New Alabama Memorial to Racist Lynchings
Posted on 08/17/2016, 4:00 AM
It's been a long road, but the state of Alabama will receive major acknowledgment of its role in some of America's most painful historical moments. Equal Justice Initiative, a Montgomery-based legal rights organization, unveiled formal plans for a six-acre complex overlooking the city that will include a national memorial, The Memorial to Peace and Justice. The design calls for a forest of 801 ...
Ticket to New Harry Potter Play Costs $10,768
Posted on 08/16/2016, 4:00 AM
London's newest tourist attraction is Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, a two-part sequel to the Harry Potter books. Bizarrely for the most popular character franchise of all time, author J.K. Rowling, whose judgment is usually so unerring, decided it should first be not a film, which everyone can enjoy, but a play, which only 1,400 people at a time can see. Worse, the play is in two parts, re...
Rare Michael Jackson Icons Move to Vegas
Posted on 08/16/2016, 4:00 AM
Michael Jackson may be gone, but he has found new live as a tourist attraction. The Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas has convinced the estate of Michael Jackson to loan it some of its most important mementos to promote the Michael Jackson ONE show by Cirque du Soleil—its second Jackson-themed show, after its Immortal World Tour, to pack houses. The original, 10-foot-tall statue of...
This Hotel is in Two Countries at Once
Posted on 08/16/2016, 4:00 AM
The Hotel Arbez in the European village of La Cure is, bizarrely, located in two countries at once. Originally a grocery/pub, the building was bureaucratically cleaved in two when an 1862 border revision—everyone wanted the land because of the strategic importance of the nearby Vallee des Dappes—drew the line between France and Switzerland right through it. In 1921, it became a hotel. Now the...
Dubai Detains Tourist for Being Transgender
Posted on 08/15/2016, 4:00 AM
Canadian transgender YouTube personality Gigi Gorgeous says she was detained in Dubai's airport, interrogated for five hours, and summarily denied entry to the United Arab Emirates. An airport security agent in Dubai told her that he was informed that she was transgender, she says, and in a strong reminder that full North American freedoms cannot yet be exported to other parts of the world, ...
Using a Mobile Phone in Flight? That'll Be $7,500
Posted on 08/15/2016, 4:00 AM
China's not putting up with any more monkey business, do you hear? A draft amendment to the country's Civil Aviation Law calls for fines of up to 50,000 yuan (USD $7,535) for passengers who turn on their mobile phones or other electronic devices. The rules may have softened in the United States, where aircraft tends to be equipped with anti-interference systems, but in China, where ...
Booking.com Pulls Plug on Last-Minute App
Posted on 08/15/2016, 4:00 AM
After only a year and half on the market, Booking.com is euthanizing Booking Now, its app specifically designed for last-minute hotel deals. When it was released in January 2015, Booking Now was hailed by publications such as Wired as a probable silver bullet to slay reigning last-minute hotel deals app Hotel Tonight. It even expanded development to include iOS, Android, and the Apple Wat...
Bali Tourism Could Collapse with Alcohol Ban
Posted on 08/12/2016, 4:00 AM
Tourism leaders are sounding the alarm in Indonesia, where two Islamist parties have jointly presented a bill to ban the sale of alcohol throughout the nation of Indonesia. Illegally distilled spirits have caused a few deaths over the years, and last year, the country instituted Ministerial Regulation No. 6/2015, which restricted the sale of beer and some pre-mixed alcoholic drinks to ...
Hotel for People with Autism to Open
Posted on 08/12/2016, 4:00 AM
Not so long ago, the Elephant on the Tyne was one of the most dreadful hotel-restaurants in England. "Stay away from this place if you can help it," moaned one typical online review. Or: "The location is great with a nice view over the [River] Tyne... everything else about this place was bad—so the view only helped you wish that you were somewhere else." What better place to start o...
American Airlines Makes In-Flight TV Free
Posted on 08/12/2016, 4:00 AM
Looks like JetBlue and Virgin America have finally forced the monolithic major carriers to up their games. A few months ago, Delta finally recognized one of the things passengers love about its competitors and announced it would make its in-flight entertainment systems free. Now American Airlines has finally followed suit. Previously, the airline offered a paltry complimentary selec...