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Travel in Tunisia: Separating the headlines from reality
DestinationsSidi Bou Said’s signature blue-and-white houses are framed with sweet-smelling jasmine and bougainvillea. The soft sunshine is making them seem so picture-perfect it’s hard to associate this with tanks and barbed wire. A short cab ride away from the Tunisian capital, this coastal hilltop town is full of steep cobbled streets, beautiful buildings and lazy [...]
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New York State makes “unprecedented” $60 million investment in tourism
DestinationsGov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the launch of New York’s largest tourism campaign in decades, committing nearly $60 million last week to grow the industry, create jobs and attract even more visitors to the Empire State. The governor’s announcement came at the conclusion of the New York State Tourism Summit, where hundreds of tourism experts [...]
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Europe’s days as the leader of global tourism are numbered
DestinationsDespite rising competition from tourism destinations in Asia and emerging economies, Europe welcomed more than half of all international tourist arrivals in 2012, or 535 million foreign visitors, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization. Europe also earned the largest regional share of international tourism receipts, which reached an estimated total of $1075 billion [...]
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U.S. has the highest disposable income, as UK slips down the list
DestinationsThe UK has plunged down an economic wellbeing league, falling from fifth place to 12th over six years, according to a new report that underlines the pressure on Britons’ finances amid rising unemployment. The Office for National Statistics ranked OECD countries in terms of disposable household income from 2005 to 2011, but on a separate [...]
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Tourist visitor centers go mobile to meet travelers where they’re at
DestinationsCities across the U.S. are closing the doors on their storefront visitor bureaus and taking their message to the road. At least ten cities have done away with the stationary institutions and pimped out trucks and vans with iPads, map murals, and music to draw tourists to this new generation of visitor centers. The mobile [...]
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Greek prime minister tells Greeks to put on a happy face for summer tourists
DestinationsThe Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, issued an unusual appeal on Tuesday, asking his compatriots to put on their best face as the debt-choked country prepares to accept 17 million tourists – an all-time record. Although mired in its worst economic crisis in modern times, Greece is braced for a surge in arrivals with visitors [...]
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Saudi Arabia to relax visa rules for religious pilgrims, allow additional tourism
DestinationsSaudi Arabia will relax visa rules to allow foreigners to visit certain Islamic and historical sites as tourists, the country’s most senior tourism official said. Prince Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities, said that from this year Saudi would issue ‘Umrah-Plus’ visas, which would permit supervised tours [...]
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Gatsby-style Newport weekend for dreamers, flappers and gastronomes
DestinationsThe much-anticipated 3-D adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby,” directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire, hit theaters May 10. That makes this the perfect time for a glamorous Jazz Age getaway in Newport, Rhode Island, where several scenes from the 1974 movie with Robert Redford, Mia [...]
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Barbie, still controversial, appears anew as tourist attraction on global stage
DestinationsBarbie, the iconic figure that has long ignited the imagination of fans of all ages, is now for the first time living larger than life in South Florida, residing in a super-pink, playful, technology-driven parallel universe. Barbie The Dreamhouse Experience opened Friday at Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise. The interactive installation of 10,000 square feet is [...]
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Tourism campaign draws attention to New England’s overlooked states
DestinationsPeople travel from all over the world to walk the Freedom Trail in Boston, see the autumn leaves turn in Vermont and New Hampshire and eat lobster in Maine. A new campaign involving tourism officials in three states to the south and west of Boston is aimed at peeling off some of those visitors and [...]
