Mediterranean states mull ways to draw tourists back
AFP
Tourism officials met Monday on the Tunisian island of Djerba — a holidaymaker’s magnet before the Arab Spring uprisings — to revive the Mediterranean basin as the world’s top travel destination.
“Besides the economic crisis in the origin countries, ongoing political changes in North African and Middle East destinations have had negative repercussions on the sector,” said the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the Tunisian government, which organised the two-day meeting.
Algeria to develop tourism to diversify economy-minister
Reuters Africa
Algeria plans to boost investment in the tourism sector with the aim of attracting some 3.5 million tourists per year starting in 2015, the tourism minister said on Monday, in an effort to move its economy away from reliance on oil and gas.
Though the North African country boasts unspoiled mountains, a long Mediterranean coastline and spectacular deserts, foreign visitors did not exceed 2 million last year, according to the minister. Many were put off by a civil conflict that raged through the 1990s, fear of attacks by Islamist extremist groups, a lack of tourism infrastructure and bureaucratic visa rules.
Tourist gets a painful souvenir as angry bird picks fight
The Australian
HIS shirt ripped and his backside bruised, an Australian tourist chased off a cliff by a cassowary says the experience hasn’t put him off returning to the Far North for another holiday.
Dennis Ward was at Babinda Boulders, near Cairns, with his Innisfail-based family on Sunday, watching from what he thought was a safe distance of up to 15 metres away as a photographer snapped pictures of a large male cassowary, the Cairns Post reported.
Just minutes later Mr Ward was bouncing down the cliff and into the water, after being kicked in the back by the bullying bird.
Paris: Details about iconic Ritz’s makeover
USA Today
Reuters this morning reports new details about how the famed Ritz Hotel in Paris will look once it gets a two-year overhaul designed to make it more modern – and more competitive.
Once the work is done, you can expect to find new furnishings, a new summer restaurant with a retractable roof, additional suites, an extended ballroom and new in-room technology, Reuters says.
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