World Tourism Blog

Last year I actually won a sweepstakes (one of those that no one ever wins) for a trip to the Galapagos Islands. Beyond Darwin, I knew nothing of the archipelago and went only because it was free. However, my week touring this eco-wonder changed my life and perception of ecotourism forever.

The staff and crew of the Lindblad/National Geographic ship Endeavour quickly stepped in to fill the massive knowledge deficiencies I had regarding the Galapagos. Before arriving the only thing I knew was to expect very large turtles and to never, ever touch anything lest it become extinct and bring about the end of the world. Almost immediately though, the biologists onboard began an immersion course into all things Galapagian and we even took a nature hike that first afternoon.

Over the course of several days, my ability to be completely overwhelmed by nature was surpassed by every new experience. Everyone knows that the wildlife on the islands have no fear of humans, but to experience this unique phenomenon in person is quite another thing. To be able to stand inches away from blue-footed booby hatchlings and listen to them cry for their parents etched a sensory memory that can never be erased. This endemic trait does have its drawbacks, more than once an angry pelican tried to take a nip and seeing spitting iguanas crossing the path ahead is certainly an eye opening experience.

At the end of the week, we said our teary eyed goodbyes and took with us memories and experiences to last a lifetime. As I watched the group of islands disappear from the airplane window, I began to think about our responsibility to preserve such natural wonders.

The ability to keep areas such as the Galapagos pristine is a delicate balance between much-needed tourist dollars and limited access. I began to wonder if our presence there is really a benefit or not. Fifty years ago, the Galapagos was an all but forgotten island chain with just a handful of inhabitants. Today more than 20,000 people call this tiny place home and many more visit each year. Following in the wake is the expected pollution and general ecological maelstrom in one of the last untouched biospheres on the planet.

However the presence of these scientists and visitors has also accomplished the impossible. The Charles Darwin Foundation and other notable organizations have brought back several species from the brink of extinction, including the giant tortoise, ensuring their presence for centuries to come. Their research has also allowed biologists to better understand these endemic creatures, which in turn adds to our collective scientific knowledge and abilities.

Ecotourism and sustainable travel are oft used and very trendy travel buzz words, but most of the experiences do little to protect the designated areas. As with all things, there are both good and bad actors. I have encountered organizations, companies and properties that truly “get it” and do offer a sustainable experience. However, I fear that there are many more bad actors who are ruining the utility of the terms for everyone else. These terms are being used everywhere as a way to describe travel to important and delicate natural areas. Unfortunately though these are areas which, because of that very tourism, may very well cease to exist past another generation or two.

By Matt Long

Giant tortoises Galapagos Islands

WE had awakened before dawn to get a jump on the desert heat and rolled out under a headlight moon, pedaling fast in the cool morning of the Dolores River Canyon. There were no cars, not out here. There was only the sound of bike tires on asphalt, the river’s murmur, the cascading song of a canyon wren and that beginning-of-the-world smell of river mud in the blue morning. Horses nuzzled the rough cottonwoods by the riverbank. Pale sandstone walls rose up around us and caught the colors of sunrise.

A day like this couldn’t last. “You know what Dolores means, don’t you?” our guide, John Humphries, had asked us earlier with his I’ve-got-plans-for-you grin. “It means sorrow, or pain.”

Soon enough, I would know exactly what he meant.

We were on Day 2 of our five-day, 400-mile cycling trip with Lizard Head Cycling Guides through some of the most remote and spectacular canyon-country roads in the Four Corners region of Colorado, Utah and Arizona. The opening of a few hotels in the last five years has helped unlock this region as a point-to-point cycling destination in a way that wasn’t previously practical. Though I’m a cyclist with more enthusiasm than experience, for years I’d wanted to see this area of the Southwest from a more intimate vantage point than the window of a rental car.

Now, at Mile 91 — right about the time I was ready for a beer and a bunk — the road bucked upward, a 2,000-foot climb in nine miles, and tilted so steeply in stretches that the downhill lane had a runaway truck ramp. The desert sun roared overhead. And at our backs the pleasant cottonball-cloud chaos of so many Southwest photographs was coagulating into the contused, lurid purple of a thunderstorm.

As thighs bellowed and heart valves squeaked, I began to question whether I’d been ready for this week’s most taxing moments. For the next nine miles I ignored the views I’d come for and studied the white line at my wheel as I slogged toward the crest of Tin Cup Mesa.

Yet whenever things seemed a bit grim, I was learning, there was always something redemptive, if only I could find the energy to look up. This time it was blooming globemallow and smiling prairie sunflowers that lined the roadside like spectators. I mashed the pedals and pushed higher.

