Tourism

• Friday, January 24th 2014 - 03:33 UTC

  Ecuador airline suspends flights to Venezuela because of tickets' debts

  

  Ecuadorean airline Tame has suspended flights to Venezuela, demanding 43m dollars in overdue payments for tickets. Some 80 passengers were left stranded on Thursday at the airport in the Ecuadorean capital, Quito. Tame says the Venezuelan Central Bank has not transferred any money to its account in Ecuador since April 2013.

• Friday, January 24th 2014 - 03:28 UTC

  Falkland Islands cruise ship season looking “relatively healthy”

  

  The Falkland Islands cruise ship season is looking “relatively healthy” to date, according to Sulivan Shipping Tourism Coordinator Samantha Marsh, with a third of the estimated 45,000 (total) passengers scheduled still to visit during February. The season got underway in October and to date 12,300 passengers have landed from 41 vessels of varying sizes.

• Friday, January 24th 2014 - 02:07 UTC

  Blatter confident it will be a great Cup, after meeting Brazil president Rousseff

  

  FIFA president Sepp Blatter played down concern about sluggish World Cup preparations on Thursday, even when his deputy warned Curitiba must prove it can finalize work to remain a venue. Blatter met visiting Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at FIFA headquarters in Zurich and the pair both made positive noises about Brazil's ability to deliver come the big kick-off on June 12.

• Thursday, January 23rd 2014 - 21:22 UTC

  Christ the Redeemer head and hands under repairs but still open to the public

  

  Repairs have begun on Brazil's Christ the Redeemer statue after lightning damaged the 38 meters statue's head, right finger and thumb. The iconic statue of Christ overlooking Rio de Janeiro was struck again last week during a violent storm, damaging its right thumb.

• 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).