April 21, 2007, 7:08 AM CT

The Mountain Gorillas of Uganda

When travelers palaver, one experience that gets everyone's rapt attention is an account of visiting mountain gorillas. It's a heart-piercing encounter you have doubtlessly heard good things about, and our Africa team has built this trip to give us the ?nest and most polite visit possible. We begin in Entebbe, then fly by charter to southern Queen Elizabeth National Park for two days before driving to the famous Gorilla Forest Camp. We'll spend three nights at the camp and two days in expertly guided, very careful and respectful search for and observation of the gorillas in their forest habitat. On our return to Entebbe we'll have a visit to the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary for a ?rsthand look at the groundbreaking chimpanzee conservation project.

Day 1: USA to London : Days 2 & 3: London to Entebbe, early morning arrival, Emin Pasha Hotel : Day 4: charter flight to Ishasha, game drives, Ishasha Wilderness Camp : Day 5: game drives : Day 6: morning game drives, drive to Bwindi, Gorilla Forest Camp : Days 7 & 8: trekking in search of gorillas : Day 9: charter flight back to Kajjansi, with afternoon excursion to Ngamba Island : Day 10: depart Entebbe for London : Day 11: London to USA, arriving same day......... Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 04:09:14 GMT

Blackstone to Acquire Tussauds Museums for $1.9 Billion

Private equity firm Blackstone Group has announced that it is buying the owner of Madame Tussauds waxworks museums for around 1 billion pounds ($1.92 billion) cash. The acquisition will also create the world’s second-biggest theme park group behind Walt Disney. Blackstone owned Merlin Entertainment has said that under the agreement it would pay Dubai International Capital 1.028 billion pounds in cash and a 20 percent stake in the combined company.

Dubai International Capital, the private-equity company had bought Tussauds in the year 2005 for 800 million. The combined business would overtake Universal Studios, which attracts 24 million people a year to its movie-themed resorts. The 11 Disney parks still remain the obvious leader, attracting around 100 million visitors a year.

Tussauds also manages the Alton Towers, Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures theme parks while Merlin operates 38 major attractions worldwide including as Legoland, Sea Life, Gardaland and Earth Explorer. Blackstone has ambitious planning to become the market leader in tourist based business. The group plans to invest between 60 million and 90 million euros (40.8 million-61.3 million pounds) every year to launch about four or five attractions.

New York based Blackstone, is planning to use the acquisition as a platform to expand further to become the world leader in location based, branded family entertainment. The takeover will also help Merlin to add Britain to its markets. Britain reportedly attracts around 32.2 million tourists from overseas each year. Moreover, at present the company is seems to be more focused on expanding its brands in America.

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Posted by: Balendu      Read more     Source

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 04:01:00 GMT

Dental Tourists Flocking India for Cheaper Treatments

Did you know that outsourcing was taking place in the arena of clinical dentistry too? India has been witnessing a steady influx of medical tourists from countries such as U.S, U.K and Gulf who are clubbing their holidays along with dental treatment since the cost of the high end dental care is pretty low as compared to other Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia or Singapore.

This is expected to generate employment for around a million people by the year 2012 and since India offers dental treatments at just one seventh of the costs of the developed nations, the medical tourism in India is expected to see around two billion people visit India by 2012. This will also lead to opportunities for other fields such as Health Insurance, Medical Value Travel, Medical Infrastructure, Medical Textiles and Training and Education too. It is expected to contribute by around 6.05% to the GDP. With its world class facilities India is expected to become a global healthcare hub and earn a good name in the field of international medicine too.

Via cybernoon

Posted by: Gautam      Read more     Source

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 02:54:38 GMT

Tourism for fighting poverty

The World Tourism Organization is pushing tourism as one way to fighaccording to this press release. The U.N. body believes 2007 is a critical year for tourism to become a key tool in sustainable development. So book your travel to the developing and newly developed states. My vote would be for Sri Lanka, and Taiwan is a great spot, especially if you get to the south and interior. I was in both places last year and would highly recommend them. If you're worried about unrest in Sri Lanka, most of it is confined to the north. So instead of that Paris trip, why not a visit to Romania? Instead of Egypt, why not the newly opened Libya? Instead of you could try Macau.

Against a projection of continuing worldwide growth in international tourism of more than 4% for international arrivals and revenues, Secretary-General Francesco Frangialli called for renewed effort to include sustainable tourism in the international development agenda, as a key tool to advance the Millennium Development Goals.

In other travel/international development news ...South African resort scoops four five-star awards at property 'Oscars'.

Posted by: mstandaert      Read more     Source

January 12, 2007, 4:51 AM CT

Travelers need to know more about diarrhea

Most people heading off to a sunny winter vacation in a foreign country know something about how to avoid a nasty case of travellers' diarrhea, but they don't know everything they should, as per a University of Alberta study.

