Tourism

• Tuesday, January 21st 2014 - 13:14 UTC

  Lightning chips a finger from Christ the Redeemer right hand

  

  Christ the Redeemer, the iconic statue with its arms extended overlooking Rio de Janeiro in Brazil was struck by lightning damaging the statue's right hand thumb, making it lose one finger, according to officials from the Archdiocese of Rio, which manages the statue.

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 19:33 UTC

  Second Brazilian airline promises to cap fares for the coming World Cup

  

  Avianca Brasil has joined Azul in becoming the second Brazilian airline to promise to cap prices for the upcoming football World Cup, which opens June 12 in Sao Paulo. Avianca said it would match Azul and limit one-way fares to a maximum of 999 Reais (425 dollars).

• Wednesday, January 15th 2014 - 00:03 UTC

  Argentine baggage handlers delay Aerolineas flights and cruise vessels in Buenos Aires port

  

  Flights to and from Argentina's capital Buenos Aires’ international airport were delayed on Tuesday after a union offshoot that represents baggage handlers for the national carrier, Aerolíneas Argentinas, went on strike to protest the company’s proposal to hire handlers for six-hour shifts.

• Monday, January 13th 2014 - 06:30 UTC

  Busy November in South Georgia with 11 cruises, yachts and HMS Protector

  

  November was a busy month for cruise vessels: eleven cruise ships visited South Georgia between the 9th and 29th, according to the South Georgia Newsletter. One cruise ship, Ortelius, reached the rarely visited South Sandwich Islands and was able to put scientist Tom Hart ashore on Saunders Island where he took soil samples and set up two camera-traps to monitor the penguin colonies.

• Saturday, January 11th 2014 - 07:48 UTC

  Russian vessel incident triggers debate on Antarctica growing tourist industry

  

  The challenging rescue operation launched after a Russian ship became trapped in Antarctic pack ice in December shows the inherent risks facing the frozen continent's burgeoning tourist industry, experts say. Antarctica represents one of the last frontiers for adventurous travelers, an icy wonderland of glaciers, emperor penguins and seemingly endless white expanses.

• Friday, January 10th 2014 - 06:22 UTC

  Safest airline is Australia's Qantas with a fatality free-record in the jet era (1951)

  

  AirlineRatings the world's safety and product rating website has announced its top ten safest airlines for 2013 from the 448 it monitors. Top of the list is Qantas which has a fatality free record in the jet era (since 1951).

• Wednesday, January 8th 2014 - 21:21 UTC

  Visit Britain thinks Germans are rude, Australians intolerant and Russians cold

  

  VisitBritain, the UK government’s agency with a budget of nearly £30 million a year and tasked with bringing as many visitors to the UK as possible, releases a detailed inside guide on tourists from most destinations for use by British hoteliers and operators.

• Thursday, January 2nd 2014 - 18:02 UTC

  Gibraltar visitors in October/November down 40% because of Spanish checks at border

  

  Visitors to Gibraltar during the peak months of October and November have decreased by over 40% from the previous year, statistics reveal. This comes after restrictions were imposed at the border by the Spanish authorities which they say was in response to tobacco smuggling but began immediately after the Government’s decision to lay an artificial reef in July.

• Sunday, December 29th 2013 - 08:30 UTC

  Brazil ups taxes on debit cards and travelers checks to contain outgoing tourism

  

  The Brazilian government said on Friday it will raise a tax on operations with debit cards and travelers checks made abroad, in a move that will raise the country's tax intake by 552 million Reais (234.65m dollars) per year.

• Friday, December 27th 2013 - 05:18 UTC

  Australian cruise operators interested in developing Puerto Williams in Chile

  

  Australian travel agents linked to the cruise industry visited Puerto Williams in the extreme south of Chile to check on the facilities, services and infrastructure with the purpose of planning cruise calls on a regular basis. Puerto Williams in located on Navarino island across from Ushuaia in Argentina.