Cultural tourism statistics

Introducing a "tourism tax" for Hull has been branded a "very poor" idea that "sends out the wrong message".Hull City Council is to conduct a feasibility study into the prospect of levying a charge on visitors.Travel writer Simon Calder said it would put people off spending time in the City of Culture.The authority, which spends £90,000 a year on tourism marketing, said it was "purely an information gathering process" at this stage.However, councillor Mike Ross expressed concerns. "We're at the early stages of getting people to come and visit the city as it is. "[My] fear is that anything like this just sends out the wrong message to people across the country," he said.'Not on tourist trail'Paul Vinsen, chairman of Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitality Association, said it would undo the success of the city's year as culture capital. "I think it's a very poor idea and I don't think it will work," he said."City of Culture has been incredibly successful... and all that good work will … [Read more...] about Hull Council moots ‘tourism tax’ for City of Culture

Vietnam has been honored as the “World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2019” at the 26th World Travel Awards (WTA) held recently in Oman, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT). The recognition of Vietnam as the world’s leading heritage destination reaffirms the country’s efforts to preserve cultural heritages and boost its status on THE global tourism map, the WTA said. Vietnam is home to eight world heritage sites recognized by UNESCO: Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, My Son Sanctuary, Hoi An ancient town, the Complex of Hue Monuments, Ha Long Bay, Trang An Landscape Complex, Thang Long Imperial Citadel, and the Ho Dynasty Citadel. The heritage sites and other destinations have repeatedly won acclaim from prestigious travel magazines in recent years. Launched in 1993, the WTA have become a quality measure of the tourism industry and are considered the “Oscars of Tourism” by The Wall Street Journal. It … [Read more...] about Vietnam named ‘World’s Leading Heritage Destination 2019’

Climate scientists overwhelmingly say that we will face unprecedented warming in the coming decades. Those same scientists, just like you or I, struggle with the emotions that are evoked by these facts and dire projections. My children—who are now 12 and 16—may live in a world warmer than at any time in the previous 3 million years, and may face challenges that we are only just beginning to contemplate, and in many ways may be deprived of the rich, diverse world we grew up in. How do we relate to – and live – with this sad knowledge? Across different populations, psychological researchers have documented a long list of mental health consequences of climate change: trauma, shock, stress, anxiety, depression, complicated grief, strains on social relationships, substance abuse, sense of hopelessness, fatalism, resignation, loss of autonomy and sense of control, as well as a loss of personal and occupational identity. … [Read more...] about The Great Grief: How To Cope with Losing Our World

Tragedies such as yesterday's engine explosion aboard a Dallas-bound flight and last summer's terrorist attack in Barcelona remind us that travel can still be deadly. Even so, these days we pretty much assume that travel is fun, easy and can be done without being slain by Vikings, becoming demonically possessed or freezing to death. That's because this is no longer the Middle Ages, when most people barely left their hometowns because any venturing had to be done on foot or horseback through uncut, uncharted wilds rife with tainted water, wolves, the evil spirits everyone believed in and violent strangers who knew they could get away with anything they did to you because police and hospitals did not exist. How did travel become a thing? By promising miracles. During the 9th century, more and more European churches started displaying clothes, skin, bones, blood, hair and entire corpses that were allegedly those of saints and could allegedly heal visitors. Rumors spread exponentially: The … [Read more...] about Sometimes Travel Reminds Us That It’s Deadly

An alleged “mass molestation” on the streets of one of India’s biggest cities on New Year’s Eve was the result of young people trying to “copy” western mindsets and clothing, an Indian state minister has claimed. Thousands of people gathered on two central streets in Bangalore on Saturday night to celebrate the new year. Local newspaper reports and witnesses said the crowd became unruly and began to subject women to sexual assault and harassment. The Bangalore Mirror said its photojournalists were “first-hand witnesses to the brazen, mass molestation of women” on the city’s streets, publishing pictures of one woman pressed in by a crowd of men and another appearing to cower on the shoulder of a female police officer. One witness told the Guardian: “I saw women being molested in the crowd and people trying to find places where they could hide themselves and not be attacked.” “There were inhuman acts,” said … [Read more...] about ‘Mass molestation’ in Bangalore blamed on Indians ‘copying’ west