World Tourism Blog

The world’s tallest skyscraper has unexpectedly closed to the public a month after its lavish opening, disappointing tourists headed for the observation deck and casting doubt over plans to welcome its first permanent occupants in the coming weeks.

Electrical problems are at least partly to blame for the closure of the Burj Khalifa’s viewing platform — the only part of the half-mile high tower open yet. But a lack of information from the spire’s owner left it unclear whether the rest of the largely empty building — including dozens of elevators meant to whisk visitors to the tower’s more than 160 floors — was affected by the shutdown.

The indefinite closure, which began Sunday, comes as Dubai struggles to revive its international image as a cutting-edge Arab metropolis amid nagging questions about its financial health.

The Persian Gulf city-state had hoped the 2,717-foot (828-meter) Burj Khalifa would be a major tourist draw. Dubai has promoted itself by wowing visitors with over-the-top attractions such as the Burj, which juts like a silvery needle out of the desert and can be seen from miles around.

In recent weeks, thousands of tourists have lined up for the chance to buy tickets for viewing times often days in advance that cost more than $27 apiece. Now many of those would-be visitors, such as Wayne Boyes, a tourist from near Manchester, England, must get back in line for refunds.

“It’s just very disappointing,” said Boyes, 40, who showed up at the Burj’s entrance Monday with a ticket for an afternoon time slot only to be told the viewing platform was closed. “The tower was one of my main reasons for coming here,” he said.

The precise cause of the $1.5 billion Dubai skyscraper’s temporary shutdown remained unclear.

In a brief statement responding to questions, building owner Emaar Properties blamed the closure on “unexpected high traffic,” but then suggested that electrical problems were also at fault.

“Technical issues with the power supply are being worked on by the main and subcontractors and the public will be informed upon completion,” the company said, adding that it is “committed to the highest quality standards at Burj Khalifa.”

Despite repeated requests, a spokeswoman for Emaar was unable to provide further details or rule out the possibility of foul play. Greg Sang, Emaar’s director of projects and the man charged with coordinating the tower’s construction, could not be reached. Construction workers at the base of the tower said they were unaware of any problems.

Power was reaching some parts of the building. Strobe lights warning aircraft flashed and a handful of floors were illuminated after nightfall.

Emaar did not say when the observation deck would reopen. Ticket sales agents were accepting bookings starting on Valentine’s Day this Sunday, though one reached by The Associated Press could not confirm the building would reopen then.

Tourists affected by the closure are being offered the chance to rebook or receive refunds.

The shutdown comes at a sensitive time for Dubai. The city-state is facing a slump in tourism — which accounts for nearly a fifth of the local economy — while fending off negative publicity caused by more than $80 billion in debt it is struggling to repay.

Ervin Hladnik-Milharcic, 55, a Slovenian writer planning to visit the city for the first time this month, said he hoped the Burj would reopen soon.

“It was the one thing I really wanted to see,” he said. “The tower was projected as a metaphor for Dubai. So the metaphor should work. There are no excuses.”

Dubai opened the skyscraper on Jan. 4 in a blaze of fireworks televised around the world. The building had been known as the Burj Dubai during more than half a decade of construction, but the name was suddenly changed on opening night to honor the ruler of neighboring Abu Dhabi.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi are two of seven small sheikdoms that comprise the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi hosts the federation’s capital and holds most of the country’s vast oil reserves. It has provided Dubai with $20 billion in emergency cash to help cover its debts.

Questions were raised about the building’s readiness in the months leading up to the January opening.

The opening date had originally been expected in September, but was then pushed back until sometime before the end of 2009. The eventual opening date just after New Year’s was meant to coincide with the anniversary of the Dubai ruler’s ascent to power.

There were signs even that target was ambitious. The final metal and glass panels cladding the building’s exterior were installed only in late September. Early visitors to the observation deck had to peer through floor-to-ceiling windows caked with dust — a sign that cleaning crews had not yet had a chance to scrub them clean.

Work is still ongoing on many of the building’s other floors, including those that will house the first hotel designed by Giorgio Armani that is due to open in March. The building’s base remains largely a construction zone, with entrance restricted to the viewing platform lobby in an adjacent shopping mall.

The first of some 12,000 residential tenants and office workers are supposed to move in to the building this month.