On the previous morning, John had stood in a parking lot in Grand Junction, Colo. He had some wisdom to impart before anybody went anywhere. “We’re going to be riding in some areas that are very remote — very remote,” said John, who is both lead guide and Lizard Head’s owner. “There are areas out here where there’s nothing. So if you’re way ahead of the aid wagon, remember to have enough water.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. Following little-trafficked byways, our route would at times parallel the San Miguel and Dolores Rivers; swing past the ruins of Hovenweep National Monument and the rock bridges of Natural Bridges National Monument; dip into Arizona and Monument Valley; and do a flyby of the staggering goosenecks of the San Juan River, before finally turning north and plashing to the finish line in the wave-licked shoreline at the north end of Lake Powell at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. With more than 400 miles of spinning and about 20,000 feet of climbing in five days, it promised to be an undeniably stout ride, especially for a novice cyclist like me. Fortunately, riders had the option of trimming each day by hopping into the “sag wagon” that provided aid and lunch.

OUR group of a dozen was perhaps better prepared than most to handle the week’s trials: In the peloton we had an orthopedist, an anesthesiologist and a cardiology nurse practitioner. And if things got really dire, Warren Moe, Manhattan psychotherapist and bike racer, led the pack. All were avid cyclists in their fashion, from Muriel, a consultant from Saskatoon and a randonneur, or long-distance cyclist, who regularly bikes 200 miles or more in an outing (and who came with Robert, her college-student son), to 11-year-old Aaron, who was working on his bicycling merit badge for the Boy Scouts and was riding a tandem with his father, Kip, the orthopedist. Most were veterans of weeklong rides, and knew a thing or two about the pain that’s concomitant with the pleasures of five days in the saddle: before going anywhere, two riders, Mike McDonald and Bruce Tenenbaum, took “before” pictures of their beer bellies, to compare with the svelte forms they hoped to acquire by week’s end.

By CHRISTOPHER SOLOMON

Robert Garven in Monument Valley in Arizona.

National Geographic Adventure magazine has ceased publication of its print edition.

The magazine’s December-January issue will be its last, though the brand’s Web site will continue.

“Given the current advertising environment and the opportunities we see in emerging digital platforms, we think the time is right to transition the Adventure brand,” John Griffin, president of National Geographic’s magazine group, said in a statement.

The magazine’s ad pages plummeted 44 percent in the first nine months of 2009 compared to the same period in 2008, according to data from the Publishers Information Bureau.

The National Geographic Society, based in Washington, also publishes its flagship magazine, National Geographic, as well as National Geographic Kids and National Geographic Traveler.

National Geographic Adventure, launched in 1999, was an outdoor lifestyle magazine with a mix of profiles, travel destination features and stories about trends and gear. The magazine was published eight times a year and said it had a rate base of 625,000 subscribers. Its cover always had National Geographic’s trademark yellow border.

In addition to a Web site, future plans for the Adventure brand include books, mobile applications and even occasional newsstand editions.

The end of the magazine follows the demise of a number of other consumer and lifestyle publications, including magazines like Gourmet, Metropolitan Home, Modern Bride and Cookie. Hard money training.

The 2010 edition of Travel + Leisure’s “100 Greatest Trips” shows the upscale magazine’s editors suggesting some surprisingly down-to-earth destinations, such as the Jersey Shore, Niagara Falls, and Milford, Pa., mixed in with more exotic locales like the Brazilian beach town of Trancoso, and Langkawi, a cluster of 99 islands off Malaysia’s northwest coast.

If the idea of voluntourism is appealing to you, check out Frommer’s “500 Places Where You Can Make A Difference.” Listings include an animal shelter in Vieques, Puerto Rico; orphanages in Bulgaria and Cambodia; and 10 places where you can learn a language while teaching English as a volunteer, including La Ceiba, Honduras, and Wuhu, China.

Also new from Frommer’s is “300 Unmissable Events & Festivals Around the World,” from the State Fair of Texas, in Dallas, starting late September, to the rose festival held in Morocco’s Dades Valley mid to late May, when millions of rose petals are crushed to make rosewater and rose oil. Other phenomena and events include the flamingo migration March-June, in Botswana; the summer solstice at Stonehenge; Hemingway Days in Key West, Fla., in late July, and the Buenos Aires Tango Festival, held in August.

From Lonely Planet comes “1000 Ultimate Experiences,” organized into categories like “Top 10 places to go skinny-dipping” (including Formentera, Spain); “Dreamiest fairy-tale destinations” (Germany’s Black Forest), “Ultimate party cities” (bet you hadn’t heard the buzz about Baku, Azerbaijan), and “Essential experiences to make time stand still” (Petra, Jordan).

And from National Geographic comes “Food Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 Extraordinary Places to Eat Around the Globe,” including the Phuket Vegetarian Festival in Thailand, held each fall; the oldest street market in Rome, Campo dei Fiori; the bourbon distilleries of Kentucky; and La Rioja, Spain, recommended for its fall wine harvest. The listings are divided into sections such as markets, seasonal items, street food and desserts, and the book also includes top 10 lists. The list of places that offer best dining with views of the water includes The Boathouse at Breach Inlet, Isle of Palms, S.C., and top old-fashioned candy stores includes Economy Candy on New York’s Lower East Side. Hard money training