This month’s online conversations seem to be focused on the “customer experience”, the need to co-operate with other travel and tourism industry members and the important role that the travel and tourism industry plays in each country and globally. Here are a few quotes from around the world for September.

India - Sheldon Santwan, Express Hospitality
“While fighting Terrorism with Tourism seems to be the only way forward for this industry as we look into the future, sanity must prevail within the industry first.”

USA - Gary Sherwin, Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau president and CEO
“The one positive thing out of it (9/11) is the tourism industry has never been recognized as a legitimate industry by many people in government. Literally closing down the tourism industry for several days and it taking so long to recover made people realize the importance and interconnectivity of the industry.”

Bhutan - Samten Wangchuk, Kuensel
“Tour operators said that the rush among the tourists to visit the country during the festivals would persist as long as cultural tourists continued to outstrip trekking tourists.”

USA - Jonathan Tisch, chairman and CEO of Loews Hotels
“The travel industry does not — and should not — control foreign policy. But we do know a lot about hospitality and we also know that when people visit this country and experience the people and places first hand, their view of America and Americans improves tremendously.”

USA - Barry White, from the Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau.
“We’re with our peers here. And even though we’re competitive with each other, we’re all so open to sharing and learning ideas from each other.”

Asia Pacific - Duncan Alexander, managing director of Business Development at OAG about Asia Pacific
“We can only speculate on the future impact China and India will have on the low cost sector. From a tiny base of just 48 low cost flights within China this time last year, the jump to more than 2,000 is remarkable. Equally impressive is India’s fledgling market which has leapt from 600 flights and 28,000 seats in September 2004 to more than 12,000 flights and more than 1.1 million seats in just two years.”

New Zealand - Fiona Luhrs, Tourism Industry Association New Zealand, Chief Executive
“International and domestic travellers expect shops to be open during significant holiday periods and it does not reflect well on the visitor experience if shops are closed. It creates a perception that New Zealand is a ‘quaint’ and ‘old-fashioned’ tourism destination that does not live up to the world class tourism experience promoted internationally by Tourism New Zealand.”

Hong Kong - Tom Wang, Shanghai Shihua International Travel Service Assistant General Manager
“All links in the travel product supply chain must co-operate fully. From the local agent who should give great support to the tour operator, who in turn should look after the convention and visitor bureau, airline, bank, hotel, media et cetera to maximise the experience for the traveller.”

Bulgaria - Alex Oreshkov, Area manager of Princess Hotels Bulgaria and general manager of the Princess Hotel, Sofia
“Our product is service, and service cannot be delivered by robots. They tried it in Japan 10 years ago. Social practice just rejected it.”

Australia - Craig Catchlove from the Central Australian Tourism Industry Association
“Which is very difficult when you have a hiring criteria which as one person said to me once, is that ‘basically anyone who’s got a pulse, I’ll hire’, so that makes life very difficult to keep your standards up, to keep your service up to the visitors and to the travellers. They want to talk to locals.”

New Zealand - Greg Remmington, general manager of Auckland’s Spencer on Byron Hotel
“If another hotel comes on the market then that’s well and good. They’ve had to comply with all the same regulations as us, so it’s a level playing field. But when someone tags a load of residential apartments together as rental accommodation on a website, and can undercut hotel room rates because they have a third of our set up costs, well that’s most definitely not.”

Steve Irwin’s death yesterday has had a strange effect on people all over the world. Many of us who did not know him personally, are devastated by the news and are in a state of disbelief.

Steve’s Australia Zoo in Queensland is truly a world class tourist attraction. The attention to detail and the level of service is very impressive. As soon as people arrive they sense that they are about to experience something very special. And walking through the zoo, you get the feeling that Steve and his wife Terri have spared no expense to make sure their animals are nurtured and well cared for.

In early 2004, I was very fortunate to see Steve in action with his family at the Australia Zoo. Steve was entertaining, charismatic and very passionate about his family, his wildlife, his country and the environment. During the show he announced that he had made a mistake taking his little baby boy into the crocodile enclosure the day before and that he was very sorry the incident had occured. For many of us in the audience, we were surprised that a well known celebrity was willing to make himself so vulnerable by delivering a heartfelt apology in front of hundreds of people. He won my respect and admiration on that day and I think the biggest impression he made with many of us was his courage expressing his emotions and standing by his personal values around his family.

Steve Irwin led by example. An ambassador for wildlife, the environment and a true leader and role model for the travel and tourism industry. He was an inspiration to many people around the world and a fine example of a person who followed his heart and lived his life to the fullest. Steve Irwin - “simply the best.”

Our sympathy and best wishes to his family.

To contribute to Steve’s conservation charity Wildlife Warriors Worldwide go to www.wildlifewarriors.org.au.

The first day of spring and Sydney has been showing off! In the middle of the city Sydneysiders were strutting their stuff in the new season’s fashions, with short sleeves and a springy attitude. Clear blue skies, warm 24 degree day (Celsius that is) , sparkling harbour water and beds of spring flowers. Yes, when Sydney shows off, it does it so well that you forget that only last week it was still winter and you were wearing your favourite winter jacket.

Today in Sydney’s famous Hyde Park there were workers and tourists alike shedding jackets and shoes and just chilling out on the grass. Ahhh Sydney, we really really really love Sydney.

Talking about showoffs! Australian singer and US reality star Toby Rand, is currently doing a very good job as an unpaid ambassador and living ad for Australia. According to SMH he is one of the favourites in the reality show Rockstar: Supernova, and is not shy when it comes to proudly displaying the Australian flag on television whilst educating US audiences on the use of the word “bloody”. Apparently Toby has a very good chance of winning the opportunity to sing with the all-star band “Supernova” featuring Tommy Lee (Motley Crue), Jason Newstead (Metallica) and Gilby Clarke (Guns ‘n Roses).

With 10 contestants gone and only 5 left, we wish Toby well and hope that he continues to strut his stuff. (Oh and by the way, Toby’s from Melbourne!)