Mar 12th, 2010 at 9:30AM: The Peruvian Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martin Pérez, has announced that popular tourist destination Machu Picchu will reopen to visitors starting April 1st, marking a return to normalcy for the 15th century Inca fortress that is the focal point Peru's travel industry. The UNESCO World Heritage site has been closed for nearly two months following torrential rainfall that ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
tourism posts
Machu Picchu reopens April 1st
Mar 12th, 2010 at 9:30AM: The Peruvian Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martin Pérez, has announced that popular tourist destination Machu Picchu will reopen to visitors starting April 1st, marking a return to normalcy for the 15th century Inca fortress that is the focal point Peru's travel industry. The UNESCO World Heritage site has been closed for nearly two months following torrential rainfall that ...Travel from Japan to U.S. posts double-digit drop
Feb 26th, 2010 at 8:00AM: There aren't as many Japanese tourists walking the streets of the United States as there were a year ago. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Commerce, which covers the third quarter of 2009, puts Japanese travel to the United States down 10 percent to 15 percent on average relative to the same quarter in 2008, and the situation is forecasted to be grim for the fourth quarter results, as ...South Carolina looking for tourism comeback this year
Feb 22nd, 2010 at 3:00PM: Are you going to South Carolina this year? Well, someone you know must be. The state expects its tourism busines to bounce back this year. This business is good for $18.4 billion in South Carolina economy, which is a pretty good reason to celebrate the revival of the tourism business. In 2006, tourism brought in only $16 billion,according to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and ...How to decide if a tour is right for you
Feb 18th, 2010 at 2:30PM:
For some travelers, the mere sight of a tour bus is enough to make them cringe. Heck, I don't enjoy seeing large masses of humanity spilling out of a humongous vehicle and mucking up my "unique" travel experience. But that's not to say that all tours are wastes of your time and money.
tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2010/02/18/how-to-decide-if-a-tour-is-right-for-you/'; ...American travel overseas up 1 percent
Online agencies bright spot in Spanish travel market
Jan 29th, 2010 at 10:00AM: The slump in the travel market has certainly affected Spain, which is among the top leisure destinations in Europe. Both foreign travel to Spain and domestic excursions within the country have suffered as a result of the global recession, with travel industry research firm PhoCusWright putting the decline at 12 percent for 2009. The traditional booking channels were hurt more than the online ...South by Southeast: Avoiding the hordes
Jan 29th, 2010 at 9:00AM:
I had high hopes for my arrival in Hoi An. This historic city, set along Vietnam's Central Coast, has all the ingredients to be the perfect destination: a charming downtown lined with ancient Chinese buildings, a picturesque waterfront setting and a unique culinary history. So it was a shock when I stepped off my bus to find the city the epitome of a tourist trap, stuffed to the gills with ...Foreign visits to the U.S. show signs of life
Jan 13th, 2010 at 2:00PM: Travel to the United States finally grew in October! After six months of declines, thanks to an Easter bump in April, foreign visitation finally ticked higher, an increase of 1 percent year-over-year, according to data from the U.S. Department of Commerce. If you take the holiday factor out of the equation, the last year-over-year increase came in August 2008. It's difficult to tell whether the ...Hawaii needs your help!
Dec 24th, 2009 at 2:00PM: Hawaii needs $1.23 billion and could use your help. Governor Linda Lingle is calling it a "fiscal crisis" and says it won't be fixed with budget cuts alone. Essentially, the fiftieth state wants everyone else to chip in. This year's budget gap is $721 million, which will be followed by $509.5 million next year. The state might not hit pre-recession levels until 2014.
According to Lingle, "The ...Venice hosts its own funeral
Nov 14th, 2009 at 2:30PM: Venice is dying. At least, according to Newsweek it is. The population has been shrinking so rapidly (it dropped below 60,000 this year) that the mag predicts there won't be a single full-time resident in the city by 2030. A city that sees millions of visitors per year, an average of 55,000 per day, won't be home to a single person. Yeah, I'd call that a dead city.
