Viator.com Earns Top 10 Web Award from TRAVELtech
Posted September 24, 2009 , comments closedYou may have read earlier about Viator.com being nominated for the TRAVELtech 2009 Website of The Year award (click here if you missed it).
TRAVELtech honors the top travel websites in Australia. And yes, mate, Viator has Australian roots! Viator was founded and maintains a strong presence in Australia (along with our offices in San Francisco, Las Vegas and London). And we were honored to be on TRAVELtech’s shortlist of Australia’s top travel websites.
And then just last week, we were even more honored for Viator.com to be named one of Australia’s Top 10 travel websites! Our friends at LonelyPlanet.com took top honors, so congrats to the LP team. Viator was among 8 other sites recognized for travel greatness, including Qantas.com, Worldnomads.com, Hotelscombined.com, Stayz.com.au and Flighcentre.com.au.
Congratulations to all the winners. While many of our businesses were ‘born’ Down Under, so to speak, it’s impressive how global and international Australia’s top travel sites have become.
Viator.com - a TRAVELtech Top 10 travel website!
-Viator Travel Team
The Beatles on Tour
Posted , comments closedI’ll start off with a confession, I am becoming hopelessly addicted to Beatles Rock Band, I would play it eight days a week. My brother and I are big Beatles fans, so naturally we got the game, and despite genetic advantages, are still trying to get our high harmonies in sync.
Let’s just say I have new respect for the Beatles’ skills since they could score a double or triple fab every time, and we are still trying to get a couple per song consistently. Still my brother’s rock band guitar gently weeps.
A Fab Four of Viator Travelers on Abbey Road
Try to see it my way
But I digress. My burgeoning obsession got me thinking about why I like the Beatles so much and one reason, I think, is that they were great ambassadors of travel. Try to see it my way, only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong.
One reason people travel is that they find it renewing, even inspiring. Think about the White Album, many argue the greatest Beatles album, largely composed while the Beatles took their famous spiritual journey to India, and possibly kicking off a whole travel trend of hippie kids journeying to India to find themselves. You don’t need me to show the way, love.
Or let’s go back even further, we can work it out. Remember when they hopped the pond to the USA? The Beatlemania screaming girl glamor of them stepping off the plane to greet a whole new nation of fans. And then the famous touring years - Tokyo, Shea Stadium in New York, Australia. I’d also be remiss not to point out the movies from around this period, Help! is a mishmash of sequences shot all over England, Salzburg / the Austrian Alps and the Bahamas.
Come together, right now
Beatles Story Museum
Let’s get back to where they once belonged. Who’d heard of, or cared about Liverpool before the Beatles? They’re synonymous with the city. As long as people love the Beatles, people will visit the Cavern Club, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, and gawk at George’s house. Seriously, Viator sells an awful lot of the Beatles and Liverpool Day Trip from London. Or the curious case of Abbey Road. Without the Beatles why would anyone take a special trip to the Abbey Road crosswalk?
Still not with me? Come together right now. There’s evidence of the Beatles’ lovely travel (sometimes as allegory) songs: I”ll Follow the Sun, Magical Mystery Tour, Back in the U.S.S.R, Day Tripper, Ticket to Ride, Ballad of John and Yoko and Yellow Submarine to name a few of my favorites.
All these places have their moments, with lovers and friends I still can recall. Some are dead and some are living, in my life I’ve loved them all.
PS: Feeling like you got to get the Fab Four into your life? Check out all the Beatles tours on Viator. I don’t know why you say goodbye, I say hello.
Solomon Islands focuses on tourism education
Posted , comments closed- Solomon Islands prime minister wants more tourists
- Luxury comes home to Solomon Islands
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- Solomon Islands welcomes increase in tourists
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By
Charles Kereau, eTN Staff Writer |
Sep 24, 2009
Solomon Islands’ Ministry of Culture and Tourism had spent more than USD$62,000.00 to develop the curriculum of the proposed tourism and hospitality course at the country’s highest tertiary institute, the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education.
Tourism Minister Seth Gukuna revealed to the Parliament recently when he answered a question on whether the development of the tourism training course has been finalized and offered at the collage this year. Mr. Gukuna said the certificate course, which will be offered September next year, will be offering 10 units, five electives and the other five, core tourism and hospitality units.
