ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries C&RL News ■ June 1998 / 4 2 7 Cruising for travel information Visit these sites when you plan your next vacation by Kathleen A. Clark, Priscilla C. Geahigan, Thomas R. M irkovich, and A n ita D. Haynes T he origins of tourism can be traced to the Roman Empire, w hen w ealthy citi­ zens traveled to seaside resorts along M editerranean coast for rest and relaxation. Periods of exceptional tourist activity since that time include the 17th century w hen Grand Tours, or extended travels through­ out Europe, w ere enjoyed by British aristo­ crats, and the 18th century w hen health travel gave rise to European spa towns, such as G erm any’s Baden-Baden. For centuries tourism was enjoyed by only the wealthy, and it was not until the Industrial Revolu­ tion, with increased prosperity and mass- transportation, that the less well-off w ere able to participate. In the last 50 years, tour­ ism has soared to becom e a huge econom ic phenom enon enjoyed by millions. Accord­ ing to the World Tourism O rganization, “som e 613 million tourists w orldw ide trav­ eled to foreign countries, spending U.S. $448 billion in 1997.” 1 Including domestic travel, tourism w orldw ide is a $3 trillion industry. The selected list of Internet sites in this article covers many aspects of travel and tourism and is designed to serve as an aid to individuals w ho travel for business or pleasure, as well as academics and industry professionals interested in accessing infor­ m ation on tourism. Travel sites included range from transportation, accom m odation, and restaurant guides to tourism guides and international travel resources. Searching the th Internet for information can be very useful to the prospective traveler, and it has b e ­ e come much easier with the advent of search engines such as AltaVista (Access: h ttp :// altavista.digital.com/), HotBot (Access: http:// w w w .hotbot.com /), and Northern Light (Ac­ cess: http://w w w .nlsearch.com /). As Internet sites constantly change, practice and famil­ iarity with the algorithms of these search engines is highly recom m ended. T ra v e l m e g a s ite s These sites offer the broadest range of in­ formation available to the w ould-be trav­ eler and are excellent places to begin gath­ ering information. Encyclopedic in nature, they also serve as a model for identifying and organizing those things that need to be addressed w hen preparing for a trip. • Y a h o o ! For the searcher w ho feels comfortable using structured menus, more than 40 alphabetically listed travel subhead­ ings are available at Yahoo! Included are the typical travel headings, such as lodging, dis­ count transportation, tour packages, travel agencies, restaurants, and literature. Also, included are population-specific su b h ead ­ ings, such as w om en, Jewish, ecotourism, v e g e t a r i a n , a n d g a y . Access: h t t p : / / w w w .yahoo.com /R ecreation/T ravel. • AltaV ista. AltaVista, besides being an excellent Web search engine, has compiled a tri-level menu of travel and vacation resources. A b ou t th e authors Kathleen A. Clark is in the Life Sciences Library a t Purdue University, e-mail: flora@ purdue.edu; Priscilla C. Geahigan is the Consumer & Family Sciences and Psychological Sciences librarian a t Purdue University, e-mail: geahigan@purdue.edu; Thomas R. Mirkovich is Business and Hospitality librarian a t the University o f Nevada, Las Vegas, e-mail: mirk@nevada.edu; A nita D. Haynes is a special librarian in Las Vegas, Nevada altavista.digital.com/ http://www.hotbot.com/ http://www.nlsearch.com/ http://www.yahoo.com/Recreation/Travel mailto:flora@purdue.edu mailto:geahigan@purdue.edu mailto:mirk@nevada.edu 4 2 8 / C&RL News ■ June 1998 Subheadings are arranged categorically and g eo g rap h ically . Access: h ttp ://a lta v is ta . looksm art.com/altavista.htm l. • E x p ed ia , I n te r n e t T ravel N etw o r k , P rev iew T ra v el, T r a v e lo c ity , T ravelW eb. A plethora of travel-specific Web sites exist that allow searchers to book airfares and h o te l a c c o m m o d a - tions and arrange for car rentals. The top- ra te d site s in c lu d e E x p e d ia , I n te r n e t T ra v e l N e tw o rk , PreviewTravel, Travelocity, and Travel-Web. All of these sites have a host of other travel- related information, ser­ vices, and links, as well. Access: http ://ex p ed ia. msn.com; http://w w w . itn .n e t/; h ttp ://w w w . p r e v i e w t r a v e l . c o m / ; h 1 1 p : / / w w w . travelocity.com/; http://www.travelweb.com/. G e n e ra l t o u r is t in fo r m a tio n Experienced travelers use a variety of strat­ egies to avoid problem s and to obtain the best services at the lowest cost—w herever they may be going. Finding information and planning a trip in advance are keys to smart traveling. State and local governments are eager to provide travel information through their tourist offices. • F o d o r ’s T ravel S erv ice. This site is a good starting point for getting tourist infor­ mation for specific locations. Besides its ho­ tel, bed and breakfast, restaurant, and fare finders, it provides a very useful personal trip planner. Currently, this planner allows users to build a customized miniguide to 87 destinations around the world. The trip plan­ n e r i n ­ clu d es a series of c h e c k ­ lists so that a user can specify a destination and exactly what kinds of hotel, restaurant, and travel information are needed. Access: http:// w w w . fodors. co m /. • S ta teS ea rch . StateSearch is a service of the National Association of State Infor­ mation Resource Executives and is designed to serve as a topical clearinghouse for state governm ent inform ation on the Internet. Tourism is one of 23 categories available for searching within the site. It includes Web links for each of the states, making it an easy way of finding a specific state tourism agency. Access: h ttp ://w w w .n asire.o rg /ss/ STtourism.html. • T h e I n t e r n a t io n a l A s s o c ia t io n o f C o n v e n t i o n a n d V i s i t o r B u r e a u s (IACVB). This page includes links to over 350 CVB Web sites for destinations around the world, each of which provides useful information on business and leisure travel. Each listing contains contact information for IACVB m em ber convention and visitor b u ­ reaus, listed alphabetically by the country and city in which the office is located. Access: http://www.iacvb.org/. • T o u r ism O ffic e s W o rld w id e D ir e c ­ to r y . This index listing contains only offi­ cial governm ent tourism offices, convention and visitors bureaus, and similar agencies. TOWD currently contains 1,743 entries. Us­ ers can select tourism offices from listings by country. Most countries include home and overseas offices. Access: http://w w w .tow d. com/. • EcoNETT. EcoNETT is sponsored by The World Travel & Tourism Council and the European Commission. Its mission is to provide environmental guidelines to travel and tourism companies, and to governments worldwide. Its “Internet Resources” section c u rre n tly has o v e r 600 files, in c lu d in g Internet sites with content relevant to tour­ ism and the environment. Its “W ho’s W ho” section provides information and links to over 150 eco-related organizations. This site gives com prehensive coverage of sustain­ able tourism initiatives, as well as provides contacts and links to other sources. Users can search the news stories by destination names or keywords such as “green hotels” or “earthw atch.” Access: h ttp ://w w w .w ttc. org/. • HOSTLINE. This Web site is sponsored by the Nestlé Library of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration. There are four groupings included in this site: food service, hospitality education, hospitality business, and travel and tourism. The last http://altavista http://expedia msn.com itn.net/ previewtravel.com/ travelocity.com/ http://www.travelweb.com/ http://www.nasire.org/ss/ http://www.iacvb.org/ http://www.towd http://www.wttc C&RL News ■ June 19 9 8 / 429 category includes a section called “Adven­ ture and Eco-Tourism,” which provides over 50 links to other Internet sites. HOSTLINE is a good starting point for checking out eco-tourism and adventure tourism p ro ­ grams. Access: http://w w w .sha.cornell.edu/ library/Hostline/Linkpages/tnt.htm. A c c o m m o d a tio n s Arranging for lodging ahead of time can relieve the traveler of one major source of anxiety. Web sites vary in