
Mention the word “tourist” and you can be forgiven for recalling the expectorations, feeble linguistic skills and criminally small swimming briefs of this homogenous traveller “race.” But not everyone’s like that.

No one would relish a match against the host nation of the Rugby World Cup, but Argentina, unless the improbable happens next weekend, will face the “All Blacks” in the quarter-finals on 9th October.

With just a few hours to go until World Tourism Day (September 27), the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has announced the five photos and five “tweets” from among the hundreds of entries submitted to the 2011 World Tourism Day (WTD) competitions that best reflect the 2011 theme, “Tourism – Linking Cultures”.

The new campaign by Chile’s National Tourism Service (Sernatur) aims to make tourism the third largest sector of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020. The campaign will be launched on Jan. 1, 2012.

IATA, (International Air Transport Association) announced an upgrading of its industry profit expectations to 6.9 billion dollars, up from 4 billion projected in June. IATA emphasized that, despite the improvements, profitability at these levels is still exceptionally weak (1.2% net margin) considering the industry’s total revenues of 594 billion dollars.

Brazil’s celebration of the 1,000-day countdown to the 2014 is being marred by construction delays as striking workers and government foot-dragging hurt preparations for the soccer tournament.

Two people have died in a fire that broke out in the engine room of a Norwegian fjord cruise ship, forcing hundreds to evacuate and injuring up to a dozen. The ferry had 262 people on board, of which roughly 200 were passengers.

The prestigious British magazine Condé Nast Traveller has nominated the Hotel Salto Chico in Chilean Patagonia among the Americas and Caribbean best hotels.

Chilean Patagonia Torres del Paine national park has been nominated as the best place in the world for trekking and outdoor activities according to the latest rating from Wikiexplora, reports Santiago’s El Mercurio.

International tourism grew by almost 5% in the first half of 2011 totalling a new record of 440 million arrivals according to the World Tourism Organization, the United Nations organization for the sector.