There's a considerable industry of magazines and newspapers published solely for travel professionals, which often contain news that isn't passed on to just-plain-travelers. Here are three items of which you may not have heard:

First, interviewed in the trade press, the president of Club Med, worldwide, has announced that the Club Med resorts are on their way to becoming "upscale" resorts with a heavy emphasis on families, family facilities, and couples (and less, apparently, for singles). He (Club Med's new leader) is Henri Giscard d'Estaing, son of a former president of France, and obviously brought up in a setting of great wealth (which is perhaps why the word "upscale" drips from his lips). While some of the Club Meds may still for a time be operated for swinging youngsters, their days are apparently numbered, if I read Giscard d'Estaing's remarks correctly. The Club Meds, which used to be promoted as "antidotes to civilization," are rapidly being made over into sophisticated, worldly resorts. As someone who used to value the insouciant atmosphere of Club Meds, the lack of a dress code, the pure democracy, the unpretentious high-jinx and games, I regard these new policies as a disaster. And I predict that in a few years, when the new "upscale" policies have failed miserably, Club Med will return to its former state of being, probably under a new Club Med president

The competing political parties of Kenya have entered into a "Grand Coalition," according to the country's Ministry of Tourism, and all tourists can now safely return. At a ceremony attended by Kofi Annan, former secretary-general of the U.N., everyone announced their determination to achieve peace and stability, and their agreement to assign specific cabinet posts in equal measure to the two parties ("the Grand Coalition"). The few elements that have continued to riot and parade have been asked to cease their protests. As I have pointed out before, if the truce does hold, Kenya's games parks will be offering spectacular low rates in order to re-start the flow of safaris. You are again advised to check with Adventure Center, Lion World Travel, or 2Afrika for their announcements of cut-rate trips to Kenya

A bit of good news: the Department of Transportation has just doubled the penalty that airlines must pay to overbooked passengers who have been denied boarding. Henceforth, such unlucky souls will receive twice the airfare they earlier paid, up to a maximum of $800, in addition to being later transported for free to their destinations. However, if the passengers can be flown to that destination within two hours of the earlier-anticipated arrival time, the maximum penalty is reduced to $400.

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Labels: accommodations, airlines, kenya, safari