World Tourism Blog

Three Pacific sites have been awarded World Heritage status by the cultural arm of the United Nations, UNESCO.

Those sites are Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Kiribati’ s Phoenix Islands and Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea.

Bikini was the site of U.S. nuclear bomb testing in the 1940s and 1950s.

UNESCO said the tests had major consequences on the geology and environment of the atoll symbolized the dawn of nuclear age.

The Phoenix Islands conserve one of the world’s largest intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems, together with 14 known underwater sea mounts thought to be extinct volcanoes, complete with a staggering variety of marine species.

The Papahanaumokuakea chain of tiny islands and atolls, stretches nearly 2,000 km north-west of the main Hawaiian Islands.

It was declared both a natural and cultural heritage site.

This is because it is one of the world’s largest marine protected areas, and the region is also thought to be the origin of life in native Hawaiian belief.

By Travelandtourismnews

Bikini Atoll

The Indonesian government has laid out an ambitious infrastructure programme which includes the construction of 14 new airports starting next year.

This will include an increase in capital expenditure of 28 percent next year as the government aims to build more bridges, roads, ports and airports to boost growth in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said.

He has promised to double spending on infrastructure to $140 billion during his second and final five-year term to deliver average growth of 6.6 percent.

Minister of Transportation Freddy Numberi has offered the private sector an opportunity to develop the 14 new airports.

The new airports will mostly be built in the eastern parts of Indonesia, including West Nusa Tenggara and Bali. “In West Nusa Tenggara it is still in process.

In Bali another airport is planned to reduce over crowding at Ngurah Rai airport.

According to a Jakarta Post, transport minister Freddy Numberi said that the new developments would include a hub for West Nusa Tenggara, as well as the second Bali airport.

He said: “In West Nusa Tenggara it is still in process. In Bali we will build another one as the Ngurah Rai airport has already been in over capacity.”

“If the private sector wants to join, just go ahead,” he added.

By BreakingTravelNews

Indonesia

You will be surprised by all the fun things to do in Cleveland. Truly there is something for everyone from the youngest to the oldest, from the Rocker to the museum goes.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Explore the Cleveland sound. In 1998 The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opened a new wing dedicated to honoring those artists, producers, songwriters and other industry professionals who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Cleveland lobbied hard to be chosen, citing the facts that one-time Cleveland disc jockey, Alan Freed, is widely credited with promoting the new genre (and the term) of “rock and roll.” The multi-media presentation features the honorees and their music that range from Elvis Presley to Black Sabbath.

Jazz up your stay with an evening at Nighttown, one of several excellent jazz clubs. For over 40 years Nighttown has been delivering great food and great music featuring well known entertainers. It is the only club in Ohio on Down Beat’s list of The Best Jazz Clubs in the World.

Great Lakes Science Center, Museum of Art, and More

“Blink your eyes.” In the time it takes you to blink light has traveled two times around the world. Amazing! And so is the Great Lakes Science Center where visitors learn about the Theory of Relativity, the human body, and exploring all phases of flight from gliders to landing the shuttle. Plus, there is a great view of the lake.

The Museum of Art has one of six statues of Rodin’s The Thinker. It is unique in that the feet are missing due to a bomb attack in 1970. The museum is in the midst of a massive building project and a side benefit is they are currently Impressionist and Modern Masters from the museum’s collection. Excellent docent tours.

From our position in the vastness of the universe to a Field Guide to Humans that explores to the mysteries of our bodies, the Museum of Natural History unravels life of the present, past, and future. Stop by to say “Hello” to Balto, the Alaskan sled dog that brought serum to the people of Nome, and to Happy, the 70-foot-long Haplocanthosaurus delfsi, the oldest sauropod on exhibit anywhere.

All cemeteries are places of history and art, and Lake Side Cemetery is no exception. Founded in 1869 and modeled after the great garden cemeteries of Victorian England and France it is the final resting place of the 20th President of the United States, James A. Garfield and his wife. Leave a dime on the John D. Rockefeller monument in a hope for financial success.

