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The World Travel & Tourism Council reveals massive increase in global international inbound travel

The World Travel & Tourism Council reveals massive increase in global international inbound travel

Flight bookings advise a warm summer months in advance for important places across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas MANILA, Philippines, April 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Planet Vacation & Tourism Council (WTTC) and its knowledge husband or wife ForwardKeys, forecast a big maximize in world 

How many undies do you need? 16 tips to make travelling a breeze

How many undies do you need? 16 tips to make travelling a breeze

6. When utilizing a seaside facilities block, often don some form of footwear. In some North Coastline places, just walking in immediate sight of the building can trigger the decline of a foot to tinea. 7. When flying extended-haul to, say, London or Madrid, absolutely 

Newly updated travel books offer Florida staycation and day trip ideas

Newly updated travel books offer Florida staycation and day trip ideas

If you still are uneasy about getting on an airplane or a cruise ship (or paying the high prices), it may be time for a Florida staycation.

Two recently updated travel books — Visiting Small-Town Florida and 100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay Before You Die — offer good ideas for staycations and day trips, so you can take advantage of living in a place that tourists flock to. Most of their suggestions avoid the big, well-known attractions, offering local gems that are off the beaten path.

Travel guides can have a short shelf life, so it helps that both books revisited and updated their tips and trips. Tampa native Bruce Hunt recently released his fourth edition of Small-Town Florida, offering bite-sized profiles and restaurant and shopping recommendations for “79 of Florida’s most interesting small towns.”

The Ozona Village Hall historic site marks where the first homesteaders began arriving at the turn of the 20th century.
The Ozona Village Hall historic site marks where the first homesteaders began arriving at the turn of the 20th century. [ LUIS SANTANA | Times ]

Kristen Hare, a journalist with the Poynter Institute and contributor to the Tampa Bay Times, just released the third edition of her guide to living like a tourist in the Tampa Bay area. The premise is a bucket list idea that took on a greater resonance for her during the pandemic.

“While that wink at the bucket list felt cute with the first and second editions, during the pandemic it has taken on a new sense of urgency for me,” Hare said. “Life is short. Nothing is guaranteed. How we spend our time — and the people we spend it with — is up to us.”

Some suggestions from the authors coincide. Consider Small-Town Florida’s suggestion to find tiny Ozona.

“Palm Harbor has grown up around Ozona, but the little village still manages to hang on to its quiet, quirky charm,” Hunt writes. You’ll find a scenic section of the Pinellas Trail bike overpass and some good food at Ozona Pig and Molly Goodhead’s Raw Bar, housed in a circa 1919 house. For shopping, Antiques and Uniques next door to Ozona Pig “has a treasure trove of vintage collectibles.”

Antiques and Uniques, the shop next door to Ozona Pig, has a treasure trove of vintage collectibles and Florida-themed interior decorations.
Antiques and Uniques, the shop next door to Ozona Pig, has a treasure trove of vintage collectibles and Florida-themed interior decorations. [ LUIS SANTANA | Times ]

As with many of the small towns in Hunt’s book, it only takes an afternoon to see its sights. But Ozona is close to some of Hare’s day trip suggestions. In nearby Tarpon Springs, the influence of its Greek immigrants and sponge divers make a visit “feel more like an international adventure,” Hare writes. Don’t miss the Spongeorama Sponge Factory for shopping and its setting for historical movies, take a tour by water on the St. Nicholas Boat Line and get great Greek food at Mykonos restaurant.

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100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay

Other suggestions from Hare’s book that can be turned into a staycation for a couple of days include:

Lakeland: Get to the Polk County town for lunch at the Joinery food hall with a range of vendors and sit on the patio overlooking a beautiful lake. Take a tour of Florida Southern College, the only campus architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed. Nearby shopping on Kentucky Avenue has fun shops like Scout and Tag and the Lloyds of Lakeland antique shop. There are also great restaurants all along Kentucky.

Williston: Located about 30 miles northwest of Ocala, it is horse country with rolling hills. “It should be on anybody’s bucket list to snorkel or scuba dive at Devil’s Den, a natural spring inside a cave,” Hare said. Reservations in advance are required to swim in the 72-degree blue water. Make reservations at 352-528-3344 or devilsden.com. Cedar Lake Woods and Gardens, on the same street as Devil’s Den, is a gorgeous botanical garden with waterfalls, swans and various levels to walk around ancient live oaks and lush gardens.

