Travel News 2009 - 2010 SWINE FLU

Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojLozSJ01w0
By JCVdude August 22, 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojLozSJ01w0

Swine Flu Outbreak Aboard Aruban Ship
An Aruba-based cruise ship was sent back home Friday after more than a dozen passengers and crew came down with flu-like symptoms.

The Ocean Dream, which is owned by Pullmantur, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean, was in the middle of a nine-day Caribbean cruise when three crew members and 11 passengers began to feel ill.

On Wednesday authorities in scheduled ports stops of Grenada and Barbados refused to allow the ship to dock, prompting Pullmantur to cut the cruise short.
"The last months have been increasingly challenging," says Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), an organization of travel executives, "and we clearly haven't seen the end of it yet."

And in the tropical islands of the Caribbean and South Pacific, it's a case of surf, sand and empty beach chairs. In February, French Polynesia reported a 30% drop in year-on-year arrivals. Tourist numbers there are now at levels last seen in 1996. The WTTC estimates the travel industry will contract 3.5% this year and shed 10 million jobs by the end of 2010.

You might think the last thing we should be worrying about is taking a vacation. Aren't we all meant to be saving and paying off mortgages? But that's underestimating the size of the global tourism industry and its potential to energize the world economy. By most accounts, tourism is one of the world's biggest industries, employing 7.6% of the world's workers (220 million) and generating a staggering 9.4% of global income ($5.5 trillion). "If you look at its linkages with other sectors, you see how deeply it cuts into the economy," says Geoffrey Lipman, assistant secretary general of the U.N. World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). "Construction jobs, manufacturing jobs, restaurant jobs--they can all flow out of tourism.