttered and hard to understand. If I didn’t know what I was looking for, I wouldn’t know where to start. If we made our website really clean and simple, but still stylish, it would attract an audience. Lonely Planet might be tougher competition though as their website is appealing and easy enough to use.

Social networking sites –I wouldn’t say that it will destroy social networking sites but It will attract a market of travellers away from social networking sites such as facebook and myspace because it has a specific purpose, which is a platform for people to post/look at photos of strictly local places. So it will also attract an ever more niche market of travellers who really want that true experience of the culture by going to local places, not the places that every tourist would go to. This is what makes our site different.

How does it create authority?
The blogger is the authority as they are giving advice to people about where to go to in certain countries besides the usual tourist attractions. But the blogger is also anonymous so it creates equality.

This is what i had before but with some extra added point. I’m a bit stuck on the authority part, but like i said its only 3 minutes so we dont need to go too much into detail for that point. If there is anything else let me know! Carla

The popularity of blogs can be attributed to the following reasons:

(1) Blogs are easy to use

Blogs have the support from standardized technologies . Blogging can be done with real ease. Publishing content on the web can now be done with any hassle. Additionally, each blog can reference the information on other blogs. Blogs provide the bloggers with the opportunity to provide comments easily on other blog posts. This process opens up the opportunity to build good relationships. The relative ease in writing your thoughts and posting them for other bloggers to read certainly goes well with bloggers.

(2) Blogs are easily set up

There are numerous blogging software that will support the easy set up of any blog. Technological knowledge or expertise is not a prerequisite in setting up the blog. These blogging software additionally supports bloggers in many other areas such as keeping shared record of their work easily and convenient posting of comments.

(3) Blog owners are real humans

Behind every blog is a real human being. Each blog owner is different in many ways from the others. Blogging has brought people of different cultures together through communicating on their blogs. The reason is because the blog is basically approachable. Blogs encourage dialog which is so vital to the development of relationships amongst bloggers. The blog requires the human voice, and this makes blogging exceptionally special in terms of personalization through each blog. These factors actually increase the popularity of blogs today.

(4) Good networking communities are created by blogs

It is inherent in the culture of blogging that bloggers communicate with one another via link lists, their personal posts and through the posting of their comments on the blogs of others. This process supports the dissemination of information as well as making referencing of other bloggers’ information very much easy. The interchange of information and knowledge brings bloggers closer together. The opportunity to build mutual understanding, trust and cordial relationship increases as the networking mechanism develops.

(5) Conversational culture of blogs

Blogs allow bloggers to speak with personal voices. Conversations are easily created and distributed, giving rise to the much desired network that every blogger would love to start. The conversational culture of blogging brings out the true spirit of blogging. Bloggers speak with honesty and transparency. They want the conversations to be true and real in terms of sincerity and meaning. The conversations can be carried elsewhere beyond the blog itself. In effect, the blog will readily support the connection of bloggers with similar interests.

(6) Blogs are well-loved by search engines

Search engines love blogs intensely. The main reasons are that blogs usually contain many keyword-rich pages and constantly updated content. These content are often appropriately linked to other content, and this actually increases the popularity of blogs. Blogs that have a fair amount of incoming links certainly indicate that their content is well-written, relevant and well-received, and that their credibility will be positively assessed by search engines. Blogs that show good content indicates their authority on the subject.

(7) Blogs are versatile

Blogs make communication real and easy. They are versatile by nature. It is so convenient to make announcements, put up event calendars and to conduct exchange of information and knowledge. Technologies have benefited blogs immensely. Blogs provide good opportunities for better web visibility and syndication. Readers benefit from the easy access to other new information that they need from other blogs without having to disclose their email addresses.

Blogs are used for personal and corporate intentions. Many technologies in their synergy have made blogs where they are today. The communication scenario on the internet has improved dramatically, and this is attributed solely to the popularity of blogs

Webmaster: Jeremy Long Chia Teik.

—

February 2010 Highlights

• There were 5.6 million visitors during the year ended 28 February 2010, an increase of 1 per cent relative to the previous year.
• There were 558,300 visitors during February 2010, an increase of 11 per cent relative to the same month of the previous year.

