Tourism

• Friday, January 9th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Plan to encircle Rio's favelas triggers controversy

  Plans to surround a Rio de Janeiro favela (slum) with a 650-metre-long concrete barrier have come under fire from environmentalists, human rights activists and residents who describe it as “discriminatory” and in the best “Gaza wall” style.

• Friday, January 9th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Falkland Islands: Weekly Penguin News Update

  

  Headlines: MBE for dedicated music teacher; Kayakers set out to circumnavigate the Islands

• Wednesday, January 7th 2009 - 20:00 UTC

  Dakar rally in Argentina claims motorcyclist life

  French motorcyclist Pascal Terry has been found dead after being reported missing on Sunday during the second stage of the Dakar Rally which was relocated to Argentina and Chile for its 31st edition.

• Wednesday, December 31st 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  NY becomes US number 1 tourist city with 47 m. visitors

  

  New York City attracted an estimated 47 million visitors and $30 billion in total spending in 2008, both record highs according to figures released by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and confirming the Big Apple as the projected number one tourist city of the United States.

• Tuesday, December 30th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Dakar rally spirit invades Buenos Aires ready for launching

  

  More than ten thousand people and 500 vehicles turned up on Monday in Buenos Aires, for the official launching of the 2009 Dakar Rally, which for the first time will be disputed outside Africa and takes off next January 3 from the Argentine capital covering 9.600 kilometres of Argentine and Chilean territory.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  EU Court rules airlines must compensate for technical problems

  Airlines must pay compensation to passengers whose flights are cancelled because of technical problems with the plane, European judges ruled this week.
  
  The only exception, said the European Court of Justice, is if the technical problems are caused by “extraordinary” events outside the normal activities of the airline - such as terrorism or sabotage or a hidden manufacturing fault which suddenly comes to light.

• Monday, December 29th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Damien Hirst Mexico vacation with SAS bodyguards

  Damien Hirst, the British artist with a personal fortune estimated in excess of 300 million US dollars has hired four personal bodyguards who are all former members of the SAS, British special forces.

• Sunday, December 28th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Forty days repairs for “Ushuaia” in Punta Arenas dry dock

  The Panamanian flagged cruise vessel Ciudad de Ushuaia that in early December ran aground close to the Antarctic Peninsula should be ready to resume her activities in 30/40 days time according to sources from Asmar Magallanes, the yard in Punta Arenas, extreme south of Chile where she is undergoing repairs.

• Thursday, December 25th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  Four cruises and 8.000 visitors on one day in Punta del Este

  

  Uruguay's main sea side resort renowned Punta del Este received this week four cruise vessels simultaneously and although not all of the 8.000 passengers landed a significant percentage did make it ashore, establishing a record visit.

• Wednesday, December 24th 2008 - 20:00 UTC

  South Georgia tourism ecosystem research project

  

  Two researchers, who are part of a joint Research Project by Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) and the Sub-Antarctic Foundation for Ecosystems Research (SAFER) spent three weeks at South Georgia Island in November for the start of a tourism monitoring project for the South Georgia Government.