Uruguay is expecting over 230 cruise calls this coming 2013/14 season and is in the process to install a network of cameras for crime control in downtown Montevideo, announced the Ministry of Tourism director Benjamin Liberoff.
A Chinese luxury cruise ship impounded in South Korea for days due to a legal dispute has been released and returned to China, an official said Tuesday.
Schedules for the coming tourist season show a significant increase in the number of ships (11%) and visitors planning to visit South Georgia, and a consequent expected increase in tourist numbers (20%), according to the latest South Georgia Newsletter July release.
Engineers in Italy have succeeded in setting the cruise ship Costa Concordia upright, 20 months after it ran aground off the island of Giglio. They said that the unprecedented salvage effort ”reached degree zero (vertical), which was our target”.
An estimated 58.000 visitors have been confirmed for this coming 2013/14 cruise season at the extreme south Chile cities of Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, although the overall number is slightly less than the 62.000 of this last season according to Epaustral, the Austral Port Corporation.
Colombia’s government has refused registration as a trademark of the full name “Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria” the country most notorious narcotics criminal. According to local news in Bogotá the application was filed by Maria Isabel Santos Cabalerro, Juana Manuela Marroquín Santos and Juan Sebastian Marroquín Santos, Escobar’s widow and children respectively who changed their names after settling in Argentina in the late 1990.
Tourism New Zealand will open a new office in Sao Paulo, Brazil to serve as the base of its new Latin American activity. The announcement was made by Prime Minister John Key and the Minister of Tourism, at the Latin American Business Council lunch this week.
The Spanish delegation arrived in Buenos Aires as favourites to host the 2020 Olympics in Madrid. They had top credentials: the future King (Prince Felipe) himself a sports enthusiast; the least demanding and irritating budget, (based on Brazil’s ongoing experience) and ample public opinion support in Spain despite the economic situation and record unemployment.
Tokyo was awarded the 2020 Olympics on Saturday, capitalizing on its reputation as a safe pair of hands and defying concerns about the Fukushima nuclear crisis. Tokyo defeated Istanbul 60-36 in the final round of secret voting Saturday by the International Olympic Committee. Madrid was eliminated earlier after an initial tie with Istanbul.
Debt-struck Madrid is betting its penny-pinching bid to host the Olympics in 2020 will reap rich economic dividends for recession-hit Spain. The Spanish capital is banking on a low-cost 5 billion dollars Olympic bid that relies heavily on existing stadiums to surprise Tokyo and Istanbul when Olympic chiefs make their decision in Buenos Aires on Saturday.