World tourism organizations

Historical perspective of world tourism

The substantial growth of the tourism activity clearly marks tourism as one of the most remarkable economic and social phenomena of the past century. The number of international arrivals shows an evolution from a mere 25 million international arrivals in 1950 to an estimated 806 million in 2005, corresponding to an average annual growth rate of 6.5%

During this period, development was particularly strong in Asia and the Pacific (13% on average a year) and in the Middle East (10%) while the Americas (5%) and Europe (6%), grew at a slower pace and slightly below the world’s average growth. New destinations are steadily increasing their market share while more mature regions such as Europe and the Americas tend to have less dynamic growth. Europe’s world share declined by over 10 percentage points since 1950 whereas the Americas lost 13 percentage points. Though the Americas’ performance has been most affected by the declines suffered in the past years, the fact is that its annual average growth rate for the period 1950-2000 was 5.8%, also bellow the average for the world (6.8%).

Europe and the Americas were the main tourist-receiving regions between 1950 and 2000. Both regions represented a joint market share of over 95 per cent in 1950, 82% forty years later and 76% in 2000.

Tourism 2020 Vision

Tourism 2020 Vision is the World Tourism Organization’s long-term forecast and assessment of the development of tourism up to the first 20 years of the new millennium. An essential outcome of the Tourism 2020 Vision are quantitative forecasts covering a 25 years period, with 1995 as the base year and forecasts for 2010 and 2020.

Although the evolution of tourism in the last few years has been irregular, UNWTO maintains its long-term forecast for the moment. The underlying structural trends of the forecast are believed not to have significantly changed. Experience shows that in the short term, periods of faster growth (1995, 1996, 2000) alternate with periods of slow growth (2001 to 2003). While the pace of growth till 2000 actually exceeded the Tourism 2020 Vision forecast, it is generally expected that the current slowdown will be compensated in the medium to long term.

UNWTO’s Tourism 2020 Vision forecasts that international arrivals are expected to reach nearly 1.6 billion by the year 2020. Of these worldwide arrivals in 2020, 1.2 billion will be intraregional and 378 million will be long-haul travellers.

The total tourist arrivals by region shows that by 2020 the top three receiving regions will be Europe (717 million tourists), East Asia and the Pacific (397 million) and the Americas (282 million), followed by Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

East Asia and the Pacific, Asia, the Middle East and Africa are forecasted to record growth at rates of over 5% year, compared to the world average of 4.1%. The more mature regions Europe and Americas are anticipated to show lower than average growth rates. Europe will maintain the highest share of world arrivals, although there will be a decline from 60 per cent in 1995 to 46 per cent in 2020.

Long-haul travel worldwide will grow faster, at 5.4 per cent per year over the period 1995-2020, than intraregional travel, at 3.8 per cent. Consequently the ratio between intraregional and long-haul travel will shift from around 82:18 in 1995 to close to 76:24 in 2020.

–

International Tourism on Track for a Rebound after an Exceptionally Challenging 2009

Madrid, Spain 18 January 2010

Growth returned to international tourism in the last quarter of 2009contributing to better than expected full-year results, according tothe latest edition of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer. Internationaltourist arrivals fell by an estimated 4% in 2009. Prospects have alsoimproved with arrivals now forecast to grow between 3% and 4% in 2010.This outlook is confirmed by the remarkable rise of the UNWTO Panel ofExperts’ Confidence Index.

2009 – Last quarter sees return to growth

International tourist arrivals for business, leisure and other purposes are estimated to have declined worldwide by 4% in 2009 to 880 million. This represents a slight improvement on the previous estimate as a result of the 2% upswing in the last quarter of 2009. In contrast, international tourist arrivals shrank by 10%, 7% and 2% in the first three quarters respectively. Asia and the Pacific and the Middle East led the recovery with growth already turning positive in both regions in the second half of 2009.

“The global economic crisis aggravated by the uncertainty around the A(H1N1) pandemic turned 2009 into one of the toughest years for the tourism sector”, said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. “However, the results of recent months suggest that recovery is underway, and even somewhat earlier and at a stronger pace than initially expected”, he added.

Experience shows that tourism earnings generally follow the trend in arrivals quite closely, even if they suffer somewhat more in difficult times. Based on the trends through the first three quarters, receipts for 2009 are estimated to have decreased by around 6%. While this is unquestionably a disappointing result for an industry accustomed to continuous growth, it can also be interpreted as a sign of comparative resilience given the extremely difficult economic environment. This becomes even more evident when compared with the estimated 12% slump in overall exports as a consequence of the global crisis.

