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Travel Hot News.com
is a member
of the principal international
press agencies
(CP, AFP, etc.) |
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| FLash | Down Under packages aimed at Canadian sun seekers
The usual winter vacation jaunt in search of warm weather takes Canadians to the Caribbean or southern U.S. _ but tourism officials in Australia would like to entice sun seekers farther afield. The country's official tourism arm, Tourism Australia, is promoting three new packages: four nights in Sydney and four nights in Melbourne, from $1,949; four nights in Sydney and four nights in Brisbane, from $1,949; four nights in Sydney and four nights in Cairns to visit the Great Barrier Reef, from $2,299. All packages include round-trip airfare from Vancouver, domestic flights in Australia and eight nights accommodation. Add-on prices from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa range from $250 to $375. |
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| Changes to Aérobus Shuttle Service |
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Aéroports de Montréal announces that beginning Monday, December 20, the Aérobus shuttle service between downtown Montréal and Montréal-Pierre-Elliott-Trudeau International Airport will change as follows:
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| Air Canada signs maintenance deal with International Lease Finance Corp. |
| CP |
 Air Canada Technical Services has signed a five-year agreement to provide maintenance services to International Lease Finance Corp., one of the world's largest aircraft leasing organizations. Financial terms of the deal were not released. However, Air Canada said Monday it will provide maintenance support for ILFC-owned Boeing 737s and 767s as well as Airbus A320s, A330s and A340s.
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| Gay chamber of commerce: SCOC ruling to translate into Canadian tourism boom |
| CP |
The Supreme Court's same-sex ruling has ``branded'' Canada a gay-friendly destination, which could be an economic boom for Canada's embattled tourism industry, says the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. Co-founder Bruce McDonald estimates that our ``new international image'' could draw more than $1 billion over the next three years, as the chamber works with governments and businesses to market Canada as a pro-gay destination. ``After 9/11, SARS and mad cow, this could be a potential comeback for people in the hospitality and tourism industry if they are ready to greet these tourists who've now found a destination they want to visit and experience – or to get married.''
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| US-VISIT Entry Procedures Begins Today |
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US-VISIT biometric entry procedures begin today in the secondary inspection areas at land ports of entry at the Detroit Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, Michigan. US-VISIT is on schedule to deploy to all of the 50 busiest land ports of entry by December 31, 2004. Visitors requiring an arrival/departure Form I-94 to enter the United States, including those traveling under the Visa Waiver Program, will be processed through US-VISIT at the secondary inspection area. US-VISIT processing involves the collection of two index fingerscans and a digital photograph.
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Jerusalem and Bethlehem seek visitors
at holiday season |
| AP |
For the first Christmas season in five years, Israel and the Palestinians are co-operating to boost tourism to encourage Christian pilgrims to visit the Holy Land during the holiday. The Israeli and Palestinian tourism ministers announced in a meeting last month – their first since fighting broke out in 2000 – that they intended to guarantee easy access for visitors travelling between Jerusalem and nearby Bethlehem, simplifying security checks. Christmas celebrations in the land Jesus walked once attracted tens of thousands of tourists. But in the last few years, violence has kept pilgrims away. Tourism has recently begun to rise again due to a marketing push and a renewed effort to maintain relative calm after Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death on Nov. 11.
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| High in the sky over Paris, the Eiffel Tower opens an ice skating rink |
| AP |
 Holiday on ice takes on new meaning when you're high above the rooftops of Paris doing figure-eights inside the Eiffel Tower. During the 115 years of the Eiffel Tower's existence, it has added refreshment stands, trinket shops and fancy restaurants – but nothing quite matches the skating rink in the sky that opened to the public Friday. Lodged between two of the tower's immense latticed steel legs, the rectangular rink is a little larger than a tennis court. It holds 80 skaters at once – half the capacity of New York City's Rockefeller Center rink. Few visitors seemed bothered by the rink's intimacy. ``I've never put on ice skates in my life. But this, I couldn't resist,'' said Swiss tourist Cecile Giacomotti, slowly skating hand-in-hand with her husband, Olivier, who summed up the ambience in one word: ``Fabuleux!''
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| FLash | American Airlines raises domestic fares to cover high cost of jet fuel
American Airlines says it is raising domestic fares by $5 one-way and $10 per round trip to cover the high cost of jet fuel. American said Friday that the increase took effect immediately for most domestic flights as well as those to Canada. American, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., said each one-cent increase in the price per gallon of jet fuel raises its costs more than $30 million a year. AMR expects to pay nearly $500 million more for jet fuel in the fourth quarter than it paid in the same period last year, and it expects its 2004 fuel bill to be more than $1 billion higher than last year, when it spent $2.77 billion. |
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| FLash | China Airlines jetliner aborts takeoff in Vancouver after striking bird
A China Airlines 747 aircraft bound for Taipei was forced to abort its takeoff last Friday at Vancouver International Airport after it apparently struck a bird. Airport spokeswoman Ali Hounsell said the plane stopped so abruptly that its brakes were smoking. Airline spokesman Michael Lo said it was the jet's fourth engine which was affected. ``It obviously is a big noise on the engine,'' Lo said. ``What we have checked so far, the engine is OK.'' The plane returned to the terminal where the 400 passengers were taken off. Emergency personnel surrounded the flight to make sure there was no fire. |
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| FLash | Zoom Airlines adds summer
flights to Wales
Zoom Airlines says it will add weekly service between Toronto and Cardiff, Wales, to its summer schedule beginning next May. One-way fares will start at $199 plus taxes. Sample round-trip fares, as shown on the airline's website, run from about $559 including taxes and fees. The Ottawa-based airline's other U.K. destinations are London, Manchester and Glasgow. |
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| FLash | Cypress Gardens theme park reopens
When Cypress Gardens opened in 1936, it was one of Florida's very first theme parks. But it closed in 2003, unable to compete with Disney, Universal and other contemporary attractions. It reopened Dec. 9 with a new name – Cypress Gardens Adventure Park – and 38 rides in addition to its traditional botanical gardens, water ski show and ``belles'' dressed in hoop skirts. Rides include the Triple Hurricane, a wooden coaster named for last summer's storms; Swamp Thing, an inverted coaster; and Okeechobee Rampage, a family coaster. There's also a river raft attraction called Storm Surge and a 35-metre plunge known as the Thunderbolt. The new park will also host live entertainment, with Lonestar, the Smothers Brothers and Aaron Carter scheduled for the coming months. |
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