Caravan Tours

Caravan Tours is one of the oldest guided tour companies in the United States, having begun selling escorted travel tours in 1952. The company has been under the same family management and ownership since then. The company's tours are popular, and they frequently sell-out, especially in the summertime and fall.

In 1966, the television journalist Roger Mudd hosted a two-hour travel special on CBS, utilizing Caravan Tours for the production. The success of that show inspired the 1969 romantic comedy film If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium.

Caravan Tours is a member of the American Society of Travel Agents, the National Tour Association, Cruise Lines International Association, and an allied member of the Alliance of Canadian Travel Agencies.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/

Budva Riviera (company)

Budva Riviera (NEX: BUDR) is a tourist company that owns hotels within the Municipality of Budva in Montenegro.

History

Budva Riviera was established in 1990 as a shareholding company.

Hotels

* Hotel Aleksandar - Budva
* Slovenska Plaža Tourist Complex - Budva
* Hotel Mogren - Budva
* Hotel Miločer - Sveti Stefan
* Hotel Sveti Stefan - Sveti Stefan
* Hotel Palas - Petrovac
* Hotel Vila Oliva - Petrovac
* Hotel Castellastva - Petrovac

From http://en.wikipedia.org/

Big Apple Oriental Tours

Big Apple Oriental Tours is a travel agency based in New York that is at the center of a campaign against sex tourism operators in the United States.

The company was founded in 1993 and offers all-inclusive trips to Thailand, the Philippines and Cambodia "for the single male.” Their advertising brochures highlight the erotic atmosphere and easy availability of women in these regions. Tour guides would meet the men upon arrival, explain everything, and transport them to the local bars and brothels.

Since 1996, the New York based human rights and feminist group Equality Now has lobbied the local District Attorney to take action against the company, complaining about promotion of prostitution and possible exploitation of minors. The District Attorney declined to prosecute in 2000, stating that the alleged acts did not occur in New York and were thus beyond the reach of state law. Supported by Gloria Steinem and Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Equality Now then contacted State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in 2002.

In response to lobbying by these groups, the first legal action in the U.S. against a business of this type was initiated: Spitzer filed a civil suit against Big Apple Oriental Tours and obtained a restraining order in July 2003, in effect preventing the company from advertising.

Spitzer then made two unsuccessful attempts to charge owners Norman Barabash and Douglas Allen with promoting prostitution. (New York state penal code 230.25(1) defines promotion of prostitution, in part, as running a business that involves prostitution activity by two or more prostitutes.) The Attorney General's office obtained the first indictment of Barabash and Allen in February 2004. The case was dismissed in August 2004, because the grand jury had been presented with hearsay evidence and because the judge did not find the law applicable. The dismissal was upheld on appeal based on the hearsay argument. The case was returned to the grand jury and Barabash and Allen were indicted for the same crime again in October 2005. These charges were dismissed in January, 2006. The court held that according to the evidence, "What the tour customer did when he arrived at the location is not part of the Big Apple Oriental Tours enterprise."

From http://en.wikipedia.org/

Balkantourist

Balkantourist (Bulgarian: Балкантурист) is the oldest existing Bulgarian tour operator, established on 6 January 1948 as a state-owned government monopoly in what was then the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Privatized in 1995, it has continued to exist in the post-1989 conditions of market economy.

Balkantourist was founded as a self-supporting enterprise, part of the Ministry of Railways, during the government of Georgi Dimitrov. With a starting capital of 300 million leva, its initial service was to compensate Czechoslovakia's enterprises in Bulgaria that were nationalized after the Bulgarian coup d'état of 1944 by offering holidays on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast to Czechoslovakian citizens. As the war reparations imposed on Bulgaria after World War II made the country unable to compensate Czechoslovakia financially, Czechoslovakian leader Klement Gottwald suggested the idea.

In the following decades, Balkantourist gradually expanded its business to include mountain and cultural tourism in Bulgaria, as well as service tourists from other countries of the Eastern Bloc besides Czechoslovakia: the Soviet Union, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania. Balkantourist played a major role in the establishment of planned seaside resorts such as Golden Sands and Sunny Beach, and Bulgaria's policy of international tourism as a profitable branch inspired other socialist countries such as Yugoslavia and Romania to develop their own seaside resorts.

After the democratic changes in 1989, Balkantourist was privatized in 1995 by the Bulgarian Tourist Holding. As of 2008, it offers holidays in Bulgaria and in more than 35 destinations abroad. The company owns Grand Hotel Varna, the Lebed, Rubin, Delfin, Delfin Marina, Paradise Beach and International hotels on the Black Sea coast, Hotel Rila in Borovets, Arbanasi Palace and Grand Hotel Bulgaria in Sofia.

From http://en.wikipedia.org/

Alternative Tourism Group

ATG

ATG Alternative Tourism Group and Study Center (http://www.atg.ps/) is a Palestinian NGO based in Beit Sahour specializing in tours and pilgrimages that include critical examinations of the history, culture, and politics of the Holy Land. The organization focuses on Fair Trade in Tourism to support the local community and to offer fact-finding tourists (Academics, Journalists, Church Delegations, Individuals, etc.) an intensive humanitarian tour through Palestine and the Region.

Established in 1995 by late Jamal Salameh, Majed Nassar, Rifat Odeh Kassis, Ghassan Andoni and Elias Rishmawi, ATG operates according to the tenets of justice tourism, that is, tourism that holds as its central goals the creation of economic opportunities for the local community, positive cultural exchange between guest and host through one-on-one interaction, the protection of the environment, and political/historical education.

ATG works to encourage all tourism operators to abandon exploitative mass tourism and to adopt practices that positively affect the host population. Through these methods, ATG seeks to promote a positive image of Palestine and its people and to contribute to establishment of a just peace in the area.

Programs

- One of the ATG's Programs is the annual Olive Picking Campaign in October, in which Internationals help local farmers during the olive harvest to reach their olive trees which are located near the Israeli separation barrier and the Israeli Jewish settlements.

- Another program is the Tree Planting Campaign which takes place in GFebruary of each year. This Program aims at planting trees (mainly olive trees) in the lands which are threatened to be confiscated by the Israeli authorities.

- The Alternative Tourism Group offers Bed & Breakfast program at local houses around Bethlehem, where visitors get direct contact with Palestinians at their homes.

- The Nativity Trail Program which is a walking tour from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Participants can enjoy the nature of Palestine, visit Palestinian villages, refugee camps, meet farmers, villagers, enjoy the Palestinian hospitality and follow the steps of Joseph and Mary in their journey to Bethlehem.

AWARDS

ATG won the TO DO AWARD 2006 (http://www.todo-contest.org/) at the ITB (International Tourism Boerse) in Berlin for social responsible tourism.

Publications

ATG published the first Palestinian comprehensive guidebook to Palestine, including the occupied territories, Jerusalem, the 48 territories and the Syrian Golan Heights. “Palestine & Palestinians” provides an in-depth, updated journey through the entire range of Palestinian culture: ancient and modern history, archaeology, religion, architecture and politics, including the daily realities of Israeli Occupation.

Networking

ATG initiated a network called the Palestinian Initiative for Responsible Tourism (http://www.pirt.ps/) which published the Code of Conduct in the Holy Land.

ATG is Member of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) (http://www.pngo.net/)

From http://en.wikipedia.org/