1: New app helps hotel guests fight human trafficking
Hotels and travelers can help in the fight against sex trafficking by using a free mobile app called TraffickCam to anonymously photograph hotel rooms and upload data to a national database used by law enforcement and investigators to locate victims and their pimps.
TraffickCam allows any traveler with a smartphone to help fight sex trafficking by uploading photos of their hotel room to an enormous, constantly updated database of hotel room images. Federal, state and local law enforcement also securely submit photos of sex trafficking victims posed in hotel rooms to TraffickCam. Features such as patterns in the carpeting, furniture, room accessories and window views are matched against the database of traveler images to provide law enforcement with a list of potential hotels where the photo may have been taken. Early testing showed that the app is 85 percent accurate in identifying the correct hotel in the top 20 matches.
2: Award-winning B2B travel industry carbon calculator set to launch this year
Starting this autumn, certain travel agencies’ trip information are starting to include data on how much damage consumers’ vacations will cause to the climate, using information provided by the Dutch travel industry association ANVR through its Carmacal project. Earlier this year, Carmacal won the innovation award at WTTC’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards for 2016.
With Carmacal, tour operators will be now able to measure and manage every carbon footprint aspect of their products in detail. The carbon footprint of flights is specified up to the level of airline and type of plane, for all scheduled flights available. CARMACAL differentiates the footprint for 25 modes of transport, 21 emission-intensive activities, and gives exact distance calculations. Accommodation carbon footprints are calculated on an individual basis for some 550,000 accommodations worldwide. For other accommodations, 20 different types with individual emission factors are available.
3: Start-Up connects micro-entrepreneurs with tourists
Researchers at NC State University say they’ve created a way for the public to easily find and connect with these smallest of small business owners, who often not only serve as experts at their crafts but are also top-notch tour guides in their community.
People-First Tourism Inc. (P1t), founded by NC State scholars with backgrounds in anthropology, tourism studies and computer science, creates an online marketplace where the public has direct pathways to vetted micro-entrepreneurs.
Through its website,www.peoplefirsttourism.com, users can learn about and book experiences with locals, currently ranging from cooking lessons with Costa Rican indigenous people to soap-making sessions in the North Carolina Blue Ridge Mountains.
4: Tripadvisor to stop selling certain animal attractions and create information portal on issues
Booking and review site TripAdvisor has announced its commitment to changes its policy on selling tickets to animal attractions, and to launch a new education portal to help inform travellers about the standards of care for wild, captive, and endangered species in tourism and their interactions with tourists, and their impact on wildlife conservation.
From next year, a new education portal will be linked to every animal attraction listing on TripAdvisor. The portal will provide links and information on animal welfare practices, designed to inform travellers about a range of opinions that exist on the conservation implications and benefits of some tourism attractions. The content will be supplied by a range of experts in the fields of sustainable tourism, animal welfare, wildlife conservation and the zoological and marine sciences.
5: Iceland Academy launches to encourage tourists to be informed and travel happy
Inspired By Iceland has unveiled ‘Iceland Academy‘, a new online tool to help visitors be more informed, ensuring a happy and meaningful experience, whilst raising their awareness about how to travel in a safe and responsible way.
The online academy hosts a series of video tutorials offering a short course of advice and insider knowledge on a variety of aspects of Icelandic culture; from explaining hot tub etiquette and local food sustainability, to glacier safety and explaining why tourists should never mess with the locals’ treasured Icelandic moss.