North Port: Soak in the Warm Mineral Springs, 12200 San Servando Ave., in this spot about an hour south of Tampa. “It’s a hoot. This is Old Florida at its oldest,” Hare said. At 85 degrees, the water smells a little funky because of the sulfur, and Hare recommends bringing a pool noodle to float in the deeper sections — it’s supposed to be great for the skin. “It’s like a Florida spa day.”

Devil’s Den, a natural spring inside a cave in Williston, "should be on everybody's bucket list," said author Kristen Hare. 
Editor's note: This caption has been updated to correct the location of this photo.
Devil’s Den, a natural spring inside a cave in Williston, “should be on everybody’s bucket list,” said author Kristen Hare.
Editor’s note: This caption has been updated to correct the location of this photo. [ Kristen Hare ]

Visiting Small-Town Florida

Hunt is now on his fourth edition of Visiting Small-Town Florida, which he first produced in 1997 as “the antithesis of the Disney guide.”

From North Florida to the Florida Keys, he focuses on towns that have fewer than 15,000 people. He likes to find mom-and-pop diners, historic general stores and old hotels still in business that offer a window into Florida history.

A good example is Evinston. Take a road trip to visit Cross Creek, about 22 miles south of Gainesville, that today is still as rural and scenic as when author Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings immortalized it in The Yearling and Cross Creek. Reread the classic books and tour the Rawlings house that remains as she left it. Then do some antique shopping in nearby Micanopy, where there are historic houses and a cemetery worth seeing.

Hunt then suggests you drive around Orange Lake to the other side of Cross Creek to find the little village of Evinston. “There is nothing there except the Wood and Swink general store. But it has been there since 1882, and it’s really cool and still a functioning general store,” Hunt said.

A pelican rests on a piling during sunset at Cedar Key , a small community on the west coast of Florida known for its scenic beauty and fishing industry.
A pelican rests on a piling during sunset at Cedar Key , a small community on the west coast of Florida known for its scenic beauty and fishing industry. [ FRED FOX | Times (1997) ]

Other suggestions:

Apalachicola: He is partial to the Panhandle and suggests Apalachicola, long known as the oyster capital of Florida (although oyster harvesting in Apalachicola Bay is currently suspended until 2025).Maybe spend a few days renting a house on nearby St. George Island with its pretty beaches. “It’s very laid back with some good food and antique shops. And they’ve done a pretty nice job of keeping the historic feel of Apalachicola’s downtown.”

Dade City: The east Pasco County town is becoming a foodie destination. Besides the famous Lunch on Limoges — Florida Cracker Kitchen, there is the local staple Olga’s Bakery and Deli, as well as Green Door on 8th and Steph’s Southern Soul Restaurant. In addition to its well-known antique shopping, Dade City has many food gems worth exploring, Hunt said.

The pier at Apalachicola is a scenic, quiet location often overlooked by Florida visitors lured by the state's much bigger tourist spots. The extra travel is worth the effort for anyone wanting to experience Florida as it was before all the highways, high rises and high-end development.
The pier at Apalachicola is a scenic, quiet location often overlooked by Florida visitors lured by the state’s much bigger tourist spots. The extra travel is worth the effort for anyone wanting to experience Florida as it was before all the highways, high rises and high-end development. [ MELISSA NELSON-GABRIEL | AP (2015) ]

Cedar Key: About a two-hour drive north of Tampa Bay, there are great galleries, restaurants like Tony’s Seafood and Steamers Clam Bar, and rustic settings to relax and go fishing or kayaking. The historic Island Hotel has been restored to its former glory, and its dining room is known for its native Florida seafood dishes.

Books

Visiting Small-Town Florida

By Bruce Hunt

Pineapple Press, 283 pages, $19.95

100 Things to Do in Tampa Bay Before You Die

By Kristen Hare

Reedy Press, 142 pages, $17

Author appearances

Kristen Hare: The Tampa Bay Times contributor will join radio show host Ernest Hooper about the new third edition of her travel book 100 Things to Do In Tampa Bay Before You Die at 7 p.m. April 22 at Tombolo Books, 2153 First Ave. S, St. Petersburg. Free; RSVP at tombolobooks.com/events.

Hare will also be in conversation with Times columnist Stephanie Hayes at 3:30 p.m. April 24 at Oxford Exchange, 420 W Kennedy Blvd., Tampa. Tickets are $5 at oxfordexchange.com/pages/calendar.

