For the first time in its history, Miami Beach Gay Pride will honor four individuals who have made significant contributions to the LGBTQ community. Television personality Ross Mathews will serve as Celebrity Grand Marshal; bartender and cast member of iHeart Radio’s “Elvis Duran and the Morning Show,” “Uncle” Johnny Pool, will serve as the Advocate Marshal; and advocates Liebe and Seth Gadinsky will serve as Ally Marshals. Miami Beach Gay Pride is presented by...
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) asked the Canadian Government to improve the competitiveness of its aviation sector by prioritizing the elimination of Crown Rents over consideration of airport privatization. “The Canadian government has already pocketed about C$5 billion as the historical landlord of airport property. That’s a C$5 billion disincentive to travel, to visit this wonderful country or to plan a business trip. Eliminating Crown Rents would boost Canada’s GDP...
Austrian Airlines will add a new long-haul destination in North America to its flight schedule in the summer of 2017. Starting on 10 April 2017, Austrian Airlines will be flying to Los Angeles, California’s largest city. The metropolis is not only well known for Hollywood, but also for its multicultural flair and its status as an important business location. In its summer 2017 flight schedule, Austrian Airlines will offer a total of up to 44 weekly nonstop flights from Vienna to North America...
Benchmark, a global hospitality company, has named Tobby Rau director of operations for The Grove Resort & Spa Orlando. The 878 room all-suite hotel, which is a Benchmark Resorts & Hotels property, opened its first phase on March 10, 2017, just minutes from Walt Disney World® Resort in Orlando, Florida. Bill Lee, The Grove’s general manager, made the announcement. “It is a pleasure to have Tobby as a key part of The Grove Resort & Spa Orlando opening team,” said Mr. Lee. “He...
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has hailed a bold display of #LondonisOpen artwork newly on show at Heathrow. The now-iconic David Shrigley art will be featured at the airport over the next six weeks. The first Heathrow #LondonisOpen campaign, worth an estimated £200,000 of advertising space, has been donated by the airport to the Mayor’s campaign to show that London is united and ready to welcome the world, for both business and leisure. Almost ten million passengers from across the world...
Fraport, which operates Frankfurt Airport, works constantly to upgrade and extend its services for an even better passenger experience. The offerings include diverse opportunities for them to relax (under the heading of Relaxation World), work (Business World) and enjoy themselves (Entertainment World and Family World). And these efforts are greatly appreciated by air travelers, whose online votes have therefore put Frankfurt Airport among the world’s top ten in the 2017 Skytrax Awards for the...
Yoga is back on board in 2017 on Star Clippers cruises to exotic destinations including the Western Mediterranean, Grenadine Islands, Winward Islands, Thailand and Indonesia. Star Clippers offer the perfect setting for relaxation of the mind, body and soul with yoga classes held twice daily whilst lolling above the waves. Picture yourself under billowing sails, the sun is going down in the distance, and the smell and taste of salt in the fresh sea air . Qualified yoga teachers offer insights...
A party atmosphere will once again take over the streets and neighbourhoods of Brussels during the Iris Festival this coming 6-7 May. Many free activities are scheduled. Concerts, Party in the Park, guided tours, etc. There will be something for everyone. New this year: – This year Europe Day coincides with the Iris Festival so it will be a “Brussels and Europe” festival weekend. – This weekend will also be the opportunity to explore a new Brussels museum: The House of...
The Ajman Palace Hotel, managed by HMH – Hospitality Management Holding, was declared the GCC winner of the ‘Best Ramadan’ award at the glittering 2017 GCC Food and Travel Awards ceremony held at Palazzo Versace in Dubai last evening. Congratulating the team about this extraordinary achievement Ferghal Purcell, COO of HMH, said, “It is a very proud moment for us to receive this prestigious and exclusive industry recognition. It is an immense achievement based on our three years’ endeavor...
US lodging services revenues are forecast to reach $185 billion in 2021, according to Lodging Services: United States, a report recently released by Freedonia Focus Reports. Traditional hotels and motels are expected to outpace other segments of the industry amid increasing demand from business travelers, fueled by the geographic dispersal of business operations. While hotels face stiffening competition from providers of alternative lodging services, such as Airbnb and HomeAway.com (Expedia)...
