News From TravelPulse.com

 There's a couple of items that caught my attention when I read TravelPulse.com's newsletter:

Tour operators are keeping a close watch on unfolding events after attacks on U.S. embassies took place Tuesday in both Libya and Egypt. American intelligence looked for links between the attacks, but from the standpoint of tourism, the two were very different. 

In Libya, attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi led to the killings of four American diplomats. The killings took place in the aftermath of a harsh war in which the U.S. was a major participant. Only a few American tour programs have been offered to Libya in the last decade, and those were offered at rare moments when relations between the U.S. and Libya seemed to be warming. But those periods were all short-lived and were soon interrupted by diplomatic tensions of one sort or another. 

Egypt, on the other hand, is historically one of the all-time favorite destinations of American tourists, and as a result a favorite market for tour operators. Egypt’s economy is acutely dependent on tourism. The country recently endured a tourism drought of a year and a half following the Arab Spring uprising and the pro-democracy demonstrations that led to an overthrow of the government and the establishment of a new democratically chosen government.

To read the full article, go here.

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With the earthquake of March 2011 behind it, Japan should be welcoming a healthy surge in tourists from the United States, but a strong yen has made Japan a destination limited to American business travelers and high-end luxury travelers. At the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), they prefer dealing with the old and familiar problem of a super currency to that of natural disasters. “Our biggest concern now is an old concern -- the price of the yen,” said Yuki Yamagishi, director of the JNTO’s New York Office,

To read the full story, go here.