Wednesday with Dr. Rains

The Rolling Rains Report
Dr. Scott Rains

Developments in
Consumer Travel Applications

By Scott Rains on April 27, 2010 8:21 AM

So far, no one is answering the question, "How accessible will this next generation of travel and booking infrastructure be?"

A battle is raging between Apple, Nokia, Amazon, Google, and RIM to develop a platform for the travel industry, and it has been reported that Apple has filed a patent for their version of such a travel application - iTravel. This application will book flights, hotels, and cars, as well as provide paperless airline check-in...

"As an airline these are the traditional information customers are looking for. A new trend will certainly start around the options new devices provide like location-based services, as well as integration of other services like social networks," Heucke had said. And this has been the case of late.

Earlier this year, Progress Software announced the launch of what is being described as the air travel industry's first real-time, location-based social networking solution for frequent flyers.Source:

http://www.eturbonews.com/15768/apple-files-patent-itravel

Follow the journey of Inclusive Tourism at RollingRains.com

http://www.rollingrains.com/

The Rolling Rains Report

The Rolling Rains Report
Dr. Scott Rains

We are pleased that Dr. Scott Rains will be a periodic contributor to our Blog and the Travel Department of Computer School for Seniors.

Travel for the elderly and people with disabilities can be very challenging. Dr. Rains looks for solutions to those challenges. In particular he searches for examples of how Universal Design creates new travel opportunities and products that are, to quote the definition of Universal Design, usable by the widest range of people operating in the widest range of situations.

Trying times call for trying something new!

People are asking, "Does it really have to be this uncomfortable to travel?" .
The travel & hospitality industry is sensing the spark of something new as people answer, "No, and we plan to do something about it."

Fresh thinkers are testing countless breakthrough ideas on accessible travel. They are rubbing ingenuity against continuity to enkindle a new flame.

At Rolling Rains we monitor that brush fire as it reveals ideas that are standing the test of the times.

The concept of Inclusive Travel is itself traveling around the world. It is leaving an infrastructure that will allow the pleasure of world discovery to generations to come. It enables generations present to do so through all stages of their lifespan. That's the vision of Universal Design applied to tourism -- Inclusive Tourism.

Follow the journey of Inclusive Tourism at his website . You will find:
• “On the road” where Dr. Scott Rains offers Travelogues.
• Chronicling the history of this initiative we honor our best at Case Studies and Leadership.
• For those of an academic inclination we have the Readings section.
• To get some strategic advice or assistance with management of a project Contact us.

The legacy of this innovation of inclusion is life-changing. The vistas opened up can be breathtaking - stylish, inclusive, and leaving you wanting more.

Each day you will find a new post at RollingRains.com - the only way to learn more than that is to get out and travel yourself!

To learn more about Dr. Rains work, visit http://www.rollingrains.com/. Dr. Rains will also be serving as a faculty Advisor to the Travel Department at http://www.cs4seniors.com/.

The Rolling Rains Report

The Rolling Rains Report
Dr. Scott Rains

We are very honored to announce that Dr. Scott Rains will be a periodic contributor to our blog and the Travel Department of Computer School for Seniors.

Dr. Rains writes daily on travel and issues in the tourism industry of interest to people with disabilities. His work appears online at http://www.rollingrains.com/ and http://withtv.typepad.com/weblog/travel/. He is the founder of the global forum on Inclusive Tourism – Tour Watch. Rains’ articles have also appeared in New Mobility, Emerging Horizons, Venture, Brave New Traveler, Challenges, TravelBiz Monitor, Enabled Online, Contours, Accessible Portugal, Audacity, Travel and Transitions, eTur Brazil, Success & Ability, Turismo Polibea, [with]TV, and Disaboom among others.

For his research on the topic of Universal Design and the travel and hospitality industry he was appointed as Resident Scholar at the Center for Cultural Studies of the University of California Santa Cruz (2004-05). Rains has been retained as a consultant on Inclusive Tourism traveling as Visiting Journalist at the invitation of India, Australia, and South Africa. He is a lifetime Honorary Member of the European Network for Accessible Tourism (ENAT.

His 2009 schedule includes invitations to address the third International Accessible Tourism Conference in Singapore, the first conference on neuromedicine, disability and tourism in Milan and the third i-CREATE conference sponsored by the Princess of Thailand in Singapore.

He was co-convener of the second International Accessible Tourism Conference hosted by the United Nations November 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand and was consultant for the September 2007 World Assembly on the U. N. Convention, on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Seoul, South Korea. He is Resource Person for UNESCAP on the topic of inclusion in tourism.

Starting next week Dr. Rains will be sharing information with us about “Inclusive Tourism”—a concept arising from the vigor of a global disability community that both enjoys and asserts the right to full social inclusion.

To learn more about Dr. Rains work, visit http://www.rollingrains.com/.

Dr. Rains will also be serving as a faculty Advisor to the Travel Department at http://www.cs4seniors.com/.