Roundup: Nicole Kidman to Australia’s rescue? The problem with pirates; dismal business-travel numbers

Many of us are getting close to wrapping up our last full week of work before a shorter Thanksgiving week. With travel-industry reports of late conveying lower numbers, we’re especially curious whether you’ll be traveling for the holiday. Fewer of you will be this year, as reported in “Thanksgiving Air Travel Expected to Drop 10%.” Well, if you’re not hitting the road or skies, head to a movie theater and catch a destination film, which one tourism entity hopes will inspire future travel. Read on.

Film news | Australia’s tourism industry hasn’t fared so well lately. Can one woman help turn that around? If her name is Nicole Kidman, possibly — at least that’s the hope of Tourism Australia, which hopes the big-budget, Kidman-starring “Australia” will inspire visitors to “come walkabout.” The tourism board has also launched an international Destination Campaign, with commercials directed by the film’s director, Baz Luhrmann (see example above). “Australia” — a “romantic action adventure,” according to its website — is set in the western Australian wilderness and hits U.S. theaters on Nov. 26. [Telegraph UK/AP]

Marine news | The high seas are swimming with pirates, and these aren’t the pretend swashbuckling kind. Pirates from Somali ports are very real and dangerous, attacking and seizing ships and holding crews for ransom. Governments and shipping companies have different views on how to address the issue. Read “World Grapples With Pirate Problem.”

Airline news | Business travel in September 2008 decreased by 8% over September 2007, according to research conducted by the International Air Transport Assn. Far from good news for the airline industry, this represents a dramatic drop over even the month before, in August 2008, when business travel decreased 1.5%. [MarketWatch]

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Video: YouTube]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20, 2008 at 7:38 am by Susan Derby and is filed under Airline travel, Good Morning, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.