World Tourism Blog

The guestroom of the future is not that far off.

Imagine opening your hotel room door with a ringtone, monitoring your health via the bathroom mirror and having the temperature, lighting and other amenities adjust themselves based on your personal preferences.

Actually, said room has already been imagined for you. It’s called Guestroom 20X (nee Guestroom 2010) and it’s on display at HITEC, an annual lodging and hospitality conference for financial and technology professionals that runs June 22–24 in Orlando, Fla.

Now in its fourth iteration, this year’s exhibit features nearly 30 new and near-future technologies that promise to reinvent every aspect of the lodging experience. Some are little more than intriguing ideas at this point, but others are already starting to show up in hotels around the country. In fact, depending on your next trip, you might even run into some of the amenities below:

No keycard? Sounds good
You probably already use your cell phone as a camera, music player or gaming device; why not use it as your room key, too? That’s the idea behind OpenWays’ Crypto Acoustic Credential technology, which will unlock an appropriately equipped door when your phone emits a unique (and encrypted) audio code. Even better, you can receive your code before you check in, bypassing the front desk altogether.

According to the company, the system will work with any cell phone now on the market, although smartphone owners will likely get first crack at it. In fact, Holiday Inn expects to roll out a (smartphone-only) pilot program soon at the Holiday Inn Chicago O’Hare Rosemont and Holiday Inn Express Houston Downtown Convention Center.

Your room, your way
A room that lets you manage everything from the lights to the TV to the drapes with a single remote is nice. One that “greets” you pre-loaded with your personal preferences is even better. The SuiteSystems Guestroom Control from Control4 Corp. is designed to do just that, keeping your choices — stereo off at midnight, for example, or drapes open at 8 a.m. — on file for future visits. Check it out yourself at the Aria Resort and Mandarin Oriental at CityCenter in Las Vegas, the Montage Beverly Hills boutique hotel and the recently opened Trump SoHo New York, among others.

Hotel services via touch screen
While the SuiteSystem remote provides door-to-drapes control, the SmartTouch system from Incentient LLC focuses on the bigger guest-services picture. Using its touch-screen panel, you’ll be able to access all manner of hotel services, from room service and the bell desk to on-site restaurants and spa facilities. The system is currently being used as a wireless wine list by restaurants across the country, with hotels in Chicago, Miami, New York and other cities expected to roll out in-room units later this year.

Finger-friendly fan
You probably won’t see one of those high-tech Dyson vacuum cleaners in your hotel room any time soon, but you may see one of the company’s innovative fans. Looking like an oversized magnifying glass without the glass, the Dyson Air Multiplier draws in air and amplifies it 15 times by passing it through an aerofoil-shaped ring that’s as futuristic-looking as it is free of blades altogether. The fans retail for $300–$330, but you can try one out at the W Los Angeles-Westwood, which offers them in its poolside cabanas and by request for in-room use.

Mirror, mirror on the wall
TV in the bathroom mirror? That’s so 2007. If the folks at James Law Cybertecture International in Hong Kong have their way, the well-equipped hotel bathroom of the future will feature a Cybertecture Mirror that will serve as a “reflective window to a digital life.” Akin to one of those digital windshield displays, it’ll display the time, temperature, traffic, news and even personal health data with the touch of a button. The company expects to start production by the end of the year.

Don’t toss that trash
Burn it instead, with the Miniature Waste Incinerator, an in-room unit designed to heat garbage until it spontaneously combusts. Configured to capture and re-circulate exhaust gases, the unit will save both energy and trash-disposal costs. Alas, it’s strictly a prototype at this point — for some reason, the Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor from the “Back to the Future” movies comes to mind — but if it ever comes to pass, it could turn out to be a housekeeper’s best friend.

Best. Bed. Ever.
Finally, when it’s time to hit the sack, consider the HiCan High Fidelity Canopy, which is part sleeping unit, part entertainment center and all-around awesome. Shaped like a king-sized, open-sided cube, it features a state-of-the-art sound system, built-in PC/gaming console and projector that links to a 70-inch screen that slides down at the foot of the bed.

