A Holiday News

HANAMI, or cherry-blossom viewing, is jokingly referred to as the most popular spectator sport in Japan . In truth, the title belongs to baseball.
But “spectator” is a misnomer, because attending a baseball game in Japan involves active, enthusiastic participation.
On a Sunday afternoon in April, I was crammed into a seat in the upper deck of the Tokyo Dome to watch the biggest rivalry in Japanese baseball — Japan’s version of a New York Yankees-Boston Red Sox match-up. Read more…

Japan

Two hotels in Myanmar have won two gold medals in an energy saving building design contest for 2009, sponsored by the ASEAN Energy Center (AEC), the local weekly Popular News reported Friday.
    The two winning hotels are the Shwe Intha Hotel in Inlay and Bell Hotel in Chaungtha, both of which are attractive tourist sites in the country.
    The medals will be presented later this month in new capital Nay Pyi Taw of Myanmar, the host country for the Read more…

United States

The global medical travel industry, estimated to be worth US$50 billion, is expected to see annual growth rates of 15-20%, and double in size to US$100 billion by 2012, according to a ChannelNewsAsia report. Experts say more than half of this growth will be led by India, Singapore, Thailand and South Korea because of their solid infrastructure and strong government support.
These countries are expected to be the biggest gainers as patients from the West seek cheaper alternatives abroad. Americans Read more…

Austria

Royal Caribbean International has announced its 2010-11 Australia and Hawaii cruise and cruisetour season. Vacationers can choose among 17 sailings from September 2010 through March 2011 aboard ‘Rhapsody of the Seas’, 14 of which depart from Sydney. The new season will offer 12 itineraries, more variety in cruise lengths and itineraries than ever before, with a total of 50 unique ports of call in eight countries.

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Australia

Taking off… Tiger will run up to four daily services will run between Sydney and Melbourne.
The world’s third busiest travel route has welcomed a new player to the market, with Tiger Airways launching budget flights between Melbourne and Sydney.
From Friday, up to four daily services will run between Sydney and Melbourne, which is expected to add more than 500,000 visitor seats annually between the two cities.
While the Melbourne-to-Sydney flight route is already hugely busy, Tiger Airways Read more…

Australia

Railways stations in major cities near Shanghai will soon become check-in points for air travellers, the Shanghai Daily has reported. Under the scheme, passengers flying from Shanghai’s Hongqiao and Pudong international airports will be able to leave their baggage at rail hubs in Nanjing, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, Kunshan and Jiaxing.
These stations would become remote check-in terminals for the airports, while relieving travellers of the need to commute to Shanghai carrying heavy luggage. Read more…

China

The UN World Tourism Organisation revised its 2009 global tourism forecast sharply down Thursday due to a worsening economic outlook and uncertainty over the impact of the swine flu pandemic.
In the June edition of its “World Tourism Barometer”, the Madrid-based body forecast international tourism would decrease between four and six percent this year. In January it had predicted a decline of between zero and two percent.
“The negative trend in international tourism that emerged during the second Read more…

United States

“First contest, first first-place,” said Brennen Ernst, a 15-year-old banjo player from Leesburg, Va., minutes after picking up a blue ribbon at the 85th annual Ole Time Fiddler’s and Bluegrass Festival in Union Grove, N.C. It was afternoon on the festival’s second day, and Brennen, wearing a black derby and a pink T-shirt, had been playing all but nonstop since before the festival opened.
“I play everything,” he told me the day before. “That’s not Read more…

Canada

PUEBLA, Mexico - Budget travelers craving European ambience may want to consider heading south instead of east. This compact, colorful town 60 miles southeast of Mexico City has done a remarkable job preserving the architecture of its Spanish colonizers. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987, Puebla is one of the most European-feeling cities in Mexico, yet this birthplace of the famous mole sauce is also distinctly Mexican.
With magnificent 17th-century churches, cobbled plazas, and Read more…

United States

Oman has signed contracts for the construction of a new superhighway extending from the capital Muscat to the country’s border with the UAE, Gulf News reported. The 275km Southern Batinah Expressway will run the length of the Batinah region, a coastal area that is becoming a key economic zone.

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Oman