Marriott International, Inc. today announced the expansion of its extended-stay brand, Residence Inn by Marriott, with the signing of two new properties in London. With additional openings in Amsterdam and Aberdeen this year, Residence Inn expects to more than double its European portfolio in 2017. The opening of Residence Inn London – London Bridge expected in Q2 2017 will mark the debut of the company’s industry-leading extended-stay brand in the capital, and the opening of Residence...
WOW air, Iceland’s ultra-affordable transatlantic airline, will begin landing in the Windy City July 2017, with the inaugural flight from O’Hare International Airport (ORD) on July 13, 2016. It’s true; Chicagoans will have access to low-fare travel to Iceland, and WOW air’s other European destinations, as of this summer. Tickets from O’Hare to Keflavik Airport (KEF) will go on sale today for only $99. Additionally, for only $149 customers from Chicago can continue...
Major tourism hotspots in the GCC are experiencing a surge in Indian visitors as the region prepares to showcase its offering to leisure and business travelers at this year’s Arabian Travel Market, at Dubai World Trade Centre, April 24-27. In both Dubai and Abu Dhabi, India was the top performing source market in 2016. In Dubai, 1.8 million nationals arrived last year compared to 1.6 million in 2015 and in Abu Dhabi, which welcomed a record-breaking 4.4 million visitors in total in 2016...
Cathay Pacific Airways, the Hong Kong–based airline, and the Lufthansa Group, Europe’s leading airline group, will offer their passengers selected flights under their partner’s flight number in future (code-sharing). For Lufthansa Group customers, this will significantly improve the connections available from Hong Kong towards Australia and New Zealand. A corresponding agreement was signed today by Ivan Chu, Chief Executive Cathay Pacific Airways and Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive...
Flybe, the largest independent regional airline in Europe, based in Exeter, launched service from Heathrow Airport this morning. Heathrow Operations Director Derek Provan said: “Earlier this year Heathrow reduced domestic passenger charges by £10 and it’s great to see the benefits of that coming through with Flybe’s new services to Aberdeen and Edinburgh boosting choice for our passengers. “More airlines flying routes to Scottish airports means more flights, more choice for families and more...
Cologne Bonn Airport’s S17, which already has a line-up of 12 new routes, has been launched today with the arrival of Wizz Air’s inaugural flights to Craiova and Tuzla. As the airport’s 11th largest airline (in terms of weekly seats) of the 24 serving scheduled carriers this summer, the ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) offers eight routes from Cologne Bonn with the new services joining existing links to Skopje, Sofia, Cluj-Napoca, Gdansk, Katowice and Kiev Zhulyany. Celebrating the start of a new...
“We don’t believe in ‘business as usual’ – and are always seeking engaging and effective ways to further our industry,” explains Carina Bauer, CEO of the IMEX Group. One of the ways the IMEX team has done this for IMEX in Frankfurt 2017 is through its education offering: a comprehensive program of free education running across all three days of the trade show, 16 – 18 May, combined with its brand new EduMonday, 15 May. Brand new – EduMonday EduMonday will combine contemporary learning...
The power of tourism to induce poverty reduction and development constituted the main focus of the UNWTO Workshop held in Guangdong, China. The workshop was conducted under the framework of the agreement signed between UNWTO and the Chimelong Group in 2016 designed to support sustainable tourism and wildlife protection through tourism. Raising awareness on the relevance of the tourism sector in the reduction of poverty and promoting knowledge sharing on best practices constitute the major...
Israel on Monday urged citizens vacationing in Egypt’s Sinai peninsula to leave immediately, saying the threat of attacks inspired by Islamic State and other jihadi groups was high. The advisory was issued ahead of the Passover holiday, when thousands of Israelis cross the land border with Egypt to visit resorts and beaches on the Sinai’s Red Sea coast. Israel’s Anti-Terrorism Directorate said its “Level 1” alert related to a “very high concrete threat.” The directorate on Monday refreshed...
The US Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported today that US airlines and foreign airlines serving the United States carried an all-time high of 928.9 million systemwide (domestic and international) scheduled service passengers in 2016, 3.5 percent more than the previous record high of 897.9 million reached in 2015. The systemwide increase was the result of a 3.3 percent rise from 2015 in the number of passengers on domestic flights (719.0 million in...