Alas, you’ll probably have to wait to crawl under the covers as the Italian company that makes the bed has so far delivered the unit to only a handful of private customers in Europe, Russia and the Middle East. Unless you run with that crowd, an invitation for a sleepover is probably not in the cards.

By Rob Lovitt

The SmartTouch allows guests to access all manner of hotel services, from room service and the bell desk to on-site restaurants and spa facilities.

Well, are you always ready to take the first road out? Do you love outdoor adventure and thrills: Rock –climbing, Trekking Expeditions, White Water Rafting, Skiing, Nature Trails, Wildlife Safaris and more. Do you believe that there’s an exciting new world waiting to be explored? If, yes, than, you definitely are an ardent traveler and nature lover. But, wait; does that make you an eco-tourist? Read this and find out for yourself!

Just joining tour operators, who promise eco-tourism does not make one an eco-tourist. This is a concept which has to be believed and felt from within.

says Aloke Bajpai, CEO, The Explorers, a Mumbai based Adventure tour outlet.
Going on nature trails and exploring natures’ unexplored and virgin beauty is not enough, practicing eco-friendliness is equally important. Many travellers litter garbage, plastic bags and bottles on the way without giving it a second thought. Keeping the surroundings clean and pure is an important part of eco-tourism.

Besides, paying up a huge some of money to a travel outlet which takes care of all your needs and also plans your trip, it sometimes bars you from a lot of amazing experience. According to the Kiwi travel writer, Heather Hapeta, ‘Eco-tourism is an activity that has minimum impact while providing maximum benefits to the locals.’ He opines that independent travellers are most likely the closest to being real eco-travellers. By staying in cheaper, locally-owned accommodation, eating at small food outlets and using local transport, they leave much of their travel money in the country. Not only this. By doing so, they also get to visit places that are not on the tourist trail and can get to know people and absorb the local flavours. So, are you ready for an actual eco-tour?

Millions descend upon these spots each year.

Though New York City’s Statue of Liberty invokes awe, and the Hollywood sign looming over Los Angeles is arguably its most iconic sight, neither are their cities’ most visited. Times Square and the Hollywood Walk of Fame draw more tourists respectively, according to 2009 visitor numbers.

When it comes to travel, the role a tourist attraction plays can vary greatly — a monument might be one stop along the way or a national park the destination.

San Francisco is the 15th most-visited city out of 20 measured, but two of its attractions — the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and Fisherman’s Wharf — are among the country’s most popular. There are fewer images as stunning as the Golden Gate Bridge. What’s more, the surrounding park’s size and prominence ensure that visitors travel for miles to spend time there. Even though many people dismiss Fisherman’s Wharf as tacky, its seafood restaurants, rich history, sea lion viewing and various events offer much for families to explore.

The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is one of three National-Park-Service-administered attractions that rank among the country’s most popular. It is joined by the National Mall and Memorial Parks, and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the only list-maker outside a major city.

“One thing that has the most potential is the national park,” says Dr. Kristin Lamoureux, director of the International Institute of Tourism Studies at George Washington University. She points to the just-passed Travel Promotion Act, which will create a nonprofit Department of Commerce agency to market America’s tourism industry abroad. “The lesser-known parks and places — not the Disneys or Vegas — that don’t have a budget of their own will benefit. We don’t currently have a branch that does that.”

Methodology
In defining a tourist attraction, we considered sites of historical or cultural interest; natural phenomena and landmarks; and officially designated entertainment and recreation centers.

Also included are places with commercial areas, such as Times Square and the Las Vegas Strip; however we’ve excluded shopping malls and casinos. Well-known roads and walks were considered, but long stretches of highway did not meet our definition of a tourist attraction.

Visitor numbers from 2009 were provided by the tourist attractions.