To draw attention to the ...Oprah says good-bye to Chicago
Nov 6th, 2009 at 3:30PM:
tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2009/11/06/oprah-says-good-bye-to-chicago/'; tweetmeme_source = 'Gadling';
Did you hear the new rumor about Oprah Winfrey? No, not that one! This one says that come 2011, her daytime talk show will leave Chicago and be based out of Los Angeles.
According to Deadline Hollywood, the big O planned on calling it quits way back in 2002, then again in 2006. ...Explore five cities with a "bad rap"
Oct 29th, 2009 at 11:30AM: I grew up in Detroit. I love my city and will be the first tell anyone who thinks it's nothing but a boarded up hellhole just how wrong they are. But I know Detroit's bad rap comes not only from suburb-dwellers and business travelers who just breezed through, but also from the media that portrays it as a city with nothing to offer other than casinos and a punchline. But maybe the tide is changing. ...Outback Australia: Where are the Americans?
Oct 14th, 2009 at 10:30AM:
tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2009/10/14/outback-australia-where-are-the-americans/'; tweetmeme_source = 'Gadling';
Close to 300,000 people from outside of Australia visit the Northern Territory every year. And if I noticed anything about those tourists while I was there it's that the vast majority do not speak English. That is by no means a judgmental statement. I enjoyed ...Tourism in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Samoa in light of recent disasters
Oct 4th, 2009 at 5:00PM: In light of the recent quakes in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Samoa and the total devastation in the areas surrounding Manila, Padang, and Apia, it's important to understand what tourism will look like as these tourism hot spots recover. Here's a look at the current relief work happening in each locale, and some speculation as to what tourism will look like in the coming year. The Philippines ...Communist China celebrates 60th anniversary
Oct 1st, 2009 at 8:30PM:
Today, October 1st, marks the 60th anniversary of communist rule in China - an era that has been defined with great success and development for the country. Leaders in Beijing and 30,000 specially invited guests observed the day with an epic celebration that was reported to be larger in scale than the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games. Visitors and residents of Beijing had limited access ...Dim Sum Dialogues in Thailand: Ko Samui
Sep 29th, 2009 at 12:00PM:
My ears are still ringing from the stacks of speakers that exhilarated Haad Rin all night. The lack of sleep is making my eyes heavy, but the lurching of the ferry refuses to let my body sleep. I'm departing Ko Pha Ngan and am en route to Ko Samui - the largest island in the Surat Thani province, and the third largest island in Thailand. It's a forty minute ride from the beaches of Haad Rin, and ...Dive the Great Wall of China with Urbane Nomads
Sep 21st, 2009 at 11:30AM: Did you know that parts of the Great Wall of China are underwater? Yeah, me neither. But according to Urban Daddy, one particular section of the wall has been submerged under a lake since the 1980's. And now a luxury tour company called Urbane Nomads is offering the first-ever guided diving trips to the hard-to-reach spot.
Guides will carry your gear to the submerged portion of the Wall and ...Lost in Rome? Look for a "tourist angel"
Sep 19th, 2009 at 12:30PM: Naples may have a team of ex-cons out on the streets helping lost tourists, but Rome will soon have a fleet of angels - "tourist angels". According to the online Italy Magazine, Rome is currently recruiting a fleet of 60 guides who will zoom around the city on "electric chariots" (souped-up Segways, perhaps?) looking for confused visitors to help out with information and directions.
Rome's ...Overcrowded Venice may ban day-trippers
Sep 18th, 2009 at 10:30AM: There's no question that Venice is a city overrun with tourists. 20 million people visit the sinking city each year, yet only 60,000 Italians call Venice home. It's no wonder then that the city starts to feel more like an open-air museum, a well-preserved relic of the past, rather than a living, and lived-in, city.
The residents of Venice put up with a lot (though or course, many of them profit ...Dim Sum Dialogues in Thailand: Bangkok
Sep 15th, 2009 at 9:00AM:
The city of Bangkok is a dichotomy between peaceful Buddhist temples & sordid red light districts. Beautiful national monuments & shoddy patches of low-income housing. Large, upscale shopping malls & equally large, rickety floating markets. Bright pink taxis or loud tuk tuks that jam the streets & a convenient but limited elevated metro line. Gleaming skyscrapers & lowly ...
