Tourism

• Wednesday, May 20th 2015 - 20:34 UTC

  Research icebreaker Polarstern en route to investigate climate change in Arctic

  

  Research icebreaker Polarstern left its home port in Bremerhaven on Tuesday setting a course for the Arctic. Led by Dr Ilka Peeken from the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) a team of 53 researchers from 11 countries will investigate the effects of climate change in the Arctic, from the surface ice floes down to the seafloor

• Tuesday, May 19th 2015 - 07:05 UTC

  Falklands celebrates 30th Anniversary of Mount Pleasant Airport opening

  

  ”The Falkland Islands airport emerges from rock and peat-bog” said The Times in its 11 May edition, the day before the official opening of Mount Pleasant Airport in 1985, thirty years ago last week.

• Saturday, May 9th 2015 - 08:37 UTC

  Tourism boom in Cuba: Europeans want to enjoy the island “before the Americans arrive”

  

  The Cuban government says it has prepared for a surge in tourist arrivals with an airport expansion plan and new luxury hotels under construction in Havana and popular beach resorts like Varadero. But according to tour operators, it is already getting difficult to find available hotel rooms or reserve tables at popular restaurants, especially during the high season.

• Friday, May 8th 2015 - 08:21 UTC

  IAATO agrees to ban recreational use of UAVs in Antarctica’s coastal areas

  

  International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) members have agreed that, for the 2015-16 season, they will not allow the recreational use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in the unique, and often wildlife rich, coastal areas of Antarctica.

• Wednesday, May 6th 2015 - 06:06 UTC

  Punta Arenas cruise visitors this season totaled 56.383 with 100 calls

  

  The results of the 2014/2015 cruise season were considered 'positive' for Punta Arenas, in the extreme south of Chile, which received 100 vessel calls, of which 40 international and 60 domestic, totaling 56.383 visitors, a similar number to the previous season.

• Wednesday, May 6th 2015 - 05:49 UTC

  US approves licenses for passenger ferry service with Cuba

  

  The US Treasury Department has approved licenses for passenger ferry service between the United States and Cuba, a Treasury Department official announced. One of the licenses was issued to Baja Ferries, part of a major shipping group with passengers and cargo operations, including on Mexico's west coast, according to a lawyer who handled the license application.

• Thursday, April 30th 2015 - 07:21 UTC

  Number of tourists visiting Antarctica was down, according to IAATO

  

  The number of adventurous tourists visiting Antarctica dipped in the 2014-15 austral season but is expected to bounce back this year, according to visitor totals released by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO).

• Tuesday, April 28th 2015 - 08:05 UTC

  IAATO 2015 convention starts today in Rotterdam - Falkland Islands Tourist Board Management in Attendance

  

  Tony Mason, Director, International Communications and Stephanie Middleton, Interim CEO of the Falkland Islands Tourist Board are in Rotterdam, Netherlands this week attending the IAATO conference where key issues affecting the region will be discussed.

• Friday, April 17th 2015 - 03:35 UTC

  Punta Arenas cruise visitors numbers up 30% during the 2014/15 season

  

  Cruise visitors to Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile during this last 2014/15 season increased by 30%, with 48 vessel calls between last October and April this year, according to Chilean migration and international police records. This represents 78.872 cruise passengers, and is an increase over the 35 calls from the previous season 2013/2014.

• Thursday, April 16th 2015 - 08:30 UTC

  Norovirus outbreak on two cruise ships off the coasts of Mexico and California

  

  Hundreds of Royal Caribbean passengers were stricken with acute gastrointestinal ailments, including vomiting and diarrhea, on two cruise ships off the coasts of Mexico and California earlier this week. The debilitating illness was identified as norovirus, outbreaks of which aren’t uncommon on cruise ships, especially during the winter season.