www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Riga
Are you a 37-year-old man from Estonia or Lithuania? If so, congratulations, you are completely average as far as Riga is concerned, Latvian Public Broadcasting – www.lsm.lv, reports.
The average Riga tourist is 37-year-old man from a neighboring country, accoring to Vita Jermolovica of the ‘Live Riga’ tourism agency run by the Latvian capital.
Speaking on Latvian Radio, she said that most tourists came from fellow Baltic states, Scandinavia, Germany and Great Britain, although she stressed that interest in tourism to Riga remained strong in Russia despite the collapse of the ruble and political tensions.
“However, the drop off in numbers from Russia has been very considerable,” Jermolovica said.
She also noted growing interest from Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as Spain and France.
But as Latvia does not have direct flights to Asia, this region’s tourists face more of a challenge in getting to the Latvian capital, Jermolovica said.
“The average tourist stays in Latvia for around two and a half days,” she added.
Riga is seen by some as a cheaper alternative to the Swedish capital, Stockholm, for those seeking a Baltic break, she added.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
A number of nightclubs located in a single building in the Icelandic capital Reykjavik are to shut down in order to create space for more tourism businesses, www.icenews.is reports.
The owners of the property Hurra, Gamla Gauknum, Dubliners, Paloma and Glaumbar, in addition to several others in the premises, are prepared to close the bars and nightclubs in order to ensure there is more room to house operations linked to Iceland’s ever expanding tourism industry. However, details have yet to be released on the type of businesses that are being talked about.
Real estate firm Flelagio owns all the property within the premises apart from the Eik-owned Tryggvagata. Steindor Sigurgeirsson, one of two bosses at Flelagio alongside Jason Wittle. said that the buildings would not be demolished but rather be renovated and developed into tourism oriented businesses.
He went on to reveal that there were many shops on the nearby streets and that they wanted that to be the case inside their building, adding that it would be preferable to bars.
Eik director Garoar Hannes Fridjonsson, who has spoken with Sigurgeirsson about the changes, said that he had nothing new to inform the press at the current time.
Hurra owner Jon Myrdal, meanwhile, admitted that he was surprised to hear of the changes but said that he was slightly concerned. He explained that they were happy to welcome tourists, but they needed more than just tourist information offices and lopapeysur shops.
He noted that concerts had been being staged at Hurra for more than a year, and many customers came from overseas. He added that a number of them had only heard about Iceland because of Bjork or Sigur Ros.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, Ireland, has been named ‘Europe’s leading tourist attraction’ at an awards ceremony in Sardinia.
The World Travel Awards are considered the Oscars of the travel industry and decided by an open vote.
Guinness won for the visitor centre at their St James’s Gate brewery, founded in 1759, which is the home of the ‘Black Stuff’ in Ireland.
The Storehouse was shortlisted alongside some of Europe’s most historic attractions including the Acropolis, Buckingham Palace, the Colosseum and the Eiffel Tower.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Foto: Christian Stemper, Vienna Tourism Ikke bare har Østerrikes hovedstad flest konserthus og klassiske kafeer. Den er også grønnest i Europa, skriver vg.no
Parkene langs Ringstrasse, palass-hagene rundt Schönbrunn og Belvedere, gress-slettene i Prater, våtmarkene langs Donau samt vinranker og åkerland utgjør innpå halvparten av Wiens 415 kvadratkilometer store by-areal.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Palma de Mallorca
Regional politicians say the Balearic Islands have reached total capacity in the summer months. Now they plan to introduce a tourist tax and reduce the number of package tour visitors.
Following similar moves in the Canary Isles, regional politicians on the Balearic Islands are considering restrictive measures to discourage all inclusive package tourists, who largely spend their time in hotel complexes.
Mallorca, Formentera, Menorca and Ibiza welcome some 14 million tourists every year. Eighty percent of these visit are during the summer months. Regional politicians would like to spread the burden throughout the year, but the government in Madrid fears tourists would simply opt for other sun-blessed destinations. The tourism industry provides some 2 million jobs in Spain, and is a major contributor to the national economy.
Mass tourism is also making headlines elsewhere in Europe. Following protests about so-called party tourists, there is now a one year ban in force in the city of Barcelona for new hotels and other types of tourist accomodation. And Venice’s new mayor has raised the possibility of limiting the number of day trippers to the famous city center.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Britain has reopened its embassy in the Iranian capital Tehran,, a historic step in the thawing of relations between the Islamic state and Western powers, Reuters reports.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond declared the embassy open and raised the Union Jack flag in the garden of the nineteenth-century residence that was stormed by protesters nearly four years ago.
The move to restore full diplomatic relations marks a thawing of ties with Iran since it reached a nuclear deal with the United States, China, Russia, Germany, France and Britain.
After more than a decade of casting the Islamic Republic as a rogue power seeking to sow turmoil through the Middle East, Britain has sought to improve ties with Iran, whose natural gas reserves are larger even than Russia’s.
With the prospect of an end to sanctions, foreign businesses are already jockeying for business in Iran, a nation of 80 million whose economy has withered. Officials have even laid on bus tours for visiting executives looking to refurbish Iran’s oil refineries.
While the nuclear deal is seen by its backers as an opportunity for improved relations between Iran and the West, hardliners in Washington and Tehran have opposed it, as has Israel.