By Msnbc

Times Square has a grandstand for visitors to take in the circus of billboards, news tickers, street performers and excellent people watching.

“SEE these olive trees?” said Celso Pereira as his pickup truck slalomed down a road flanked by thousands of them, their pale, pointy leaves glistening faintly, their limbs wretched and magnificent with age. “They make the most wonderful olive oil.”

 “And those orange trees?” he added, pointing to a small grove. They brimmed with bright, ripening fruit. “The oranges are amazing.”

The tiny restaurant ahead? “Phenomenal,” he said. The dark soil in the vineyard to the left? Incomparable. It wasn’t thickly accented English he spoke so much as the language of local pride — exultant and, truth be told, hyperbolic. I had tasted the olive oil: lovely, not life-changing. And the oranges: perfectly fine.

But there was one soaring superlative with which I couldn’t quibble. “This drive,” he said as the truck dropped like a roller coaster into the valley below. “It is the most beautiful, no?”

Yes. Oh yes. And that heady conviction had only a little to do with the wines that Mr. Pereira, a vintner in this enchanted region of northern Portugal, had just had me sample. All around us mountains undulated into the distance. The slopes in the foreground were a precipitous, mesmerizing patchwork of greens, reds, browns and grays, the earth alternately craggy and lush, terraced and cleanly diagonal, as if some grand hand had fashioned it into a tutorial on all that nature and agriculture can do.

And at the base of those slopes: a ribbon of water, playing peek-a-boo as it twisted into and out of view. This was the Douro River, the cause and compass of my trip.

I had been drawn to Portugal by word of how splendid the area around the Douro is. It is from the banks of the Douro that the sublime city of Oporto rises. It is along the Douro that a disproportionate share of Portugal’s most respected wine producers fuss over their grapes.

And it was my hope that by tracing the river from Oporto toward Spain, I might construct my favorite kind of vacation, one that mingles — within a few days and a few hours of driving — some time in an old, architecturally distinguished city with even more time in gorgeous countryside, all punctuated by big, slow, boozy meals. That’s my Italy, my France, my Spain. I wanted to make it my Portugal, too.

In fact Portugal has advantages over its more celebrated neighbors. It is appreciably less expensive, especially now, given its economic woes, which sometimes earn it mention in the same paragraph, or even sentence, as Greece. Those troubles make its outreach to tourists more ardent than ever, an effort manifest in new hotels and a fancier class of restaurants throughout the area around the Douro, where a growing tourism infrastructure has been spurred by closer international attention to Douro wines and winemakers.

What’s more, you can experience Portugal without excessive buildup and, well, bullying. Tell your friends that you’re bound for Italy and out pour the recommendations, myriad and insistent: you must, you must, you must. Tell them you’re going to Portugal and they are as likely as not stumped. You can discover this country on your own, fashion it for yourself. And in Portugal you encounter a pride of place, like Mr. Pereira’s, that doesn’t bleed into the kind of arrogance it can in a country over which the whole world fawns. Portugal’s self-regard is defensive, pleading, sweet.

I FIRST connected with the Douro in Oporto. If you’ve never been to this city and haven’t read up on it you know it mainly as the tipsy mother lode of its namesake product, port, exported to any and every country with an appreciation of fortified wine. You’re reminded of this by the gigantic signs in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the opposite side of the Douro from Oporto, that advertise some of the most prolific local producers.

But you can be indifferent to port and still thrill to Oporto, with its high bridges, its tall hills and the succinct labyrinth of narrow, cobbled streets in its scruffy old heart, snug against the river.

It’s a city of bold, sudden architectural contrasts, in which two or three blocks collapse two or three centuries. On my first afternoon there, near the summit of the city, I traced the edges of Praça da Liberdade, marveling over the way its Beaux-Arts flourishes recall Paris at its prettiest. Thirty minutes later and less than a half mile down the sharply graded descent toward the river, I was staring at the rococo facade of the Igreja da Misericórdia, which dates to the 16th century. It put me in mind of Rome.

