Call of South America tourism
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Sep 30, 2009
ARGENTINA
Aerolineas Argentinas will continue flying to Chapelco
Aerolineas Argentinas will not cancel its flights to Chapelco. At the beginning, there will be two weekly flights and the fixed schedule will be recovered from the fleet recomposition and the pilot training to the new equipment of the airline.
URUGUAY
New airport in Montevideo will be operative in November
Soon, the new Carrasco International Airport will be operative; this airport will have an area of 45,000 sq.m, and it will have cafeterias, VIP rooms, and two premises of McDonald’s, as well as a well-known company in the main restaurant. The new infrastructure, which was invested in US$165 million, must operate at 100 percent for November 15 in order to serve three million passengers per year.
Cruise season begins on November 30
The cruise season will begin on November 30 with the arrival of the Dutch cruise “Veendam” from Holland America Line to Montevideo.
CHILE
Pluna will fly to Punta Arenas
Pluna stated that it hopes to begin its flights between Santiago and Punta Arenas in December, and it confirmed that the agreements already exist to operate in the country. When operations begin, it will consider the idea of expanding its service to other cities.
Norwegian Cruise Line will cancel its flights to Valparaiso
Norwegian Cruise Line will replace its scales in Valparaiso due to high prices paid in Chilean terminals added because of the world economic crisis and the impossibility to operate its own casinos in ships and because of the lack of a guiding organization of the industry in Chile. Its withdrawal means that for the next season less than 24,000 tourists will arrive.
More hotels planned
The hotel projects, which are inaugurated or to begin its building work in the second semester of the year, add up to investments of US$768 million. It is estimated that there are 18 new hotels planned, most of them of four- and five-star hotels placed basically in Santiago and Valparaiso.
Explora with new web
After two years of development, proofs, and implementations, the new Chilean website of Explora is ready. Among the novelties, there is a possibility of booking and checking the availability of the rooms in real time. Also, the website offers some details of geography, history, fleet, and fauna of each region where the hotels are placed. Also it offers architecture and design data of the hotels. http://www.explora.com/
Metropolitan Touring opens an office and begins operations
The official launch of Metropolitan Touring Chile was on September 24 in Puerto Varas during the carrying out of the TravelMart LatinAmerica. During the last two years, Metropolitan Touring has fortified its skills and abilities beyond Ecuador. This process involved the opening of new offices in exclusive zones of Latin America.
BRAZIL
Rio de Janeiro will extend its hotel offer
The chain Windsor will inaugurate five new projects with a total of 1,830 new rooms in the next years. It will build two hotels in the neighborhood of Barra da Tijuca. Other three establishments will be opened in Copacabana in 2011.
Sao Paulo will have air connection with Trelew, Argentina
Aerolineas Argentinas and nine operators associated to Braztoa are carrying out a project to join Brazil (Guarulhos) and Paragonia (Trelew). It is planned that the flights will begin in July 2010.
Whale observation season began in Bahia
The whale observation season is open in Bahia; these whales arrive from the Antarctic in a period of three months to reproduce. The main places of observation are Praia do Forte, Abrolhos, Itacare, and Morro de Sao Paulo.
PERU
Night visits to Machu Picchu planned
The Ministry of Tourism planned night visits to Machu Picchu to begin from December of this year or at the latest in April 2010. The target is to extend the visiting hours to the citadel and to avoid that these could be only between 0900 and 1600 hours.
LAN PERU inaugurates flights to Cancun via Mexico DF
LAN PERU will begin its new international route to Cancun via Mexico DF with a direct return flight. From November, these will be direct. The inaugural flight will be on October 7 in a Boeing 767.
TACA will fly directly to Mexico DF and to Cancun via Salvador
TACA Airlines informed that from November 1, it will increase its connection with Mexico by 100 percent with three new direct flights per week to join Lima and Mexico DF. Also, it begins a new connection to Cancun from Lima via Salvador three times a week, too.