The Burj Khalifa boasts more than 160 stories. The exact number is not known.

The observation deck, which is mostly enclosed but includes an outdoor terrace bordered by guard rails, is located about two-thirds of the way up on the 124th floor. Adult tickets bought in advance cost 100 dirhams, or about $27. Visitors wanting to enter immediately can jump to the front of the line by paying 400 dirhams — about $110 apiece. Home Security Systems.

Many well-known sites around the world, including the haunting Jordan desert valley of Wadi Rum — made famous in the cinema classic “Lawrence of Arabia” — are plagued by tourists, poor planning and shoddy security, Wanderlust Magazine said.

Travelers yearning to explore prehistoric Stonehenge or Machu Picchu’s Inca ruins better start packing, as both are on a list of endangered destinations, according to a British travel magazine.

Wanderlust Magazine’s second annual “Threatened Wonders List” has identified eight top travel picks that have been over-exploited.

Most, including the haunting Jordan desert valley of Wadi Rum, made famous in the cinema classic “Lawrence of Arabia,” are plagued by tourists, poor planning and shoddy security, the magazine said.

Travelers should avoid Stonehenge — perhaps the world’s most famous prehistoric site and a center for British pagan celebration — unless they wish to see a carpark and glimpse the stone monoliths from a disappointingly remote viewing area, the magazine said.

Avid trekkers should also rethink a trip to Peru’s Machu Picchu, which is plagued by trash and encroaching minibus routes. Up to 2,500 tourists a day trample the mountainside ruins, making it impossible to protect against wear and tear.

Timbuktu in northern Mali also gets a mention, with British diplomats last year issuing security warnings for the area after the execution of a British traveler by militant group al-Qaida.

The river town of Yangshuo in China, beachside Tulum in Mexico and Jaisalmer of India also made the list, along with Australia’s evocatively-named Bay of Fires, in south Tasmania state.

The bay was Tasmania’s “best-kept secret,” but was threatened by a massive, recent influx of visitors, to the dismay of Aboriginal elders who claim the 30 km (19 mile) stretch of coast is dotted with sacred burial grounds.

Wanderlust offered several alternatives to well-worn tourist tracks for 2010.

Zimbabwe’s newfound stability was encouraging and wildlife sightings a massive drawcard for the country, it said.

Khmer ruins in northeastern Thailand and Madagascar, off Africa’s eastern coast, were also hot tips for ecotourists looking for value-for-money, the magazine said. Home Security Systems.

Countries that manage Antarctica are considering new controls on ships visiting the frozen continent to reduce the growing threat of human and environmental disasters posed by exploding numbers of tourists, an official said Wednesday.

A proposal for a code to ensure ships plying the world’s southernmost seas could withstand hitting an iceberg and other measures are being discussed at a meeting this week in New Zealand of more than 80 experts from signatories to the Antarctic Treaty, the international accord to oversee the region.

Antarctica’s pristine environment, unpredictable and extreme weather, mostly uncharted waters and vast distances from habitation pose major dangers for vessels and major problems for rescuers in any emergency.

In the past, most shipping in Antarctica has been limited to scientific vessels bringing researchers or supplies. But traffic has burgeoned in recent years as tourists flock to see the world’s last great wilderness.

Annual tourist numbers have grown from about 10,000 a decade ago to 45,000 last year. Tourists can pay between $3,000 and $24,000 for a two-week trip, in style ranging from basic to all-out luxury.

Existing rules bar tourists or tour operators from leaving anything behind — like garbage or human waste — and protect animal breeding grounds.

But there are no formal codes on the kind of vessels that can use the waters or the kinds of fuel and other chemicals that they can carry.

In a recent scare, the Canadian cruise ship Explorer hit an iceberg and sank in November 2007. All 154 people aboard were saved by a nearby Norwegian vessel during a window of good weather, but light fuel oil continues to leak into surrounding waters from the Explorer’s sunken hull.

Four other passenger ships have run aground in Antarctica in the past three years.

Trevor Hughes, the head of Antarctic policy at New Zealand’s foreign ministry, said the sinking of the ice-strengthened Explorer was a wake-up call to Antarctic Treaty nations, and experts from all key members of the Antarctic Treaty now want a tough new code for shipping in Antarctica.