By FRANK BRUNI

The guest house at Quinta do Vallado, overlooking one of the property’s many vineyards.

Kate Siber treks into the jungle of Ecuador to spend four days at an ecolodge run by the Huaorani tribe.

From the window of a van, during a four-hour drive south from Quito to Shell, Ecuador, I watch what seems like several countries roll by. In small towns, mere jumbles of concrete houses, women dressed in colorful shawls and dark Andean hats carry bundles of thatch on their backs. Beyond the towns, Andean volcanoes rise up to over 16,000 feet in halos of clouds and snow. Farther south, the peaks soften to hillsides patched with fields, which then plunge into the steamy, jungle-choked interior, where farmers sell oranges by the side of the road and beautiful dark-haired women stir steaming pots in restaurant windows.

We arrive at a one-room aviation club in Shell, a speck of a town, and, soon after, take flight in a six-seat Cessna. Chartreuse squares of farmland quickly dissolve into a verdant carpet that stretches to the horizon. Rivers the color of milky coffee sneak beneath gorges then plow through the forest. On the horizon, a bank of clouds tumbles to the ground midst a downpour.

After 40 minutes, the pilot dives and banks hard left. Skimming over the forest canopy, we were close enough to spot monkeys if we weren’t moving so swiftly. Just as it seems we’ll crash into the tangled jungle, the trees part to reveal a tiny dirt airstrip. We land in a metallic clamor and splash through a pond-sized puddle before coming to an abrupt halt. Unfolding ourselves from the cabin, we emerge into the soupy heat to find two dozen indigenous Amazonians surrounding the plane—women with babies in palm-leaf slings, wide-brown-eyed children, and toothless old men. They all stare and grin at us, such rare curiosities.

Meeting the Huaorani people is exactly what brought us here. My group consists of four travelers—an expat Brit living in Costa Rica, two business partners from San Diego, and myself—and a bilingual guide named Jorge. We are on our way to the Huaorani Ecolodge, an outpost that officially opened in January 2008. It is so hidden in Ecuador’s swath of Amazon Rainforest that it takes nearly a day by car, plane, and dugout canoe to get there.

Famed as fearsome warriors in the past, the Huaorani resisted contact by Westerners through the mid-20th century. Two clans still shun Westerners and guard their villages fiercely from any visitors, including other clans. Most of the 3,000 Huaorani inhabit a 1.7-million-acre parcel of land, the largest tract set aside for any of Ecuador’s indigenous peoples. They live a peaceful existence, practicing subsistence hunting, gathering, and agriculture in relative isolation.

But it’s hard to maintain an isolated, peaceful existence when sitting atop a treasure trove of resources, including Ecuador’s largest oil reserve and large swaths of valuable tropical hardwood trees. And oil companies, loggers, and missionaries have all negatively affected the Huaorani’s way of life. Finally, in the late ’90s, five villages came together to build a tiny ecolodge to help sustainably support themselves and raise awareness of their rare and fragile culture. The tribe runs the lodge entirely, though a Quito-based sustainable-travel company named Tropic Eco helps market and arrange trips. They have received funding from several NGOs, and a non-profit called Rainforest Alliance has helped train staff members.

By Kate Siber

NATURAL LANDING: Indigenous Amazonians greet the six-seat Cessna as the author exits (Kate Siber).

Megacities of the World: a Glimpse of How We’ll Live Tomorrow

On a teeming street in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, amid a colorful swirl of sweet lime carts and red-clay pottery, Pastor Bala Singh brings an assortment of buckets to retrieve his daily ration of water. The indoor spigot he uses provides water only three hours a day. It is the only source for the six small homes on his street, and each family has 30 minutes to fill its containers.

