News

Tourists are turning their backs on Iceland because the country is resuming commercial whaling, a tour operator claims. Whale watching is one of Iceland’s main tourist attractions, but bookings have fallen 25 per cent in the two weeks since it has resumed hunting.Read more here.

The drive to protect its famous monuments and nature reserves continues to get stronger and stronger in China. Following a recent decision to pass its first set of laws against vandalizing the country s legendary Great Wall, China has now stepped up protection of its state-level nature reserves to crack down on activities such as

The Timeshare Directive was adopted in 1994 and gives timeshare buyers rights throughout the European Union. It applies to any timeshare contract made under the law of an EU country or where the property is in the European Economic Area (EEA). All Member States have implemented the directive into their national law.A public consultation on

To protect passengers against the threat of liquid explosives, the European Union has adopted new security rules that restrict the amount of liquids that one can take through security checkpoints.The new rules apply from Monday, 6 November 2006 at all airports in the EU and in Norway, Iceland and Switzerland until further notice.Details can be

1. Red Seal is an Ontario (Canada) tour operator. 2. It entered into three “Guarantee Contracts” with the Ontario-based representative of six Caribbean hotels. The Guarantee Contracts dealt with general issues such as no black-out periods, no bumping of Red Seal pax, no better terms to a Red Seal competitor, etc. None of these Guarantee

A new generation of United States passports, equipped with short-range radio tags, are beiing distributed . More than 15 million Americans are expected to apply for and receive the high-tech document in the next year. Within a decade, every US passport will contain an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip.Privacy advocates are raising concerns that the

Officials in Thailand say three months of flooding have turned the foundations of the ancient city of Wiang Kum Kam into mud. Wiang Kum Kam was originally founded around 1286 by King Meng Rai and became the capital of the Lanna kingdom before flooding forced the ruler to move his capital to Chiang Mai. The

First Mercosur Tourism Law Congress: Radisson Hotel, Montevideo, 9-10 November 2006 Tourism advocates of Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Mexico, Spain, Venezuela and Bolivia. Further information: www.fcu.com.uy(Originally posted by Diego Benítez)

The Western Australia government has imposed new strict standards for adventure tourism operators, in a move to protect tourists following some near tragedies in the state’s wilderness areas.Under the new legislation, accreditation will be compulsory for all adventure tourism operators. Details here.

Iceland’s government announced a plan to build what the prime minister referred to as soon-to-be Europe’s largest national park.The establishment of Vatnajokull national park is the largest nature protection project in Iceland to date. The national park will not only provide a platform for protection of the unique nature of the area, but also create