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September 27 2013 is World Tourism Day. The United Nations World Tourism Organization has declared today as a day marked for recognizing the role of tourism in improving and caring for one of the most precious resources we have - water. This year’s theme - Water: Protecting our Common Future - highlights tourism’s role in water access and shines a spotlight on the actions being taken by the sector in order to…
Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan the UAE Minister of Culture, Youth and Social Development, opened The Golden Age of Arab Sciences exhibition in Paris – Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, September 24 2013. This is an exhibition where Islam's contribution to science and the arts is chronicled with the hope that it will encourage Muslim students to emulate the likes of Ibn Sina and al-Khwarizmi. The…
After six years of restoration work, the 2nd Mughal Emperor Humayun's tomb in New Delhi was restored to its original splendour and officially reopened to the public on September 18 2013. Built in 1565, nine years after the death of the Mughal Emperor Humayun, the mausoleum was designed by Persian architect Mirak Mirza Ghiyas. It was the first garden-tomb complex on the Indian subcontinent and inspired major…
On March 14 2014, Emirates Airlines will be starting service to the intellectual capital of the world - Boston. Home to Harvard, MIT, Boston University and over 50 other educational institutions, Boston is also the hometown of the United States' most illustrious political family - the Kennedys: John F. Kennedy was born in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Emirates will be flying a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft to…
Starting on Thursday, October 31 2013, Abu Dhabi will become the venue of a 4-day weekend international fiesta. While the roar of Formula 1 cars will be attracting motor sports aficionados from all over the world, the night sky over Yas Island will be echoing with the rhythm of the likes of Amr Diab and JayZ while families will be savouring the wide array of gastronomic delicacies in the slew of new gourmet…
Fancy a plate of carbonara—but frozen? This novelty dessert looks just like a plate of spaghetti, but tastes nothing like it. Surprisingly, this sweet treat was invented in Germany all the way back in the 1960s. The Germans coined it “spaghettieis”, and it is still available in various ice cream shops in the central Europe country. The ‘noodles’ are made from vanilla ice cream, and strawberry…
The increasing use of smart technology like phones and tablets in travel planning has spawned a new class who are much more likely to identify themselves as happy, fun, sociable and healthy than their non-digital counterparts. That’s according to a new report which surveyed more than 1,250 US households and their travel habits and coined a new name for the emerging class: the digital elite. Produced…
Iceland and Slovakia are among the fastest-growing tourist destinations in Europe for foreign tourists this year, according to the latest report out of the European Travel Commission. Iceland experienced an impressive 30% spike in foreign arrivals in the second quarter of 2013 compared to the same period last year. Slovakia saw a 20% increase in international visitors this spring. Overall, growth was…
A new £1.35 million mosque has been built in Dundee, Scotland, under the patronage and generous contribution of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, deputy ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance. The mosque is located adjacent to the Al Maktoum College of Higher Education which offers post graduate programs as well as diplomas in Islamic Finance and Economics, Arabic Language and a Study of Islam and…
Crystal Cruises has announced plans to convert 70 staterooms into hypoallergenic suites this fall and make them available to guests at no additional cost. It’s a seven-step transformation that will include everything from a floor-to-ceiling deep-clean that removes bio films, dirt and bacteria to a high ozone shock treatment to eliminate germs and odors. For prevention and maintenance, a…
Industry experts named the county of Yorkshire – the largest in England — the best destination on the continent at the World Travel Awards in Antalya, Turkey last week. While it’s been forever immortalized in English literature as a tertiary character in Emily Bronte’s 19th century classic “Wuthering Heights,” today the region has carved out a reputation as being a gastronomic destination with six…
An eccentric Beijing resident has built a huge house among what looks like a pile of rocks dotted with trees on top of a 26-storey apartment block in the capital, reports said Monday. Neighbours have complained about China’s latest architectural oddity, which covers more than 1,000 square metres (10,000 sq ft), saying they fear it could cause the structure to collapse on top of them. The rocks, said…
With more than 2 million Facebook check-ins, the Los Angeles Airport has emerged as the place people like to brag about passing through the most. In a sign that people are most inclined to broadcast their whereabouts when they’re about to jet off to another destination, the list was dominated by airports, most of which came from within the US. Other places people liked to crow about checking into…
Artist Billie Achilleos has crafted a giant sea turtle out of Louis Vuitton accessories for the brand’s store in Waikiki, Honolulu. Achilleos’s eight-piece exhibition in the store will be on display until August 31st.
China has recently seen an exponential increase in towers of over 500 meters, all designed to house apartments, offices, shopping malls and luxury hotels. Standing at 632 meters (2073 feet), the Shanghai Tower, the main structure of which attained its highest point in early August, is now the tallest skyscraper in Asia. Set to be finished in 2015, a luxury hotel is scheduled to open in the tower that year.…
North Korea said Wednesday it saw a “bright future” for tourism and would offer more international and domestic flights and open up the sector to foreign investors. “Abundant in tourism resources, the (North) has a bright future to develop tourism,” Jo Song Gyu, director of the International Travel Company, told the state news agency. The country was making “big efforts” to develop tourism as one of…
Marriott International, together with British luxury brand Lily and Lionel and non-profit company SleepingBags, is releasing a limited edition tote bag made entirely of recycled bed linens from its hotels. With the launch of this limited edition bag, Marriott International scores two points for corporate social responsibility. The first involves the reduction in waste that comes from upcycling its worn out…