“Without regulations, we are going to have a disaster where a lot of lives are lost and where oil spills out into the environment, and we see penguins being smothered and poisoned by fuel oil in their rookeries,” Hughes told The Associated Press.

The proposed code, which must be ratified by treaty states to become binding, would cover vessel design and construction for polar operations, equipment and crew training. In a similar move, the U.N. International Maritime Organization recently approved guidelines for ships in polar waters.

New Zealand is one of the dozen founding members of the Antarctic Treaty, along with the United States, Russia, Britain and others, and is among those leading the push for shipping regulation.

Steve Wellmeier, executive director of the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators, said the group supports new mandatory controls.

“We welcome consistency and oversight of all vessels, including passenger vessels,” he said.

New Zealand and Norway are also pushing for a ban on carriage or use of heavy fuel oils in the Antarctic region, which is due to be ratified in 2010.

“Heavy fuel oils in the Antarctic Treaty area pose the greatest threat of long-term environmental damage,” said Catherine Taylor, director of Maritime New Zealand, the agency responsible for fighting oil spills in the country’s Antarctic zone. Hard money training.

A spacecraft designed to rocket wealthy tourists into space as early as 2011 was unveiled Monday in what backers of the venture hope will signal a new era in aviation history.

The long-awaited glimpse of SpaceShipTwo marks the first public appearance of a commercial passenger spacecraft. The project is bankrolled by Virgin Galactic founder, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson, who partnered with famed aviation designer Burt Rutan, the brains behind the venture.

“We want this program to be a whole new beginning in a commercial era of space travel,” Branson said.

He is hopeful that they can begin the flights sometime in 2011, only after a series of rigorous safety tests. Branson said he, his family and Rutan would be the first people to make the trip to space aboard the craft.

SpaceShipTwo is based on Rutan’s design of a stubby white prototype called SpaceShipOne. In 2004, SpaceShipOne captured the $10 million Ansari X Prize by becoming the first privately manned craft to reach space.

Since the historic feat, engineers from Rutan’s Scaled Composites LLC have been laboring in a Mojave Desert hangar to commercialize the prototype in heavy secrecy. Some 300 clients have paid the $200,000 ticket or placed a deposit, according to the company.

“NASA spent billions upon billions of dollars on space travel and has only managed to send 480 people,” Branson said. “We’re literally hoping to send thousands of people into space over the next couple of years. We want to make sure that we build a spaceship that is 100 percent safe.”

The last time there was this level of hoopla in the high desert was a little more than a year ago when Branson and Rutan trotted out to great fanfare the twin-fuselage mothership, White Knight Two, that will ferry SpaceShipTwo to launch altitude.

Despite the hype, hard work lies ahead before space journeys could become as routine as air travel.

Flight testing of White Knight Two has been ongoing for the past year. The first SpaceShipTwo test flights are expected to start next year, with full-fledged space launches to its maximum altitude by or in 2011.

SpaceShipTwo, built from lightweight composite materials and powered by a hybrid rocket motor, is similar to its prototype cousin with three exceptions. It’s twice as large, measuring 60 feet long with a roomy cabin about the size of a Falcon 900 executive jet. It also has more windows including overhead portholes. While SpaceShipOne was designed for three people, SpaceShipTwo can carry six passengers and two pilots.

“It’s a big and beautiful vehicle,” said X Prize founder Peter Diamandis, who has seen SpaceShipTwo during various stages of development.

The ability to view Earth’s curvature from space has been limited so far to government astronauts and a handful of wealthy people who have shelled out millions to board Russian rockets to the orbiting international space station.

The debut of the craft could not come sooner for the scores of wannabe astronauts who have forked over part of their disposable income for the chance to float in zero gravity.

“We’ve all been patiently waiting to see exactly what the vehicle is going to look like,” said Peter Cheney, a 63-year-old potential space tourist from Seattle who was among the first to sign up for suborbital space rides marketed by Virgin Galactic.

After SpaceShipOne’s history-making flights, many space advocates believed private companies would offer suborbital space joyrides before the end of this decade. Hard money training.

There is no space for tourists wishing to fly to the International Space Station, a top Russian space official said.

