Australia Tourism Boost in 2016
Posted on 05/19/2017, 12:00 AM
Travel to Australia was big in 2016. According to Tourism Australia officials, the country received an estimated 8.3 million international visitors last year—an increase of 11%. Arrivals from the United States rose by 16%. The most tourists came from nearby New Zealand, followed by China, the U.K., and the U.S., in that order. If we were going to speculate on reasons for the spike in vis...
Meet Ozzie, the Only Giraffe in Nevada—And a Painter, Too
Posted on 05/18/2017, 12:00 AM
Travelers with overlapping interests in art and animals may want to add the Lion Habitat Ranch to their itineraries for any upcoming trips to Las Vegas. The animal sanctuary, which is actually located in suburban Henderson, is home to Ozzie, who holds the distinctions of being the only giraffe in Nevada and a prolific artist. With the help of trainers and an artist from local gallery Art ...
If You're Traveling to Australia from Asia, Beware Stowaway Toads
Posted on 05/17/2017, 12:00 AM
An Indonesian toad's wild ride had an unhappy ending in Australia last week. At Cairns Airport in the country's northeast, a sniffer dog brought a biosecurity officer's attention to a shoe being worn by a man who had just arrived from Indonesia. Discovered inside the shoe was a dead black-spined toad. And get this: Officials believe that the stowaway amphibian had only recently died and was...
In Development: A Supersonic Jet That Zips Between London and NYC in About Three Hours
Posted on 05/16/2017, 12:00 AM
Supersonic commercial air travel between London and New York—which has been on pause ever since the demise of Concorde in 2003—could resume in the not too distant future. Billionaire Richard Branson of Virgin Group has partnered with a startup called Boom Technology to develop a passenger jet that travels at more than double the speed of sound. That means you could cross the pond in only a...
Widest-Ever European River Cruise Ship Coming in 2019
Posted on 05/15/2017, 12:00 AM
River cruise line AmaWaterways has released details of the innovative design for the company's newest ship, the AmaMagna. Set to begin plying European waterways in 2019, the ship will be the widest cruising vessel on the continent—in fact, it will be twice as wide as the typical European river ship. All that space will allow AmaWaterways to throw a bunch of restaurants on deck as well as t...
American Writers Museum Opening Soon in Chicago
Posted on 05/11/2017, 12:00 AM
The first museum celebrating the collective achievements of the country's wordsmiths opens next week in Chicago. The privately funded American Writers Museum—which is located on the second floor of a building along the city's busy North Michigan Avenue—has a "populist, D.I.Y. spirit," according to the New York Times's preview of the facility. Instead of stuffy libraries full of yellowing lett...
A New Texas Law Will Turn Traffic Stops Into Interrogations of Drivers' Immigration Status
Posted on 05/10/2017, 8:00 PM
A Texas law requires state troopers to investigate the immigration status of drivers during routine traffic stops. The ACLU has issued a Texas travel alert in response....
The Discovery of an Octopus in a Miami Beach Car Park Poses a Threat to the City's Tourism
Posted on 05/10/2017, 8:00 PM
Sea levels are rising in Miami Beach—and that could permanently change life and tourism there....
Incredibly Steep Aerial Tram Soon to Open in Norway
Posted on 05/10/2017, 12:00 AM
What's being billed as the world's steepest aerial tram is set to open in Norway later this month. Dubbed the Loen Skylift after the village where it originates, the cable car climbs 3,300 feet up Mount Hoven in only about five minutes. Along the way, passengers get a spectacular view of the Nordfjord region's peaks and waterways. (Photo by Bard Basberg) Before heading back down the m...
False Alarm: EU Drops Threat to Require Visa of Americans
Posted on 05/08/2017, 1:15 PM
Europe is backing down. The European Commission has decided not to require Americans to obtain visas to travel to Europe—for now. The proposal to force Americans to secure paperwork for their visits has been kicking around the EU bureaucracy since late winter, a non-binding resolution was aired in the EU Parliament, but it failed to clear all the hurdles. Proponents of the visa were miffed ...