Mr. Gukuna also told the Parliament of the seven training sessions held last year for waiters and bartenders. He said trainings were short and were held to sharpen the service delivery of waitresses and bartenders because no such training was held in the past 20 years.
Mr. Gukuna said five more trainings are planned for this year but have not taken place yet because of the difficulty in meeting needs to implement them.
On whether or not certain functions of the tourism development can be devolved to the country’s nine provinces, Mr. Gukuna said that it would not be appropriate to devolve functions of the ministry to provinces when there is currently nothing in place.
According to the tourism minister, only five provinces have tourism officers, paid for by their own provincial governments, while the other four provinces are without tourism officers.
Mr. Gukuna said officers from the ministry occasionally visit provinces on matters related to tourism.
Large number of foreign tourists disappear in Kullu valley
Posted September 18, 2009 , comments closed- Tourists from other states under scanner
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Sep 18, 2009
Kullu, Himachal Pradesh - Disappearance of a large number of foreign tourists from the Kullu valley in Himachal Pradesh has become a cause of concern for the authorities.
The cases of missing tourists have been shrouded in mystery because most of them are unresolved.
“Many of the foreign tourists, when they came here, they have also stayed back. Some of them married here. They are also engaged in various social activities and social causes. But this can’t also be denied that some of them have been engaging themselves in drug trade because some of them have been nabbed with narcotics,’ said K.K Indoria, Superintendent of Police.
It is believed that it is the streak of adventure, for backpacking in the rough terrains of Himalayas that can sometimes put the tourists in danger.
“Many foreigners, who get some kind of army training, they think that they can handle going alone in the Himalayas. But there are inherent problems with frequent change of weather, animal attacks, hostility of the terrain, and remoteness for communication. All these factors can contribute to people getting seriously in a dangerous way in nature. There are also some people go missing because they want to go missing,” said Himanshu, a tour and travel agent.
The issue came to light once more after Israeli-American backpacker Amichai Shtainmetz went missing in July this year.
Shtainmetz had gone trekking with a friend from Khirganga, a hamlet in Parvati valley of Kullu and hasn’t been seen since.
He is the 19th foreign tourist to have gone missing in the valley since 1992. The police in collaboration with Israeli agencies and David Shtainmetz, father of the missing, had launched widespread search operations, but to no avail.
Special police teams have been deployed to trace the missing foreigners but to no major results.
Only the case of Australian tourist Burfitt Jacqueline Louise, who was reported missing in June 1993, was solved and she was traced.
As per records almost 57 foreigners have died in the region in the last ten years and most of them due to accidents or drug overdose.
Almost 50,000 foreign tourists visit Kullu every year, with a huge percentage of Israelis out of them. It is believed that they come mostly in search of cheap hashish, which can land them into trouble. But some tourists think otherwise.
“A lot of Israelis, they think, that they come here to smoke drugs or take different things,” said Ellan, an Israeli tourist.
Apart from the Himalayan setting, any backpackers delight, the lure for most of the tourists is also cheap and quality cannabis, found in abundance in the valley.
Five Great Cities for Children
Posted August 21, 2009 , add a commentAs a general rule, children and cities don’t tend to mix. A family holiday can be far less stressful when it’s restricted to a resort or quiet countryside area. But there are some cities in the world that are jam-packed with child-friendly attractions and activities. And these are arguably the best five…
Happy Kids - Happy Holidays!
Sydney, Australia
Sydney has an outdoor culture that children, by and large, adore. The beaches are an obvious starting point – those on the harbour itself are safer swimming spots for the younger ones, while the surf beaches along the coast are brilliant for the more adventurous tykes. It’s even possible to do learn-to-surf courses at Bondi Beach. But the outdoor ethos stretches beyond the beaches. Centennial Park is another fantastic place to hang out, whether it’s for playing park football or cricket, having a picnic or barbecue or going to the open air cinema in the summer. There’s also the chance to hire rollerblades or go horse-riding around the park.
And once you throw in boat rides on the harbour and the street entertainers at Circular Quay and Darling Harbour, Sydney is obviously something of a family tourism heaven.
Feeding the Kangaroos at Taronga Zoo, Sydney
But then comes the trump card – Australian wildlife. Sydney is crammed with excellent animal experiences where kids (and big kids) can get close to koalas, kangaroos and other Australian fauna. The best two are arguably Taronga Zoo and the Featherdale Wildlife Park. The former is arguably the best located zoo in the world, with superb harbour views. It also has some excellent keeper-guided behind-the-scenes tours. Featherdale is a little more rough and ready, but is brilliant for getting photos with koalas and being able to hand-feed kangaroos.