Pastor Singh is not complaining, though. Things are greatly improved from when he first immigrated to Dharavi — the most crowded part of one the world’s most crowded cities. “The roads were muddy,” he says from his second-floor office, above the popping sizzle of a man welding, sans protective gear, downstairs. “Now they put down bricks.” Singh ministers to a small congregation that meets above the church-sponsored kindergarten where his wife has taught for 17 years. Though relatives have begged him to come home to Tamil Nadu, 700 miles east, he has no plans to leave.

“Three times I tried to go back to my native place,” the pastor says, explaining that there were no jobs there. “I don’t want to live here … but God’s plan is different.”

Singh’s migration to the city, a combination of divine impulsion and the simple need to work, is part of what could be called an epic trend affecting billions of people worldwide. Sometime in 2007, for the first time in human history, more people began to live within the cacophonous swirl of cities than in rural hamlets or on countryside farms.

It’s a fundamental shift that may be altering the very fabric of human life, from the intimate, intricate structures of individual families to the massive, far-flung infrastructures of human civilizations. In 1950, fewer than 30 percent of the world’s 2.5 billion inhabitants lived in urban regions. By 2050, almost 70 percent of the world’s estimated 10 billion inhabitants — or more than the number of people living today — will be part of massive urban networks, according to the Population Division of the United Nations’ Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

These staggering statistical trends are driving the evolution of the “megacity,” defined as an urban agglomeration of more than 10 million people. Sixty years ago there were only two: New York/Newark and Tokyo. Today there are 22 such megacities — the majority in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America — and by 2025 there will probably be 30 or more.

Consider just India. Though the country is still largely one of villagers — about 70 percent of India’s 1.2 billion inhabitants live in rural areas — immigration and internal migrations have transformed it into a country with 25 of the 100 fastest-growing cities worldwide. Two of them, Mumbai (Bombay) and Delhi, already rank among the top five most populous urban areas.

In the “developed” countries of the West, this trend had been building since the Industrial Revolution, which sparked, relatively quickly, the exponential growth of cities seen today. The quest for “efficiency” and the corresponding divisions of labor generated technological innovations that obliterated the need for farm laborers and local artisans. This drove populations from the country to the city over time and transformed the plow and the hoe into mere tools for backyard gardeners.

Today, on average, 3 out of 4 people living in modern industrialized states are already building their lives within an urban area — a ratio that will jump to more than 5 in 6 by 2050. By contrast, today in the least-developed regions of the world, more than 2 out of 3 people still eke out a living in a rural area. For these people, even the slumdog existence in places like Dharavi can offer more opportunities than their villages ever could. And within these developing regions, according to UN-HABITAT, cities are gaining an average of 5 million new residents — per month.

“Most of these [urban immigrants] couldn’t earn cash in their rural situations,” says Chuck Redman, director of the School of Sustainability at Arizona State University in Tempe. “There’s not as much of a cash economy there, but they still want cash to buy radios and mobile phones or TVs — or even send their kids to school, which costs money in many of these countries.”

Call it the lag of modernity: The changes wrought by industrialization began slowly 200 years ago, accelerated through the 20th century in the West, and now are spreading exponentially around the globe. Many observers see great promise in this urbanizing trend: The efficiencies of cities can cut energy consumption up to 20 percent, transportation costs for goods and labor can drop significantly, and entertainment industries can thrive when millions live together. In other words, cities are giant cash machines, the primary locus of economic growth.

“Some companies look at this as a huge opportunity,” says Fariborz Ghadar, director of Penn State’s Center for Global Business Studies and the author of a book on megacities. “We’re going to build roads, we’re going to build buildings, and [tech companies] love this because you can put the Internet in concentrated cities much more efficiently.”

Yet, as megacities evolve in the developing world, many groan under the weight of a sudden, massive, and unprecedented demand for services never seen in the West. The basic necessities of clean water, of sanitation systems to remove megatons of garbage and human waste, of transportation systems to shuttle millions of workers, not to mention the need for electrical networks, health-care facilities, and policing and security, are, simply put, creating one of the greatest logistical challenges ever seen in human history. And this is even before factoring in the challenges of climate change, terrorism, and the preservation of human dignity.

