Yotel comes to Asia

Inspired by first class airline cabins, Yotel’s cabins are uncompromisingly designed around guests to give them a bigger experience in a smaller space. The intelligent use of space means guests can enjoy designed cabins in which to relax, refresh, connect and sleep – luxury bedding, rejuvenating monsoon rain showers, relaxing purple mood lighting and Yotel’s “techno wall” with flat screen TV, multi power points and iPod connectivity. As in all Yotels, super strength Wi-Fi throughout all the cabins and public spaces will be complimentary.

 

Travel Expo heads to Vietnam

More than 300 organisations from 50 countries and cities are to participate in the International Travel Expo (ITE), which is being held in Ho Chi Minh City from September 12 to 14. Billed as Vietnam’s largest exhibition, the event will cover 5,000 square metres at the Sai Gon Exhibition and Convention Centre in District 7. The three-day expo is a platform for inbound and outbound travel businesses in Vietnam and the Mekong region. Visitors can enjoy country and city pavilions such as Visit Berlin - Germany; Korea: Be Inspired; Wonderful Indonesia; Taiwan, the Heart of Asia; and Amazing Thailand. More than 18,000 international, regional and local trade and public visitors are expected to attend.

 

Slopes at your feet

Even mountain fans with nerves of steel will be tested with the new “Stairway to Nothingness” attraction over the Dachstein Glacier near the Austrian town of Schladming. Tourists take 14 steps down onto a small platform made of glass. Visitors can look about 100 meters down through the glass floor projecting over the cliff of the Dachstein Massif. Only four people can go out over the glass stairway at a time. Visit www.Schladming-Dachstein.at.

 

Italy’s bare necessities

Showing off too much skin on town streets will soon be taboo in the southern Italian town of Vietri sul Mare. Media reports say the mayor has introduced fines for wearing beach clothing away from the beach. Tourists and locals will have to pay up to 500 euros (about Bt20,000) if they leave the sandy area without covering themselves. The fight against too much nudity is intended to improve the image of the city along the Amalfi coast, according to reports. The law has been on the books for many years but is finally being more strictly enforced.

 

Picasso in Monaco

To honour the 40th anniversary of the death of Pablo Picasso, the principality of Monaco will present a selection of 160 works by the artist in its Grimaldi Forum until September 15. The show is divided into two sections: The “Picasso Cote d’Azur” exhibition underlines the close relationship the artist had to the region while “Picasso in the Nahmad Collection” offers a glimpse of a portion of selected private artworks from the collection of Ezra and David Nahmad. Visit www.GrimaldiForum.com.

 

Old town gets a makeover

The colonial Old Town of Santo Domingo is undergoing a US$30-million facelift by the Dominican Republic’s government to make it safer for visitors and more beautiful. Various buildings, squares and streets are being restored, according to tourist officials. Some 160 buildings from colonial times are receiving new facades while the streets of Arzobispo Merino and Isabel La Catolica are being completely redone. More police will be deployed and observation cameras installed at squares where many tourists gather. The Old Town is a Unesco World Heritage Site.