Imagine sipping a red, enjoying a sumptious meal and the company of fellow travelers from all over the world, as the spectacular Australian outback glides past. This is the unique Indian Pacific experience. The Indian Pacific is one of the world’s great train journeys. It crosses the vast Australian continent between Sydney on the Pacific Ocean and Perth, on the Indian Ocean in a shade over three days. You will experience the real Australia from majestic mountains to rolling pastures to the harshness of the outback. The Indian Pacific is not a high speed dash across Australia. It is a tourist train designed to help you explore this country at your leisure and in comfort. Kalgoorlie. My journey was from Perth to Adelaide and our first stop, Kalgoorlie, provided a fascinating insight into Australia’s early gold rushes. The discovery of gold in Kalgoorlie in the late 1800s played a major role in the early development of Western Australia and to this day, it is still a major gold producer. Nullabor Plain. The following morning, we were on the Nullarbor Plain, in the heart of the outback. Cabin attendant Nikki, welcomed me with a cup of tea and advised of the day’s events, including traveling on the longest straight stretch of railway track in the world (478km) and stopping at Cook, one of the most isolated railway stations in Australia. The 1 hour stop at Cook highlighted the extreme summer heat of the outback. Before she opened the carriage door, Nikki warned us with a glorious piece of understatement, “It’s pretty hot out there”. She wasn’t joking! We stepped from the comfort of an air conditioned train to searing 47 degree (120F) desert heat! When the oven like blast hit me, it took me back to my childhood days when I was invited on to the footplate of a steam locomotive. I watched in awe and cringed as the fireman opened the grate door and shoveled coal into the furnace. My first thought was how people managed to live in these conditions. For some guests, the heat was too much. They retreated to the cosseted environment of the train while the hardy (or should I say foolhardy!) souls took the opportunity to explore this tiny settlement, once a major railway maintenance centre with even a school, but now largely a ghost town with a total population of 4. Sharing Experiences. Our dinner conversation in the restaurant car that evening focused on the harsh beauty of the Australian Outback. Most of the guests I met at mealtimes were from North America or Europe. They spoke enthusiastically about the journey, the quality of the meals and the unique feeling of experiencing the true outback. The remaining guests were fellow Australians, including 4 who had been on the journey more than 6 times. “We never tire of it” said Brad and Margo from Brisbane. “We lead busy lives and it [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Indian’
Gps Maps For Indian Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Maldives,…
Very Detailed Maps (pdf And Gps Enabled) For The Adventurous: Indian Himalaya (Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh), Sri Lanka, Maldives, Oman, And More. No Competition For These Exotic Places As No Other Good Maps Are Available. Gps Maps For Indian Himalayas, Sri Lanka, Maldives,…
Benchmarking Indian Tourism With the Global Standard- a Critical Analysis
Introduction: The early history of tourism says people traveled from one place to another mainly because of food , shelter or just for curiosity. But in due course large scale mobility of people were caused by the natural elements of human pressure, entertainment or forced man to move to other location. Due to the absence of roads and other transport facilities, travel and tourism was a hard way to think of. This led to the emergence of land routes , river or sea navigation. Now with dismantling of national boundaries, the tourism scenario is also changing. There is a steady growth in the number of tourist arrivals and more satisfactorily the average spending of foreign tourist has gone up. Tourism Product: In the earth today any thing can be promoted as the tourism product anywhere.. It is not location specific as the agriculture and manufacturing sector do. India in particular has a 5000-year –old heritage and thousands of monuments and archeological sites for the tourists to enjoy. The country abounds in attractive and well preserves historical sites and ancient monuments of architectural grandeur. India offers enormous diversity in topography, natural resources and climate. There are land- rocked mountainous regions, lush valleys and plains, arid desert regions, white sandy beaches and islands. Central India has numerous wildlife sanctuaries with countless varieties of flora and fauna. The country has unparallel cultural diversity, languages, religions, customs and traditions. The major adventure tourism activities are trekking, and skiing in the Himalayas, river running in the Gangas, water sports in Goa, trout fishing in the Himachal Pradesh and many more. We have some of the best beaches of the world, many of which are still unexplored in Andaman and Lakshadweep islands. Tourism Contribution: The impact of tourism in our country is multi dimensional. It is reflected on the economic, social, cultural, political and environmental issues and aspects of the country. In a more generic sense it develops understanding among the people, create jobs both directly and indirectly, augments foreign exchange reserves and helps in the overall economic wellbeing of the people. Earnings from foreign tourist arrivals had grown strongly in the nineties and contributed to over Rs21,828 crores a year in the recent past. According to the World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC) the industry provides direct employment to 262 million people who constitute 10.5% of the global workforce. These numbers are expected to grow to 383 million by the year 2007. Tourism also accounts for 8% of the world exports making it the largest internationally traded products or services. Tourism in Global View: Tourism is the largest industry in the world next to the oil industry. In terms of earnings it has left automobiles and information technology industry behind. Tourism is the largest employer. Table-1 Growth of International Tourists from 1948 to 2004 Sl No Year No. of Tourists (in million) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1948 1964 1990 1996 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 14.0 144.0 458.5 [...]
Posted in Discover 
Tags: Analysis, Benchmarking, Critical, Global, Indian, Standard, Tourism 
No Comments »