By HARRY BRUINIUS

By 2050, 7 out of 10 people will live in megacities, offering the benefits of concentrated living but also some of the biggest public-works challenges in human history.

Burj Al Arab hotel

For years, Dubai boasted that whatever bling project it embarked upon, from carving its coastline into palm-tree-shaped resorts to building vast ski domes in the sand, it would be the “number one in the world”. After the credit crunch, however, it looked like the only record the Gulf city state would claim is the biggest boom and bust.

Tomorrow, though, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al- Maktoum, the emirate’s ruler, will celebrate at least one global milestone he can be proud of when he opens the tallest building on the planet.

The £1 billion Burj Dubai is at least 2,683ft from its base to the tip of its spire — that’s more than half a mile, the equivalent of three-and-a-half Canary Wharf towers or two Empire State buildings stacked up. Its final height is being kept secret until tomorrow, but architects who have worked on the building have hinted it could break the 2,700ft mark.

The tower is more than 1,000ft higher than its nearest inhabited rival, Taiwan’s 1,671ft Taipei 101. It is also the tallest man-made structure in the world, surpassing the 2,063ft KVLY-TV mast in North Dakota, America.

The steel-ribbed, glass-clad structure looks like a giant hypodermic needle piercing the desert sky. As the 169-floor building rises, it passes through several climatic zones. The temperature at the top is up to 10C cooler than at the bottom.

It has the highest swimming pool in the world, on the 76th floor, and the most elevated place of worship with plans for a mosque on the 158th floor.

The Burj Dubai — “burj” means tower in Arabic — is the culmination of Sheikh Mohammed’s vaulting ambition for the emirate. It is the first time the Arab world has claimed the title of the world’s tallest building since 1311, when Lincoln Cathedral exceeded the height of the Great Pyramid of Giza.

However, after the economic downturn ripped through Dubai — sending property prices plunging 50% and forcing Sheikh Mohammed to go cap in hand to his wealthy neighbour, Abu Dhabi, for a $25 billion (£15 billion) bailout — critics are already dismissing the tower as a gaudy memorial to a lost decade of uncontrolled speculation. “It’s the last blast of the Noughties in a city that got too big for its dishdasha [robes],” said one local banker.

The Burj is so tall that architects are calling it not just a skyscraper but a “superscraper”. It is mostly residential. There are 900 studios and one- to four-bedroom flats and 144 apartments, designed by Giorgio Armani. The tower also houses the Italian designer’s first hotel, which means fashionistas can live in a branded home and go on holiday in chic surroundings without leaving the building.

Emaar, the developer, has made £700m selling apartments in the Burj since building work started in 2004, but investors are nursing losses totalling hundreds of millions of pounds after the property crash. Many may be forced to sell their new homes at below purchase price. There is also 300,000 sq ft of office space in the tower. None is occupied yet and observers question how many tenants will move in.

However full the building turns out to be, it is an undoubted engineering triumph. Summer temperatures of up to 50C, desert dust storms and the tower’s extreme height forced builders to go to extraordinary lengths to complete the job. Surveyors had to take their measurements just before dawn when the building was “at rest” — not expanding in the heat of day or contracting in the cool hours of night.

Human rights groups and workers’ organisations say the tower has been built using “slave labour”. Construction workers, mainly from India and Pakistan, toiled round the clock for as little as $5 a day.

Environmentalists have criticised the building’s power consumption. Its air-conditioning system is the equivalent of melting 12,500 tons of ice a day, and it will consume millions of gallons of desalinated water — in a city that already has the world’s highest per capita carbon footprint.

The Chicago-based architects, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, deny the claim. “Tall buildings are inherently energy- efficient because they are high-density,” said Bill Baker, chief structural engineer. He described the Burj as an affirmation of the power and importance of tall buildings following the 9/11 attacks that brought down the World Trade Center in New York. “It’s a symbol of optimism. It says, ‘We believe in the future’.”
By John Arlidge

Tourism is rebounding so quickly in Sri Lanka after the end of the island’s civil war that in one or two years the country will lack the hotel capacity to meet visitor arrivals, according to the head of the country’s biggest listed company.