You love Nepalese food and did not attend the Nepal Europe Summit? You missed out! The long anticipated Nepal Europe Summit after ITB Berlin finished last week after traveling to Duesseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Prague and Warsaw. The Nepal Summit was organized and attended by the Nepal Tourism Board under the leadership of CEO Deepak R Joshi and senior officer for brand promotion and corporate marketing Shradha Shrestha in cooperation with the global team of eTurboNews in Hawaii, Duesseldorf...
Emirates today celebrates the launch of three A380 destinations, bringing its flagship three-class double-decker aircraft from Dubai to Tokyo- Narita, Casablanca and Sao Paulo on the same day. With this triple deployment, Emirates will be the first airline to operate scheduled A380 services in Latin America as well as to North Africa. In addition, the Emirates A380 service to Sao Paulo marks the airline’s 10th year of operations in Brazil, which began with daily flights between Dubai and Sao...
The year was 2000, and bartenders were desperate. The announcements heralded a serious crisis in Mexico: the world supply of tequila was about to disappear. OMG. There was a temporary shortage of blue agave, the pineapple-type plant that gives birth to tequila and many small distilleries closed their doors. The perception of an eminent disaster permitted the large producers (who had their private cache of agave) to raise prices by 20+ percent. Tequila History The Aztecs were making a brew...
During a recent visit to Canberra, Australia, Srilal Miththapala, eTN ambassador for Sri Lanka, made two presentations, one on “Sri Lankan Elephant, Wild Life & Tourism” to the Sri Lankan High Commission, and the other entitled “Wildlife and Elephants of Sri Lanka” to the curators of the National Zoo & Aquarium Canberra. The presentation at the Sri Lankan High Commission was organized by the High Commissioner, HE S. Skandakumar, and his Deputy, Ms. Himalee Arunatilake, at the High...
Arunachal Pradesh (AP), a northeastern state of India that borders China, is keen to promote tourism to the splendor of the area. The emphasis is on natural beauty and even more so on the beauty of the people. Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs, who hails from Arunachal Pradesh, told a tourism conclave of AP in New Delhi on March 24, that adventure tourism possibilities and biodiversity, plus the monasteries, were some reasons for people to visit the state. He said that efforts...
At least two luxury liners have big plans for the charming Hue in central Vietnam as more tourists are drawn to the city’s scenery and history. US-based Royal Caribbean International and Hong Kong-based Star Cruises have said they will bring a combined 150,000 foreign tourists to the central city of Hue this year, according to media reports. “Tourist arrivals in Hue via cruise ships have grown since 2015, when the city’s Chan May Port was upgraded for bigger vessels,” Le Huu Minh, a...
The third aircraft from a batch of 100 planes Iran has purchased from European aviation giant Airbus following the 2015 landmark nuclear agreement with the P5+1 group of countries has landed in the Iranian capital of Tehran. The long-haul A330-200 touched down at Tehran’s Mehrabad airport on Saturday, a day after it was officially delivered to Iran in the French city of Toulouse. Farhad Parvaresh, the managing director of Iran’s national flag carrier Iran Air, attended the ceremony to...
Dubai International Airport and its flag carrier Emirates began implementing a ban on laptops and tablets on direct flights to the US Saturday (March 25), on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year. More than 1 million people are expected to pass through the busiest international airport as the city marks UAE spring break, Dubai Airports’ senior vice president for communications Anita Mehra said. An estimated 260,000 travelers were expected to pass through each day from Friday...
Unabashed by international sanctions, cash-strapped North Korea is calling for foreign businesses to invest in an international cruise ship in a bid to boost tourism. According to the proposal listed on the Mount Kumgang region website, the country needs $20 million to buy the 30,000-ton Royale Star, a Soviet-era cruise ship capable of carrying 1,000 passengers. The liner can operate a casino business, even though gambling remains strictly prohibited in the country. It is currently docked at...
More than 116 million children are set to be immunized against polio starting tomorrow in one of the largest of its kind synchronized vaccination campaigns across west and central Africa, United Nations agencies today announced. All children under five years of age in the 13 countries will be simultaneously immunized in a coordinated effort to raise childhood immunity to polio across the continent, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a press...
