The United Nations World Tourism Organisation has welcomed Azerbaijan´s implementation of a brand new e-visa system streamlining visa applications into an electronic format, aimed to draw more international tourists into the rustic. The electronic visa system was administered upon the decree of the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, to facilitate visa procedures for foreigners travelling to the rustic. 
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UNWTO praises new Azerbaijan visa system
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News: Guam Visitors Bureau to host China Outbound Travel Market Symposium
The Guam Visitors Bureau (GVB) invites local businesses to arrange for the predicted increase of Chinese visitors to Guam by attending its symposium to be told the newest market trends and the way it may well benefit business. With the support of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), GVB will host a China Outbound Travel Market Symposium on May 22.
In Calendar Year (CY) 2012, Chinese outbound departures achieved 83.18 million in total, representing a year-on-year growth of 18.41%. The collection of outbound departures is anticipated to maintain increasing at an ordinary growth rate of over 10% in next 10 years. By 2015, about 100,000 million outbound departures is forecasted, in accordance with Mr. Shao QiWei, Chairman of the China National Tourism Association (CNTA). Arrivals from China to Guam rose from 7,068 to eight,939 – an important increase of 26.5% in comparison with CY2011. While China arrival numbers are expected to continue to rise, a visa waiver for China would increase visitor arrivals dramatically. That is important because Chinese outbound travelers, who’ve high incomes and are well educated, have steadily increased during the last several years, and Guam’s economy can benefit by obtaining market share from this lucrative target segment.
“There is extensive work being done in Guam and Washington DC to facilitate a visa waiver for China,” said GVB General Manager Karl A. Pangelinan. “Based on information Governor Calvo brought back from meetings on his recent trip to the nation’s capitol, we predict a choice to be made later this year.”
GVB hosted the 1st symposium in October 2010, which concerned about understanding the profile of Chinese outbound travelers and the way to generate relationships with Chinese agencies to construct Guam’s awareness in China. This year, the symposium is scheduled for May 22, 2013 and could be an entire-day event targeting the way to maximize opportunities in welcoming increasing numbers of Chinese visitors by meeting their travel needs and wants.
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News: Cruise lawyers to Senator Rockefeller: Overworked cruise employees denied
Cruise ship lawyers Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman, P.A. weighed-on this week on concerns raised by Senator John Rockefeller IV in his letter to Carnival Corporation CEO Mickey Arison. Last month, Rockefeller wrote a really publicised letter to Arison, following an engine room fire aboard the Carnival Triumph. That incident ended in a whole lack of power aboard the ship, subjecting Triumph’s passengers to 5 days of reportedly horrid conditions while the ship was towed from Mexican waters back to port in Alabama. Rockefeller notes a disturbing trend of great events on Carnival ships in the past five years.
“This recent marked deterioration in crew conditions due to the cruise lines not threatened with having to directly answer for his or her actions in U.S. courts, we believe, directly coincides with a rise in incidents that have risked the security of the U.S. cruising consumer.”
The maritime law firm offers up a probable explanation: Crew members face longer working hours and declining working conditions because they now not have the safety of the U.S. court system.“Sadly, we’ve connected the dots between an obscure legal maneuver made by the cruise lines and the rise in shipboard accidents,” said Jason Margulies, shareholder with the firm. “A few years ago, the cruise industry started placing foreign arbitration clauses in its crew contracts. While it will seem insignificant where disputes are resolved, we now have drawn the belief that because worker’s rights are not any longer protected by U.S. courts, dangerous conditions aren’t being properly defended and ultimately the cruise passenger suffers.”
The cruise industry now forces its crew into foreign arbitrations after they have a topic with their employer. In its letter, the maritime law firm explains that: “Requiring crew to submit exclusively to foreign arbitration to handle wrongdoing which brought about their injuries signifies that cruise lines escape responsibility for decisions which result in dangerous conditions for crew.”
Ultimately, the crewmembers who run and maintain the cruise ships are deprived of the historic protections of U.S. law. The implications could be significant. The letter to Rockefeller references an arbitration inside the Philippines where a crewmember who was burned over 35% of his body was awarded below $2,000 against his employer. The outcome, the firm explains, is that the cruise lines removed any deterrent to cutting operating costs by subjecting crew to harsh conditions – creating an overworked crew that’s jeopardizing the security of passengers.
“United States citizens fill the ships and the coffers of the most important cruise lines, but their very own employees don’t have the safety of the U.S. court system,” said Margulies. “As we saw with the Carnival Triumph, the results are dire.”
The maritime firm’s letter to Rockefeller, also copied to Manhattan Senator Charles Shumer, concludes that, “This recent marked deterioration in crew conditions end result of the cruise lines now not threatened with having to directly answer for his or her actions in U.S. courts, we believe, directly coincides with a rise in incidents that have risked the security of the U.S. cruising consumer.”
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Alta Vista Suites, a new hotel on Santorini
Alta Vista suites, the beautiful new addition to Santorini’s hotel scene, opens its doors on 1st May. The exclusive three suite property is the newest within the Aqua Vista portfolio, a group of outstanding accommodations in great locations across Santorini and Crete.
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Jekyll Island revitalisation provides a lift to tourism
Since opening slightly greater than a year ago, the Jekyll Island Convention Center has consistently reported positive growth within the variety of events, trade shows and conventions held on the center every month.
This positive pattern of progress was repeated last month, with 18 events held in May 2013. These 18 events represented 52 event days, as multiple events were booked on single days.
Of the events held inside the month of May, three were corporate meetings using the power; additionally, the heart accommodated three graduation ceremonies. All totaled, these events brought greater than 22,700 individuals into the power in May.
Total revenue generated by events in May was the very best for any previous month, and Jekyll Island’s hotel revenue was up 8 percent over the former year. News of the venue’s busy May comes because the center marks its one-year anniversary. Throughout the first year, 158 events were held on the facility, with greater than 126,000 total attendees.
For the approaching year, the heart has already issued 85 contracts for events, with 61 fully committed.
Jekyll Island Meetings and Convention Sales saw a spike in interest from event planners because the May 20, 2013, groundbreaking of the recent 200-room, full-service Westin Jekyll Island. In only three weeks, 19 meeting planners requested contract proposals, for a possible economic impact of greater than $3 million.
Signs of continued progress are visible inside the island. One key project was revealed June 17, with the ribbon cutting at the island’s new 1.4 miles of motorbike path, giving the island a continuing loop of 21.4 miles of motorbike paths.In coming months, other bike path projects gets underway, including making a bike path resulting in the island along the Downing Musgrove Causeway; beginning work at the Jekyll Island Beach Village retail project; converting the Oceanside Inn to a brand new Holiday Inn Resort; and the redevelopment of the brand new Jekyll Island Youth Conference Center.
“As progress and revitalization continue, the balance between conservation and revitalization remains on the forefront of all of our efforts,” said Jones Hooks, Executive Director of the Jekyll Island Authority. “It is our goal to respire new life into Jekyll Island, while also maintaining the original spirit which has made Jekyll Island a treasure for the state of Georgia.”
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