Ajit Gunawardene, chief executive of John Keells, said Sri Lanka’s tourist infrastructure could handle a maximum of 800,000 visitors a year, comfortably meeting expected demand this year of 500,000.

But in the next one or two years, visitors arrivals are expected to double and then double again two years later to 2m, suggesting that unless the country embarks on a hotel construction boom it will fail to meet demand.

“This gives you an indication of the type of momentum we want to maintain,” Mr Gunawardene said.

Investors in Sri Lanka are betting that the island’s violent past is behind it following the defeat of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam last May in their battle for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east.

Hopes of political stability have been fuelled by landslide victories in the presidential and parliamentary elections this year by the incumbent leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa, and his ruling coalition, the United People’s Freedom Alliance.

Sri Lanka’s market is up 22 per cent so far this year.

The rally has been led by John Keells, which accounts for about 10 per cent of market capitalisation and is expected to be one of the main beneficiaries of the economic recovery given its interests in hotels, ports and retail.

“The UPFA’s win bodes well for policy continuity and investment-led growth,” said Anushka Shah, an economist at Citigroup.

Tourist arrivals have risen for 10 consecutive months and were up 29.3 per cent in the nine months to March 31 compared with a year earlier.

Mr Gunawardene said John Keells had begun renovating hotels and building more to meet the tourism boom.

It is upgrading its large hotel in Colombo, overhauling one in Trincomalee in the war-torn east and building tourist accommodation in the popular south.

John Keells also plans to participate in the expansion of Colombo’s port, which is strategically placed on shipping lanes between Europe, the Middle East and China.

The group is expected to bid with its partner Denmark’s Maersk for an additional terminal when the port’s capacity is increased to 16m 20ft equivalent units a year for the next decade. That would make Colombo south Asia’s biggest port.

Tenders for the three terminals in phase one are expected to be valued at about $500m.

By Joe Leahy in Colombo

You’re planning a vacation, and thinking about taking some time during your trip to see a client. Maybe you can get a big tax deduction?

Well, maybe not.

Many small business owners find the deduction for travel expenses to be one of the most tempting, but also trying, parts of the federal tax law. Even aside from the issue of business versus personal travel, many owners are surprised to find the IRS has some strict limits on how big a deduction they can take.

IRS Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift and Car Expenses, lays out many of the rules that govern tax deductions for business travel expenses. The rules can be very complicated, and the government often differentiates between travel in and outside of the U.S. There are also rules for cruises taken for business purposes.

Business owners should get some advice from a tax professional to help them navigate the tax code. But here are some basics about the business travel deduction:

BUSINESS TRIP OR VACATION?

A classic example: You’re going to a trade expo in Orlando, Fla., and decide to bring your family. You can deduct only the amount that you spend on business-related activities. So you can deduct the amount of what a hotel room would cost for yourself, but no more. If you rent a suite to accommodate your whole family, you can deduct only the price of a single room.

When you take your family out for a meal, it’s not deductible. But if your spouse accompanies you to a business meal where spouses are expected to attend, his or her portion of the bill may be deductible. But check with a tax professional before you complete your return.

Another classic example is to extend the amount of time spent in a business destination for a personal trip. After the trade expo ends, you and your family spend a few days going to the Orlando attractions. From that point on, the only part of the family’s expenses that is deductible is the cost of your trip back home.

Some owners try to deduct the cost of a vacation by including some minor business activities. That won’t go over with the IRS, which is very clear in Publication 463: “The scheduling of incidental business activities during a trip, such as viewing videotapes or attending lectures dealing with general subjects, will not change what is really a vacation into a business trip.”

“The predominant purpose of the trip has to be for business,” said Leon Dutkiewicz, a certified public accountant with Margolis & Co. in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. “The primary purpose cannot be personal.”

