Travel and Tourism Industry News

Kona Village Resort, on the Big Island of Hawaii, is the winner of the Luxist Awards’ Readers’ Choice Award for Best Luxury Family Vacation. The pristine resort features serene lagoons surrounded by lush, tropical landscaping as well as dramatic, surreal, black lava cliffs that plunge to meet the ocean.

Kona Village Resort

Guests stay in thatched roof hales (Polynesian-inspired bungalows) on 82 oceanfront acres. No televisions, telephones, radios, air conditioners are there to distract. Coconuts supplant traditional “no disturb” signs. Read the rest of this entry »

Sometimes a guy just has to get away from the places he is traveling and go back to square one. For me, that means heading back to Cornwall and renting a holiday villa by the seaside. Sure, it might sound boring and old hat to a lot of people, but I can’t think of any better way to charge my batteries than with a holiday villa in Cornwall.

In fact, there are more than a few villa holidays option if you want to do the same. The best holiday villas in Cornwall are those that cater to the activities you enjoy the most.

For example, if you love bach combing or simply strolling on the sands before the sun becomes too hot, you probably should consider something like the quiet cottages away from the bustle of town.

However, if you are bringing the family for a full beach vacation, you should probably look at the executive suites. These often have three bedrooms or more and provide your family with plenty of options for fun in the sun.

One option that many people overlook is renting a caravan. The caravan’s of today are quite posh and give you an affordable option for your seaside holiday.

One thing is for sure, when you decide to rent cottages in Cornwall, you are going to have a wonderful time. If you want to see the broad range of options available, the best place to start is on the internet.

From there you can find the best companies and the best holiday villas in Cornwall.

Traveling by car increases global temperatures more than by plane, but only in the long run, according to new findings released by the American Chemical Society on Wednesday.

The study, published in the August issue of Environmental Science & Technology, said that in the long run, the global temperature increase from a car trip will be on average higher than from a plane journey for the same distance.

“Car travel emits more carbon dioxide than air travel per passenger mile. As carbon dioxide remains in the atmosphere longer than the other gases, cars have a more harmful impact on climate change in the long term,” said Kleefeld from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria.

Travel by Car

However, in the short run, traveling by air has a larger adverse impact on climate because airplanes only affect short-lived warming processes at high altitudes. Read the rest of this entry »

Three Pacific sites have been awarded World Heritage status by the cultural arm of the United Nations, UNESCO.

Those sites are Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands, Kiribati’ s Phoenix Islands and Hawaii’s Papahanaumokuakea.

Bikini was the site of U.S. nuclear bomb testing in the 1940s and 1950s.

UNESCO said the tests had major consequences on the geology and environment of the atoll symbolized the dawn of nuclear age.

The Phoenix Islands conserve one of the world’s largest intact oceanic coral archipelago ecosystems, together with 14 known underwater sea mounts thought to be extinct volcanoes, complete with a staggering variety of marine species.

Bikini Atoll

The Papahanaumokuakea chain of tiny islands and atolls, stretches nearly 2,000 km north-west of the main Hawaiian Islands.

It was declared both a natural and cultural heritage site. Read the rest of this entry »

For the first time since its renovation as a luxury resort in 2005, turtles have hatched in the wild at Baros Maldives.

This happened on the morning of Wednesday 21 July 2010 when guests were surprised to see tiny Hawksbill turtle hatchlings emerging from the sand beside Deluxe Villa 117, which is in a quiet area with its own private beach entrance.

The resident marine biologist at Baros Maldives explained that turtles hatch from eggs laid in a hole dug in the sand by the mother turtle about 60 days before. They hatch underground but dig their way out, usually in the late evening or at night and follow the moon light towards the water.

Turtles know by the sand temperature if it is day or night. It was cool on 21 July due to rain and this lowered the sand temperature, enabling guests to enjoy the rare daytime sight of turtles emerging from the sand and scrambling towards the sea.

Turtles Hatched at Baros Maldives

A female turtle usually lays several batches of eggs at two to three week intervals on the same beach, so there is a chance that the same turtle has laid eggs elsewhere on the island. If so, guests are hoping to see another hatching at Baros Maldives soon. Read the rest of this entry »

The World Heritage Committee meeting in Brasilia has inscribed sites in Saudi Arabia, Australia, India, Islamic Republic of Iran and, for the first time, a site in the Marshall Islands, as well as the Republic of Korea on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The latest sites inscribed include (in order of inscription):

Image courtesy of Wikipedia

At Turaif District in ad-Dir’iyah (Saudi Arabia)

This property was the first capital of the Saudi Dynasty, in the heart of the Arabian Peninsula, north-west of Riyadh. Founded in the 15th century, it bears witness to the Najdi architectural style, which is specific to the center of the Arabian peninsula. In the 18th and early 19th century, its political and religious role increased, and the citadel at at-Turaif became the center of the temporal power of the House of Saud and the spread of the Wahhabi reform inside the Muslim religion. The property includes the remains of many palaces and an urban ensemble built on the edge of the ad-Dir’iyah oasis. Read the rest of this entry »

Throughout England, significant new hotel openings, situated by some of the country’s most iconic attractions, are set to make the destination even more appealing for visitors looking to enjoy luxurious accommodation while exploring England’s unique history, heritage, culture and countryside. From the historical city of York’s first five-star hotel and spa, to the first boutique style hotel in Shakespeare’s Country, to London’s largest hotel opening in a generation with more than 1,000 rooms, travelers to England can benefit from an abundance of options to meet every accommodation need. Including chic and contemporary urban hotels, sophisticated countryside estates and manor houses featuring imaginative golf courses and spas, properties across England are being created to cater to the most discerning traveler’s tastes.

Cedar Court – Bedroom

Following the £20 million conversion of the city’s old North Eastern Railways Headquarters, Cedar Court Grand Hotel & Spa, which opened in May, 2010, is York’s first five-star hotel. Retaining the original features and beauty of the building, the hotel was designed to restore the feel of the Golden Age of travel, while providing visitors with modern and state-of-the-art amenities. In addition to providing guests with electrical outlets that accept British, European or North American plugs, the hotel receives television channels from around the world and when a customer checks in with their credit card, the TV in their room is activated to receive channels from their home country. Furthermore, for guests staying in one of the hotel’s four lavish suites, a 24-hour butler service is provided, offering an unparalleled level of personal service. At The Grand restaurant, Head Chef David Sharp sources as many ingredients as possible from local suppliers in Yorkshire ensuring guests enjoy a fresh, local menu. Complete with107 rooms, the hotel will include a swimming pool, gym and Jacuzzi as well as an open-air roof garden that will open later this summer. www.cedarcourthotels.co.uk Read the rest of this entry »