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The fifth edition of the Sharjah Light Festival began on the 5th of February, and will continue to run for nine nights up until the 13th of February. The event showcases the architectural beauty and cultural history of Sharjah, offering a combination of light and music to create mesmerizing 2D and 3D designs on mosques and other landmarks. This year the Sharjah Commerce and Tourism Development Authority…
A new study has found that the world’s tallest building is one of the most popular places in the world to take a selfie. Attraction Tix, a UK-based online ticketing specialist for attractions around the world, has analyzed social media posts tagged with “selfie” between the years 2010-2015 and released a list of travel hotspots that is most preferred by visitors taking selfies. After 219 million Instagram…
Ready for a new and exciting culinary experience? ROGO’S Rollercoaster Restaurant is UAE’s first restaurant to serve dishes via - you guessed it -roller coasters. The 14,000 square foot restaurant has a network of 30 roller coasters that loop and spiral their way down through diners to deliver food directly to each table. So how does it work? Guests simply sit at a table and order what they want from the…
Part of a new breakfast promotion, customers at Italian restaurant Serafina are free to decide how much they are willing to pay for the food they eat - a concept popular in the West but not so much in the UAE. The “What’s it Worth” tactic has been attracting large numbers of customers to the upscale restaurant since its launch on January 27. The offer is still valid every morning from 8am-1pm until February…
The future is here. Japan is set to open the first hotel in the world entirely operated by robots in mid-July this year. Henn-na Hotel, which translates to Strange Hotel, will feature three ‘actroids’ (robots with strong human-likeness) as receptionists that can have intelligent conversations with guests, four service and porter robots, and a few other robots for cleaning purposes. The hotel aims to…
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on February 2 2015 that a record 56.4 million visitors came to New York in 2014. 12.2 million of them were overseas visitors. This growth in tourism numbers has helped boost the local economy and added to both employment and tax revenue. New York City is the number one big city destination in the United States. It is the number one port-of-entry for foreign…
Travelling to Hawaii this month and need something new and exciting to do? Why not take advantage of the fact that two-thirds of the entire North Pacific humpback whale population have made their way into town, after racing 3000 miles from Alaska for about two months. The Kohola (humpback whales) range between 40-52 feet in length and weigh up to 45 tons. Despite that, these whales are quite the graceful…
No matter who wins the Super Bowl this year, New England Patriots fans have the opportunity to have some fun this spring by going on a cruise with former players. Granted, one has to have $1,019 (excluding tax and fees) to spare to afford to go on this cruise across the Caribbean, but sharing a ship for seven nights with former Pats Kevin Faulk, Scott Zolak, Troy Brown, Joe Andruzzi, Steve Nelson and Patrick Pass…
Britain’s Highclere Castle, made famous by the hit TV show Downton Abbey, will allow guests to stay at its newly restored buildings on the grounds mid-February this year. After nearly three years renovation, which included repairing a roof that gave way some decades ago and drying the interiors, the buildings, known as the London Lodge are now ready for guests. While this may seem like an amazing…
The Thailand Pavilion at the annual Global Village in Dubai is attracting visitors by offering them sweet coconut water and a variety of fresh fruits. The Thai pavilion also has skewered shrimps and other delicacies on offer. For those who get tired of walking in the sprawling exhibition area, the Thai pavilion has a massage section where you can relax and have all the knots in your back removed, improve blood…
If you're flying on an Airbus A330 American Airlines flight from San Francisco International Airport to London Heathrow, there's a one in 2,783,874 chance that your flight will go down, according to the newly released app, “Am I Going Down?”. That is to say, if you take a flight every day for the next 7,627 years, you are unlikely to experience even one incident! App developer Nic Johns states that he made…
Flydubai flight FZ 215, with 154 passengers onboard, was struck by gunfire as it landed at Baghdad International Airport on Monday. The UAE airline, along with Emirates and Etihad Airways, has suspended flights to and from Baghdad, taking the necessary safety measures compliant with a UAE General Civil Aviation Authority directive. Two passengers onboard were reported to have minor injuries by the gunfire,…
More than 1.1 billion tourists traveled abroad in 2014, according to a report published by the UN World Tourism Organization. China accounted for 109 million tourists making it the world's No.1 outbound market generating more than $129 billion in tourism revenue for the places visited by the Chinese tourists. The Middle East attracted 50 million tourists in 2014 showing a growth of 4%. The Americas welcomed…
A major snowstorm #Blizzard2015 is underway in the northeastern United States which has disrupted thousands of flights to and from New York, Boston and adjoining cities. Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways have all canceled their flights operating to New York. Emirates also canceled their flight to Boston. Residents have been warned to prepare for the year's worst snowstorm by hoarding up on essentials. Bare…
French rapper Mister You (Younes Latifi) likes the food there. The French Algerian singer Khaled whose famous song Didi was performed during the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, is also a regular customer. Arsenal and France football player Abou Diaby eats there, too. So what is Le Jumeyrah? This is a Parisian restaurant where you can enjoy French cuisine in the comfort of knowing that…
While it may get cold in winter, this is the best time for people from the Middle East to visit Beijing and see the Great Wall of China. Summer temperatures are generally hot and the crowds are at times unbearable. In winter there is hardly any tourist to see this marvel of human construction and you are less likely to be hassled by pesky souvenir sellers. It is a commonly held belief that the Great Wall of…
It has been 20 years since Dubai created a shopping extravaganza that has been copied around the region but remains a major source of atttracting tourists to the city. In the early days it was just retail attractions and raffle tickets which brought people to Dubai. Today, 20 years on, Dubai still offers luxury cars and gold jewelry raffles but the Dubai Shopping Festival also brings with it several pop music…
It is not surprising if you have never heard of Pilsen. It is not a new city. It has been around since 1295. Located in Western Bohemia in the Czech Republic, it is about 100km southwest of the capital Prague. Major tourist attractions of the city are the Republic Square with museums and galleries nearby, the St. Bartholomew's Cathedral, the Great Synagogue and Adolf Loos interiors. Loos was a famous…