Singapore
Another city with awesome animal attractions is Singapore. Singapore Zoo pioneered the “open” concept, where animals are in full view rather than cages, and kept away from visitors by well concealed moats that are below eye level. Next to it is the Night Safari, a rather novel zoo concept. Essentially it offers the opportunity to stroll (or be driven) around a jungle at night, while the nocturnal creatures are at their most active. They’re all subtly lit up and animals from various different areas of the world are represented.
Singapore is also surprisingly green – there are some massive parks and nature reserves for children to explore. Apparently, Rio De Janeiro is the only other city in the world to have rainforest within the city boundaries. For indoor activities, the Science Centre is an excellent bet. It’s full of entrancing technology, has plenty of buttons for inquisitive little ones to press and goes for a very hands-on approach.
Copenhagen, Denmark
The Danish capital has long been billed as a fairytale city – mainly due to its links with Hans Christian Andersen – and it’s unsurprising that kids seem to love it so much. For lovers of Andersen’s stories, there’s the famous Little Mermaid statue, Hans-themed walking trails and a dedicated museum. But there’s more to Copenhagen than ugly ducklings and the Emperor’s New Clothes. For a start it’s home to the two oldest theme parks in the world.
Amusement park in Bakken, Copenhagen
They’re not Disneyfied affairs, and still have buckets of charm. The oldest is just to the north of the city and is part of an enormous park – Dyrebakken. Dyrebakken was formerly a royal hunting ground, but it has now been turned into one of the world’s greatest parks – families swarm to it when the sun comes out.
Part of the great swathe of green is Bakken, which has plenty of quaintly old-fashioned rides amongst lots of restaurants and caf?s. The second oldest amusement park is right in Copenhagen city centre. Tivoli is pretty much opposite the main train station and is an action-packed funland mixed in with beautiful gardens. The rides are generally a bit more up-to-date (and scarier) than those at Bakken, and it’s quite easy to while away the day in Tivoli’s grounds.
Los Angeles
Unsurprisingly, the movie capital of the world has plenty to keep the little ones entertained. An obligatory first stop has to be Hollywood, where the youngsters can hunt down the stars of their heroes on the Walk of Fame and watch the fancy dress circus outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The Hollywood Museum and celebrity homes tours are generally winners as well.
Then there are the movie studios. Films are still made at the likes of Warner Brothers and Universal Studios, but most of the visitors aren’t part of movie crews any more. The big studio complexes have morphed over the years to become theme parks in all but name – and even for theme park cynics, they are genuinely superb. Universal Studios, for example, has plenty of film-themed rides and shows, but the highlight is the backlot tour. This takes guests around where the movie magic is made and is educational as well as entertaining. It’s interspersed with some big action movie set pieces, such as a village flooding or a helicopter crashing.
LA also has beaches and plenty of odd attractions such as the La Brea tar pits, where fossils of mammoths and more have been trapped for thousands of years.
London
There’s so much to do in London that it’s virtually impossible to be bored. Many of the standard kiddy favourites are present and correct – London Zoo is one of the best in the world, boat trips down the River Thames are regular and affordable, and there are some fabulous open spaces such as Hyde Park and Regent Park.
London Natural History Museum
If you have to pick one area, then South Kensington is a sure fire winner. It’s home to two of the world’s most child-friendly museums. The Science Museum has lots of interactive exhibits about how our world works, and many displays with a wow factor. Even better is the Natural History Museum, which is like a zoo but with stuffed animals. The massive whale and dinosaur skeletons are always popular, while the hands-on creepy crawly exhibits should delight the sort of young boy that revels in pulling the legs off spiders.
These kids will also enjoy the gruesome tales on offer at the Tower of London and London Dungeon. There are some rather interesting tours too – such as one of Harry Potter filming locations by black taxi, or a land-and-water trip in an amphibious ‘duck’ vehicle.
Planning a trip? Browse Viator’s Sydney tours & things to do in Sydney for tips and itineraries in Australia, and check Singapore tours & sightseeing in Singapore for local trips. Going to Europe? Our Copenhagen activities and our London tours & attractions will help you out choosing the best tours. Or be the star of the day with one of Viator’s Los Angeles trips & activities.