Similarly to the situation in previous crisis, consumers tended to travel closer to home during 2009. Several destinations have seen domestic tourism endure the crisis better and even grow significantly, often with the support of specific government measures aimed at leveraging this trend. This was the case among many other countries, of China, Brazil and Spain, where the domestic market, representing a large share of the total demand, contributed to partially offsetting the decline in international tourism.
2010 – Improved prospects in a ‘year of transformation’

Against the backdrop of both the upturn in international tourism figures and overall economic indicators in recent months, UNWTO forecasts a growth in international tourist arrivals of between 3% and 4% in 2010. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has just recently stated that the global recovery is occurring “significantly” faster than expected, as compared with its October assessment which already counted on a clear return of economic growth in 2010 (+3.1% worldwide, with stronger performance for emerging economies at +5.1%, alongside a more sluggish one for advanced economies at +1.3%).

By region, Asia is expected to continue showing the strongest rebound, while Europe and the Americas are likely to recover at a more moderate pace. Growth is expected to return to the Middle East while Africa will continue its positive trend benefiting from the extra boost provided by the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

These improved prospects are confirmed by the encouraging steep rise in the UNWTO Panel of Experts’ Confidence Index for 2010, despite persistent uncertainties regarding the global economy and the operating environment for tourism. The experts who judge prospects for the current year as ‘better or ‘much better than would reasonably be expected’ (61%) clearly outnumber those rating it as ‘the same as’ (32%), or ‘worse’ (7%). The average score for 2010 (131), is well above the neutral 100 and close to the level of the boom years 2004-2007.

As a result, 2010 promises to be a ‘year of transformation’, and provides several upside opportunities, while naturally not eliminating downside risks.

Upside opportunities:

• Business and consumer confidence has picked up;
• Interest rates and inflation remain at historically low levels and are expected to rise only moderately in the short term;
• A slump is generally followed by a rebound due to pent-up demand and destinations are expected to actively leverage this opportunity;
• There is scope for a revival among source markets which were hard hit in 2009 such as  the Russian Federation or the UK;
• Major international events will take place in South Africa (FIFA World Cup), Canada (Winter Olympics) and China (Shanghai Expo), creating potential extra travel demand;
• The momentum of the spirit of cooperation and partnership bred by the crisis is expected to be maintained by stakeholders;
• The flexibility shown by the tourism sector in dealing with rapid shifts in demand and volatile market conditions has made it stronger;
• Crises provide an opportunity to address underlying structural weaknesses and implement strategies fostering sustainable development and the transformation to the Green Economy.

Australian travel agencies directory

Australians turning towards more overseas travel

Overseas travel now high priority for many Australians has 2009 figure reports

Australians are now choosing to travel overseas rather than domestic more than ever before after data from 2009 figures show major shift in consumer travel trends and preferences.

According to the latest Roy Morgan Single Source data, the number of Australians that are considering taking up an overseas holiday in the next two years has risen significantly as compared to a decade ago. The results have indicated a shift in attitude towards overseas travel with it now appearing far more achievable to ma y more Australians than previously.

In fact, an increasing percentage of Australians would like to take an overseas holiday within the next two years according to results from surveys in September 2009. In the year ended September 2009 44.9 per cent of Australians said they were interested in overseas travel which is up from 43.4 per cent in the year ended March 2001.

While these figures are fairly similar, the real difference comes in the attitude towards domestic travel  with the percentage of Australians wishing to holiday with the nation’s borders falling from 82.5 per cent in 2001 to 78.1 per cent in 2009.

These figures correlate to actual bookings and travel flights with the number of Australians who have actually embarked on an overseas holiday rising from 13.1 per cent in the year ended March 2001 to 19.3 per cent in the year ended September 2009. For domestic travel this remained fairly stable with the number of people who have actually travelled domestically being reported between 65 and 66 per cent.

Roy Morgan Research International Director of Tourism, Travel and Leisure, Jane Ianniello, stated in a press release from the company that national currency, a wider scope of research possibilities and higher incomes have all impacted on the trend towards overseas travel.

The trend towards overseas travel is partly caused by cheaper international airfares, a strong Australian dollar, increased air access to a wider choice of overseas destinations, and the increasing wealth of the average Australian.