TACA will fly from its Lima hub to Porto Alegre
Since December 1, TACA will join Lima and Puerto Alegre in Brazil with a direct flight and with three weekly frequencies expanding in this way the connectivity and its flight offer between Peru and Brazil. Currently, the airline joins Lima with Sao Paulo on two different schedules twelve times per week and to Rio de Janeiro with 4 weekly flights, all of them direct.
Museo Santuarios Andinos will have more rooms
Museo Santuarios Andinos, which has the Mummy Juanita, will have three new rooms in order to show the visitors some unknown pieces found in pre-Inca tombs. The new environments will house mummies and its offerings found in the tombs of the volcanoes Sara Sara, Misti, and Pichu Pichu, apus where the Research Center of Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria carried out some studies since 1979.
ECUADOR
Aerogal will fly to New York from December 7
From December 7, Aerogal will fly daily from Cuenca to New York with scale in Guayaquil using a Boeing 767-300 with capacity for 205 passengers.
COLOMBIA
Aerorepublica and Air France will offer Thru Check In
The Thru Check-In service will allow users of the two airlines to make light of its luggage from the city of origin in Colombia or in any place of the world to its final destination without transporting the luggage from one airline to another.
Aires will fly to New York and to Fort Lauderdale
Aires will have six new routes to New York and to Fort Lauderdale, United States. There will be three frequencies weekly from departure and return via Pereira-Cartagena-Fort Lauderdale, which will operate in November.
Asian Trails celebrates 10th anniversary
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By
Luc Citrinot, eTN Asia Staff Writer |
Sep 30, 2009
It has been ten years now since Luzi Matzig, one of the most prominent personalities in Asian tourism, created his own tour operation. For eTurboNews, Matzig – who just celebrated his 60th birthday - gives his vision of tourism in southeast Asia.
eTN: What are the most dramatic changes you have experienced over the last ten years?
Luzi Matzig: This is definitely Internet booking that has revolutionized distribution and the way to do business. Booking engines are now into the hands of large travel groups that contract directly with travel suppliers such as hotels. Agoda.com has been taken over by Priceline and asiarooms.com by TUI. Tour operators such as ourselves are not anymore needed to book rooms. We just lost ourselves a contract with asiarooms.com as they decided to deal directly with hotels. And we cannot compete, as it would request a lot of effort and money. We have to adapt our strategy and concentrate on our core business, the tour operating. We just, in fact, gained Kuoni UK as a new customer.
eTN: Are travelers from today very different from ten years ago?
Matzig: We definitely experience[d] a strong rise in individual travelers. As soon as a market becomes mature, it walks away from group tourism. We see also emerging two strong types of travelers, both at the extreme. With the collapse in airlines and hotels prices due to increased competition, there is a trend for cheaper and ever-cheaper packages. But how cheap can we further go? Is it really worth the energy to chase those mass tourism markets producing a very small return on investment? We prefer to look after the other segment, FIT who looks after exclusive up-market products. There is more disposable money and less competition.
eTN: What are the products then that you can offer?
Matzig: These FIT travelers have very determined ideas about what they would like to do and when. Our strength is then to propose packages à la carte. We can arrange for a private car with chauffeur or offer a tailor-made circuit in southeast Asia. We see, for example, a strong interest for cruises as the choice becomes more sophisticated in the region. They are classical cruises on the Mekong River or on the Andaman Sea. Borneo is also emerging as an attractive cruise destination. We also propose private jet[s] for top travelers. We also find more holidaymakers looking for exclusive destinations. For example in Thailand, we see up-market clients moving away from well-known tourist destinations such as Krabi, Phuket, or Pattaya to go more to secluded islands. The last Kuoni Switzerland catalogue on Asia is a very good example of the current trend. It contains up to ten pages of stays and packages at little-know[n] Thai islands.
eTN: Did you also experience a shift in destinations requested by travelers?
