Good taxi drivers key to tourism says study
New York Daily News
Well-trained taxi drivers are a must if a country needs to boost its tourism potential. So says a study by industry lobby FICCI and Yes Bank.
The study said proper human resource development, including certification of tour operators, were equally vital to promote tourism.
While infrastructural development was essential for a robust and sustained growth of the travel and tourism industry, there should be simultaneous attention to human resource development, it said.
The study urged the government to make tour guide associations a consultative partner.
It suggested action points for taxi drivers saying the safety of the tourists was in the hands of the these drivers. Their conduct defines the comfort level of the tourist.
London 2012 Olympics: hotel prices fall as visitor rush fails to materialise
Telegraph.co.uk
Rooms which were being offered for an average £210 have now been cut in price to £160, according to one survey.
Tourism chiefs confirmed the fall, which comes after Locog, the games’ organisers, released thousands of unwanted hotel rooms in the capital and hoteliers began to abandon minimum stay rules, allowing tourists to book one or two night stays.
The average rate for rooms in London during the main Olympic period of July 27 to August 12 has fallen from £213 to £160 – a drop of 24 per cent – the new figures will reveal next week.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison buys Hawaii’s sixth-largest island
Canada.com
Billionaire Oracle CEO Larry Ellison bought 98 per cent of Hawaii’s sixth-largest island, Lanai, the state’s governor announced on Wednesday.
Ellison, ranked in 2012 as America’s third-richest man, is purchasing the property from fellow billionaire David Murdock. Murdock’s Castle and Cooke Inc, which owns all but 2 per cent of Lanai’s 141 square miles (365 square km), filed a transfer application with Hawaii’s Public Utilities Commission.
Previous media reports put the price tag at between $500 million and $600 million, but the price was not revealed in Wednesday’s filing.
Airline Grows Its Own Food
USA Today
It may fly in the face of conventional wisdom, but Etihad Airways is betting airline food can be a selling point that will differentiate it from its luxury-focused Middle East rivals.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline has purchased 200 hens and three beehives, which Reuters writes is part of a “fight to win customers by appealing to their palates.”
Etihad says it will use those resources to produce organically grown eggs and honey to be served exclusively to its passengers.
“We are thrilled to be the only airline in the world offering organic eggs and honey directly from our own locally raised hens and bees,” Etihad says in a statement.
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