Since the space station’s crew doubled to six people earlier this year, there is no longer room for tourists who pay tens of millions of dollars for a trip on a Russian spacecraft from Earth, said Sergei Krikalyov, the chief of the Cosmonaut Training Center.

Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft will provide the only link to the station after the planned retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet next year.

Each Soyuz craft can accommodate three people. With the doubling of the station’s permanent crew, Russia will now make four, rather than two, launches each year to allow for crew rotation. A permanent crew of six means the space program has to have two Soyuz ships permanently docked at the station to be used in case of emergency.

Canadian Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte returned to Earth last month after a stint as the seventh paying space tourist aboard the station. Laliberte, the first professional artist to fly to space, paid $35 million for a 10-day trip to the station.

“When there was a spare place, the space tourist could fly together with the main crew and return back with them,” Krikalyov told reporters at the training center in Star City outside Moscow. “Now that we have switched to a six-person crew, there is no spare room.”

Krikalyov added without elaboration that “the situation will remain the same for the nearest flights.”

Krikalyov spoke during exams for a crew set to blast off for the station in late December. The crew includes Russian Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi of Japan and NASA astronaut Timothy J. Creamer.

The mammoth station consists of 10 modules built by the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and the 18-nation European Space Agency. Doubling of its permanent crew will allow other nations to send their astronauts to the station, which had mostly been manned in the past by Russian and U.S. crew members. Hard money training.

It’s not quite the warm and fuzzy crowd one imagines around most Christmas trees, but Barneys New York is celebrating the holidays with a motley crew that includes Roseanne Roseannadanna, the Church Lady, Father Guido Sarducci and Wayne and Garth.

Two dozen “Saturday Night Live” favorites have been transformed into life-size, papier-mache ornaments to hang in the windows on Madison Avenue as the flagship store puts on its biggest visual show of the year. There’s Will Ferrell as Janet Reno looking very prim and proper and Mike Myers as “Coffee Talk” Linda Richman with bright red nails and lips.

Atypical? Yes, but the quirky characters seem like they’d be right at home at a holiday party with Simon Doonan, Barneys’ renowned creative director.

“We like to set ourselves apart by picking something that’s a little out there,” Doonan says. “Our windows can’t be elitist, but we can’t do `traditional.’ We’d have to make Santa out of ketchup or something if we went that way.”

Doonan decided more than a year ago that this year’s holiday message would, above all else, be witty. “We had to have fun — it had been such a dismal year,” he says.

Holiday windows, he explains, are supposed to generate traffic, bring hoards of shoppers and tourists to the front of the store to “ooh” and “aah,” and garner some media buzz. At the same time, the windows need to convey taste, luxury and humor, all of which he considers the core of Barneys brand.

So, just how will John Belushi’s King Bee in the window help sell some of the most expensive apparel and accessories that hang on the racks inside?

He doesn’t have to, exactly.

“What we’ve got to have in our windows is something `current.’ We look for things that have a surge of interest,” says Doonan. The 35th anniversary of “SNL,” coupled with its spot-on coverage of last year’s election, convinced Doonan that now was the right time to honor these oddities of pop culture.

From the “SNL” side, costume designer Tom Broecker was eager to see what Doonan would do with already over-the-top characatures. It’s hard to pick just one favorite, Broecker says, but the version of Chris Kattan’s Mango prompted a serious, hearty belly laugh. Hard money training

Climbing the Statue of Liberty or catching the view from the Empire State Building are still top New York attractions but tourists are also scrambling to see where their favorite TV shows are filmed.

Whether it’s the exterior of Carrie Bradshaw’s Greenwich Village apartment in “Sex and the City” or the Bada Bing club made famous in “The Sopranos,” TV location tours are a booming business in the Big Apple.

More than 15,000 people from 40 countries have taken “The Sopranos” tour since it was launched in 2001, and at least a thousand people a week board buses to see the locations featured in “Sex and the City.”

Fans are also heading to the swanky Upper East Side of Manhattan to get a peek into the privileged lives of the teenagers in the popular TV series “Gossip Girl.”

“We keep our eyes on shows that feature New York City prominently. For ‘Sex and the City,’ people considered New York to be the fifth girl character,” said Meagan Hess, online marketing manager for On Location Tours, which conducts the tours.

