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]
First Hotel Arlanda Airport, som åpner dørene for første gang høsten 2016, skal bidra til å gjøre Arlandastad til et av de mest sentrale og attraktive møtepunktene i Skandinavia, skriver travelnews.no
Utviklingen av Arlandastad fortsetter for fullt, og den siste innovasjonen er First Hotel Arlanda Airport.
– Dette hotellet tilfører området noe helt nytt når det gjelder hotellstandard samt tilbud av aktiviteter, design og konferanser, sier administrerende direktør i First Hotels, Roar Ingdal.
First Hotel Arlanda Airport ligger bare to minutter unna flyplassen og det 150 roms store hotellet får romslige konferanselokaler.
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]
Reykjavik
Den lille, danske hotellkeden Guldsmeden etablerer seg i Reykjavik, skriver Se og Hør. Med sans for lekre detaljer, en legendarisk øko-brunsj og pen design, har ildsjelene bak kjeden så langt fire hoteller i København, et i Oslo, et i Århus, et på Bali i Indonesia, og et i Menton på Cote d’Azur, på Den franske riviera, nytt stor suksess.
Felles for alle hotellene er at de er hjemmekoselige med suveren, personlig service.
Hotellet i Reykjavik, Eyja Guldsmeden, åpner våren 2016.
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]
Royal Jordanian started two services to two capital cities this week, launching flights from Amman to Turkish capital Ankara on 8 December, while resuming services to Jakarta, capital of Indonesia on 14 December, reports anna.aero
The former route is a 970-kilometre sector that utilises the airline’s 101-seat E195 fleet (although the inaugural service was flown by an A321), whereas the long-haul, 8,684-kilometre run to the latter city is flown by the oneworld carrier’s 280-seat A330-200s.
The Jakarta route was last operated by Royal Jordanian in May 2003 and is flown via the airline’s existing Kuala Lumpur service. Both routes will face no direct competition and both are flown on a thrice-weekly basis.
Speaking about the Ankara launch, TAV Esenboða, operator of Ankara Airport, GM Nuray Demirer said: “We are glad that Esenboða Airport is now connected to Amman, via Royal Jordanian Airlines. Today, we are facilitating flights to 26 destinations in 13 countries from Esenboða Airport. We believe our growth in passenger and aircraft traffic will continue with these new destinations included in our flight network.”
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]
Vienna’s Café Bräunerhof. Photo: Andreas Praefcke/Wikipedia
Vienna is famous for its coffee house culture, which has been recognised by Unesco as part of Austria’s cultural heritage, but many of its cafes are struggling to survive.
Every year one in four cafes is forced to close, according to new figures from the Vienna Chamber of Commerce, reports thelocal.at
Berndt Querfeld, who owns the historic Cafe Landtmann on the Ringstrasse and represents coffee houses in the Chamber of Commerce told the Kurier newspaper that the majority of the 2,500 coffee houses in Vienna are finding it hard to make ends meet. “The ones that are doing best are the around 120 or 130 historic coffee houses in the most favourable locations,” he said.
However, despite some cafes having to close up shop the total number of coffee houses remains around the same because of the relatively high number of new cafes opening each year. “Many of these only last for about six months,” Querfeld said. He added that newcomers on the scene underestimate the challenges that lie ahead, and some simply close down their business to avoid paying a high tax bill.
According to Querfeld some of the reasons why cafes are suffering are the stricter rules regarding non-smoking areas, the new EU law which means they have to label all ingredients that contain allergens, and the introduction of compulsory cash registers as part of the tax reform.
The economic crisis has made punters behave more frugally when visiting a coffee house. “More often than not a customer will order a piece of cake with a second fork for their companion. It’s even becoming a rather chic thing to do.”
Slot machines have also been banned from cafes recently, and Querfeld believes that this is putting many smaller cafes in less central locations out of business. “If they had a slot machine or two they could afford to sell snacks and drinks at lower prices, but this isn’t the case anymore.”
The heyday of the Vienna coffee house was the turn of the 19th century when they were frequented by well-known writers, artists and politicians. Many famous Viennese cafes had to close in the 1950s due to the popularity of television and new espresso bars.
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]
Nordic Choice Hotels åpner enda et hotell i Helsingfors og øker hotellkapasiteten med nærmere 700 hotellrom.
Nordic Choice Hotels åpner enda et hotell i Helsingfors. Det nye hotellet vil ligge ved Helsingfors-Vanda lufthavn og heter Clarion Hotel Helsinki Airport.
Åpningen skjer fire dager etter at konsernets første finske hotell på Busholmen i Helsingfors har åpnet, i oktober 2016. Dette er neste steg i Nordic Choice Hotels’ utvidelsesplaner, der målet er å åpne ti hotell i Finland de neste fem årene.
Allerede i vår kunngjorde Nordic Choice Hotels at de skulle gå inn på det finske markedet og åpne et nytt hotell på Busholmen i Helsingfors. Satsingen på Busholmen var et første steg for konsernet, som har tatt sikte på å åpne ti hotell i Finland i løpet av fem år. Når hotellkonsernet nå kunngjør at de åpner enda et hotell i Helsingfors på Vanda lufthavn, viser Nordic Choice Hotels at de mener alvor, og at ekspansjonen er i gang allerede før det første hotellet har åpnet.