“In addition, more Australians are born overseas, especially Asia and New Zealand, which has led to Australia becoming a more multicultural and progressive society that increasingly aspires to holidays in exotic overseas destinations.

Ms Ianniello stated that the Internet has changed the travel agencies and booking industry by allowing travellers to completely bypass the travel agent and book their own holidays, which has been especially evident in especially short-haul flights to New Zealand and Asia.

Roy Morgan Research has just released its most recent “Travel Agent Brand Health and Holiday Booking Trends” report examining how travel agents are performing over time relative to their competitors in terms of awareness, advertising awareness, usage, consideration and loyalty, reported Ms Ianiello.

“It reports on these measures for both traditional bricks-and-mortar travel agents such as Flight Centre and Harvey World Travel as well as online-only travel agents such as wotif.com and Webjet.

“The report also shows how the internet has changed the way Australians are booking their holiday and leisure travel, and provides details on which travel websites Australians have visited in the last 4 weeks.” She concluded.

Travel trends

Holiday Priority for Australians Despite Rising Interest Rates

12 April, 2010 by Martin Kelly | No comments

RISING home loan interest rates are having no impact on Australian leisure travel according to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce, who said Australians are not cutting back on their holiday spend. “We are seeing very strong leisure demand despite interest rates having gone up,” Joyce told the Sunday Business program. He also said the business market, which was hit by the Global Financial Crisis, is strengthening.  ”Confidence is returning to the business sector, people are travelling again.”

Yeah I think that’s good, it basically covers everything we said in the last tutorial. Anyway, I put together a kind of outline for how we can organise the information, I think it covers everything that we need to.

Slide 1: Context
Here we can talk about the history of archives, and set the scene (eg travel figures), maybe even chuck in a few themes such as mobility and convergence. Then we can add our hypothesis once we come up with it. I reckon we could say something like due to the constantly changing environment of today’s media forms, archives similarly need to keep up with these fast paced systems. Therefore that creates the need for our archive as it is better than blogs…eg talk about how it is much quicker and easier to use and read.

Slide 2: Basic information about the archive
We can just give a brief outline and features. We can also talk about what differentiates us from existing systems

Slide 3: Why we think it will succeed and future implications
Here we can talk about all the nitty gritty stuff, so how is it relevant, what systems does it destroy, impacts, how does it affect people’s social lives etc

Slide 4: Example
Maybe create an example of a post by a user, and we can also cut the talking short on this slide if need be.

I *think* that’s everything we need, but see if I’ve left something out, so I guess we just need to put it all together…Julia don’t panic, we will be fine!! Let me know what you guys think!

x

-when people are doing their travel research, they tend to go online and read all sorts of reviews and recommendations and things to do etc;
-communicating through photos is a more interesting way of providing people with travel advice and individual experiences.
-written blogs can become tedious to read, often boring and lengthy with a lot of information to take in.

-this is useful for social life as it provides people with an easy, simple and interesting way to share their experiences with others as well as creating an easy platform for others to seek recommendation and advice.
- quick and easy way to post and share things.
-in nutshell it is combining the elements of tumbler/flicker and travel sites such as ‘lonely planet.

• Existing systems:
  -Flickr:
  -photo management application
  -features include uploading, creative editing, organisation tools such as collections and tags, group controls, maps, creative activities, and update notifications
  -Tumblr:
  -same sort of idea as flickr
  -ability to share anything including post text, photos, quotes, links, music, and videos and enables you to customise and personalise uploads.
  -Lonely planet:
  -provides assistance in travelling
  -destinations, accommodation, flights, links, recommendations etc;
  -Boo.com:

-new type of travel site that puts everything in one place, reviews are written by people, regular travels, share the same interests.

