Tag: tourism

Fagradalsfjail is erupting

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The restrained Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall on the Reykjanes peninsula stepped into the spotlight on the evening of March 19, 2021, when an eruptive fissure opened in the Geldingadalir valleys.

It had been quiet for over six thousand years, and is the first active volcano in the Reykjanes UNESCO Global Geopark area for 800 years…

Three weeks prior to the volcanic outbreak, an intense earthquake episode began on the Reykjanes peninsula near Fagradalsfjall mountain. It started with an M5,7 earthquake that stirred people in large parts of Iceland…

The earthquakes finally stopped, and everything was quiet for three days. But on a Friday evening, at 20:45 on March 19, 2021, people in Grindavík town and elsewhere on the Reykjanes peninsula reported a glowing light in the sky. No eruption tremor was detected, so the only way to confirm if an eruption had started was to have a look.

The eruption has been described as a “tourist eruption,” a term commonly used by Icelanders for minor eruptions that can easily be accessed. Of course, the usual thing to do when a volcano erupts is to get as far away as possible. But in Iceland, the “usual” response is the opposite. So Icelanders started flocking to the eruption site to look at the spectacular show nature was offering.

As noted any chance I get, Iceland is one of my favorite places on Earth. For obvious geophysical reasons, for the friendliness and openness of Icelandic culture. Get a chance? Go and visit.

Palau National Marine Sanctuary became law New Year’s Day

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A huge marine protected area surrounding much of the Pacific Island nation of Palau went into effect Jan. 1, 2020, after years of planning by local officials and advocates. Within the sanctuary, which covers 80 percent of Palau’s national waters, all extractive activities such as fishing and mining are now prohibited…

Palau, an archipelago made up of more than 500 islands, became a global leader in efforts to establish fully protected marine areas when its Congress voted in October 2015 to establish the Palau National Marine Sanctuary…Only about 7 percent of the world’s ocean is protected today, according to the United Nations, although a global consensus is building that at least 30 percent must be safeguarded by 2030 to protect ecosystems, preserve the livelihoods of coastal communities that depend on fishing, and increase resilience to a changing climate.

At 475,077 square kilometers (183,000 square miles) the fully protected area is one of the biggest in the world. The area is larger than the U.S. state of California and home to thriving marine life. Palau’s waters host more than 1,300 species of fish and more than 400 species of hard coral…

Bravo! A nation with an understanding of thoughtful economics, modern ethics and the courage to implement both.

Da Nang, VietNam – the Golden Bridge

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Click to enlarge — Bored Panda

❝ A new bridge that’s opened outside of Da Nang, Vietnam — aptly named the “Golden Bridge” — has quickly staked its claim to being one of the most stunning bridges on Earth.

❝ The Golden Bridge, which sits about 4,600 feet above sea level in the Bà Nà hills, is designed to look like it’s being held up by two massive stone hands.

The golden walkway supported by the hands extends on a curve that stretches nearly 500 feet long and is lined with purple lobelia chrysanthemums while offering stunning views of the Vietnamese countryside below…

❝ A 2017 report published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization ranked Vietnam’s tourism growth seventh globally, and Vietnam was the only country in Southeast Asia to reach the top ten on that list.

When I started blogging several years ago, my boss was/is a tech journalist with a global reputation. Since I was already retired, I asked him where in the world did he think was the best place to live as a retiree, fixed income, the usual American constraints. One answer. VietNam.

I haven’t moved; but, if I did, it is likely I’d check out his suggestion. Especially somewhere in the vicinity of Da Nang. In addition to the tourism plans noted in this article, business growth should be phenomenal over the next decade. You see, Da Nang will be a dual interchange in China’s ONE BELT, ONE ROAD blueprint for global trade. Both a seaport link and a rail link.

Restoring historic neon signs in New Mexico

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❝ There are nine new reasons to rediscover Route 66 in New Mexico. In 2003, nine vintage Route 66 neon signs have been restored to their former brilliance. From the wonderful TeePee Curio Shop sign in Tucumcari, to the wild and crazy neon Rotosphere in Moriarty, to the elegant Lexington Hotel sign in Gallup, the beauty and artistry of classic neon is once again dazzling and delighting Route 66 enthusiasts.