But if you do have engage in some business activities on what is primarily a vacation, any expenses related to those activities can be deducted.

The same rules apply if you send employees on a business trip.

HOW MUCH CAN YOU DEDUCT?

Generally, the IRS permits businesses to deduct the full amount of their travel expenses, including transportation, car rental, lodging, even dry cleaning and tips. But only 50 percent of the price of your business meals can be deducted. A business meal is considered entertainment even when it takes place during your trip. And the IRS allows companies to deduct just 50 percent of what they spend on meals.

If you like to live the high life when you’re traveling, be aware that the IRS does not permit deductions for expenses that it calls lavish or extravagant.

The agency acknowledges, however, that an expense may not be considered lavish if it is “reasonable based on the facts and circumstances.” So the IRS might agree to your renting a luxury car to take clients to a black-tie dinner at a conference, but not for you to visit a manufacturing plant in an industrial park.

Dutkiewicz noted that the IRS has standard per diem rates for lodging and meals in different locations across the country. You should not claim a higher amount than what the government allows. However, if under the circumstances it’s reasonable for you to be paying more, you may be able to take a larger deduction. You can find those rates in Publication 1542, Per Diem Rates.

Dutkiewicz said there’s no specific dollar amount that would raise questions at the IRS. As with other business expenses, the agency will consider the totality of a company’s circumstances in deciding whether to allow a travel deduction.

So, he said, a business owner who sells software and is often on the road to visit customers is likely to have a large travel deduction that the IRS will accept. But a dentist who the IRS believes should have minimal business travel but claims a large amount might find his or her return questioned. Home Security Systems.

Attention Road Warriors: Business travel doesn’t have to be all business. And timing need not matter, either. A stay of only 24 hours is easily squandered, with sights as exciting as an airport landing strip, a complimentary buffet line or your hotel bathtub. But if you can find just a couple of hours to get away, exciting distractions await — sure to sweep you off your power heels.

While the shaky economy may have forced many business professionals into a stay-put mentality, the reality remains that business travel is key to attracting and retaining clients. A 2009 report by The U.S. Travel Association found that 28 percent of current business would be lost without in-person meetings, and for every dollar invested in business travel companies realize $12.50 in incremental revenue.

Plus, according to an August 2009 National Business Travel Association study, a typical business trip lasts just three days or less. So most travelers are in and out of a city without giving it so much as a glance.

Because we know that business travel is important for your revenue growth — and a little sightseeing is imperative for your personal growth — ForbesWoman has compiled a list of what to see and do if you find yourself in one of America’s top 26 business destinations for as little as 24 hours. You don’t have time for trial and error, so we’ve taken out the guesswork.

For newcomers to a city, we’ve pinpointed the main attractions you won’t want to miss. If you happen to bounce through Philadelphia, for example, take just an hour or two between meetings to check out the most historic square mile in the city: Independence National Historical Park. Now home to the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, this is the site where colonists first met to plan independence from the King of England. It’s a must-see for every first-time visitor.

But if you are a hardened road warrior looking for something new to do, we’ll also take you off the beaten path. Stopping by Tampa, Fla., and want to see more than the sunny coast or stark convention center? We suggest heading to nearby St. Pete to check out the city’s little-known wonder, The Dalí Museum. Holding the largest collection of Salvador Dalí works outside of Spain, it also exhibits rare surrealist jewelry designed by the artist in the 1940s and ’50s. Perhaps the break will rouse a burst of creativity for your next presentation or client meeting.

The U.S. Travel Association study reported that $206 billion was spent on business travel within the U.S. in 2008 and that three-quarters of businesses believe that increasing travel further can build market share and client relationships. That means you are likely to be on the road for your company in the foreseeable future, and you might as well make the most of the investment.

Schedule in some time to get out of the meeting room and experience all the nuances of a location you may have traveled to before but have never really noticed. Home Security Systems.