• Our modifications for new travel photo archive:
  -one problem we found with existing systems is that there is too much clutter.
  -our site will be simple, easy to use and direct and specific to the search items of the browser
  -mix between an advisory website and collection of photos
  -combining elements of the two; photo collection aspect and travel recommendation function of travel sites.
  -specifically associated with travel
  -based entirely on people’s experiences and records on their travels
  -shared interests/likes/dislikes/thoughts
  -lonely planet didn’t enable users to search specifically for photos
  -instead you are re directed to assumed links of interest
  -absence of gallery/photo album
  -not used to plan a trip but record it->so it becomes a collection over time (this is how it is relevant as an archive)

• Features of this archive:
  -useful quote we can use!
  ‘The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.’
  -upload photos
  -adding a caption
  -short description box

-search by categories; the most interesting thing I saw here was..
-suggested links to associated items of interest; if you are interested in the trevy fountain it suggests the colosseum or more specifically something else that there is to do in the locality of the specified search.
-photo albums; categorising specific sights/places
-labels, tagging system
-when you click on the photo it provides you with a map of the location of where the photo  was actually taken
-easy, quick, simple search bar: one worded, phrases, questions eg: where can I find the best pizza in Rome?

-people share their experiences and provide useful information to fellow travellers; the must sees, the funny quirky things that make travelling exciting
-not just used to record well known landmarks but the “must sees” or “never before seen”
-can work in two ways: you can use it as your own private collection of photos or you can publicise it to assist other people

• How is this relevant as an archive?
  -a collection/record of different people’s experience
  -can be viewed over time
  -comparison of different people’s attitude, thoughts
  -record of how the places themselves have changed over time
  -it has cultural, historical and evidentiary value
  -a way of organising photos, categorising them, preserving them online, both publically and personally and providing access to so people can use and share them for their own intentions.
  -accumulated by many different people that share similar/different experiences

- we also need to decide on a catchy name! should we stick to “travel bug” and also need to figure out a  way to present how the archive  actually works..anyone good at design here? i think on one slide should show what the blog will look like so its clear and not confusing to get the idea across..just show all the links and different features and so on….

i’m working all day/night 2moro so does someone want to volunteer to collaberate all our information so that it makes sense and easily presentable?

if there is anything else you want me do let me know and me posted!

xx

i hope i have the right idea on what we are trying to present.
ive written down the questions that we have to try and answer:

1.how will it be useful for social life
2.how would it be organised?
3.changes in social life?

4.general impacts on society?
5. What does it institute
6.what does it destroy?
7.how does it create authority
We  have to say something about archives in general, have a thesis, try and relate it to the archive readings.
-Research on the nature of archives
-existing systems
-the most important thing we have to think about is how it’s going to be different and better then the ones that already exist. what modifications are we adding to it??

we also should have some type of thesis..a problem that has to be solved, or hypothesis kind of thing..why are we developing this new travel photo blog?  if you can also try and find some statistics about travel etc etc or whatever you think is relevant to the proposal.

ial send over a few points soon..just researching on the different systems at the moment and trying to get it all to make sense in my head. coz im a bit confused!!

we need to confine it and try and explain it in one solid sentence!!

anyone have that sentence yet??

xx

Just a quick idea – in terms of linking it with concepts that we have learnt before, maybe we can talk about mobility and convergence of media? We don’t need to say much, but just mentioning it would be good

Also, is there anyway we can all chat about what’s happening or anything? Would be good to just get a concensus on a finalised idea/outline and we can all get writing

Talk soon,

Jane k

xx

What does it institute? Social Relevance?
Its relevant to people who want a more authentic travelling experience. For people who don’t want to read blogs.

What does it destroy?
Blogs – it is an easy way to get advice on unique localities all over the world without having to read blocks of opinions and information, which can be tedious and boring. Instead, users see a picture with a small caption underneath of no more than 100 (?) words.
Travel sites such as craiglist and hotels.com. I went to these sites and found them to be really cluttered and hard to understand. If I didn’t know what I was looking for, I wouldn’t know where to start. If we made our website really clean and simple, but still stylish, it would attract an audience. Lonely Planet might be tougher competition though as their website is appealing and easy enough to use.

How does it create authority?
The blogger is the authority as they are giving advice to people about where to go to in certain countries besides the usual tourist attractions. But the blogger is also anonymous so it creates equality.

