Signposts

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Published: 12:00am, 22 Dec 1999

SAR gets in the pink What a difference a decade makes. Less than 10 years ago it was a crime in Hong Kong for consenting adults over the age of 21 to commit homosexual acts. Now there is strong competition in the travel industry for the 'Pink Dollar', and one SAR travel agent in particular is promoting gay holidays, and even has gay staff to offer advice.

Earlier this year, Concorde Travel was advertising an all-gay cruise from Vancouver to Alaska, and now it is offering packages to European Gay Ski Week in France, from March 18 to 25. A Club Med hotel has been reserved exclusively for the event.

Concorde is also setting up packages for Sydney's gay Mardi Gras, which is also being held next March. The gay dollar is becoming so sought-after that even the Australian Tourist Commission in Hong Kong is offering information on gay holidays. Ansett Airlines recently set up a Rainbow Club for gay and lesbian passengers.

National Trust's winter collection Visitors to the UK have a new guide to historic sites that will remain open during the winter months. Out And About With The National Trust In Winter gives information on more than 100 National Trust properties that will be open through March, many for the first time. Copies of the guide can be obtained free from the National Trust, PO Box 39, Bromley, Kent BR1 3XL. The Web site is at www.nationaltrust.org.uk Pay up, cruise passengers told Each cruise-ship passenger who visits Juneau in Alaska will soon be charged US$5 (about HK$39) because the townsfolk fear the environment is under threat from tourism. A few months ago the Royal Caribbean International cruise line admitted charges of dumping pollutants into Alaskan waters.

Juneau's mayor, Dennis Egan, said that despite apologies by the president of Royal Caribbean, residents remained outraged. The line, which agreed in court to pay US$18 million in fines, pleaded guilty to polluting coastal waters around the United States, including dumping dry-cleaning chemicals and other toxic wastes into a channel within the Juneau city limits.

The convention and visitors bureau in Juneau, the state capital, estimates that nearly 600,000 cruise passengers visited the city in the 1999 season, from May to September. Mr Egan said the income from the docking charge, to be introduced next March 1, would be spent on infrastructure improvements related to the cruise industry, possibly including landscaping.