It’s 6.30 in the morning. The temperature is already 20C and the humidity much the same. Dawn is coming, the sky is red and clear and the palm trees are swaying in the wind. At sea, an enormous cruise ship is moving away into the distance.
I’m in Miami or, to be exact, Fort Lauderdale. No, I’m not in the cruise capital of the world for a well-earned holiday but instead I’m attending the second International Conference on Travel and Tourism: Law, Management and Regulation, organised by the Nova Southeastern University Law Centre of Fort Lauderdale and our own University of Northumbria Travel Law Centre.
Would you believe it, yesterday I was speaking on the eco-certification of sites, tours and transport in the hamburger and mass tourism capital of the world. No, this is not my cup of tea but I cannot help but be impressed by what has been created here. Yes, any beauty the place ever had has been buried under concrete; yes, I do feel angry that what has happened here has been constantly imported to Europe. But, if this is what 90% of the population enjoys, then who am I to object?
Apparently, every Sunday morning, 30,000 people pass through Miami and Fort Lauderdale International Airports in order to join one of the cruises which set off from here. Yesterday, we were hosted for lunch on board Horizon, a Royal Caribbean/Celebrity cruiseliner. The ship carries in the region of 1,200 passengers but we were told of future liners that would be setting sail with over 3,000 people on board.
A sea of white and blue-rinsed heads were waiting to embark. For me, cruising signifies the coming of old age, but I was confidently told I was very wrong. This was the fastest-growing tourism market in the world and many more ships are on order over the next decade.
The service and food on board were impeccable and the vessel immaculate. Cruising might not be for me, but you can see why hundreds of thousands of others disagree.
I am the only representative of the travel industry amongst 100 lawyers. Boy, can they talk. The words roll effortlessly from highly intelligent, well groomed and confident men and women. Just like those US law films we see on television back home.
I’m glad to have Peter Stewart and Simon Chamberlain of Field Fisher Waterhouse and David Grant from the Northumbria Travel Law Centre to bring me back to reality.
The hospitality and friendliness has been overwhelming and the talk at lunch tables of litigation; enough to frighten the most respectable of tour operators. Last night we had a beer with Judge Thomas A Dickerson, the unchallenged expert on how to take legal action against your tour operator and the author of many books on the subject. He made Anne Robinson look like everyones favourite aunt.
The talk is of the Internet and how to protect brands, trademarks and domains. These are subjects which we shall no doubt be talking about over the next few years. At the moment, we in the UK are still talking of going onto the Internet. The aforementioned problems are still to come.
Anyway, if you haven’t registered your Internet domain yet, do so at once. By the way, do you know what a metatag is or what spamming signifies? You soon will!