Matzig: Indochina has seen the biggest growth over the decade with tourism booming in countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, and also Laos. Burma is coming back, rather slowly, but it went through a terrible time in 2008. I expect that Myanmar will double the number of its travelers next year compared to 2009… The Philippines is gaining in popularity, especially for Boracay with its fine beaches. But the most successful destination over the last two years is Indonesia. Especially for Bali, where it becomes extremely difficult to sort out an accommodation. The EU ban lift on air travel for some Indonesian airlines help us to design new packages. We propose again overland tours from Sumatra to Bali or propose tours to the Toraja in South Sulawesi in complement to a stay in Bali.
eTN: Is culture an attractive theme in Southeast Asia?
Matzig: It has always been, but as travelers are becoming more discerning, they like to link many cultural destinations with eventually a few days break at a seaside resort at the end of their tour. In Europe, travelers from France, Germany, or Switzerland are very keen at combining multi-countries cultural tours, such as Vietnam-Cambodia and Thailand. But Russians, Scandinavians, and Britons would mostly favor a single sea and sun holiday destination.
eTN: What are your predictions for 2010 for Asian Trails?
Matzig: We definitely will see a recovery, let[’s] say in a growth range of 10 percent. We are personally very happy with our position today and our presence all around southeast Asia. We do not plan to move to other markets as we estimate to remain among the best specialists in the region.
Abu Dhabi is out to boost tourism from Oman
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Sep 30, 2009
MUSCAT - Abu Dhabi is out to boost its inbound tourism from Oman with expanding events, attractions and accommodation proposition. A delegation, spearheaded by the Abu Dhabi Authority (ADTAADTA), the apex body that manages the emirate’s tourism industry, is in town to spell out its enhanced offering — the November 1 Etihad Airways Formula 1 TM Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and will be quickly followed by the Fifa Club World Cup in December.
“Oman’s proximity to the UAE capital and Omanis’ love of soccer lead us to expect many will make the trip to Abu Dhabi this December,” said Saeed Al Dhaheri, visitor information manager of ADTAADTA.
“In November, Abu Dhabi is going to be in celebratory mode during and after the event with activities for race-goers and non-fans alike,” he noted.
Al Dhaheri outlined the latest developments in Abu Dhabi’s expanding tourism proposition — which includes more events, new hotels, including seven on Yas Island where the Grand Prix will be held, a new dessert retreat in Liwa, new airline routes servicing the destination and the arrival of new attractions including the world-renowned Big Bus Company, which is to begin its own brand of city tours in the UAE capital next month. “Attraction upgrades are happening throughout the emirate, in the capital city, in the Eastern Region, particularly the Oasis City of Al Ain and in our vast Al Gharbia Western Region,” explained Al Dhaheri.
“The options are highly diverse and span museums and historical sites in Al Ain, the marvels of the Liwa Dessert and the Sir Bani Yas Island nature-based destination in Al Gharbia, new golf courses coming on line on Yas Island, Saadiyat Island and an expanded course in Al Ain, luxury and business hotels and an events programme which is to be expanded and upgraded,” he added.
He pointed out that the GCC is currently producing 100,000 hotel guests a year for Abu Dhabi, which is 10 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s total international hotel guests. “We believe that figure can be substantially increased with out Gulf neighbours representing a prime market for the development of sustainable business links and ongoing visitor generation,” Al Dhaheri said.
Approximately 4,000 visitors from Oman stayed in the emirate’s hotels in the first quarter of this year, an increase of 32 per cent compared to the first quarter in 2008. In all the GCC produced 21,000 hotel guests in Abu Dhabi in the first three months of this year. “Oman remains a key market, central to the continual growth of regional tourism in Abu Dhabi. The GCC, as markets in close proximity and characterised by a propensity to travel locally during challenging times is vitally important as Abu Dhabi moves forward in its aim of becoming an international destination attracting 2.3 million hotel guests annually by 2012,” he added.
Edinburgh campaign targets 40% increase in cruise passengers
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Sep 30, 2009
A major new marketing drive is to target a 40 per cent rise in the number of big-spending cruise liner passengers coming to the Capital.
The £35,000 Cruise Edinburgh marketing campaign will see a new dedicated website set up to promote the city to cruise passengers, while tourism leaders will target a series of adverts and brochures at trade operators.
