Unit XVI What is Global Tourism?

The industry of global tourism gathered pace with the creation of the commercial airline industry in 1950^th. Since then the global tourism has significantly developed. International tourism news channels such as tourismreview.ru in Russia, tourismreview.de in Germany were created. They offer a wide scale of tourism review newscasts like daily travel news, weekly newsletter, monthly magazine, tourism industry directories, tourism video channel, etc., thus creating plenty of options for PR and marketing professionals. The most common are:

• enhanced tourism directory listing;

• publishing and distribution advertorial materials;

• publishing and distribution press releases;

• announcing an event;

• banner ad;

• social marketing opportunity;

• video marketing;

• non-traditional promo packs, such as online competitions, etc.

The global tourism has become the largest and the fastest growing industry in the world. According to the data of the World Tourism Organization, 2008 became a record for the global tourism. The number of tourists makes up 842 million people that year. Despite the economic recession that hit the world, the sector worldwide provided 235 million jobs in 2009. It is expected that the employment in tourism will grow to 303 million jobs by 2020. According to the forecasts of the World Travel and Tourism Council, contribution of the tourism to the world’s gross domestic product will rise from $5.751 billion in 2010 to $11.151 billion by 2020. For more information about global tourism, visit our web site www.tourism-review.com.

Unit XVII London Top Attractions

Planning your next vacation in London? This amazing city is the world’s most popular travel destination with more landmarks, monuments and attractions than any other city. If this is your first, second or even third visit to the city, you should pre-plan it to assure that you make the most of your vacation. After all money you’ve spent on flights and hotel you don’t want to waste your precious time in this city. This is why we produced special video guides about London in 10 different languages at vidtur.com with ideas for family attractions, nightlife offers, budget tips, and much much more. In the meantime here is our special guide to help you plan the perfect vacation. Let’s start with sightseeing. London is literally packed with attractions and one might need more than a month to see it all. And we know vacation is not all about sightseeing, you should dedicate at least a day or two to this. Our Tips – stay by the river Thames or even better – take a river cruise that hop-on and off a bus to see the must see monuments on both banks of the river. The list is long including the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St Paul’s, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare Globe Theater, Tate Modern and much more. You might not see all there is to see in London but this should be enough for you for one visit. Check vidtur.com to get our money-saving tips on visiting all the attractions we’ve just mentioned without raising the cost of your vacation through the roof. Fancy some shopping in London? As you can imagine London has everything one might desire from huge mega stores on high streets such as Oxford Street or Reason Street to small quaky boutiques and so on. Two major shopping malls are in Shepherd’s Bush and Stratford and let’s not forget the famous London markets. Our tip – if you are on a tight schedule, you should concentrate either on high street stores or visit the malls as they offer more or less the same brands and retail chains. Visit the markets to combine shopping with sightseeing and to enjoy the atmosphere. We recommend visiting at least two or three of them, maybe Camden Market, Portobello Market, Borough Market or Old Spitalfields Market. It all depends on your schedule. Check vidtur.com for videos about all markets we’ve mentioned and remember some markets are active throughout the week; others are open only during the weekend. Want to explore London’s nightlife? This city has this all. First let’s talk about most popular attraction in the city – Western Musicals. Almost every tourist in London plans to see at least one show. So you can imagine that good tickets sell out quickly. Our tip is to avoid the half-price ticket stands you see in Piccadilly and Leicester Squares. Don’t waste your precious time standing in long lines only to discover that the musical you wish to see is sold out or that you bought the worst tickets in the house. Unfortunately, this is the reason why those tickets are sold at the discount. So you saved a couple of pounds on the price, but you’ve now found yourself sitting in the seat where you can only see half the stage. Now that would be annoying.

Planning a night out? Pubs are basically located everywhere and clubs are scattered around. One important thing you remember is that the underground stops working around midnight. So if you plan on spending your time at party, try to find the hotel nearby the club. Taking a taxi from one side of London to the other might cost you as much as one night in your hotel.

Now let’s talk about visiting London with kids. There’re numerous things you can do – from taking a ride on the London Eye, visiting Madame Tussauds, London Dungeon or a football stadium. Unfortunately, all of these attractions will be very expensive unless you pre-plan your trip in advance and mix free attractions with paid ones. For example, London’s top museums are based on donations only and most of them have great exhibitions dedicated to kids. You could always add a visit to one of London’s great parks which are packed with things to see and do. Just plan your schedule smartly. Check vidtur.com to find more ideas on planning a perfect family vacation in London.

This was just a small portion of the tips we have on offer. Visit our website for more information and remember London can easily be overwhelming. So, do your research and plan your vacation carefully – at joy.