Can Eco-Tourism Help Underdeveloped Countries?
D1 Adelina | Sep 15, 2012 | Comments 1

Tourism might not be the ultimate answer to poverty and economic woes, but it is a major boon for places around the world that suffer from a lack of natural resources or industry. For instance, tourism is a hugely important industry in the Caribbean. Without flocks of resort-goers, nations in this part of the world would have to rely more heavily on agriculture, leaving their economies at the mercy of the fluctuating prices of commodities like coffee, sugar and bananas.

There are plenty of valid concerns about the environmental impact of hotel construction, excessive tourist traffic and cruise ships, but it isn’t fair to leave the positive economic impact out of the mass-tourism discussion. Large resorts employ hundreds of local people, and local entrepreneurs, from taxi drivers to guides to souvenir shop owners, benefit from the tourism trade.

What about eco-tourism? Is low-impact, nature-oriented travel as viable a moneymaking option as standard resort tourism?

Body Mass Index BMI is the common acronym given to Body Mass Index, a number calculated from your weight and height that roughly correlates to the percentage of your total weight that comes from fat, as opposed to muscle, bone or organ. The higher a person's BMI, the higher the percentage of fat in their body. If your BMI is under 20, you might be underweight. Between 20 and 25, you are probably at a good healthy weight for your height. A BMI over 25 is considered overweight, and over 35 is considered obese. Charts and calculators to determine your BMI are easily found on most health and diet sites. Of course, these calculators are rough translations of true percentages, and there are a number of factors that might influence whether or not your BMI is a true reflection of your total body fat. For instance, muscle is denser than fat and takes up less space. Therefore a heavily muscled person might weigh more than a same sized over-weight person, or two individuals with identical BMI might have widely different percent body fat. In this case, calculating your percent body-fat might require more sophisticated equipment, such as an immersion tank.

Slick Mobile Lessons From a Small, Design and Boutique Hotel
C1 Mariella | Sep 04, 2012 | Comments 0

Understanding your customer inside out, taking lessons from others who have done it well, knowing how much you have to spend, and getting the right technology partner on board are all key to a good design strategy. Pamela Whitby hears about the mobile strategy of one design and boutique hotel, which has also taken a few risks.
Most hoteliers should now understand the importance of reviews. But would they go as far as building a function into their mobile website so that guests can load entirely independent snaps or reviews of the room, restaurant, or facilities to the company’s own website in real-time? It certainly sounds like a risky strategy, but this is exactly what Viennese design and boutique hotel, Hollmann Beletage, has done.

Hospitality and Tourism Academy Launched
Posted: 20 Aug 2012 03:00 PM PDT