sawah on line in DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - Lonely Planet, the leading travel publisher, has named Dominican Republic as one of its Top 10 Countries for 2013 in its annually published Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2013. Lonely Planet draws upon the input of its staff, authors and online community for recommendations for the book, with the final list being decided upon by an in-house panel of experts. Lonely Planet's top ten countries are chosen based on their diverse activities, exciting adventures, rich culture, off-the-beaten-track credibility or overall X-factor. Dominican Republic and the other nine countries are destinations Lonely Planet thinks travelers should go to due to something special going on that year, recent development, a lot of buzz, or that they are up-and-coming and therefore should be visited before the crowds set in. "We chose the Dominican Republic for Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2013 as the country has all the elements of a perfect vacation destination," said Catherine Craddock-Carrillo, Commissioning Editor for the Americas. "With sun-drenched beaches, ecotourism, a rich culture of music and dance, influential art galleries and museums, and of course a warm and welcoming people, it's no surprise that the Dominican Republic is about to see a new wave of visitors." "We are thrilled to be recognized by Lonely Planet as a 'Best in Travel 2013' destination. This recognition of our magnificent island nation's pristine nature, unparalleled culture and gastronomy underscores and affirms the growing awareness of the magical beauty and culture found only in Dominican Republic," said Magaly Toribio, Marketing Advisor for the Dominican Republic Ministry of Tourism. "Our famously friendly people, rich arts, museums, and dozens of national parks and protected areas attract new visitors each year who return often to enjoy our world-class resorts and refreshing sun, sea and sand." With eight international airports, three major cruise terminals and dozens of international marinas, Dominican Republic is closer than you think with direct two- to three-hour flights from most major U.S. gateways. imgr[3] = 

