tourism

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Tough Visa Rules Threaten to Slash Olympic Tourism

Visitors vanish as China boosts security

(Newser) - Heightened visa restrictions in China have shrunk tourism ahead of the Beijing Olympics, the New York Times reports. Numbers of foreign visitors to Beijing fell 14% last month when government officials tightened the rules to bolster security.

World's Weirdest Festivals
 World's Weirdest Festivals 
TRAVEL
Jun 11, 2008 1:39 PM CDT

World's Weirdest Festivals

Oddball traditions say plenty about a culture

(Newser) - Forget museums and street markets. To truly understand a culture, travelers should take in its bizarre traditions. From fire walking to tomato hurling, Travel and Leisure looks at the world's most off-the-wall celebrations.
  • Lopburi Monkey Buffet in Thailand: Each November, Lopburi's residents lay out a feast to appease the city's
...

World's 10 Best Thrill Rides
 World's 10 Best Thrill Rides 
TRAVEL
Jun 7, 2008 6:01 AM CDT

World's 10 Best Thrill Rides

Rides featuring heart-stopping plunges and gravity-defying loops

(Newser) - For intense thrill-seekers blessed with strong stomachs, the Boston Globe offers this list of the 10 scariest rides on the planet:
  • Superman Ride of Steel, Six Flags New England, Agawam, Mass.: Speeds of more than 77 mph and a 221-foot drop into a tunnel.
  • X2, Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia,
...

This Season's Hot Accessory: The Movie Tie-In

Sex and the City cottage industries look more like penthouses

(Newser) - For the innumerable entities cashing in on Sex and the City, the movie due out Friday is the tip of the multimillion-dollar iceberg, reports Forbes. New Line Cinema, which has tie-in deals with eight companies, compares the likely blockbuster to “the Super Bowl for women.” Other high-end beneficiaries...

Construction Oglers Get an Eyeful

Workers' whistles drive woman to bare all

(Newser) - Some wolfish construction workers got an eyeful of a sheep without clothing, the New Zealand Herald reports, when a female Israeli tourist apparently fed up with their whistling got naked as she used an ATM in downtown Kerikeri. "She gave the explanation that she had been pestered by New...

Hello, China: Meet Japan's New Envoy

Japan tabs pop icon to bring in visitors from China

(Newser) - Hello Kitty has been tapped as Japan’s cultural envoy to China, the AP reports. Japan’s ministry of tourism chose the über-popular icon to represent the country in its drive to attract 10 million annual visitors to the islands. Last year, tourists from China and Hong Kong made...

'Ghoulish Tourism' Develops in Amstetten

Incest dungeon site attracts out-of-towners

(Newser) - Tourists are flocking to Amstetten, Austria, and snapping pictures at the site where Josef Fritzl kept his daughter imprisoned as a sex slave for 23 years, the Telegraph reports. "It is bad enough that journalists and TV crews have beleaguered our town, but now there is this ghoulish tourism,...

Forget US Tourists: Hawaii Lures Euros

State escapes slowdown by casting net wider for visitors

(Newser) - Domestic tourism is slowing down in the US as economic worries mount, but Hawaii appears to be surfing a wave of diversification through the downturn, the Wall Street Journal reports. Numbers of visitors from Canada, Europe, and some East Asian countries are picking up and offsetting a drop in tourists...

Baltimore Ready for Broadway Moment

City takes advantage of native son's sleazy musicals

(Newser) - Known as a harbor city plagued by gang violence and urban decay, Baltimore is hoping for a Broadway-style makeover—courtesy of John Waters, native son and creator of Hairspray and Cry-Baby. His gleefully trashy films are the inspiration for two cleaned-up musicals now on Broadway, and Baltimore hopes their sparkle...

Time Slows on Easter Island
 Time Slows 
 on Easter Island 
Travel
Apr 20, 2008 12:00 PM CDT

Time Slows on Easter Island

Ancient culture thrives despite tourism surge

(Newser) - Tourists have left no stone unturned on Easter Island, flocking at rates of 50,000 a year to arguably the world’s most remote habitation. Five hours of flying over uninterrupted Pacific Ocean lands you on this mostly undeveloped volcanic rock with its haunting stone figures (moai), but today it...