Learn about the city’s Architectural treasureson a tour with City Prowl. From the palatial grandeur of The Arcade, American firs indoor shopping mall built in 1890, in the city center to St. Theodosius Russian Orthodox Cathedral with its onion domes and ornate interior in the Tremont neighborhood, the architectural are many.

Botanical Gardens and Zoo
The spiny desert of Madagascar with strange-looking baobab tree and the tropical rainforest of Costa Rica with the strangler fig tree topped with a canopy viewing platform are just two diverse aspects of the Botanical Gardens. Wander the herb, rose, and woodland gardens, relax by the lily pond and restorative garden then let the children explore their own special garden.

The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and The RainForest is open all year and home to more than 3000 animals representing 600 species and home to the largest collection of primate species in North Americ. Their botanical garden, demonstrates the relationship between plants, animals and humans.

Christmas Story and more
Everyone is familiar the quote, “You’ll shoot your eye ou!” But most people don’t realize that a major portion of the movie was filmed at the house now known as the Christmas Story House. Across the street the museum highlights some of the favorite episodes from the film and the museum shop sell iconic items from the film: the Leg Lamp, Red Ryder B-B Gun, and Life Boy soap. Open all year

Sports is huge in Cleveland. Football fans cheer for the Cleveland Browns at their namesake lakeside stadium. Jacobs Field is the home field of the Cleveland Indians, the 2007 American League Central Champs. The Quicken Loan Arena is home to NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers and the AHL hockey team, the Lake Erie Monsters.

There is more, much more to experience. Explore Cleveland’s connection to the lake by taking a lake or a river cruise, then visit the museum steamship, the William G. Mather, moored nearby, or the U.S.S. COD Submarine Memorial the last remaining WW-II Fleet Submarine to retain her original configuration. Stop by the West Side Market for a cup of coffee with an eclair or a falafel with tabouli.

By Sandra Scott

Cleveland Zoo

As part of an awareness campaign on the plight of the panda, of which there are just 1,600 left in the wild, Chengdu Panda Base in South West China, has launched a global competition to invite animal lovers around the world to help look after these endangered animals for one month.

Earning around $150 a month, 24 year old Yang Gangkun, a graduate in veterinary studies, is a panda keeper, looking after 8 pandas alongside 14 other keepers at the breeding centre. His day starts at 6:30 and begins with feeding, cleaning and exercising the pandas. Yang says that spends two nights a week sleeping near the pandas, to safeguard them and that the panda’s are very responsive to humans.

The Panda base in Chengdu openned with 6 pandas in 1987, a figure which has now risen to 84 in total. Keepers are particularly busy during the spring mating season and summer birthing season, a time when the committed panda keepers work flat out. Another major challenge for the centre is preparing pandas to be released into the wild. In the past, some released pandas have been found dead, thought to have been attacked by their wild cousins. Keepers and researchers at the reserve aim to address this problem.

Organisers say that, from August, they will be looking for “bright, articulate and engaging individuals from China and around the world, who care deeply about conservation issues”. The prize will involve assisting researchers and helping to raise awareness through blogging.

Panda - By Students.ou.edu

Sleepy Austrian village wakes up with annual beer fest, complete with dirndls and oom-pah-pah.

Dirndls, lederhosen, an oom-pah-pah band and beer: It doesn’t get more traditional than this when the sleepy Austrian village of Altaussee wakes up for a nonstop beer party, Sept. 4-6.

The annual three-day beer fest is sometimes described as a more intimate and less commercial version of Germany’s Oktoberfest. It marks its 50th anniversary this year in Altaussee, a quaint hamlet located 186 miles (300 kilometers) west of Vienna.

Showing up in traditional garb is a must. So if you’ve ever wanted to don an Austrian dirndl or lounge around in lederhosen and knee socks for a few days — this is your chance.

