Media Release,
April 21, 2004.
Fasttrack Reports On Queenstown's Success
Next week's edition of FASTTRACK - on SKY's BBC World channel (Digital 55) - visits Queenstown in a report on the
world's extreme sports
capital, and examines the issues surrounding so-called "fair trade" tourism - screens Sunday, April 25 at 12.30pm
Reporter Christian Mahne visits the area of New Zealand where tourists outnumber residents by 100 to one. Since the
first commercial bungee jump
on 12th November 1988, nearly half a million people have taken the plunge, and the latest variation - the parabungy - is
a 180-metre ride that goes
straight up and down. There are interviews with Henry van Asche, one of bungee's co-founders, and the CEO of Destination
Queenstown, David Kennedy.
Also in the programme, FASTTRACK investigates how The Gambia is trying to protect its environmental and economic
interests. And Peter de Jong is
one of the biggest names in tourism in the Asia-Pacific region, as the President and CEO of the Pacific Asia Travel
Association [PATA]. He discusses
whether he thinks the downturn in business caused by the SARS virus has finally been reversed.
Each 30-minute edition of FASTTRACK is presented by Akhtar Khan and features reports from around the globe, interviews
with the industry's leading
players, analysis of current trends in travel and tips for people on the go for work or pleasure.
Watch the Queenstown special of FASTTRACK on SKY's BBC World channel (Digital 55), Sunday, April 25 at 12.30pm.
ENDS