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World leisure news
Austria-based Loisium
Wine & Spa Resorts is set
to open its second spa hotel
in Ehrenhausen, Southern
Styria, Austria in June 2012.
The 105-bedroom hotel
will include a Wine Spa, two
wine-themed restaurants and
a wine bar. The 1,400sq m
(15,000sq ft) spa will have eight
treatment cabins – including
two couples’ suites – a
relaxation area, a sauna area
with five saunas, heated outdoor
pool with experience
showers and a fitness zone
with a yoga studio.
There will also be a reception and consultation
area, a spa retail space and a spa bar with
an open fireplace and ‘living room’.
Each Loisium property will be marketed
as a four-star superior wine hotel. The iconic
buildings have been designed by celebrated
US architect Steven Holl.
Cartoon Network Enterprises, part of the Turner
Entertainment group, is to open more branded
visitor attractions across Asia Pacific.
The attractions will include family entertainment
centres, themed zones and learning
spaces and will feature characters from the
Los Angeles, US-based Ikonic
Entertainment Group has
secured a deal with investment
company Taichi Lake
Group to design and develop a
Tai Chi and Kung Fu-themed
visitor attraction complex in
Hubei, China.
Ikonic will provide master
planning, concept creation,
schematic design and construction
services for the
US$3.1bn (2.4bn euro, £2bn)
project, which is touted as the
largest theme park ever to open in China.
The attraction, due to open in 2015, will
include a Taichi Kung Fu theme park and a
large theatre for live shows.
It is estimated that the agreement reached
between Ikonic and Taichi Lake Group will
generate several hundred jobs – as well as
revenue – for numerous Los Angeles-based
The Loisium hotel has been designed by renowned architect Steven Holl
The first Loisium hotel opened in Langenlois,
Austria, and the company already has plans for
a third site in Alsace, France.
The Alsace hotel, scheduled to open
in 2014, will include 96 bedrooms and
a 1,300sq m (14,000sq ft) spa with 10
treatment cabins and an outdoor pool.
Details: http://lei.sra=N4l9P
company’s cartoon portfolio – including Ben
10 and The Powerpuff Girls.
The news comes as Cartoon Network Asia
Pacific acquired rights to Chaplin and Co. –
an animated series created by India-based DQ
Entertainment and Method Animation.
The visitor attraction is due to open in 2015
subcontractors and service providers over the
next three years. The agreement will feature
Ikonic as the master designer and project
manager for series of projects commissioned
by Taichi Lake Group. These include a Kung
Fu-oriented theme park at Wudang Mountain,
Hubei Province, China and an amusement
park in Qingzhou, China.
Virgin Hotels is expected to open its first
property by the end of 2013 in Chicago, US,
after it completed the acquisition of the
downtown Old Dearborn Bank Building in
late 2011. The 27-storey former office complex
will be converted by Virgin Hotels into
a 250-bedroom hotel, which will comprise
a spa spanning between 4,000 and 5,000sq
ft (372 and 465sq m).
Further details about the spa are yet
to be revealed, although the hotel is also
set to include restaurants and other areas
reflecting the Virgin brand.
The original Potter park has been a huge success
Warner Bros Entertainment and Universal
Parks and Resorts (UPR) have announced
plans to develop a new Harry Potterthemed
adventure park at Universal Studios
Hollywood, California, US.
It follows the success of the inaugural
Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which
launched at the Universal Orlando Resort
in June 2010 and is now set for a “significant”
expansion. The two companies said
the new California attraction will be a fullyimmersive
environment which will bring
the Harry Potter stories to life.
The Oetker Collection has expanded its
African portfolio with the launch of the
new Palais Namaskar Hotel and Spa in
Marrakech, Morocco. Built to follow the
principles of Feng Shui, the hotel is nestled
amid 50,000sq m (538,196sq ft) of scented
Balinese-inspired gardens that are complemented
by waterfalls and lakes.
Facilities at the hotel include the 650sq
m (6,997sq ft) Le Spa Namaskar, which
includes four individual treatment cabins
with outdoor terraces and two double cabins
with private hammams.
Image: C. F. Møller I Berg Arkitektkontor
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