Worldsurface.com Press Release: 'The Next Era in Travel Commerce'

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Worldsurface.com Press Release: 'The Next Era in Travel Commerce'

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, Nov. 15 -/E-Wire/-- This week in Miami, about 400 delegates representing more than 150 companies and 19 countries converged for the annual PhoCusWright conference on travel e-commerce. Speakers from companies including Expedia, Travelocity and LastMinute.com, outlined their vision of the future under the conference banner, 'The next era in travel commerce'.

And the consensus, "the market is ripe for those investors and companies that can look past a short term recession to see the long term gains." (http://www.webtravelnews.com/article.html?id=862)

Perhaps it is because travel e-commerce is a young industry but these 'long-term gains' were overwhelmingly defined in terms of sales growth and profit. If there are to be benefits they are for beleaguered shareholders, owners and Wall St. analysts.

Travel is the worlds largest industry, the only major North-South migration and is worth billions of dollars of 'trade not aid' to the economies of developing countries. The next era in travel commerce must involve more than just sales and profit.

To quote Harvey Golub, speaking in 1999 as CEO of American Express, "If we want to achieve and sustain our growth we will have to address critical issues such as protecting the environment and preserving the cultures and traditions upon which tourism depends."

That is not to say that all e-commerce travel sites in 2001 are the same. There are some, earthfoot.org, responsibletravel.com, and worldsurface.com, that recognize that travel must bring long term benefits to local communities, local environments and local economies as much as to western shareholders and Wall St. bankers.

R. Fox once declared, "Tourism is like fire. It can cook your food or burn your house down." The next era in travel commerce must be about more than just fanning the flames.

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About worldsurface.com

Worldsurface.com is a global travel site working to promote and develop sustainable tourism for backpackers and independent travellers. Our partners include ecotour operators, tourist authorities, Footprint Travel Guides and NGO's including, the United Nation's Commission for Sustainable Development, the Overseas Development Institute and Tearfund.

One of the ways that we promote sustainable tourism around the world is by funding 10 travelers to explore a particular region for 3 months and report back live to our members. This funded trip is the prize in our Global Reporter Competition.

In 2001, our 1st 10 Global Reporter Competition winners reported from World Heritage Sites in Peru and Benin, Volunteer Schools in India and Nepal and National Parks in Australia and Thailand. In January 2002, the second 10 competition winners will be reporting on Community Based Tourism in Namibia and Uganda, awarding winning ecotours in New Zealand and Costa Rica and volunteer opportunities in Guatemala and Brazil.

The deadline for entries for the 3rd Global Reporter competition is 28 February 2002

Worldsurface.com, Inc.

http://www.worldsurface.com

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