❝ There was a time when Mercury Meteors, Olds Rocket 88s, and the Pontiac Star Chiefs would trek through a galaxy of neon on Route 66. The streets with illuminated with a palette of ruby reds, sapphire blues, and emerald greens that broadcast promises of adventure, discovery, and gratification. Neon cowboys, Indians, sombreros, teepees, cactus, longhorn steers, thunderbirds, swallows, wiener dogs, ponies, and other critters and characters would come out at night to greet visitors. Places with neon lit names like the Bow and Arrow, the Royal Palacio, the Pig Stand, the Lariat, the Oasis, the Arrowhead, the Desert Sun, and the Trails West called out with invitations to stop and experience something unique.

RTFA. Just another reason traveling around our state remains fun. Sign restorations continue as do restorations on any old motel that comes up for sale.

Trump affects America’s tourist business the way we expected

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❝ Trump Tower, in midtown Manhattan, has become a modern-day Mount Vernon. Tourists have long visited George Washington’s homestead. Now they venture through Trump Tower’s brass doors to ogle the decor—“it’s so gold,” said a German teenager standing near the lobby’s waterfall on a recent afternoon—or buy souvenirs. The Choi family, visiting from South Korea, wandered the marble expanse with their new “Make America Great” hats (three for $50).

❝ The question for America’s hoteliers and airlines is whether such visitors are just anomalies. A strong dollar is one reason for foreigners to avoid visiting America. Donald Trump may prove another, suggests a growing collection of data. Yet measuring the precise impact of Mr Trump’s presidency on travel is difficult. In addition to the currency effect, many trips currently being taken to America were booked before his election. Marriott, a big hotel company, reported an overall increase, compared with a year earlier, in foreign bookings in America in February.

But Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s boss, has voiced concern about a potential slump in tourism. In February, ForwardKeys, a travel-data firm, reported that in the week after Mr Trump first tried to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, international bookings dropped by 6.5% against the same period in 2016. Hopper, a travel app, found that average daily searches for flights to America have declined in 99 countries since Mr Trump tried to issue his travel ban, compared with the last weeks of Barack Obama’s term. Russia is one of the few places where demand has risen…Tourism Economics, a forecaster, expects 2 million fewer foreign visits to America this year, a 1% drop from 2016. Without Mr Trump it had expected a 3% jump…

❝ The industry has been here before. International tourism in America slumped by around 3% each year from 2000 to 2006. Most analysts blame not only the attacks of 2001 but stricter visa rules and anti-American sentiment abroad. Countries that had the dimmest view of America, according to surveys during that period, tended to see drops in travellers there, says Adam Sacks of Tourism Economics. “We are facing a potential rerun,” he says…

I’m not surprised. Are you? I expect the most insular, if not xenophobic of Trump voters will think the question unimportant. Some people hate realtors. Some people hate travel agents. Usually for not very well thought-out reasons.

Ain’t any Trump Bump in tourism!

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❝ TRUMP Tower, in midtown Manhattan, has become a modern-day Mount Vernon. Tourists have long visited George Washington’s homestead. Now they venture through Trump Tower’s brass doors to ogle the decor—“it’s so gold,” said a German teenager standing near the lobby’s waterfall on a recent afternoon—or buy souvenirs. The Choi family, visiting from South Korea, wandered the marble expanse with their new “Make America Great” hats (three for $50).

The question for America’s hoteliers and airlines is whether such visitors are just anomalies. A strong dollar is one reason for foreigners to avoid visiting America. Donald Trump may prove another, suggests a growing collection of data. Yet measuring the precise impact of Mr Trump’s presidency on travel is difficult. In addition to the currency effect, many trips currently being taken to America were booked before his election. Marriott, a big hotel company, reported an overall increase, compared with a year earlier, in foreign bookings in America in February.