A main target will be to incADVERTISEMENTrease Edinburgh’s presence on the itineraries of the Baltic and Norwegian operators and build on the growing popularity of the Northern European cruises. It is hoped that it will help achieve a 40 per cent rise in passenger numbers by 2013.
National tourism agency VisitScotland today confirmed that it is to award £17,500 towards the campaign from its growth fund.
The other £17,500 is to be provided by the Cruise Edinburgh partner agencies Forth Ports and the Edinburgh Tourism Action Group, which includes the city council’s Destination Edinburgh Marketing Alliance, Historic Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland.
Peter Lederer, chairman of VisitScotland, said: “We’re delighted to award this latest funding to Cruise Edinburgh and it’s encouraging to see tourism groups in Edinburgh and the Lothians working together and making good use of the VisitScotland Growth Fund.
“Growing tourism is critical to the future of Scotland and the industry is worth £4 billion to the Scottish economy. In the current economic climate it’s crucial we work together to get tourism growth back on track and the growth fund encourages businesses to seek out joint opportunities where they can maximise on their marketing efforts.”
Latest data from Forth Ports indicates that 55,000 passengers came to Edinburgh in this year’s cruise liner season.
In the three months to the start of July, passenger numbers were five per cent ahead of last year.
While Leith Harbour can take relatively small vessels, larger ones drop anchor at Hound Point in the shadow of the Forth bridges or at Rosyth.
Because cruise liner passengers spend more on average than other tourists, they are seen as being an important means of achieving the target of increasing Scotland’s tourism revenues by 50 per cent by 2015.
Councillor Tom Buchanan, the city’s economic development leader, said: “The administration is very keen to ensure that Edinburgh benefits from the Northern European cruise liner industry and has a longer-term ambition to have a dedicated new cruise liner terminal at Leith Docks.
“It is a significant growth market and people sometimes forget that the benefit comes from not only the people who come to the city but also the services provided on the cruise liners, which can provide business opportunities.
“People often think of cruises as being beneficial in terms of the passengers who come to the city but these are also bringing ship crews that come into the city and support the local economy.
“It is essential that we re-engage with the blue belt and that we have a cruise liner strategy that ensures we benefit from a lucrative sector.”
New US administration must translate words into action, Cuba tells UN
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By
eTN Staff Writer |
Sep 30, 2009
Cuba’s Foreign Minister told the General Assembly yesterday that it is still waiting for the global optimism generated by the new United States administration to be translated into action, calling for an end to the decades-long embargo against the Caribbean nation.
With the election of President Barack Obama in the US, “It seemed that a period of extreme aggressiveness, unilateralism, and arrogance in the foreign policy in that country had come to an end, and the infamous legacy of the George W. Bush regime had been sunk in repudiation,” Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla said at the Assembly’s annual high-level debate.
In spite of Mr. Obama’s calls for change and dialogue, “Time goes by and the speech does not seem to be supported by concrete facts,” the Cuban official said. “His speech does not coincide with reality.”
The current US authorities have displayed “uncertainty” in overcoming the “political and ideological trends” propagated by the previous administration, he noted.
“The detention and torture center in the Guantanamo Naval Base – which usurps part of the Cuban territory – has not been shut down,” Mr. Rodríguez Parrilla said. “The occupation troops in Iraq have not withdrawn. The war in Afghanistan is expanding and is threatening other states.”
In April, the US announced it was going to “abolish some of the most brutal actions taken by the George W. Bush administration” preventing contact between Cubans living in the US and their relatives in Cuba. “These measures are a positive step, but they are extremely limited and insufficient,” the foreign minister stressed.
Most importantly, the economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba is still in place, he pointed out.
“Should there be a true desire to move towards change, the US government could authorize the export of Cuban goods and services to the United States and vice versa.
“Further, Mr. Obama could allow US citizens to travel to Cuba, the only country in the world they cannot visit,” Mr. Rodríguez Parrillo emphasized.
“The US blockade against Cuba is an act of unilateral aggression that should be unilaterally terminated,” he said, expressing his country’s willingness to normalize relations with the US.