The 25 most Influential women in travel

Forbes magazine in the United States has given itself the tricky task of naming the 25 most influential women in travel.

Like all such lists, those who are included love it, and those who are left out feel somewhat miffed. Undaunted, Forbes says women are the prime movers in American travel, driving 70 percent of all leisure travel spending and 80 percent of corporate travel bookings, profoundly impacting where the entire country goes for both business and pleasure

Who among these millions of "deciders" have the most clout?, Forbes asks.

It polled top industry executives before naming the top 25, "all of whom have significantly shaped--and will continue to define--the US$740 billion industry that fuels more than five percent of America's GDP".

The list includes:

Lisa Lindblad, 
founder, Lisa Lindblad Travel Design. Lindblad creates personalised journeys for a following of highly exclusive clients--those who don't blink at her initial consultation fee of $2,500 to design an itinerary.

Michelle Peluso, 
CEO and global president, Travelocity; executive vice president, Sabre.

Patricia Schultz, 
author, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die and,

Christine Petersen 
chief marketing officer, TripAdvisor.com

Read the full list here.

Who are the 10 Most Influential Women in Travel in Asia? Read The Transit Café next week for our list of the women who matter.

When the crunch comes, just stay at home

In another corner of the Transit Café this week, colleague Yeoh Siew Hoon writes about buzzwords, those words that you always hate when you hear them for the first time but - going forward - you end up using them yourself.

So here’s a new buzzword that you can expect to be hearing a lot of during the coming months: Staycation.

Judith Woods, writing in the UK’s Daily Telegraph, describes “staycation” as spending your holidays at home to avoid the credit crunch and hide your carbon footprint.

Judith decked out her north London garden like a luxury Bali villa, bought some fake tan lotion and was delighted to find that there were no German tourists around to pinch her sunbed around the pool – well, not quite a pool but one of the little plastic things you buy for the kids to dip their toes in.

Read how Judith rated her five-star “staycation” and decide for yourself whether this new travel option will develop into a trend that could sink the global tourism industry...along with the 25 Most Influential Women in Travel.

Read the story here.

Only in Australia

Newspapers and TV stations just love Australian outback stories that involve crocodiles, deadly spiders, snakes or man-eating sharks. Preferably, all at the same time.

So here’s another strange tale that sparked interest around the globe.

Drinkers at an outback watering hole found a crocodile at the door - and brought it inside for their session.

And why not? It was probably thirsty and needed one of Australia’s favourite boutique beers, Little Creatures.

Here’s how CBS News in the US ran the story.