Infrastructure investment key to Lebanon’s meetings and events sector

GIBTM 2013 road show to wrap up in Beirut as government and tourism leaders meet to discuss ways to capitalise on the country’s international appeal Lebanon’s potential as a destination for meetings and incentives industry is under the economic spotlight, with IDAL, the country’s investment authority highlighting the sector as a future driver for foreign direct investment, as tourism representatives come together in the run up to the 2013 Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition (GIBTM). Ahead of the March 2013 event, Reed Travel Exhibitions, organiser of GIBTM, is taking to the road for a series of brand new GCC and Levant-focused education and networking forums for Meetings, Business Travel and Incentive based companies to gain insight and knowledge in order to enhance their trade show experience. Entitled ‘GIBTM Talks: Maximising your ROI’, the road show will commence on 14th October in Muscat and run through 18th October, visiting Doha, Manama, Amman and Beirut. “Travel and tourism investment is forecast to cross US$865 million by 2022, and this is encouraging the country’s tourism leaders and government to seriously address the fundamentals needed to raise Lebanon’s profile on the tourism map,” said Lois Hall, Exhibition Manager for GIBTM, the leading platform for the incentive, business travel and meetings industry in the Middle East, which takes place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre (ADNEC) on 25-27 March 2013. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) estimates, Lebanon’s tourism sector will contribute US$ 4.3 billion to the economy in 2012, equivalent to around 10% of GDP. WTTC expects direct sector contribution to the economy to grow by 4.5% travel and tourism GDP is forecast to grow by 3.7% per annum in the period 2012 to 2022, reaching US$2.04 in real terms in 2012 and its direct contribution to employment to rise by 3%. Over the period 2012-2022 the travel and tourism economy in Lebanon is expected to grow by 3.2% annually against a Middle East average of 4.2%. The GIBTM road show will reach Beirut on 18h October 2012, offering added value support to Lebanon’s meetings and events sector. The educational and networking forum, which is supported by the Lebanon Ministry of Tourism, will be held at the Mövenpick Hotel & Resort Beirut, under the theme ‘Maximise Your ROI’. “Our popular road show events are an invaluable opportunity for existing and potential exhibitors to gain insight and knowledge in order to enhance their GIBTM event experience, as well as pick up some great tips and techniques on using the latest social media tools to maximise business both pre- and post show,” said Hall. “Business travel remains an important factor in augmenting tourism and hospitality revenues and with facilities like the Beirut International Exhibition & Leisure Center offering flexible tailor-made space, the stage is already set for Lebanon to capitalise on new opportunities,” she added. Rafic Hariri International Airport recorded an 11.9 % increase in passenger arrivals in the first half of the year against 2011 figures, according to a Bank Audi Q2 2012 economic report, boosting hotel occupancies in Beirut by 11% to 65% year-on-year in the same period despite an aggregated 7.89% decline in tourist numbers. Visitors from Iraq accounted for 8.3% of arrivals followed by the US with 7.8% and the French and Saudis tied at 7.4%. The Lebanese tourism ministry is also reportedly talking to low cost carriers including easyJet, Monarch Airlines and Ryanair in a bid to boost tourism. Now in its seventh year, GIBTM attracts in excess of 2,400 industry professionals annually. New for the 2013 edition, and in response to increasing demand for business travel services in the region, GIBTM has launched its first dedicated Business Travel Pavilion. The show also hosts 300 regional and international senior level buyers, through the Hosted Buyer Programme, with a combined budget of over US$827 million, who through 7,600 pre-scheduled appointments over the two and a half-day exhibition, meet with more than 350 exhibitors from 36 different countries. For more information, and to register as a delegate for the ‘GIBTM Talks: Maximizing forum on 18th October 2012, please log onto: http://www.gibtm.com/en/Exhibiting/GIBTM-Talks/ -Ends- Photo caption: A busy show floor at GIBTM 2012 Notes to the editor GIBTM GIBTM forms part of the Reed Travel Exhibitions Meetings, Events and Business Travel Portfolio along with AIME (www.aime.com.au), GIBTM (www.gibtm.com), CIBTM (www.cibtm.com) AIBTM (www.aibtm.com) and Business Travel Market (www.businesstravelmarket.co.uk). GIBTM is the annual global meetings and incentive exhibition held in Abu Dhabi, UAE. GIBTM is ABC Audited every year to guarantee that the number of visitors promoted is completely accurate and are unique attendees only. Reed Travel Exhibitions Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry. Its wide-ranging portfolio of events around the globe covers leisure travel, luxury travel, business travel and the meetings and incentives industry. The 13 events are; World Travel Market (WTM), Arabian Travel Market (ATM), International French Travel Market (IFTM), La Cumbre, International Golf Travel Market (IGTM), International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), International Luxury Travel Market Asia (ILTMA), Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) (owned by Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau), Global Exhibition for Incentive, Business Travel, and Meetings (EIBTM), Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (GIBTM), Americas Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (AIBTM), China Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (CIBTM) and Business Travel Market. 2012 sees the launch of two exciting new events with The Spa & Wellness Summit taking place in Austria Tyrol (10-12 September) and ILTM Americas launching in Mayakoba, Mexico (1-3 October). Furthermore, April 2013 will see RTE launch World Travel Market Latin America in São Paulo, Brazil (23-25 April). In 2011 RTE’s 13 events were the catalyst for £2,807 million worth of travel and tourism business deals. RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions. Please follow GIBTM on:

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2.7 hectare ‘Crystal Lagoons’ to be built in US$600 million Sharm El Sheikh luxury resort

