The Financial Times reports today that Eurocamps is to set up Brit camps so that cash strapped British families will be able to rediscover the British countryside.

After two wet summers we hope for  better weather this summer,
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f4f0371a-1425-11de-9e32-0000779fd2ac.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/73058c64-1425-11de-9e32-0000779fd2ac.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/3a221c1e-1402-11de-9e32-0000779fd2ac.html

I was honoured by the audience which turned out for my inaugural lecture in the Gandhi Hall of Leeds Metropolitan University – there were old friends from Faversham, colleagues from the industry and form the university, alumni from the last 10 years of the course and current students.

I began by accounting for how I became involved in
the study of tourism fifteen years ago, raised the issue of the �Tragedy of the
Commons�, the conflict between individual and collective interest, and then went on to discuss Responsible Tourism , the concept of responsibility, the
development of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism and concluded
with some questions about the implications of the responsibility agenda for
universities.

There is a video of my inaugural lecture. The text, the PowerPoint and some photographs are also available on line.

There was a 4.6m million fall in passenger numbers in 2008, the first decline in 17 years. the decline was caused by higher oil prices in the first half of the year and by the recession in the second. Civil Aviation Authority figures reveal a 1.9% decline in passenger numbers in 2008, the first decline since 1991.

Stansted saw a 6% fall, 1.4 million passengers, Gatwick lost 2.8m with the collapse of airlines based there.

However, Charles de Gaulle and Orly saw an increase of 0.8%, Luton grew by 2.6% and London City by 12%, although its growth slowed in the fourth quarter.

The biggest gains for the environment were in the domestic market – the CAA figures reveal that domestic air travel fell by 4.8%, ~50 million journeys, as passengers switched to rail or used the phone or the internet.