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]
Two Polish tourists became the first in 55 years to be trapped in Vienna’s famous big Ferris wheel after staff packed up and went home, reports the local.at
The couple had been the last to board the Wiener Riesenrad – which is German for Vienna Giant Wheel – at the end of the day, and a staff member decided to allow them around one more time.
But they handed over the controls to a colleague, who was unaware the couple were on board, and he switched the lights off and went home.
Company boss Peter Petritsch said: “Something like this has simply never happened to us in 55 years.”
He said there were two members of staff on duty when the couple asked if they could go on the wheel for a romantic trip just before it closed. He said the second staff member had not realised and switched everything off.
The two Polish tourists had reportedly at first enjoyed the romantic view but eventually became bored and after being stuck for 40 minutes they decided to use their mobile phones to call for help.
A staff member quickly arrived on the scene, and arranged for the pair to be brought back to the ground where they were given a bottle of champagne to say sorry.
The 64.75-metre (212-foot) tall Ferris wheel at the entrance of the Prater amusement park in Vienna is one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.
It was the world’s tallest extant Ferris wheel from 1920 until 1985 and most famously appeared in the post-war Orson Welles film The Third Man, which was released in 1949.
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 Italian capital Rome will host The Ryder Cup for the first time in 2022. The historic announcement, made today by Ryder Cup Europe, will see golf’s greatest team event staged on the Continent of Europe for the third time, reports rydercup.com
The Marco Simone Golf and Country Club, only 17km from the centre of Rome, will follow in the footsteps of Club de Golf Valderrama in Spain (1997) and Le Golf National in France (2018) – when the 44th edition of the match between Europe and the United States is staged in the autumn of 2022.
Four nations – Austria, Germany, Italy and Spain – had participated in an exhaustive and comprehensive Bid Process to identify the country best qualified to follow Hazeltine National in Minnesota next year; France in 2018 and Whistling Straits in Wisconsin in 2020, as host of the biennial contest. Initially the number had been seven when the process began in June last year, but Denmark, Portugal and Turkey withdrew their interest in the early stages.
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 Chinese man shows how a canister is used. The demand for bottled air by Vitality has soared in China. Photo credit: vitalityair.com
Since China’s capital city Beijing issued its first ever air pollution red alert last week, sales of bottled Canadian fresh mountain air to Chinese customers have soared, reports The Daily Mail.
Two entrepreneurs from Alberta have been selling Vitality Air for just over a year, but over the last two weeks their sales to China have increased dramatically, reports The People’s Daily Online.
The red alert over air pollution was issued by Beijing authorities on December 7, lasting three days, amid the second bout of bad air this month. During this time PM2.5 levels – tiny hazardous airborne particles – exceeded 900 micrograms per cubic metre.
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]
Kyrgyzstan has opened an embassy in Kuwait, the press service of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic reported, according to the 24.kg news agency.
According to it, the Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev took part in the opening ceremony of the embassy today as a part of his official visit to Kuwait. The president visited the building of the diplomatic mission of the country and greeted its staff.
The opening ceremony was attended by the First Vice Prime Minister – Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kyrgyzstan Erlan Abdyldaev.
Later on, Almazbek Atambayev will go on a working visit to Qatar.
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]
Fast-food giant KFC is opening its first US-style fried chicken restaurant early next year in a shopping mall in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region in China, business.asiaone.com reported.
The two-story restaurant, which is under construction, will serve residents and tourists alike, said Yum Brands Inc, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.
“The restaurant will incorporate local design elements, provide employment opportunities and support the development of the regional supply chain,” a company representative said. Chen Biao, a manager with the Lhasa Shenlishidai shopping centre, said consumers in Tibet are likely to embrace KFC’s fast food, a mix of its US-style dishes and others more in keeping with the traditional tastes of the Chinese consumer.
“Before KFC chose to enter Tibet, we already had some fast food restaurants such as Dico’s,” Chen said, referring to the Chinese fast-food restaurant chain owned by the Ting Hsin International Group.
“Consumers in Tibet accept fried chicken and hamburgers.” The new KFC, which could open as early as January, should appeal to tourists in the city, which is growing as a renowned tourism destination, Chen said. Xu Bin, founder of haixizang, a website that provides information on travel to Tibet, said some individual tourists would choose restaurants that offer convenient Western fast Food.
But he questioned whether tourist groups would find it too expensive and too small to accommodate their numbers. The city’s younger residents maybe bigger fans of the restaurant’s buckets of chicken served with mashed potatoes and gravy. Basang Drolma, a 16-year-old Tibetan girl, said her parents don’t like Western food, but she gets them to take her to such places on the weekend.
“I like to eat fast food, like the hamburgers and fried chicken wings in Dico’s,” she said. Dronla, 26, a Tibetan from Lhasa, said she liked to eat some Western dishes, such as streak and pizza, but didn’t like fried chicken or other fast food. KFC will be watching sales closely.
It said it plans to build a 4.67-hectare frozen storage area in the Lhasa suburbs to prepare for further expansion in the region. In 2004, KFC shelved plans to open in Tibet, saying it was not “economically feasible”, according to Reuters.
But spending power has continued to increase. Tibet’s GDP hit 92.5 billion yuan (S$20.2 billion) in 2014, maintaining its double-digit growth since 1994. Market potential and a sound investment environment have made Tibet increasingly attractive to overseas investors.
