Eco-tourism is the new cool way to travel for the trendy. While not something that I would actively pursue, you can not argue with the concept. Essentially, eco-tourism is a form of travel that is built around assimilating within the local environment and people. It is not lets go teach the natives how to be “ecologically correct”, but more to lets explore the natural beauty of a country in its own way. Lots of hiking and exploring the jungles, as opposed to beaching and pina coladas. 

 Impressed by the success of countries like Costa Rica and Ecuador, which have lured flocks of travelers for mountain treks and jungle safaris, a growing number of regions across the globe are turning to eco-tourism as a strategy for economic growth.

Omar Bongo, the president of Gabon, a developing country in west central Africa, has set aside about 10 percent of the country’s landmass for 13 national parks. Green Visions, a tourism and environment protection company, based in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, is pioneering an eco-tourism development plan in Central Europe with “green adventures” that promote environmental principles and support local businesses. Even Greece, better known for its pumping night life and archaeological monuments, devotes a section of its national tourism Web site to “Greek nature” and eco-tourism.

Over the last four years, at least 48 countries, from Puerto Rico to Portugal, have created or started to define a national strategy for eco-tourism development, according to a 2004 eco-tourism report by Mintel International Group, a market-research company based in Britain.via New York Times.

The after effects of the hurricane season has hurt the 2005 cruise season tremendously. First the damage in the US Gulf region closed the cruise ports of New Orleans, Mobile, and Gulfport. Now Hurricane Wilma has hurt the Western Caribbean and Mexico, closing many of the ports of call.

 Hurricane Wilma has wreaked new havoc for cruise ships sailing from Texas ports, and passengers are likely to feel the effect for some time to come.

For a week, ships dodged Wilma’s wrath as it churned across Mexico’s Yucatan region and raked South Florida, dealing unexpected blows to the two busiest U.S. home ports: Miami and Port Everglades at Fort Lauderdale. More than 20 ships were affected.

Key West, a popular port of call that’s on some itineraries from Texas, was closed to tourists for nearly two weeks. It’s now open, and ships are returning. Royal Caribbean International’s Rhapsody of the Seas, sailing from Galveston, is again calling at Key West .

The worst and longer-lasting devastation was in Mexico’s popular Maya Riviera. Cruise lines now are dealing day by day with the aftermath. The popular resort of Cancun was severely damaged, but the destruction at the nearby island of Cozumel is a greater impact to cruises. Cozumel is the most popular port in the Caribbean, with an estimated 50 ships calling there regularly. During the winter season, as many as a dozen ships with 30,000 passengers might call at Cozumel in one day.

via The Dallas Morning News

Looking to get out of Chicago before the snow starts falling to making the ground look like Kate Moss’s mirror?

There is a great deal on United via Frommers:

United (tel. 800/241-6522; www.united.com) is also having a sale to Los Cabos with fares that are definitely lower than the competition.

For example, Chicago to San Jose Cabo (aka Los Cabos) is $271 round-trip during this sale; it’s about $400 round-trip on every other airline; New York to Los Cabos is $276 round-trip versus about $100 more on other carriers. This is not a system-wide sale sorry Detroit, Peoria and Minneapolis, to name a few cities left out) and the savings aren’t that dramatic from certain other cities that are included (such as Boston at $319 round-trip; other airlines are charging just $7 more). But if your city is listed in the samples on United’s site then you’re good to go. Just a short travel window here: October 15 to November 13 with no minimum stay required, travel any day of the week.

It looks like Air Jamaica is closing its shuttle carrier. The chairman of Sandals and majority owner of Air Jamaica Express has pulled the plug. The government took over Air Jamaica this past winter.

 MONTEGO BAY, Jamaica – Air Jamaica Express will suspend operations Oct. 14, due to the high costs of fuel, ongoing turbulence in the aviation industry and a review of market conditions, “which signaled diminishing returns,” according to a statement released by the carrier.< ?xml:namespace prefix ="" o ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 The airline connected Jamaica’s airports in Montego Bay, Kingston and Ocho Rios and also served Cuba, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos, the Dominican Republic and the Cayman Islands.