Daily 12 March/März - ITB Berlin

II Friday 12 March ITB Berlin English Daily 2010
airport, and the Ayazaga Congress and Cultural Central on the European side. The
city’s largest congress centre, the Istanbul Kongre Merkezi, has been open since
October last year, and has already hosted several high-profile events including
IMF/World Bank Meetings. Latest figures from ICCA show that Istanbul has moved
fast up the rankings of popular association meetings cities – from 40th place in 2000
to 15th in 2008.
2010 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Poland’s much-loved composer,
Frederic Chopin. Among dozens of Chopin-related events (conferences, exhibitions,
recitals) planned in Poland through the year, are performances featuring the world’s
greatest musicians – Daniel Barenboim, Piotr Anderszewski, Evgeny Kissin, Martha
Argerish and many more. Throughout August, Poland’s 6th International Music
Festival – ‘Chopin and his Europe’ – will include 50 concerts and opera performances
and more than 1,000 performers, including jazz musicians, all paying tribute to
Chopin’s music.
The UK city of Bristol gets its first link with Lithuania in May 2010, when Ryanair
starts a Bristol-Kaunas service. Bristol’s links with Poland are also expanding. Ryanair
will start a Bristol-Bydgosazcz service in May – the airline’s fifth destination in Poland
from Bristol.
Finnair expects to make an overall loss for 2009 – the airline’s traffic declined by 9%,
and its pre-tax loss was €134 million. The airline says that demand in Finland fell
sharply during the year and the airline experienced overcapacty on many of its main
routes. The price of tickets declined by an average of 12%, largely because of the
reduction in business travel and a shift to cheaper price classes, says Finnair. Passenger
numbers fell by 10% to below 7.5 million.
The most northerly point on the Scottish mainland, John O’Groats which, five years
ago, was been described by Lonely Planet as “a seedy tourist trap”, will be given a
makeover. The plan calls for the abandoned hotel on the point to be restored, 20
luxury eco-cabins to be built, and for the nearby coastal paths to be improved. A
new visitor centre will be built to tell the story of Jan de Groot, the Dutchman who
operated a ferry from Orkney, and gave his name to the area.
Gray Bear, the first 18-hole championship golf course built in Slovakia is welcoming,
for the first time in its history, the ladies European Professional Golf Tour (LET). The
tournament, the Allianz Ladies Slovak Open, with a prize fund of €350,000, will be
held from 27-30 May at the Gray Bear Golf Club, which is located on the high
mountain ridge of the Low Tatras. The course was designed by the American firm
International Golf Course Design.
Poland is also blossoming as a golf tourism destination, especially around the Tri
cities of Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. Close to these cities are three magnificent
courses: Postolowa (the Gdansk Golf and Country Club), the Sand Valley Golf and
Country Club, and the Sierra Golf and Country Club. The region is easily accessible
by air with frequent services direct to Gdansk from most European countries. From
Scandinavia, frequent ferry services are available across the Baltic Sea.
The Budapest Spring Festival this year lasts from 15 March through 15 April – a
month-long festival of the arts, music and dance. Highlights include Nigel Kennedy