Daily 12 March/März - ITB Berlin

IV Friday 12 March ITB Berlin English Daily 2010
Rwanda opens a new five-star ecolodge this month. The US$25 million lodge,
financed by Dubai World, is located in Nyungwe Forest National Park in the Southern
Province and is Rwanda’s second five-star hotel in Rwanda. It overlooks the Gisakura
Tea Estate and materials used in its construction have all come from within the
country. The lodge will grow its own organic vegetables and flowers. Nyungwe
Forest National Park is the largest single tract of mountain forest remaining in East
and Central Africa and is home to the rare Mountain Colobus monkey.
Ghana’s new Minister of Tourism, Mrs Zita Okaikoi, is confident that tourism will
soon be the country’s leading source of foreign currency revenues. According to the
Minister, tourism already ranks fourth among Ghana’s foreign exchange earning
activities. Outlining her vision for tourism development in the country, the Minister
says she will give priority to staff training and improving service standards. Most
complaints from international visitors are concerned with bad service, she says, and
this has been a major handicap in attracting international tourism to date.
Warsaw hopes that hosting the EuroPride 2010 from 9-17 July will help to bring
more understanding to the gay and lesbian cause in Poland. Europe’s biggest gay
and lesbian event will be accompanied by a series of cultural events such as exhibitions
on homosexual art at Warsaw National Museum (11 June - 3 September), and
an exhibition on the influence of genders and sexuality in art at Zacheta State Gallery
for Arts (19 March - 19 June). A gay and lesbian film festival will be held 9 -18 July.
Europride highlights will be the Parade on 17 July, a giant open-air concert, and a
performance of London Gay Men’s Chorus at the Warsaw Cultural Palace.
Italy will focus its promotional efforts in Europe on the south of the country. Southern
Italy is the region that suffered the most severe downturn in arrivals last year,
due mainly to a cut in the number of low-cost flights. The most affected regions
were Calabria, Campania and Sicily, while Rome managed to maintain its market
share. ENIT, Italy’s tourism agency, will try to persuade incoming travel agencies to
offer more all-inclusive packages for Southern Italy, and it also hopes to persuade
hoteliers in the south to keep their properties open until at least the end of October.
Ljubljana has been named ‘World Book Capital’ by UNESCO for 12 months, starting
from 23 April this year. Some 300 events will be organised around literature, promoting
reading among adults and children. One of the highlights will be the literature
festival ‘Fabula 2010’ held from 3-28 May, with many Nobel Prize winners
attending. Hotels are offering special packages to encourage international visitors to
join some of the events, and a website, www.ljubljanaworldbookcapital.si, has been
set up.
Croatia is attracting more international luxury hotel groups. Recent openings include
the Kempinski Hotel Adriatic in Istria and the Radisson Blue & Spa in Dubrovnik.
Hilton, which took over the Marjan Hotel in Split last year, will reopen it as a five-star
property in the middle of 2010 following extensive renovation at a cost of €135
million. “We see growing interest from investors to build luxury and first-class
accommodation in Croatia. And this is exactly the way we want to develop our
tourism”, said Niko Bulic, Director of Croatian National Tourist Board at ITB.