Tourism to Goa takes beating after Mumbai attacks
Beach beds are lined up outside the snack bars dotting the sandy white coastline and dance music booms from bars and restaurants. The only thing missing from Goa’s beaches are the throngs of merrymakers who normally flock here for the hedonistic year-end parties. With the country on alert in the wake of the terror attacks in Mumbai that killed 164 people and nine accused gunmen, Goa officials... [Read more]
AirAsia offers 100,000 free tickets to Thailand
Southeast Asia’s top budget carrier AirAsia said Tuesday it would offer 100,000 free tickets to Thailand under a regional marketing campaign to support its tourism industry battered by recent political unrest. AirAsia said it would collaborate with Tourism Authority of Thailand to bring back tourists and businessmen by “reinstating the core message that it is now safe to travel back to... [Read more]
Cuban tourism surges as rest of Caribbean stalls
Cuba’s vacation industry has remained as hot as the tropical sun here, even as the world economic crisis sparks cancellations and layoffs elsewhere in the Caribbean. The communist country says it’s booked solid through December and expects a record 2.34 million visitors this year — largely because global financial woes have so far been softer on Canada, its top source of visitors. Luck... [Read more]
NH prof’s mysteries entertain, teach tourism
Elegant resorts long for glowing accounts of their sumptuous meals, breathtaking views and meticulous service — but how about a shady employee, a missing guest, a murder? Mark Okrant, whose day job is teaching the tourism business to college students, makes resort owners smile about it all in a series of mystery novels he began writing about 15 years ago. Okrant’s mysteries were born out of... [Read more]
Refill of vanished Wis. lake about to begin
The road is back. The shoreline is reinforced. The dam is stronger. And maybe the dollar signs won’t be far behind. The three dozen or so resort and restaurant owners that ring this south-central Wisconsin tourist village’s namesake lake have been wringing their hands since heavy rains blew out a section of shoreline in June. The lake rushed through the breach and vanished, taking their... [Read more]
Bangkok airport chaos deals blow to tourism
Thousands of bleary-eyed tourists mingled with yellow-clad protesters who brought flights to a halt at Bangkok’s international airport Wednesday, dealing a major blow to Thailand’s tourism industry during its peak season. The tourism industry, which makes up 6 percent of the economy and employs about a million people, was already flagging after protesters in late August shut down airports... [Read more]
Mojitos, salsa greet Cuba’s 2 millionth tourist
Cuba welcomed its 2 millionth tourist of 2008 with a salsa band, strong mojitos and word that the island expects to set a record this year for foreign visitors despite three hurricanes and a global economic crisis. Authorities hung a red-and-white banner reading “welcome visitor” in five languages just outside the customs area as Air Canada Flight 370 from Toronto touched down at Havana... [Read more]
Low-cost carriers could win from recession
Low-cost travel operators could be the big winners from the global economic downturn even as tourism faces a tough year in 2009, a report said Monday. The World Travel Market 2008 report — conducted by Euromonitor International — said travel markets within the Middle East and Asia remain a bright spot for the industry, although tourism operators in Europe and the United States face an uphill struggle... [Read more]
Caribbean officials working to lure visitors back
Caribbean tourism officials are working overtime to reassure reluctant travelers that plenty of sun-soaked islands were untouched by a recent spate of deadly tropical cyclones. Potential visitors may assume the entire region was ravaged by four storms that pummeled several islands since mid-August — but they assume wrong, said Alec Sanguinetti, head of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association. The... [Read more]