Eye on Travel

Radio Roundup: Florianopolis, Brazil

Night in FlorianopolisMissed Peter’s radio show?

Check out a selection of the fun and informative topics that he covered on this weekend’s broadcast, live from the Costao do Santinho Resort in Florianopolis, Brazil.

At the World Travel & Tourism Council’s annual conference, the Global Travel & Tourism Summit, Peter moderated a panel discussion on “Preparing for the Inevitable – Pandemics.”

The panel featured Jean-Claude Baumgarten, president and CEO of the WTTC; Geoffrey Lipman, assistant secretary general of the World Tourism Organization; Jeff Rutledge, president of AIG Travel; a spokesman from the World Health Organization; a representative of the Mexican Tourism Board; and John Walker, chairman of Oxford Economics, which measured the potential impact of a pandemic on the global travel and tourism industry.

Thanks to @riqfreire, who Tweeted bi-lingual updates during the discussion, we were able to eavesdrop in real-time.

Florianopolis Brazil Mole BeachBottom line: There was no pandemic, but there was an “infodemic” which resulted in a perceived pandemic. The public should have been better informed, especially considering that the media did not distinguish between Mexico City and the resort areas that didn’t see any cases of swine flu.

What’s the difference between a pandemic and a perceived pandemic?  During a real pandemic, people don’t consider other destinations—they stop travel entirely. As suspected, there is no more powerful motivator than fear.

But the scariest piece of information was this: If the fear doesn’t subside, global travel may plummet by as much as 60 percent.

Peter also chatted with his friend Charles Veley, officially the most traveled man in the world and founder of www.mosttraveledpeople.com. Veley recounted his travels to the isolated Pitcairn Islands.

Pitcairn residents are mostly descendants of mutineers from the HMS Bounty and their Tahitian companions, dating back to 1790. With a dwindling population of just around 50 people from nine families, the islanders were rocked by a sexual abuse scandal that culminated in the imprisonment of six residents. But the island is now seeing some great improvements, including Internet and phone service, road paving projects, and starting soon, monthly passenger boat service to and from the island. Read more about Veley’s trip and other adventures at www.charlesveley.com

Pier in FlorianopolisPeter also sat down with Ed Fuller, president and managing director of Marriott International, and Virgilio Viana, director general of the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS). Ed and his team are now working with FAS to preserve 1.4 million acres of rainforest in the state of Amazonas. And now, with the Green Your Marriott Hotel Stay, guests can book a room on Marriott.com and donate as little as $1 a day to the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation fund, to which Marriott has already committed $2 million. For more information, visit www.marriott.com/green-brazilian-rainforest.mi.

And, our very own Karen Elowitt called in to report from Dubai. Stay tuned for her Daily Dispatch from Dubai to learn about her impressions of the over-the-top city and how it’s changed since her last visit. For more on Dubai, check out A Day in Dubai Without Spending a Dime.

Check out a complete guest list from Peter’s Florianopolis show.

And learn more about the destination with Ask the Locals: Florianopolis, Brazil.