Jaunted - Tag: travel media

What Is Going On At Budget Travel Magazine?

JetSetCD — 2009-11-16T17:34:38-05:00

After the recent chopping of magazines like Gourmet, it's safe to say that print media is beyond shaking in their boots; they're already cleaning out desks. The latest magazine closure scare came at Budget Travel, formerly under Arthur Frommer's wing but now controlled by the Washington Post Co.

On Friday, rumors began that the magazine would announce its closure on Monday (today). NY Mag reached Editor-In-Chief Nina Willdorf for comments only to receive a cryptic "heading out town"-type response.

Instead of closing today, it was only reported that "it's business as usual," but execs did hold a meeting to discuss the future of the magazine. Although it looks like no one lost their jobs today, employees in ad sales were told to hold on the February issues. Will the scythe of death fall on Budget Travel in January 2010, or—even worse—around the holidays? Rest assured that we'll continue to follow this story.

Related Stories:
· Magazine Deathwatch: Budget Travel [Mediabistro]
· Budget Travel Shuttering? [NYMag]
· Travel Magazines [Jaunted]

[Photo: Kenn Wilson]

As If We Didn't Already Know: Vacations Make People Happier, More Productive

Omri — 2009-10-14T15:48:40-05:00

Every few months another one of these "vacation deprivation" studies comes out and promptly gets picked up as Science! by the same tourism boards that commissioned it. The term seems to go back to a contest for free hotel rooms that Hyatt ran in the mid-1990s, and it's been circulating as this kind of pseudo-scientific fake medical term ever since.

The latest version puts everything in terms of economic productivity, because that's what people care about right now. If people cared about something else, that's what vacations would be good for. And so, we are stuck with this drivel:

Air France Magazine: Like U.S. In-Flights, Only Fatter and More Artsy

Victor Ozols — 2009-08-29T15:42:17-05:00

We recently flew Air France between Dulles and Charles de Gaulle, giving me the chance to pore through one more in-flight magazine, the aptly-named Air France Magazine. As it turns out, Air France Magazine is a lot like an American in-flight, only fatter. It's fatter, of course, because every article is published in both French and English, a polite gesture to passengers such as me. But other than that, it seems to cater to the same demographic, rich (or aspirational) travelers obsessed with health, beauty, and duty-free items.

New 'AFAR' Travel Magazine Promises More Than The Expected

kjb — 2009-08-11T11:34:32-05:00

One can never have too many travel magazines; after all, we need something to read while we’re flying to our destination—you know, after the iPhone battery dies. Launching later this month is AFAR, a magazine focused on places and people off the beaten path. The founders are hoping to bring cultural connections and new experiences to the masses, but we’ll have to wait for their inaugural issue to see if they deliver.

They’ll be all about experiential travel at AFAR, and their team will look to hit the Internet in 2010, assuming the magazine hits the newsstand running. Some of their upcoming regular features include: The A(FAR) List, which will reveal destinations around the world that are a little less common than the local state fair, and Spin the Globe, featuring a writer's musings after she's been randomly sent to a location—sounds like something we'd read for sure.

Manchester-by-the-Sea: Whatever, Germany: The USA Has A Singing Beach Too

egw — 2009-06-25T12:10:49-05:00

Time to withdraw that application for the modern wonders of the world: The New York Times fawned over the German island of Usedom and its harmonious beaches without ever making the (comparatively short) trip to the singing beach in its backyard—er, in Massachusetts.

The classily-named town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, about an hour out of Boston's North Station, boasts a singing beach of its own not half a mile from the commuter rail stop. The low price of $5 gets you a full day of soft white sand which, if you strain your ears, appears to make a slight squeaking noise when you step on it. It's BYO spa gear, but you have very little chance of running into a dude with gray chest hair boasting of how the mineral waters aid his digestive tract, so it's a split decision.

Manchester's an easy day trip from Boston, especially when compared to the further enticements of the Cape, Newport or Block Island. There are a few things the American singing beach lacks, notably Roman Polanski and nudity, but why not leave those to the Europeans anyway, since both are potentially hazardous?

Related Stories:
· The NYT Visits Germany's "Singing" Sand Nude Beaches [Jaunted]
· Welcome to the Singing Beach [Manchester.MA.US]

[Photo: conbon]

Travel Writers Desperate for New Buzzwords as Staycation Meme Rages

Victor Ozols — 2009-05-30T12:53:33-05:00

Back in March, we marveled at the sudden ubiquity of the term staycation in the travel media, charting the trajectory from its 2003 birth in the pages of the Myrtle Beach Sun-News to a staggering 242 mentions in newspapers and websites that month. At the time, I assumed that the market was saturated with staycation stories and they'd soon begin to peter out, but I was dead wrong. Google News has 1,078 mentions of the grating portmanteau for the month of May, more than four times the number for March.

Hemispheres Sticks to the Classics, Sky Gets Busy

Victor Ozols — 2009-05-02T12:21:58-05:00

Airlines have cut out just about every perk imaginable, but for now, you'll still find an in-flight magazine in the seat pocket in front of you, tucked between the barf bag and SkyMall catalog. As a service to those readers who choose airlines based on the quality of their in-flight magazines, Jaunted is publishing a series that takes a look at the flagship magazines from airlines big and small. In the fourth installment, Victor Ozols notices a sharp difference in style between United's Hemispheres and Delta's Sky.

I've recently had the good fortune to get my hands on the April, 2009 issues of both United's Hemispheres magazine and Delta's Sky magazine, and a casual comparison reveals some sharp differences in editorial philosophy. One represents a traditional approach to in-flight reading, while the other seems determined to provide a digital experience in a paper format.