Chilean company to showcase quartet of MENA projects at Cityscape Global; including latest Egyptian project as development of world’s largest crystalline lagoon gets underway Dubai, 26 September 2012 - Crystal Lagoons Corp. the patented technology developer of giant crystalline lagoons, returns to Cityscape Global this October, as the company’s Middle East & North Africa business continues to expand. With major projects in five countries and over 40 locations around the region, Crystal Lagoons will be showcasing under-development initiatives in Jordan, Turkey and the UAE, as well as revealing its latest project, a second saltwater lagoon in the popular tourist resort of Sharm El Sheikh. “Our second Sharm El Sheikh project will be the centerpiece of a new US$600 million luxury resort being developed by leading Egyptian tourism company Radamis for Hotels & Touristic Resorts. Aimed at the high-end traveler, the resort covers 75 hectares with 2,500-rooms across three separate hotels and 2.7 hectare lagoon offering an unlimited selection of water sports”, said Kevin P. Morgan, the newly appointed CEO of Crystal Lagoons Corp. The Radamis’ Sharm El Sheikh resort is Crystal Lagoons’ latest Egypt project with the company already licensing its technology in what will be the world’s largest manmade lagoon as part of the Citystars Sharm El Sheikh resort. This 12-hectare ‘mega lagoon’ will surpass the current Guinness Book of World Records holder, Chile’s San Alfonso del Mar resort, Crystal Lagoons’ first project. Part of a mixed-use project developed in partnership with Egypt’s Golden Pyramid Group, Citystars Sharm El Sheikh will feature a series of 10 saltwater lagoons, covering a combined area of 100 hectares and including the world’s largest lagoon, to create a unique desert oasis and new tourism landmark for the region. The development, which is currently under construction and expected to open before the end of the year, will offer 1.2 million square metres of residential units, hotels, golf courses, marinas, a museum and a commercial centre. “The Middle East and North Africa represents huge opportunity for Crystal Lagoons as investment in tourism infrastructure continues to grow. The UNWTO has forecast a respectable 3-4% growth for the region this year and our portfolio of projects continues to attract attention from flagship tourism destinations across the Middle East,” remarked Morgan. “Our uniquely innovative concept is backed by patented technology and offers a strong competitive advantage that we believe will be the catalyst to revolutionize the leisure experience in the real estate and tourism markets,” he added. Crystal Lagoons’ portfolio also includes The Dead Sea Lagoon in Jordan, a project in partnership with leading Jordanian real estate developer Sama Jordan. Located 31 kilometers from Amman, the US$160 million project includes 1,000 guestrooms and a three-hectare crystalline lagoon bordered by private white sand beaches. The only global company with the technological capability to make the development of giant controlled manmade bodies of water economically viable, Crystal Lagoons is positioning itself as offering a unique product differentiator to high profile tourism projects around the world. “Our technology makes it possible for people to enjoy a taste of beach life in previously unimaginable places such as the desert or in the heart of major cities; and this has the potential to create new tourism hotspots and bring the leisure lifestyle directly to the market,” remarked Morgan. Designed to be self-cleaning, the lagoons only require topping up in response to evaporation and use up to 100 times less chemicals than traditional pool systems, and only two per cent of the energy required by conventional filtering technologies. The largest real estate event in the Middle East, Cityscape Global 2012 takes place from 2-4 October at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. -ENDS- Crystal Lagoons is located in hall 8, stand number 8D50. Photo caption: The 2.7 hectare Crystal Lagoon, under development by Radamis for Hotels & Touristic Resorts in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. ABOUT CRYSTAL LAGOONS Crystal Lagoons Corporation is an international innovation company that has developed and patented technology that allows for the low-cost construction and maintenance of unlimited size bodies of water in crystal-clear condition. Patented in 160 countries, Crystal Lagoons’ technology applications range widely from its recreational business, which brings the dream of idyllic beach life to any corner of the world, to its industrial variations in closed-circuit cooling, water desalination and applications for the mining industry. In less than three years since its formation, Crystal Lagoons Corporation has seen exponential growth and is currently involved in over 200 projects in more than 50 countries, including Egypt, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Singapore, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Paraguay and United States. Media contact Josse Dulka Senior Account Executive Shamal Marketing Communications Dubai, United Arab Emirates Tel: +9714 365 2711 E-mail: josse@smc-pr.com