usefulness, from allow ing the user to m ake reservations online to providing toll-free contact num­ bers. All of the mega travel reservation ser­ vices on the Web include an option for mak­ ing reservations at hotels worldwide. The handiest to use are Internet Travel Network (ITN) and Travelocity because, during the first input screen, the traveler provides the check-in and check-out dates; results of the search are limited to hotels that have o pen ­ ings on those dates. Other systems, such as TravelWeb, Expedia, PreviewTravel, and City.net, require the user to query each ho­ tel in a city for dates available. Both ITN and Travelocity are limited to listings for hotel chains with online reservation capa­ bility while the other sites cast a wider net, including at least a few non-chain hotels and hotels without online reservations. Of course another option is to search the yellow pages via Big Yellow for hotel listings in a particu­ lar town, and let your fingers do the walk­ ing! Access: h ttp ://w w w .itn .n e t/; h ttp :// w w w . t r a v e l o c i t y . c o m / ; h t t p : / / w w w . travelweb.com/; http://www.previewtravel. com /; h ttp ://e x p e d ia .m s n .c o m /; h ttp :// city.net/; http://s7.bigyellow.com/. • W o o d a ll’s 1 9 9 8 C a m p g r o u n d D ir e c ­ to r y . This directory lists information on fa­ cilities availab le in ov er 14,000 c a m p ­ grounds in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Listings are prim arily aim ed at RV cam pers. A search en g in e pro v id es for searching by state, city, or nam e of cam pground. Most records include the lo­ cation, facilities, recreation, rates, dates open, and a phone number. Access: h ttp :// w w w .w o o d a lls.c o m /w h e rc a m p /d ire c try / directry.html. • T he W orld w id e H o s te l G uide. This guide provides a directory of thousands of hostels in over 150 regions throughout the w orld. Access: h ttp ://w w w .h o ste ls.c o m / hostel.menu.html. • In n s a n d O uts. Inns and Outs, which is part of the Bed & Breakfast Channel, pro­ vides over 20,000 listings for bed and break­ fasts worldwide. Although this is not an online reservation service, contact informa­ tion is provided, including e-mail and Web addresses when available. Check Yahoo! for other bed and breakfast networks. Access: http://w w w .innsandouts.com /. • In te r n a tio n a l H o m e E x c h a n g e N et­ w o rk . This site is avail­ able to individuals in­ terested in sw apping their homes for the ac­ commodations of oth­ ers. This is a surpris­ ingly safe a n d e c o ­ nomical way to travel that is enjoyed by thou­ sands of people worldwide. It is particularly popular among professionals and families. Access: http://w w w .hom exchange.co m /. • INTERVAC. This is another large, well- established home exchange network. Access: http://w w w .intervac.com /. R e sta u ra n ts Eating seems to take on a heightened di­ mension of importance w hen traveling; it is often a central part of the tourist experi­ ence. Finding good food w hen away from home can also be a challenge. • T h e G rea t A m e r ic a n R e s ta u r a n t G uide. Addresses, cuisine information, and geographic access to literally thousands of restaurants throughout the United States are available at this site. Access: http://w w w . netguides.com /. • C u isin e N e t. CuisineNet (w hich re­ placed DineNet) offers access to the com­ plete menus of a broad range of restaurants in ten m ajor U.S. cities. Access: h ttp :// w w w .cuisinenet.com /. • Zagat R esta u ra n t Su rvey. This site covers restaurants in approximately 40 U.S. http://www.sha.cornell.edu/ City.net http://www.itn.net/ http://www.travelocity.com/ travelweb.com/ http://www.previewtravel http://expedia.msn.com/ city.net/ http://s7.bigyellow.com/ http://www.woodalls.com/whercamp/directry/ http://www.hostels.com/ http://www.innsandouts.com/ http://www.intervac.com/ netguides.com/ http://www.cuisinenet.com/ 4 3 0 / C&RL News ■ June 1998 cities. Food, service, and decor are rated. Access: http://www.pathfinder.com/travel/Zagat/. E n t e r t a in m e n t • T ick etm a ster. To arrange for tickets to special events at your destination, use Ticketmaster. A search engine is provided for