❝ But Arne Sorenson, Marriott’s boss, has voiced concern about a potential slump in tourism. In February, ForwardKeys, a travel-data firm, reported that in the week after Mr Trump first tried to ban travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, international bookings dropped by 6.5% against the same period in 2016. Hopper, a travel app, found that average daily searches for flights to America have declined in 99 countries since Mr Trump tried to issue his travel ban, compared with the last weeks of Barack Obama’s term. Russia is one of the few places where demand has risen…Tourism Economics, a forecaster, expects 2m fewer foreign visits to America this year, a 1% drop from 2016. Without Mr Trump it had expected a 3% jump…

❝ America’s main tourism lobby group is now urging Mr Trump, who presumably has some sympathy with other hoteliers, to emphasise that the country continues to welcome foreign visitors despite all the new security measures. The tourism agency for New York city, NYC & Company, is trying to counteract negative rhetoric from Washington, DC with advertisements in Britain, Germany, Mexico and Spain.

A bit more detail in the article. I wouldn’t expect any of this to be unexpected. George W gave us a similar present. And he was less boorish, less of an Ugly American.

Conservative PM in Oz has references to climate change removed from UN report

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❝ The lead author of a major UN report on climate change has expressed his shock that every reference to Australia was removed from the final version, following intervention from the Australian government.

❝ Guardian Australia on Friday revealed that chapters on the Great Barrier Reef and sections on Kakadu and Tasmanian forests were removed from the World Heritage and Tourism in a Changing Climate report, following the Australian Department of Environment’s objection that the information could harm tourism.

The Union of Concerned Scientists, which jointly published the report with the United Nations environment program and Unesco, published an independent statement on the reef this morning.

“The biggest threat to the GBR today, and to its ecosystems services, biodiversity, heritage values and tourism economy, is climate change, including warming sea temperatures, accelerating rates of sea level rise, changing weather patterns and ocean acidification.”

❝ Adam Markham of the UCS, the lead author of the report, said he was “really disappointed” by the revelation that parts of the document had been excised.

He also noted that with the removal of every mention of Australia went a number of positive stories about research and safeguards, including the protected area management strategies being tested to make Australian world heritage sites more resilient to change.

“Australia has a good story to tell about its climate science and it should tell it,” he said.

It never ends, does it. We had conservative thugs like George W in the US – and Harper in Canada – condemned by the world of science journalism for their creepy efforts at censorship. They think no one will notice, no one will stick a finger in their eye and point out their deceit.

Thanks, Honeyman

Schmallenberg cattle virus – the town at ground zero – UPDATED

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Somewhere among the dairy farms and forested hillsides of Schmallenberg, a picturesque district of 26,000 people in central Germany, a deadly new virus was born.

Or at least, that’s where it was first noticed a month before Christmas by scientists who examined a dead, new-born lamb with terrible deformities, on one of the 100 or so farms in the area. As is common in the world of science, the disease was named after the locality…

In the past few years Schmallenberg has made the best of its natural advantages to market itself very successfully as a healthy place for holidays close to nature. Since 2010 the town hall has worked hard to help farmers’ wives develop a lucrative sideline in farm stays where city families can enjoy life on a real working farm.

Becoming ground zero in an international disease outbreak has put all this in doubt. At the same time the livelihood of farmers who have lost lambs has been threatened.

By no means every farm has been hit, but there have been casualties, with affected farms losing as many as one in four of their new-born lambs and in some cases even 50 per cent…

Although plenty of farmers are prepared to talk openly about the virus, nobody will say exactly where in Schmallenberg it was first detected. The mayor said he did not know which farm was the first.

The mayor proudly pointed out that his town was founded in 1244. “Not much has happened since then,” he said with a wry grin. “Until now…”

“It was November 22,” Mr Halbe said, referring to the date when the disease was named after the town. The first cases were found in August.

As the scientists examined the corpse of the first dead lamb, the initial worry was that the disease could infect humans, through contact with farm animals or eating them. To everyone’s relief, that was deemed unlikely, although health agencies in Germany are still carefully monitoring farmers and vets who come into contact with infected herds.

The disease seems to move between species. Goats have been affected, and even bison. Scientists think adult cows have suffered fever and a drastic reduction in milk production, although so far none seem to have died from it…

Nowhere do Germans hope more fervently that the virus will fade away and quickly be forgotten. Then Schmallenberg can have its name back.

RTFA for the gory details – if you care to. The sort of disease particularly disturbing because it attacks in the womb.

UPDATE: The virus has crossed France and arrived in England. 74 farms in the UK affected, so far.