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sw associates joined alliance ictp

International Council of Tourism Partners announces SW Associates in Washington DC has joined alliance The International Council of Tourism Partners (ICTP) announced today that SW Associates, based in Washington, DC, USA, has joined its alliance. SW Associates, partners, and affiliates have managed and participated in tourism and related development programs and projects around the world. Scott Wayne, President of SW Associates, said: “We are pleased to join the International Council of Tourism Partners. We are an international tourism development consulting practice focused on sustainable development through tourism. SW Associates has worked on tourism development opportunities, issues, and challenges on every continent and continually strives to contribute to well-managed, ecologically- and culturally-sensitive tourism. Mr. Wayne, a former UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and World Travel&Tourism Council (WTTC) official, noted: “ICTP’s commitment to quality in all aspects of destination management and development, as well as its emphasis on ‘green growth,’ is very much in line with our focus on sustainability. Solutions come from sharing information and benefiting from the development experiences of destinations around the world. ICTP offers a great platform for accomplishing this. We look forward to contributing to and benefiting from the alliance.” The Chairman of ICTP, Juergen T. Steinmetz, said: “SW Associates has provided destination development for a number of emerging tourist destinations. Currently, Scott is working with our ICTP academy member, Rwanda, and we are so pleased to have Scott and his expertise joining ICTP. We invite private stakeholders in ICTP member regions, or doing business to further tourism in ICTP member regions, to join our alliance. We're gratified that SW Associates is taking this important step and applaud the company for its commitment to green growth for the destinations it has projects in.” For more information about SW Associates, visit www.sw-associates.net .