Tuscan holiday, family style: The ticket to effortless travel may be leaving all the planning to the experts

Tuscan holiday, family style: The ticket to effortless travel may be leaving all the planning to the experts

The bag of eggs I bought now — certainly, a bag — arrived with a image of the hen that laid them, and a poem. I am incredibly fairly Gina In the henhouse I am queen I am envied by cockerels and hens for my 

Naples Beach Club, A Four Season’s Resort

Naples Beach Club, A Four Season’s Resort

Photo Credit score: Naples Seashore Club Bridging in excess of Naples for 3 generations, Naples Beach front Club welcomed its company to their gorgeous white sand beaches for above 75 a long time. This was all made achievable many thanks to the Watkins relatives, whose 

WTTC launches new cyber resilience report for the global Travel & Tourism sector

WTTC launches new cyber resilience report for the global Travel & Tourism sector

London, United kingdom – The Globe Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) launched a big new report at its World wide Summit in Manila nowadays, to assistance the sector’s stakeholders fully grasp how cyber resilience is shaping the Journey & Tourism sector and strategy for a safer and additional strong foreseeable future.

The report, ‘Codes to resilience’, in joint initiatives with Microsoft, attracts on comprehensive analysis and in-depth interviews with cyber safety industry experts in main Vacation & Tourism organisations these types of as Mastercard, JTB, and Carnival Company, among the some others.

The report shows that even though the COVID-19 pandemic has propelled the planet and the sector into a far more electronic upcoming, with the prospects supplied by digitalisation, new problems have emerged, particularly in cybercrime.

The inaugural report focuses on 3 critical parts viewed as important for the sector: cyber resilience, important difficulties and 6 best tactics dependent on the lessons learnt prior to and through the pandemic.

The report goes on to show how digitalisation has grow to be a strong enabler of business within just Vacation & Tourism, and supplied the global nature of the sector, it seems to be at the part of legislation all around personal info safety.

In accordance to the report, a lot more than 7 out of 10 (72{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a})SMEs in the Uk, the U.S., and Europe, have fallen victim to at minimum a person cyberattack, and with SMEs symbolizing 80{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} of all Travel & Tourism companies, mitigating cyber threat have to continue to be a priority for the sector.

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, explained: “Technology and digitalisation engage in a important position in producing the whole journey knowledge much more seamless, from booking a getaway, to examining in for a flight or embarking on a cruise.”

“But the affect of cyberattacks carries tremendous economical, reputational and regulatory hazard.”

This essential report reveals 4 key concerns to handle in purchase to strengthen cyber defense and enhance resilience: securing id facts, securing company operations, comprehension the effect of COVID-19 and taking care of international legislation.

In accordance to the report, certain steps can help businesses greater prepare to repel an assault, when laying the foundation to support lengthy-time period cyber resilience. Educating and schooling all staff members, increasing danger protection further than the actual physical place of work, using a zero-rely on strategy to cyber safety, and transparency, amid others, have been proposed by industry industry experts as superior techniques.

Cyber resilience is a very important factor to the long run of Journey & Tourism, as cyber devices go on to aid and greatly enhance functions involving the sector’s stakeholders.

Through a panel session at the tourism body’s World Summit party becoming held in Manila these days, industry leaders read that cybercrime has expense the international financial system U.S.$1 trillion and could access a staggering U.S. $90 trillion by 2030.

In accordance to the WTTC Financial Affect Report, in 2019, prior to the pandemic stopped vacation in its tracks, the Vacation & Tourism sector produced far more than U.S. $9.6 trillion to the world-wide financial system.

Even so, in 2020, the pandemic introduced the sector to an nearly complete standstill, causing a large 50{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} fall, representing a intense decline of just about U.S. $4.5 trillion.

Digitisation has performed and will go on to enjoy a pivotal role in Travel & Tourism’s development and recovery from COVID-19. It is as a result critical for the sector to integrate cyber safety and cyber resilience to proceed its restoration from the pandemic whilst supporting its progress in the long term.

To read through the report in entire, you should simply click right here.

About WTTC

The Globe Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) signifies the worldwide travel & tourism non-public sector. Members involve 200 CEOs, Chairs and Presidents of the world’s leading journey & tourism corporations from all geographies masking all industries. For more than 30 yrs, WTTC has been dedicated to boosting the awareness of governments and the general public of the economic and social significance of the travel & tourism sector.

In accordance to WTTC’s 2021 Economic Impression Report, through 2020, a year in which it was devasted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Travel & Tourism made a 5.5{e9f0aada585b9d73d0d08d3c277fd760092386ec23cac37d50f4b8cd792b062a} contribution to world wide GDP and was accountable for 272 million work opportunities.

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