“ ‘Gossip Girl’ takes place in New York City. It plays a prominent role, not only in the settings but in the shaping of the characters,” she added.

Eighty percent of the filming of “Gossip Girl,” which follows the lives of Serena, Blair, Chuck, Dan, Vanessa and Nate who are wealthy teens living in one of new New York’s richest areas, is done on the city’s streets.

“There is a lot of money that goes into the show,” said Rachel Moulton, a 25-year-old actress and guide said during a recent tour.

Launched in May, the three-hour “Gossip Girl” bus tour which runs twice a week on Friday and Sunday afternoons ferries tourists, from the U.S. and abroad, to the shops, restaurants, bars, museums and hotels featured in the show. Hard money training

Tibet received a record 4.75 million tourists in the first nine months of this year, state media reported Wednesday, marking a rebound from ethnic rioting and security clampdowns last year that shut the Himalayan region to travelers.

Tourism revenue reached almost 4 billion yuan ($580 million), the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the deputy director of the regional tourism bureau, Wang Songping. The tourist count includes both foreign and domestic visitors.

Some of that money went to the more than 10,000 Tibetan families who have opened their homes to tourist stays, the report said.

“It’s a high point for Tibet’s tourism industry,” Wang was quoted as saying at a meeting of the Tibetan regional Communist Party.

Tourism in the region took a major hit after anti-government riots in March 2008, in which Tibetans attacked Chinese migrants and torched much of Lhasa’s commercial district, leaving 22 people dead by China’s account.

Travel bans and crackdowns on Buddhist monasteries sent arrivals in the first half of last year plunging nearly 70 percent. Tibet was only fully reopened to foreign tourists April 5.

To regain lost ground, authorities halved prices for tours, hotel rooms and entry tickets to sites such as the famed Potala Palace in the capital, Lhasa. In addition, Air China began offering direct flights from Beijing to Tibet in July, shaving two hours off the previous travel time.

China says Tibet has been part of its territory for hundreds of years, and the Communist Party has governed the Himalayan region since troops arrived in 1950. Hard money training

Iceland is closer than you think. This mid-Atlantic island is the USA’s closest European neighbor. With a flight time from New York less than five hours, you’re ready for action as soon as you arrive. There’s also plenty of choice for relaxing indulgence and pampering yourself. The chilliest thing about Iceland is its name! In January, the average temperature in the capital Reykjavik is higher than that in New York. And Iceland’s welcome for tourists is always warm. Almost everyone speaks fluent English and Icelanders aren’t really given to formalities. The telephone directory even lists people by their first name!

Reykjavik is a city where you’ll feel safe to walk the streets. With its colorful houses, friendly people and walkable city center, it’s like being in a big village. But this “village” has a multitude of cultural venues, gourmet restaurants, and stores. It also has the modern conveniences, services and quality of living you would expect from a world-class city.

Even so, it’s still only a 15-minute cab ride between downtown and wild nature, where you’ll feel you’re the only person on earth. When you’re in nature, you can explore geysers, waterfalls, geothermal hot springs, bird sanctuaries and more!

Iceland is the ideal place for taking a break and setting foot on a European outpost with an exciting, lively, ancient and thriving culture all of its own. You’ll feel at home – free to walk around, shop, admire, explore. It’s a place you could go on discovering forever.

In 1889, when the Tour Eiffel was completed, it was the tallest building in the world at 300m. The Tour Eiffel was originally built as a tempory structure to commemorate the centenary of the Revolution. And since, the Eiffel Tower has become an enduring symbol of the city of Paris. The Tour was originally built for the 1889 Exposition. This steel construction defied all traditional rules in architecture. It is now the television transmitter for the greater Paris region.

The Tour selected by a competition which was won by Gustave Eiffel, an engineer who had experience of constructing high level railway viaducts. In the public eye, the tower had many mixed opinions, celebrated and loathed in equal measure. Throughout its construction, the residents became convinced that it would collapse, and Eiffel had to personally assure them. The author Guy de Maupassant left Paris permanently to avoid looking at its ‘metallic carcass’ but others who espoused more self-consciously modern views championed the tower: Seurat and Douanier Rousseau were among the first to paint it, in 1889 and 1890 respectively. On a clear day, it is possible to see Chartres Cathedral from the high level viewing platform.