Tourism

• Wednesday, March 10th 2010 - 19:24 UTC

  China plans to buy 218 commercial aircraft this year

  

  China mainland carriers plan to order as many as 218 commercial aircraft this year in order to cope with an expected surge in demand for air travel in the coming years, state media reported this week.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 21:10 UTC

  Cruise along Brazilian coast suffers alleged massive food poisoning

  

  Royal Caribbean’s Vision of the Seas was liberated and allowed to continue with the cruise after Brazilian sanitary officials imposed a 24 hours quarantine following a massive outbreak of what is believed to be food poisoning.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 20:32 UTC

  Chile’s tourism industry fears long term effects of quake and aftershocks

  

  The tourism industry in Chile has been hit hard as travellers cancel trips to the disaster-struck country. Since the 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit Saturday, Andes Hostel in Santiago has received five to six cancellations per day, an employee told the Santiago Times.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 04:31 UTC

  Santiago airport reopens domestic terminal and activity should reach 50%

  

  Passenger traffic at Santiago de Chile’s main airport should reach 50% of normal activity on Thursday following the increase in commercial airlines flight numbers and the reopening of the domestic air terminal, reports the Chilean Civil Aeronautic Agency.

• Thursday, March 4th 2010 - 04:13 UTC

  Giant waves ram cruise in Mediterranean killing two

  

  Two people have been killed and six injured as giant waves slammed into a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, the ship's owners have said. The 8 metres high rogue waves hit the Cypriot-owned Louis Majesty off the north-east coast of Spain.

• Tuesday, March 2nd 2010 - 19:45 UTC

  An estimated 3.000 passengers waiting in Punta Arenas to fly back to Santiago

  

  Almost 3.000 people remained stranded Monday in Magallanes region, extreme south Chile, since Saturday’ devastating quake forced the temporary closure of Santiago’s main air terminal, according to reports in Punta Arenas.

• Tuesday, March 2nd 2010 - 04:29 UTC

  Lan resumes 15% of flights; priority bringing to Santiago stranded passengers

  

  Beginning Tuesday Lan Airlines resumes flying a skeleton national and international schedule out of a tent at the Santiago airport, according to a short notice from the Chilean flag carrier company.

• Saturday, February 27th 2010 - 08:13 UTC

  Docking in windy weather Costa cruise slams into Egypt pier killing three

  

  A Costa Cruises ship crashed into a pier early Friday as it was docking at the Red Sea port of Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt, killing three crew members and injuring several passengers. The accident occurred amid stormy windy weather across Egypt.

• Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:57 UTC

  Rio’s Carnival takes off: “I order everyone to have fun”

  

  Rio do Janeiro's four-day Carnival officially kicks off Saturday with a long list of celebrities in town to watch the main event, which this year is dominated by a row over a seven-year-old girl joining the ranks of the sexy adult samba queens.

• Saturday, February 13th 2010 - 07:37 UTC

  Thirteen cruise vessels visit South Georgia during January

  

  Thirteen cruise ships visited this month South Georgia, according to the SG Newsletter. This included a vessel new to SG, the 112 passenger “Plancius”. However one vessel, l “Clelia II” had to cancel her visit after striking rocks with her propeller at Petermann Island in the Antarctic Peninsula.