Organized by the local fire department, the annual beer fest draws both droves of locals and a large crowd from the Austrian capital.

It was with one of these Viennese groups that I decided to make the trip last year.

Within minutes of our arrival, the owner of the inn we stayed at welcomed us with a hearty “Griass eich!” (an informal greeting in the local dialect). We had entered another world where talk revolved not around politics or the financial crisis but about the strength of the local schnapps.

The epicenter of the event is the so-called beer tent (”Bierzelt” in German) crammed with wooden benches, tables and counters selling sausages, roast chicken and, of course, beer. From a stage in the center, bands pump out “oom-pah-pah” tunes that, in the early hours of Sunday morning, oddly enough included an Austrian rendition of “The Final Countdown.” A small fairground lies to one side the tent, complete with rides and stalls selling sweets and gingerbread hearts.

As the tent fills up to maximum capacity, you might consider securing a spot at the Wirtschaft Altaussee, an inn a stone’s throw away where, as the night wears on, patrons are known to dance on tables to Austrian and German pop songs. Or for a more formal dinner, try the restaurant at the Gasthof zum Hirschen where we spotted Hannes Androsch, a well-known entrepreneur and former Austrian finance minister.

By VERONIKA OLEKSYN

Young women arrive in their traditional Dirndl dresses during a beer fest in Altaussee, Austria, Sept. 7, 2009. Each year at the start of September, the sleepy hamlet of Altaussee about 300 kilometers (186 miles) west of Vienna turns into a nonstop beer fest some describe as the Alpine republic's more intimate and less commercial version of Germany's Oktoberfest.

Welcome to one of the wonders of the world. It has been one of the top most attractions of Egypt for ages and the Pyramids of Giza rule the tourists mind even today. As a basic introduction you would like to know that there are three main pyramids that are the most important in Egyptian myth.

They are the Pyramid of Khufu, the Pyramid of Khafre, and the Pyramid of Menkaura. These tombs belong to three main kings of Egypt and in front of all these pyramids lay the Sphinx. They are so massive that you can see them from your flight if you are flying over or from miles away. However do to come into the misunderstanding that if you have seen one pyramid then you have seen them all. Several tourists mistake the tombs and miss out on a lot of stuff. Every tomb has a different story to tell and a unique one.

Things to do in the Pyramids of Giza

First thing you would like to do is get yourself an English speaking guide who has a good knowledge of the history of the place.

Since the most important pyramids are located in the vicinity getting around here to these pyramids is not a big problem. You have many options like taking a buggy, horse or a camel ride. If you like to walk then that could be the best way to explore the pyramids.

Going inside the pyramids is an amazing experience and by no length of imagination are these pyramids simple on the interiors as they seem from the outside.

A sound and light show is organized around the Sphinx in the nights and it is also a good way to learn about the history of Giza and Egypt.

Saqqara is the popular step Pyramid and is one of the first pyramids to be built.

What to expect

The pyramids of Egypt are fascinating structures that have been built thousands of years ago and they stand to tell the history of Egypt even today. When you go there be prepared for a roller coaster ride into history.

By BestTouristDestinations

Pyramids of Giza

After a Long Winter, The City Revels in its Never-Ending Summer Days.

On a recent Saturday night in mid-June, the banks of St. Petersburg’s Neva River were packed. Mostly young people armed with drinks, mingled with couples and families admiring the sunset from parks and paths along the shore. A pair of bongo players banged away in the shadow of St. Isaac’s Cathedral, and hundreds lounged on the wall that lines the river.

It was 10:30 p.m. and the sun was just starting to dip below the horizon, but no one showed signs of heading home anytime soon. After all, these are the famous White Nights in Russia’s second city, a two-month period from May to July when St. Petersburg is light almost 24 hours a day.

“It’s just marvellous,” said Jonathan Knaus, an American banker who has lived in Moscow for almost two decades and has visited St. Petersburg during White Nights several times over the years. “Great atmosphere, people are wonderful, very nice. Everyone’s just out having fun.”