locating events (sports, concerts, m use­ ums, etc.) in the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Australia. In most cases tickets can be purchased online. Access: h ttp :// events.ticketm aster.com /. • C a s in o N e tw o r k . Casino Network, though geared toward casinos and gaming worldwide, provides entertainm ent news, lodging, shopping, gam ing strategy, and major sports. A direct link to Las Vegas Online is an added bonus with over 600 Las Vegas links. Access: h ttp ://w w w .c a sin o - network.com/. T ra v e l-re la te d in fo rm a tio n • T h e F ed era l H ig h w a y A d m in istr a ­ tio n . This site provides links to the D epart­ ment of Transportation for most states, which usually post detours and road construction information. Access: http://w w w .fhw a.dot. gov/related.htm l. • S p e e d T raps. Also of potential inter­ est is Speed Traps, which is the result of a nationwide grass-roots effort to docum ent areas w here there are a high incidence of safety patrol units. Access: h ttp ://w w w . sp eed trap .co m /sp eed trap /. • M ap q u est. Need directions to the con­ vention center or to Grandma Gerty’s new condo? Available for any city in the United States and many international destinations, Mapquest, from GeoSystems, will interac­ tively draw a map of a locale via its Interac­ tive Atlas. Maps are zoomable, giving the user the option to view regional, city, or, in many cases, street-level maps. Or, using TripQuest, get step-by-step driving instruc­ tions b e tw e en U.S. destinations. Access: h ttp ://w w w .m ap q u est.co m /. V is it in g th e p a rk s W hether as destinations or brief respites for the weary traveler, America’s parks are jew­ els the traveler should not overlook. • Park N et. The National Park Service has set up a com prehensive site, Park Net, for the facilities it manages. National parks, recreation areas, reserves, scenic rivers, sea­ shores, historic reserves, monuments, m e­ morials, and historic sites are listed by loca­ tion or alphabetically. Each location adm in­ istered by the National Park Service has a Web page that gives phone numbers, ad­ dresses, facilities, camping information, etc. A centralized reservation system for many of the major parks has recently been cre­ ated. Access: h ttp ://w w w .nps.gov /. • State P arks O n lin e . This site provides links to pages maintained by, in most cases, state departm ents of tourism or natural re­ sources. Photos, contacts, facilities, hours, etc., are usually available. Access: h ttp :// w w w .m inclspring.com /~wxrnot/parks.htm l. • P ark S e a r c h . H oliday seekers will profit from having a look at L.L. Bean’s Park Search, which provides, in a standardized format, information and photos for nearly 1,500 parks in the United States. Park Search is searchable by name, activity, region, or state. Access: h ttp ://w w w .llb e a n .co m :8 0 / parksearch/. T r a v e lin g a b ro a d • C en te r s fo r D is e a s e C o n tr o l (CDC) T r a v e l I n f o r m a t io n a n d t h e U.S. State D e p a r t m e n t ’s B u rea u o f C o n s u la r A f­ fa irs. Prior to any trip abroad, check out the travel information provided by the CDC and the State Department. CDC Travel In­ formation provides specific health recom ­ mendations for travel in most countries. In addition, the traveler can learn about dis­ ease outbreaks, vaccine recom m endations and requirements, and special precautions. Check the U.S. State D epartm ent’s Bureau of Consular Affairs for information of a non­ medical nature, including civil unrest, crime, natural disasters, and passport and visa in­ form ation. Access: h ttp ://w w w .c d c .g o v / travel/travel.html and http://travel.state.gov/. • T h e C u r r e n c y C o n v erter. W hether traveling abroad or purchasing a book from overseas, you’ll want to know how much http://www.pathfinder.com/travel/Zagat/ events.ticketmaster.com/ http://www.casino-net http://www.casino-net http://www.fhwa.dot speedtrap.com/speedtrap/ http://www.mapquest.com/ http://www.nps.gov/ http://www.minclspring.com/~wxrnot/parks.html http://www.llbean.com:80/ http://www.cdc.gov/ http://travel.state.gov/ C&RL News ■ June 1998 / 431 your money will buy! The Currency Con­ verter