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Grand Canyon tourists charged by private landowner to reach scenic point
DestinationsOn one of the busiest holiday weekends of the year, some travelers looking to get to the Grand Canyon’s glass-bottom Skywalk will have to pay an extra fee to cross through a private ranch in northwestern Arizona. Land owner Nigel Turner said Saturday that it’s his right as a property owner to charge what he [...]
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Rhode Island’s destroyed tourist spot that won’t be fixed for summer
DestinationsNewport’s Cliff Walk, which runs between the Atlantic Ocean and some of the city’s most stunning Gilded Age mansions, sustained what has been estimated at up to $8 million in damage during Superstorm Sandy. Some walkways were washed away or caved in. In other areas, huge boulders were moved by the violent surf. Seven months [...]
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EasyJet plans to trial volcanic ash detection system with real Icelandic dust
TransportEasyJet Plc, Europe’s No. 2 discount carrier, plans to create an artificial ash cloud with partners Airbus SAS and Nicarnica Aviation in August to trial a detection system designed to help jets avoid volcanic dust. The test, to be carried out at 30,000 feet, will involve one jet releasing dust gathered from Icelandic volcanoes into [...]
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Upstate New York fights to save tourism in face of gas-storage plans
DestinationsThe Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, frequented by tourists for its vistas, recreation and vineyards, is dotted with caverns left behind a century ago when the area was a major salt-producing region. Now, an energy company is eyeing those caves as ideal spaces for storing natural gas, upsetting opponents who are trying to [...]
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Northern lights tourism is booming in Alaska this season
DestinationsBill Carter had been planning his bucket-list winter vacation to Alaska for 30 years, and he couldn’t have picked a better time to take it. The retired chemist from Jesup, Ga., didn’t mind that February temperatures can hover near minus 40 degrees on the outskirts of Fairbanks, because the night sky there offered Carter something [...]
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In search of the evasive Aurora Borealis on a Norwegian winter night
Destinations‘We have a saying here in northern Norway,” our guide says. “Never invite a man or woman to spend the night in winter. They could stay for two months.” We’re on a fishing boat in the Norwegian Sea, inside the Arctic Circle. In winter, the sun doesn’t rise above the horizon, so though there are [...]
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Get up close and personal with Mount Everest with new zoom photograph
DestinationsIt’s a famous view, but few have ever seen Everest as up close and personal before. Filmmaker and climate-change campaigner David Breashears spent this spring taking around 400 images of Everest and its near neighbours from a vantage point above base camp through a 300mm lens. Now he’s released them digitally stitched together to form [...]
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Historic Jewish cemetery deteriorates beyond recognition, plans in place for digital memorial
DestinationsHeadstones are pockmarked, their inscriptions faded. Stone slabs that have covered tombs for centuries are crumbling. White marble has turned grey, likely from the acrid smoke that spews from a nearby oil refinery. One of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the Western Hemisphere, Beth Haim on the island of Curacao, is slowly fading in the [...]
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Costa Rican resort dresses up natural springs with spa services
DestinationsLa Fortuna teems with volcano-related tourist attractions, and particularly hot springs. Each dipping establishment offers its own twist on volcanically-warmed baths, but when it comes to versatility, no one beats Baldi Hot Springs Hotel & Spa.
“Pe…
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Americans on a budget are willing to cut out trips to national parks
DestinationsOverall national park visitation has dropped by nearly 10 million people since 1998 to 278 million visitors, reports the University of Georgia. This is the first study to link national park’s downturn in visitation numbers to the slow economy. According to the report, “The study suggests consumers cut out non-essential goods and services and visit [...]