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Keep Egypt back on track

Egypt is eager to get back on track with its depressed tourist sector which took a nose dive since "revolution" took hold of the country, just over a year ago. Tourism dropped 33% in 2011, over 2010 figures. Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Egypt's Minister of Tourism has benchmarked 2017 as the year to surpass the 30 million visitor mark – up from last year's drop of about 10 million. At the ITB Berlin, the minister underlined the country's strong potential at diversifying its tourism sector. He put focus on attracting religious and adventure travellers – boasting Egypt's ancient religious sites that are holy to both Christians and Muslims. Furthermore, he told reporters that his country was going to invest more into eco-tourism projects. Egypt expects future growth in incoming tourism to be fueled by Argentina, Brazil, China and India. However, currently, most visitors to Egypt hail from Europe and Egypt's tourism authorities know how imperative it will be to find ways to attracting visitors back to the Nile valley – if the country is to have any kind of fiscal sustainability – being extremely dependent on tourism capital. A round-table discussion at the ITB Berlin brought together Egypt's Deputy Minister of Tourism, Hisham Zaasou and Amr El Ezabi, Chairman of the Egyptian Tourism Authority together with some of the biggest names of the tourism industry - namely: Paul Schwaiger, Sun Express; Peter Fankhauser, CEO Thomas Cook; Peter-Mario Kubsch, Managing Director of Studiosus Study and Language Travel; Volker Boettcher, Managing Director TUI; Detlef Altmann, AirBerlin; and Soeren Hartmann, Head of Rewe Touristik. All present were very optimistic about Egypt's future in tourism. They applauded the Egyptian government's offer to instill financial incentives to attract tour operators back into the country. Hisham Zaasou promised that the government would review the country's extremely high airport tax and make efforts at lowering it – an issue which was most pressing for Paul Schwaiger of Sun Express, a smaller destination-based carrier. Both Schwaiger and Detlef Altmann of Air Berlin, Germany's second largest carrier with the highest frequency of flights to Egypt were optimistic that their current capacity of 80% would go up in the near future, if political demonstrations stayed at a minimum and if airport taxes could be lowered or offset by subsidies. Both lamented that the combination of the Egyptian landing tax and the newly year-old German departure tax – as well as a proposed EU tax – were detriments to their business. Thomas Cook's CEO, Peter Fankhauser believes that if the Egyptians will find a way to offset these costs, then tourism will be back on track sooner than expected – although he was not as optimistic as Hisham Zaasou, who suggested that 2010 levels could be achieved again by the end of this year. Airlines such as Air Berlin and Sun Express were able to maintain modestly filled flights – but only due to their service to destinations on the Sinai Peninsula – far from the Cairo demonstrations. However, tourism to the Nile Valley, including Cairo was rock-bottom. Air Berlin and the TUI Group were able to offset a lot of these losses by encouraging would-be Egypt travellers to go to the Canary Islands instead – a medium haul destination attractive to Central European travelers. However, Peter-Mario Kubsch, Managing Director of the Studiosus Travel Company was less optimistic than most other members of the round table discussion. Studiosus, which offers a combination of study and language travel, is very dependent on cultural and urban centers such as Cairo. His company's segment of the Egyptian tourism market dropped dramatically – despite the fact that incidences against tourists were low to non-existent, even in the Nile valley. "There is still too much uncertainty," Kusch believes. He underlined that a study trip to Egypt simply needs to include Cairo – adding that resort holiday attracts a completely different segment of travellers. Despite his uncertainly, Kusch was optimistic that those people not going to Egypt now were only postponing their trip there rather than cancelling it all together. Volker Boettcher of TUI agreed with Kusch in sustaining that resort tourism would be the first segment to recover – being far away from the political unrest and demonstrations that have occurred frequently over the past year in the urban centers of the Nile, primarily Cairo. The steady rise in resort tourism, on the Sinai, supports this view, according to Boettcher. Boettcher's confidence was also underlined in his company's current investment in their properties located in Egypt. "We would not be investing millions into our properties in Egypt if we did not see a bright future there," Boettcher said. Although Soeren Hartmann of Rewe Touristik does not agree that 2010 levels will be reached by the end of 2012, he does agree with Boettcher about the bright future. "Bookings are going up steadily. Also, it is amazing how fast customers forget about unrest which canvassed our television screens... As soon as political issues are out of the news, the traveler will come back," Hartmann believes. Hartmann does agree that business will grow dramatically by the 2012/2013 winter season – perhaps not as high as the Egyptians anticipate. He believes that needs to go up because the only other mid-haul destination available to his customers, the Canary Islands, cannot compete with the cultural heritage of Egypt. "You can only recommend them to detour to the Canary Islands once or twice – but not indefinitely," Hartmann said. Both Hisham Zaasou and Amr El Ezabi were confident that Egypt’s current role as ITB-Berlin "Partner Country" would give their country the necessary boost to regain confidence among the tourist operators. "In 2011, we have clearly segmented Egypt tourism between 'Red Sea' and the 'Rest of Egypt'. Losses were around the Nile valley. But increases are very evident at the Red Sea – a resort destination. Now we need to invest and communicate that that things are stable in the Nile valley and that demonstrations are completely contained at one square in Cairo. If people can understand that, then they will return with confidence," El Ezabi believes. For now, all agree: business for the resort sector, mostly based in the Sinai will see significant growth continue. "If these numbers can go up further, if tour operators will come back in droves, then this will be good for us," Detlef Altmann said. "We only hope that they will share their growth with us," Peter Fankhauser added, tongue and cheek.

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خطيبة الامير ويليام والملابس الشفافة

فىالوقت الى تتجة فية الانظار الى كيت خطيبة الامير ويليام ،وعن تفضيلاتها فى الملابس التى ترديها ومقارنة ذلك بحماتها الراحلة الاميرة ديانا ، اكد عددا منمصممى الملابس ان الملابس الشفافة التى تظهر ما تحتها قد يكون من المناسب لكيت وبعيدا عن الملابس التقليدية التى قد تكون الطقوس الملكية البريطانية تراة ملائما لطقوس البروتوكول


استمع لتقرير سواح اون لاين راديو

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