A survey of 104 vacationers boarding flights for Mexico revealed that their general level of knowledge about the prevention of this condition was generally adequate; however, there were still some things they needed to know more about.

Of the travellers, surveyed as they boarded flights from the Calgary International Airport in March and April of 2005, more than 80 per cent knew that foods such as salad, partially cooked beef or chicken and ice cubes posed high risks for the illness. But only 47 per cent knew that chlorinated water is not always safe to drink, due to the resistance to chlorination among microorganisms such as Cryptosporidium. And while 96 per cent of the respondents knew that travellers' diarrhea could be contracted from bacteria, only 43 per cent knew that viruses could also be a cause. As well, only 55.8 per cent realized that hand-washing was an effective way to help ward off the sickness and 25 per cent of those surveyed wrongly identified fungi as sources of the diarrhea.

"The study showed that while these respondents are aware of the condition, they may not be aware of some important factors in avoiding and treating travellers' diarrhea," said Julie Johnson, lead author of the study and a PhD student in the Departments of Public Health Sciences and Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Read more         Source

December 31, 2006, 6:54 PM CT

365 Beaches For You In Puerto Rico

I was in Puerto Rico this weekend. Puerto Rico is the land of beaches. It is said that Puerto Rico has 365 beaches. People who love sea and beaches can have a fabulous time in this island. If you are keen you can visit a different stunning string of sand every day of the year.

The climate is more or less uniform, with occasional unpredictable rain. So you can start from the New Year day on Jan 1st and visit a different beach each day till December 31.

Good luck!........

Posted by: JoAnn      Read more

December 31, 2006, 6:32 PM CT

Have you ever seen a Racisson Hotel?

Have you ever seen a Racisson Hotel? This weekend I was in Puerto Rico and saw one. This is the new years eve and in the dark, the Racisson hotel stands out with unique sign.

Hmmm!........

Posted by: JoAnn      Read more

November 27, 2006, 4:36 AM CT

MSI M677 - Laptop with Crystals

If the Gold USB Hub got your attention, this laptop with crystals should probably have the same effect.

On the outside the MSI Crystal M677 has 120 pieces of Austrian crystal located on the laptop lid, while on the inside there is an AMD Turion 64 x2 processor that can handle 2GB of RAM memory. The whole package includes a built-in 1.3megapixel camera, a 15.4-inch screen, a DVD burner, a GeForce Go 7600 video card, and bluetooth + Wi-Fi on the connectivity sections.

It seems like the creators aren't only worried about the outside aspect and beauty, the performance is important too. On a serious note, I find it very silly how people waste money on gadgets that have jewelry, it is not suppose to be that way but since money falls of the trees to the rich personas, they are free to do whatever they want. At least this product combines top notch specifications with luxury instead of low quality specs.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

November 6, 2006, 8:30 PM CT

Sony K320i: Your Everyday Business

K320i is a slim camera phone with everything you need to do business on the move.

Synchronize your PC contacts, calendar and tasks with your phone and have what you need wherever your are.

A Bluetooth- headset makes long calls comfortable and when you're on the road, it makes in-car calling safe.

As well as text and picture messaging, K320i has support for push email. Read and write email on the move and enjoy Internet access with RSS feeds for news as it happens.

Key features

Text and picture messaging and push email.

RSS feeds - news as it happens.

PC synchronization - calendar, contacts and tasks.

Bluetooth- technology - connecting without cables.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source

November 2, 2006, 9:09 PM CT

Which Is More Annoying, Spam Or Direct Mail?

You open up your e-mail inbox and are inundated with spam that offers everything from inkjet cartridges to "investment opportunities" that are obviously too good to be true. You open up your mailbox at home to find more unsolicited ads, everything from pizza coupons to credit card offers.

Ever wonder which is more annoying?

According to a new study by a researcher in the University of Georgia Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, most people find spam more intrusive and irritating than direct mail. The study, published in the fall issue of the Journal of Interactive Advertising, also explores why people find spam so annoying.

"Overall, spam definitely is regarded as more annoying, irritating and intrusive than postal direct mail," said Mariko Morimoto, assistant professor of advertising. "That was pretty much our hypothesis. And while it's easy to figure out that spam is more annoying, I also wanted to know why".

Morimoto and study co-author Susan Chang, assistant professor of advertising and public relations at the University of Miami, randomly assigned 119 college students to a survey that asked about either spam or direct mail. On a scale of one to seven, where one is most intrusive and seven is least intrusive, students gave spam an average intrusiveness score of 1.93 compared to 4.24 for direct mail. For irritation, the average score was 2.46 for spam compared to 3.87 for direct mail.........

Posted by: JoAnn      Permalink         Source