Blogs RSS2026-01-16T16:49:31+0000Greetings Travel Fans, We continue to receive New Members on an almost daily basis, as we move in to 2026, but unfortunately many are little more than 'link-placing, spam accounts'. Sure a 'real person' takes the effort to push the submit button and maybe copy and paste some basic description from their often hastily put together 'business' website. However, they are not creating valuable member profile pages in the truest sense of the word, nor give the impression that they intend to be an active member of our travel and tourism association for any length of time. Half of them don't even bother to confirm their e-mail; if the e-mail was even a valid one in the first place. This Little Piggy Went to Market - Riobamba, Ecuador by Michel Guntern. This is a problem many 'member websites' encounter and some handle the situation better than others. Sadly, a lot of valuable time is spent deleting content that has no place on Meta-Travel, if we allow a 'free-for-all' membership. So we need to strike the right balance between offering a basic Meta-Travel membership for free, while keeping the 'fake accounts' and unwanted spam at bay. Perhaps we should rethink the whole Meta-Travel Tourism Association membership process; including looking at actions allowed and how often the actions may be performed. We hope to achieve this through Membership Levels and deleting inactive member accounts. We need to provide what's best for our travel and tourism associates while giving a good user experience for Meta-Travel visitors. Where do we start? Meta-Travel Tourism Association To get the most out of a Meta-Travel Membership it pays to know what it is you want to achieve within our Meta-Travel Tourism Association. We're Upgrading our Meta-Travel Membership Levels To maintain a high-quality network free from spam, a small amount of moderation helps to keep member accounts active and visible.Membership levels follow a rising scale, with increased posting privileges at ea... Read more

]]>2026-01-16T16:49:31+0000To make adding business listings easier for members, we continue to bring some order to our business categories. All we need to do now is add more listings to the database and help promote the travel providers we do list. Let me know if there''s anything we've overlooked. ============================ Meta-Travel Tourism Directory ============================ Accommodation - Adventure Travel and Tours - Air Travel - Art and Culture - Food and Drink - Government and Official - Learning and Teaching - Living Abroad - Transportation - Travel and Tourism - Travel Services - Travel Software and Web. 1 Accommodation Accommodation Reservations, Agrotourism, All-inclusive, Backpackers, Bed and Breakfast, Boutique Hotels, Cabins, Campgrounds, Castle Hotels, Chalet Rentals, Conference and Congress, Farms, Fishing Camps, Game Reserves, Golf Hotels, Guest Houses, Historic Hotels, Honeymoon Resorts, Hostels, Hotel Chains, Hotels, Houseboats, Inns, Lodges, Lodging, Luxury Hotels, Motels, Nudist Resorts, Ranches, Resorts, Romantic, Rural Cottages, Safari Camps, Safari Lodges, Self-catering Apartments, Serviced Apartments, Vacation Cottages, Vacation Home Rentals, Villa Rentals, Villa with Pool, Wellness Resorts and Spas. 2 Adventure Travel and Tours African Safaris, Backpacking, Birdwatching, Camping, Canoe and Kayak, Caravaning, Caving, Climbing, Cycle Tours, Diving and Snorkelling, Eco-tourism, Expeditions, Exploration, Fishing Charters, Hiking, Horseriding, Motorcycle Tours, Mountain Biking, Mountaineering, Outdoors, Pilgrimage Routes, Polar Tours, Rafting, RV Travel, Sailing Holidays, Snow Sports, Swimming with Dolphins, Trekking, Walking Tours, Whale Watching, Wildlife Tours. 3 Air Travel Air Charters, Airlines, Airport Lounges, Airport Parking, Airport Shuttle, Airport Transfers, Airports, Flight Information, Flight Tickets, Frequent Flyer, Helicopter Tours, Hot Air Ballooning, Private Jet Charters, Scenic Flights. 4 Art and Culture Archaeologi... Read more

]]>2026-01-12T07:18:39+0000To bring the Meta-Travel Tourism Associates community website up to speed in 2026, we've dropped a number of database tables and outdated modules to improve the user experience for visitors, and help new members who share our vision. The Road Ahead Some old content may have been lost or changed as we try to clean the place up and re-think the Meta-Travel 'business plan' after the prolonged pandemic crisis hit so many travel websites and businesses. More about that later. Thankfully Covid-19 is well behind us; the masks on public transport and many public places; lockdowns and partial lockdowns; the changing rules and conflicting advice from different sources and government officials, on an almost daily basis. Some countries continue to apply green, yellow and red classifications to visitors from other countries on a whim - and even to different regions and communities from within their own countries - while others have started rolling out e-visas and social media checks. There's even an increasing call for more tourist taxes, just to visit popular 'outdoor' attractions. Sometimes I Wonder Where It's All Heading Free movement, mass movement, illegal entries, 'border controls' where there should be no borders, and 'out of control' where there are supposed to be borders. There are so many places we plan to visit that may be on the green list one day and a yellow or red the next. Hotels and Restaurants have had to close, some Airlines grounded, Travel Services restricted and many travellers really none the wiser. We hope we're starting to see the road ahead for the travel industry; even if the new normal may take some getting used to. Michel... Read more

]]>2026-01-08T14:18:39+0000