Pandemics and politics (Trinidad Express)

At the time of writing, almost a week after we all learned that a lethal new strain of influenza had appeared in Mexico, every single death attributed to swine flu has been Mexican, and all but one of those deaths happened in Mexico itself.

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Pandemics and politics (Trinidad Express)

Wotif Travel Insight highlights travel habits (Scoop.co.nz)

BRISBANE – 1 May 2009: Kiwis are still planning to holiday as they always have and say they are balancing their work and personal lives to do so, according to the Wotif.com Travel Insight survey*.

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Wotif Travel Insight highlights travel habits (Scoop.co.nz)

Gwynne Dyer: Pandemic politics could make us sick (The Georgia Straight)

Within WHO and the various national governments it has become an article of faith that you can’t contain pandemics once they move beyond the first few villages. But that is quite obviously bullshit.

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Gwynne Dyer: Pandemic politics could make us sick (The Georgia Straight)

Peaceful but slow start to Mumbai polling (The Hindu)

MUMBAI: Polling picked up after 9.00 am with long queues seen outside polling booths in Vile Parle, Santacruz areas falling under the Mumbai North Central Parliamentary constituency.

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Peaceful but slow start to Mumbai polling (The Hindu)

Welsh hotels feel effects of recession (icWales)

THE hotel industry has continued to suffer the effects of recession in leisure and corporate travel, according to latest study.

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Welsh hotels feel effects of recession (icWales)

Anger as chancellor confirms flight tax hike in budget (Guardian Unlimited)

The travel industry has reacted with fury after the government refused to use last week’s budget to scrap proposed increases in air passenger duty. The hikes mean a family of four holidaying in the Caribbean in the winter of 2010/11 will pay £140 extra in taxes. Despite a long-running campaign by Abta to abolish the tax, from November the amount of passenger duty - a tax levied per passenger and …

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Anger as chancellor confirms flight tax hike in budget (Guardian Unlimited)

Good work, ‘Butch’ Stewart tells Bartlett (The Jamaica Observer)

Sandals Resorts International Chairman Gordon ‘Butch’ Stewart was full of praise for Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, seen here (centre) with Director of Tourism John Lynch (fourth left) and other members of the travel industry who were in the United Kingdom (UK) recently to show their support for the lobby against the increased Air Passenger Duty (APD) proposed by the British …

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Good work, ‘Butch’ Stewart tells Bartlett (The Jamaica Observer)

Visiting America’s Most Endangered Places

Here’s an avant-garde idea for a vacation: travel the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s list of the “11 Most Endangered Historic Places.” According to The New York Times, it takes more than perilous looks to make the list. Instead, “the trust selects what it considers important examples of the nation’s architectural, cultural and natural heritage that are at risk of being destroyed or irreparably damaged,” Robin Pogrebin writes. This year’s list includes a special emphasis on the threat to Modernist buildings. In alphabetical order, this year’s most endangered historic places are:

• Ames Shovel Shops, Easton, MA
• Cast-Iron Architecture of Galveston, TX
• Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, CA
• Dorchester Academy, Midway, GA
• Human Services Center, Yankton, SD
• Lāna‘i City, HI
• The Manhattan Project’s Enola Gay Hangar, Wendover Airfield, UT
• Memorial Bridge, Portsmouth, N.H. to Kittery, ME
• Miami Marine Stadium, Virginia Key, FL
• Mount Taylor, near Grants, NM
• Unity Temple, Oak Park, IL

The slim good news for these sites is that since development has slowed, they face less threat of demolition for new construction. And the trust has a good track record of protecting the buildings that it names to the list. In 22 years, only six of the 211 designated sites have been torn down. Still, it’s worth visiting these places today because as the recession deepens, they might not be there tomorrow.

For more about the list, visit the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

British travellers flee Mexico (Times Online)

Thousands of holidaymakers are being flown out of Mexico following the effective imposition of a travel ban by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office last night.

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British travellers flee Mexico (Times Online)

Ukrainian ambassador to Montenegro forecasts 3-4 times growth in number of Ukrainian tourists to the country this year (KYIV Post)

The number of Ukrainian tourists holidaying in Montenegro this year will grow by 3-4 times, Ukrainian Ambassador to Montenegro Oksana Sliusarenko has forecasted.

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Ukrainian ambassador to Montenegro forecasts 3-4 times growth in number of Ukrainian tourists to the country this year (KYIV Post)

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