Situated on the Bay of Finland, St. Petersburg’s northern location at the same latitude as southern Alaska means that during the summer the sun is never far below the horizon. From mid-May until mid-July, most of the hours between sunset and sunrise look like dusk and the darkest moment, around 2 a.m., is short-lived.

“It was too long and too cold [a] winter,” said local Ikbol Kobulov. “I think we deserve it.”

Visitors to St. Petersburg often express frustration that there isn’t enough time to see everything during a short stay, a sentiment the city capitalizes on during White Nights. Museums stay open later, the Mariinsky theatre offers an expanded program of ballets and operas. The city’s numerous drawbridges are drawn in the wee hours of the morning during summer months for ships to pass through, rimmed with lights and admired by sightseers.

“Everyone’s just so ready to be with other people and really embrace everything the city has to offer, which is a lot,” said Emily Moder, a Princeton University student in St. Petersburg for the summer. “You have really all 24 hours of every day to do it.”

By ALEXANDER MARQUARDT

Fireworks light up the sky over the Neva River and the Peter and Pawel Fortress during the annual school-leavers night show in St. Petersburg, June 20, 2010.

Greece to Cover Costs of Tourists Stranded Due to Strikes and Natural Disasters

Greece on Monday promised to cover the extra costs of visitors stranded in the debt-ridden country in part of a bid to boost the vital tourism industry.

The pledge would apply to tourists whose visits are prolonged due to strikes, or even natural disasters, said Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos.

“We are guaranteeing to pay any extra room and board any visitor in Greece pays even if stuck here because of a volcano in Iceland,” he said at a press conference announcing a new Internet drive to advertise Greece as a tourist destination.

Greece is caught in a major budget and debt crisis, and avoided bankruptcy last month using the first installment of a (EURO)110 billion ($136.3 billion) European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout package. To secure the rescue loans, the center-left government slashed pensions and civil sector pay, while increasing consumer taxes.

Unions responded with a string of strikes, which canceled flights, ferry and rail services, and halted public transport.

Tourism is a vital source of revenue that accounts for more than 15 percent of gross domestic product, and one in five jobs. Industry experts say they are seeing a drop of about 10-12 percent in bookings this year, following deadly riots that left three dead last month in Athens when a protest against painful austerity measures turned violent.

Tourist arrivals had suffered earlier from the chaos in air transport caused by the explosion of a volcano in Iceland, which spewed vast quantities of ash into the sky for days, blocking air routes.

Geroulanos said the tourism industry seemed to be recovering, although it was too early to make accurate forecasts.

“The numbers are not really as gloomy as they were with the first cancellations,” he said. “Some destinations have suffered greatly due to the crisis, but others are doing better than before.”

By ABCNews

Greece on Monday promised to cover the extra costs of visitors stranded in the debt-ridden country in part of a bid to boost the vital tourism industry.

Archaeologists Hope to Put Artifacts on Display in New Underwater Museum

Deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt’s ancient capital Alexandria lies a wealth of archaeological artifacts. It’s a treasure trove of 20,000 objects and counting, thousands of years old providing archaeologists the key to unlocking the mystery of ancient Egypt and its rulers.

One of them is the last Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. Legend has it that when the Romans entered Egypt in 30 BC and after losing the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra and her lover Mark Anthony took their own lives in order to avoid being captured by their enemies. The Romans scattered their belongings and their tomb has never been found. Archaeologists however have isolated three sites in Alexandria where they believe the tomb is located.

But the royal quarters which include a palace and temple complex where Cleopatra is thought to have reigned from have been discovered. Previously, these sites were thought to have been swallowed up and lost more than 1,600 years ago. According to Ibrahim Darwish, General Director of museums in Alexandria, the quarters are from the era of “Ptolemy when the area was controlled and ruled by Cleopatra in 25 BC as well as the Roman period in 643 AD,” he told ABC News.