DC Ditches Glory for Power
 DC Ditches Glory for Power 
TRAVEL
Apr 3, 2008 8:15 PM CDT

DC Ditches Glory for Power

Capital ditches 'American Experience' for new tourism slogan

(Newser) - "The American Experience" hasn't been the come-on Washington officials hoped, Portfolio reports, and DC's tourist board hopes to change that with a new campaign: “Create Your Own Power Trip." With a stumbling economy projected to eat into the US capital's 15 million in annual tourism, the city...

Peru Swaps Backpackers for Well-Heeled Tourists

Luxury tours aim for big bucks from the wealthy

(Newser) - Peru’s government hopes to carve a thick slice out of the world’s luxury travel market,  aided by sumptuous trains with fancy oxygen enrichment systems and high-altitude 5-star hotels, reports Reuters. "It's not that we don't like backpackers," says the country's tourism minister, but with big...

Castro Lifts Hotel Ban for Cubans
Castro Lifts Hotel Ban for Cubans
Mar 31, 2008 3:03 PM CDT

Castro Lifts Hotel Ban for Cubans

Keeping tourist digs off-limits blasted as 'economic apartheid'

(Newser) - Raul Castro has lifted a ban on Cubans staying at hotels designated for foreign tourists, Reuters reports. The prohibition, which had been criticized as "economic apartheid," had frustrated many Cubans since the country was opened up to tourism in 1990. "Cubans can now stay at our hotels,...

SF Healthcare Tab Lands on Diners' Checks

Restaurateurs balk at measure to fund universal coverage

(Newser) - Sweeping new health care legislation requires all San Francisco businesses with more than 20 employees to contribute to their health insurance—and restaurant owners are suing over the new burden, the Los Angeles Times reports. Owners say the fees cut into already-low profit margins; diners, who are seeing some of...

Tourism Busts Pre-9/11 Record
Tourism Busts Pre-9/11 Record
Mar 11, 2008 3:00 AM CDT

Tourism Busts Pre-9/11 Record

57 million foreign visitors traveled to US

(Newser) - Nearly 57 million foreign tourists visited the US last year, pumping more than $123 billion into the economy, Reuters reports. It's the first time a tourism record has been broken since the 9/11 attacks staggered the industry. Some 17.7 million visitors traveled from Canada and 15 million from Mexico....

Photo of NYC Bomb Suspect Released
Photo of NYC Bomb
Suspect Released
Mar 9, 2008 7:44 AM CDT

Photo of NYC Bomb Suspect Released

$12,000 reward offered in attack on Times Square recruitment center

(Newser) - Police have released photos of a hooded cyclist suspected in the bombing of a military recruitment center in New York City's Times Square, CNN reports. The frame from a grainy surveillance video shows a person in a hoodie riding up Fifth Avenue, near the spot where the bicycle is believed...

New York Loves Euros
New York
Loves Euros
Feb 25, 2008 11:35 AM CST

New York Loves Euros

Awash in tourists, Big Apple shops welcome stronger currency

(Newser) - Wander through the Big Apple these days and you’ll see signs like “Euros accepted!” and even “Euros Only.” The latter is a joke—dollars are accepted, as are British pounds—but many New York City merchants are more than willing to accept visitors' currency, the...

Cuba Takes a Swing at Golf
Cuba Takes a Swing at Golf
Feb 23, 2008 12:17 PM CST

Cuba Takes a Swing at Golf

The tiny Communist nation hopes tourists will come back to the island

(Newser) - Nearly a dozen tony golf-resort projects funded by Spanish, British, and Canadian consortiums are under way in Cuba as acting President Raul Castro tries to lure foreign tourists—and their cash—back to the struggling island nation by creating a new Caribbean golf destination, reports the Wall Street Journal. Castro...

US Recession May Imperil Global Tourism

UN body predicts slower international travel growth in 2008

(Newser) - The number of international tourists could decrease this year if the US falls into a deep recession, but the UN is "cautiously optimistic" that 2008 will be the fifth straight year of growth, Reuters reports. After 2007's record 898 million tourist trips, a 6.2% jump over 2006, the...

Mexican Aid to Protect Monarchs
Mexican Aid to Protect Monarchs
Nov 26, 2007 6:10 AM CST

Mexican Aid to Protect Monarchs

Calderon promises funds to stem illegal logging in butterflies' habitat

(Newser) - The famous migrating monarch butterflies have a new ally in Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who yesterday said he would devote $4.6 million more to the central Mexican reserve where the butterflies hibernate—and crack down on the illegal logging that threatens the insects' habitat. Calderon hopes the measure will...

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