by Oanda is the most comprehensive currency converter, performing interactive conversions for over l60 currencies. Access: http://w w w .oancla.com /cgi-bin/ncc/. • Travelang. Travelang provides the ba­ sic words, numbers, shopping, dining, travel, directions, places, time, and dates for over 60 languages. Simple to use, just indicate your native language, then the language to learn. Many valuable links to other language resources on the Web are provided here, too. Access: http://www.travlang.com/languages/. • In tellica st, CNN, T he W eather C h an ­ n e l. Although there are many weather sites available, the international traveler will want to consult the Intellicast site, which includes four-day forecasts and satellite images for the world. A handy (0C/0F converter is pro­ vided in a pop-up window. CNN and The Weather Channel also have extensive world­ w id e c o v e ra g e . Access: h ttp ://w w w . i n t e l l i c a s t .c o m / w e a t h e r / i n t l / ; h t t p : / / www.cnn.com/W EATHER/; h ttp ://w w w . w eather.com /. T o u rin g on th e cheap • Fare T ra ck er. Fare Tracker from Expedia will, at no cost, periodically send the user a customized e-mail report listing the lowest roundtrip published airfares for preselected routes. Similar e-mail services are available from specific airlines (e.g., TWA), Travelocity, and others. Access: http:// expedia.m sn.com /; http://w w w .tw a.com /; http://w w w .travelocity.com /. • C o n su m er World. This site is adver­ tised as a public service site with over 1,700 useful consumer Internet resources, includ­ ing Ravel and tourism pointers. Access: http:// www.consumerworld.org/. • BizM iles. Weary of keeping track of your frequent traveler rewards? Let BizMiles do it for you. Register at the site for free and record your frequent traveler account numbers once; thereafter, just check back to see how the benefits have grown. Ac­ cess: http://bizmiles.biztravel.com/. • Sm art Travel Tips. For scores of ma­ jor cities, Fodor’s provides Smart Travel Tips, which includes ideas and strategies for mak­ ing travel easier and cheaper. Coverage of major cities varies. For instance, there is currently no listing for Beijing or Sao Paulo, but 20 pages of smart tips for Hong Kong. Access: http://w w w .fodors.com /stt.cgi. N otes 1. “Tourism Growth Slows Due to Asian Fi­ nancial Crisis.” WTO News (March-April 1998): 1. Access: h ttp ://w w w .w o r ld - t o u r i s m . o r g / n e w s l e t t / m a r a p r 9 8 / 1997RES.htm. (Eighth Off-Campus. … cont. fro m page 4 18) access to a new student population that will increase dramatically within the decade. The expectations of these students for online delivery of instruction, information, and ser­ vice are high, and the off-campus library programs devised in response to these de­ m ands are very high tech, built mostly around Web-based systems. Other presen­ tations focused on the challenges remote learning situations present for learning and research. They accentuated the need for a highly personalized approach to providing off-cam­ pus services, using online chat rooms, e- mail, and often telephone consultations in reaching and teaching remote library users. Off-campus and remote services prom­ ise to be major growth areas in the academic library community over the next decade. It will be useful for more academic librarians to become involved in discussions about these library services, given the improve­ ment and expansion of educational technol­ ogy and its applications for learning. N ote Proceedings of this and several past Off- Campus Library Services Conferences are available. Contact Central Michigan Univer­ sity Dean of Libraries’ Office, Park Library 207, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleas­ ant, MI 48859, (517) 774-3500 or fax: (517) 774-2179. http://www.oancla.com/cgi-bin/ncc/ http://www.travlang.com/languages/ intellicast.com/weather/intl/ http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/ weather.com/ expedia.msn.com/ http://www.twa.com/ http://www.travelocity.com/ http://www.consumerworld.org/ http://bizmiles.biztravel.com/ http://www.fodors.com/stt.cgi http://www.world-tourism.org/newslett/marapr98/ http://www.world-tourism.org/newslett/marapr98/