Until a new ambassador is announced, the embassy will be led by Ajay Sharma, until now the non-resident chargé d’affaires.
Iranian protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran in November 2011, smashing windows, torching a car and burning the British flag in protest against Nuclear-related sanctions imposed by London, long-regarded as the “Old Fox” in Iran for its perceived malign influence in regional affairs.
There had been regular protests outside the British embassy over the years since the 1979 Islamic revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah, but none were as violent as the 2011 storming.
At the time, Prime Minister David Cameron called the attacks “outrageous and indefensible” and scolded the Iranian government for failing to defend British staff and protect the imposing building, which had been a treasure trove of valuable paintings and historic memorabilia.
Protesters smashed the large stone lion and unicorn on the gates at the ambassadorial residence, where in 1943 a dinner was held for Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt — the first meeting between the leaders of Britain, Russia and the United States to discuss their strategy for winning World War Two.
Britain responded by shutting Iran’s embassy in London and expelling its diplomats. For the last two years, Tehran has been represented by a non-resident charge d’affaires.
Britain, and the United States, have long been viewed with considerable suspicion in Tehran.
There has been no U.S. embassy there since it was sacked in the early days of the Islamic Revolution in 1979 by students who feared a repeat of a 1953 coup when the CIA orchestrated the overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Tourists in Prague in the summer generally aren’t afraid to splurge during their holiday but a study by Prague City Tourism suggests that visitors this summer were a little thriftier than the last winter season. Aside from transportation and accommodation, tourists spent the most at restaurants, but a touch less than in the past, Radio Praha (www.radio.cz) reports.
According to Prague City Tourism, visitors to the Czech capital this summer were a little more careful when it came to spending than at the beginning of 2015. Likely reasons? More expensive transport to the Czech Republic, the news website iDnes reported, as well as pricier accommodation. Whereas in the winter accommodation for a brief stay cost on average 3,460 crowns, the price in the summer (understandably more popular for many) climbed to 3,740; the average cost of travelling to Prague in the summer was more expensive too: an average of 4,430 crowns, almost 1,000 crowns higher.
Higher costs then likely impacted money spent on food & drink as well as culture and gift or souvenir items. According to the numbers cited by iDnes, visitors on average spent around 450 crowns per day in restaurants (a hundred less than in the winter) and just 242 crowns on gifts (down from 573 crowns).
In July, the average cost of a full stay in the capital cost tourists the equivalent of almost 12,000 crowns. In terms of spending, Russian visitors continue to spend the most of all visiting nationals, both in the winter and summer months, though in the summer, they too reeled in spending somewhat. In the winter, Russians spent, on average, 3,190 crowns per day while in the summer it was 2,308 – according to the study.
The second and third-biggest spenders in the winter, according to Prague City Tourism, were the Chinese and Japanese, while in the summer those titles went to Israeli and Ukrainian Citizens.
According to the Czech Statistics Office, the average length of stay in the Czech capital is three nights – a stable number over the last few years. Many tourists, foreign as well as Czech, the news website iDnes noted, usually opt for cheaper hotels or bed & breakfasts: most see no need to spend extra, perhaps putting stock in what they experience while in the city, and not spending needlessly or beyond one’s means.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, with a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Tourism is a huge part of the income for the capital city of Lisbon, Portugal, but many locals are feeling neglected as the government continues to cater to the needs of visitors instead of the year-round residents, www.travelpulse.com writes.
In a report from Henrique Almeida of Bloomberg.com, residents in Lisbon are dealing with an unparalleled surge of tourism, making the city the fastest-growing destination in southern Europe and contributing heavily to the 11.6 billion tourism industry.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, With a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
The Israeli Embassy in Asuncion, Paraguay, has been reopened, after having been closed since 2002, along with 15 other Israeli embassies and consulates around the world, due to budgetary constraints.
This is the third of the 15 to be re-opened. The Israeli Embassy in Wellington, New Zealand, reopened in 2010. The Israeli Foreign Ministry has announced that the re-opening would “promote cooperation and dialogue and bilateral trade and sports and cultural activities. It will also sustain the connection with the 6,000-strong Jewish community in New Zealand.
Also in 2010, Israel re-opened its consulate in Sao Paolo, Brazil. Sao Paolo is the largest city in the southern hemisphere, and serves as an industrial, economic and communications center for all of Latin America. The city also has a large, 80,000-strong Jewish community.
Still closed, however, are the embassies or consulates in Marseilles, France; Sydney, Australia; Harare, Zimbabwe; Minsk, Belarus; Montreal, Canada and others.
Paraguay will reopen it’s embassy in Israel soon, after an eight year absence.
www.hovedsteder.blogg.no is a Norway-based blog about the capitals of the world, With a focus on tourism and travel, the environment, diplomatic affairs, lifestyle, culture and entertainment, Food and drink. See also our travel blog at www.minbestereise.blogg.no – Contact us at [email protected]
Tusenvis av demonstranter gikk i gatene i Libanons hovedstad i helgen for å vise sin misnøye med landets politikerne. Demonstrantene krever regjeringens avgang i kjølvannet av en strid som har fått Beirut til å flyte over av søppel, skriver nrk.no