Features of the site
• Connects to other social networking sites such as facebook
• Anonymous – username, anyone can access the blog, don’t need to add friends
• A site where people can upload travel photos of unique, local places – not main tourist attractions.
• Like tumblr – just photos with a maximum 100 word caption.
• Search Bar – to search specific locations
• Latest uploads/recommended blogs – similar to YouTube
• Categories
• bookmarking

Possible Problems
• We can lose a whole market of people who, after 9/11, the Bali bombings and flu epidemics, have become afraid to travel. The Australian Bureau of Statistics noted a decline in international travel after these events. However, travel still remains strong.
o “In the months following the September 11 attacks in 2001, there were decreases in monthly arrivals – in November 2001, there were 82,000 fewer (seasonally adjusted) visitor arrivals than in November 2000. While seasonally adjusted monthly arrivals increased through 2002, the total number of short-term arrivals for that year (4.8 million) was lower than in 2001 and 2000.

There were large decreases in seasonally adjusted monthly arrivals again in the early months of 2003. These followed the lead up to, and subsequent commencement of, military action in Iraq (March 2003), as well as the outbreak of SARS in some countries in 2003 (the World Health Organisation issued a SARS travel advisory in March). Monthly arrivals increased steadily later in 2003, particularly in the months leading up to October when Australia hosted the 2003 Rugby World Cup. During this period, there were increases in arrivals from some participating countries (e.g.New Zealand, the UK and South Africa). Despite this, the total number of short-term visitor arrivals declined again in 2003 to 4.7 million.” (http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.NSF/7d12b0f6763c78caca257061001cc588/20f7d7e0d3a80ae5ca256e9e00293bd5!OpenDocument)

Future Expansion
• Expands into newer markets, shopping and can link into other travel websites in the future.
• Future relevance – Viewers of the site, in the future, will be able to see how places themselves have changed.

Examples
• Craigslist
o Craigslist is a centralized network of online communities, featuring free online classified advertisements – with sections devoted to jobs, housing, personals, for sale, services, community, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. (Wikipedia) Not really like what we are proposing. Messy, cluttered, boring. Hard to read.
o Lonely Planet – Advice and information on different locations. Mostly main tourist attractions.
o Hotels.com – Prices, ratings, reviews etc on hotels. Very different to how our archive would be set up

• Here are some extra sites to look at, just incase we want quotes on Mobilities like Gillian suggested.
o John Urry on Mobilities

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=psMxhVbNuBAC&oi=fnd&pg=PP10&dq=john+urry+mobilities&ots=l-0qyIsHJF&sig=mxqxef93dwFLoOzgzB8Gnhp32Qs#v=onepage&q&f=false

o Tim Cresswell on Mobility

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XjuTRsSebK0C&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=tim+cresswell+mobility&ots=6kBEpTymfC&sig=DHMuOw2zcE3Azk6SIBaujbPGS0s#v=onepage&q&f=false

I didn’t want to put too much info up, because it will get too confusing for a 3 minute presentation but if I find anything else thats valuable ill put it up on the blog. Also please let me know if you need me to do anything because I don’t want to give you girls all the work, if u feel overloaded with stuff. Let me know! Carla

-backgound/context
-related archives: what is already there, comparision, modifications, what do they achieve/don’t achieve
-social relevance
-features; categories
-future implications
-purposes/aims
-what does it destroy: traditional forming of ‘blogging’ replaced with photo representation
-Authority: equal? anonymous; individual activities, choice of uploads/delete options
-think deeper into HOW IS THIS AN ARCHIVE?
eg; record over time, collection of findings, sharing amongst other people, how places/sites themselves have changed over time.

Archives to have a look at understand how they work for the background/context:
(existing systems)

-Tumblr, flickr,  travel sites: lonely planet, craigslist etc.

WHY IS THIS RELEVANT? IS A BIG QUESTION WE HAVE TO ANSWER.  WE HAVE TO CREATE SOMETHING UNIQUE IN THE AREA FILLING IN THE GAPS OF WHAT ALREADY EXISTS.
-growth in the market of social networking/net publishing of the individual
-people are always on the move
-travelling more
-look for mobility quotes
-travel statistics

MAYBE TRY AND HAVE SOME SOLID IDEAS BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT SO WE CAN WORK ON PUTTING EVERYTHING TOGETHER..THE POWER POINT WON’T TAKE LONG ONCE WE HAVE ALL OUR INFO!

JULIA

XXX

ps/ one question tho …
so if i was to make a profile on this ‘site’ does that mean that its not a site i will USE all the time .. as in DAILY .. but on special occasions where i will be travelling to somewhere exciting..
thus after a while , it becomes a collection of the special places you went to in your lifetime )
AWW, that sounds awesome– put that way!!! haha