A French team lead by Frank Goddio has been leading the excavation along with an Egyptian counterpart since 1992 when the dig first started. Egyptologist and underwater archaeologist Ashraf Abdel Raouf is also part of this project and he explained to ABC News that they found “ceramics, bronze coins, small objects that are now in a laboratory and under restoration….remarkable objects,” adding that because “it was in the sea, it’s been conserved as it was sunken. We found pottery, statues as well and the sea conserved them.”

Many of the items that have been brought to the surface are currently on show at an exhibition called “Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt,” at The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. There are at least 140 artifacts on display from colossal statues to coins with an insurance value of over 50 million dollars. The exhibition will go on the road in other parts of the U.S. beginning with New York City in February next year.

By LAMA HASAN

One of them is the last Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. Legend has it that when the Romans entered Egypt in 30 BC and after losing the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra and her lover Mark Anthony took their own lives in order to avoid being captured by their enemies. The Romans scattered their belongings and their tomb has never been found. Archaeologists however have isolated three sites in Alexandria where they believe the tomb is located.

Cowabunga, Dude

Catching a wave is nothing new for Hawaiians. The first recorded account of surfing — penned around 1779 by a crew member aboard one of British explorer Captain James Cook’s ships — included two entire pages about local people climbing on boards in the water to wait for “the greatest Swell that sets on shore, & altogether push forward with their Arms to keep on its top.” By that time, the sport was already a centuries-old, integral part of Hawaiian culture: chiefs proved their mettle by showing off their wave-riding skills, and new surfboards were christened with chants at special ceremonies. Some Hawaiian place names are even derived from ancient surfing legends.

 Now That’s Diversity

When you talk about minorities in Hawaii, you’re talking about everyone. Unlike in most states, no racial or ethnic group constitutes a majority in the Aloha State. White residents make up just a quarter of the population — the lowest proportion in the country. (Which is 66% white overall, according to Census figures.) Nearly 40% of Hawaiians are classified as Asian, with an additional 9% native Hawaiian. Governor Linda Lingle calls Hawaii a place where “racial and ethnic lines are often blurred or deemed irrelevant.” Sounds like a logical birthplace for the first President to break the color line.

 The Middle of Nowhere

It’s a good thing the diverse people of Hawaii have managed to live together peacefully — it’s not easy to leave. The state is called the most isolated population center in the world — some 2,390 miles from the U.S. and nearly 4,000 miles from Japan. While its remoteness can make Hawaii an ordeal to visit (flights from Los Angeles take 5½ hours), it’s a boon for scientists. Hawaii is home to one of the largest clusters of telescopes and observatories in the world, taking advantage of the area’s low levels of air and light pollution. Last month the summit of Mauna Kea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, was chosen as the site for the world’s largest telescope — expected to be completed in 2018 with a price tag of more than $1 billion.

 Running on Island Time

Hawaii is so far removed from the rest of the U.S. that it has its own time zone. Hawaii-Aleutian standard time doesn’t observe daylight savings, running two hours behind Pacific standard time and five hours behind eastern standard time. That means that February’s Super Bowl XLIII, played in Tampa Bay, Fla., kicked off shortly after 1 p.m. Honolulu time. Guess it was wings and nachos for brunch.

 Who Needs 26 Letters?

How many states have their own language? Hawaiian is an ancient Polynesian tongue that manages to get by with only 12 letters (the five vowels plus h, k, l, m, n, p and w). The language that brought us such words as ukulele and wiki of Wikipedia fame was banned for more than a century and came close to disappearing before a movement took hold in the 1970s to preserve it. Now one of the state’s official languages, it’s spoken by thousands and provides the state’s official motto: “Ua mau ke ea o ka aina I ka pono,” which means “The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.” (That was supposedly the response of Hawaii’s king to the end of a five-month British occupation in 1843.) Its latest sign of strength: Google introduced a Hawaiian version earlier this month.