Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008 - (Page 8)

n news news brief InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is to open its 5th hotel in Costa Rica. The property is expected to open in Q1 2009. IHG has 4 hotels in Costa Rica: Real InterContinental Hotel & Club Tower (in Escazu), Holiday Inn Express (near Alajuela Airport), and the Crowne Plaza Corobici and Holiday Inn (San Jose). The new 100-room hotel will be called Indigo Forum Costa Rica and will be located close to Forum II business district in Santa Ana, San Jose. Indigo will operate as a boutique hotel and will the first of its kind that IHG has opened in Central America. IHG expects the hotel to be popular with both business and leisure travellers. The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia has released visitor statistics for selected tourist sites, museums & galleries, swimming facilities and casinos for Q2 2008. Selected Slovenian natural, cultural and historical sites registered 896,450 visitors, with tourists from abroad accounting for as much as 41.8%. Most visits were recorded at Postojna Cave (185,560), Ljubljana Zoo (83,576), the Bled Castle Museum (67,806) and the Virtual Museum and Viewing Tower at Ljubljana Castle (41,415). Swimming facilities, most of which were thermal resorts, registered 1,668,270 visits. Casinos registered 1,191,624 visitors, with foreign visitrs accounting for 72.3%. Visionary hotel concepts for Shanghai’s new Himalayas Centre Opening in Pudong 2010 Two visionary hotel concepts, Zendai Hotel Yin - an ultra luxury, boutique-style ‘city retreat’ and Zendai Art Hotel, a 5-star business hotel, will open in Shanghai’s latest architectural masterpiece, the ‘Himalayas Centre’, due to open in Pudong in spring 2010, in time for the Shanghai World Expo. The Zendai Group has invested over £220 million in the Himalayas Centre, which is opposite Shanghai’s New International Expo Centre, just 15 minutes from the city’s main financial district in Pudong. Designed by architect Arata Isozaki, who is renowned for his work on the Barcelona Olympics Stadium and the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art, the Himalayas Centre, hailed by developers as an ‘archisculptural icon for 21st century China’, will also incorporate the Daguan Theatre with auditorium, the Himalayas Mall and Himalayas Creative Complex / Museum Zone. The boutique-style Zendai Hotel Yin will occupy the top 4 floors of the hotel tower. 78 guestrooms range in size from the 376 m sq presidential suite to 60 m sq luxury suites, which are accessed via elevators exclusively for use by boutique hotel guests. The Zendai Hotel Yin was designed by interior designer Khuan Chew, who is celebrated for her distinctive designs of such international icons as the Burj al Arab in Dubai. According to the developer, the Zendai Hotel Yin’s cultural offerings will be a “veritable feast for the senses”. Highly trained butlers will take care of guests from arrival to departure, 24-hours a day. The spa will offer a sanctuary of calm and wellbeing with a range of Chinese, Asian and Western health and beauty treatments and therapies. At the hotel’s contemporary take on the traditional Chinese International cuisines. This businessstyle hotel is designed with every modern comfort and convenience for business and leisure travel. The hotel’s state-of-the-art gym features a spinning room, indoor pool, hot yoga and rejuvenation pods where guests can sit, relax and enjoy oxygen therapy, smell therapy, image treatment and music therapy. The Himalayas Centre, hailed as an ‘Archisculptural icon of the 21st century’, will open in time for the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 tea house, guests will enjoy authentic tea-house delicacies and performances of Chinese music and dance, and partake in traditional arts such as poetry, calligraphy, painting, folk music, tea ceremony and floral design. The 24hour bibliotheque will offer Chinese history, culture, art and music related books and information. The 5-star Zendai Art Hotel, occupying the first 14 floors of the hotel tower, will feature over 300 rooms and suites in a contemporary Chinese style, also designed by Khuan Chew, with hightech communications and services, and will offer authentic Chinese and Dining options will include a Lobby Lounge, All-day Dining Room and Mezzanine One, incorporating a steak house, wine bar, jazz lounge, sushi and teppanyaki bars, and the Shanghai Art Restaurant. For meetings and events, the hotel features a 864 sq m cone-shaped ballroom, six private rooms, and a 300 sq m roof garden with adjoining events space. “Both hotels will be a showcase for modern China and will pioneer the fusion of Chinese art and culture with modern hospitality at the very highest le vel,” said Mr. Dai. Visit: www.zendaihimalayas.com The all new Malaysia Savings Sale The year-end festivities begin in November with the all new Malaysia Savings Sale 2008 or MSS – Malaysia’s much-anticipated shopping event. Previously known as the Malaysia Year-End Sale, this year’s shopping extravaganza runs from 29 November 2008 to 4 January 2009, presenting shopaholics with 37 days of fantastic retail therapy, great dining experiences and fun entertainment. The Sale is held as everyone begins their shopping activities in anticipation of the Christmas and New Year celebrations. MSS provides tourists and locals alike with an opportunity to ‘shop and save’, as most items from apparels, accessories and home décor to holiday packages as well as leisure and dining activities will be on offer at discounted prices. The new MSS logo carries a ‘bar code’ an international symbol of products and shopping recognised by everyone worldwide. The new logo and name for the sale reflect the aim of the Malaysian government to encourage people to “shop during the Sale period, taking advantage of the bargains, promotions and discounts given”, in order to “save” for the upcoming months and new year. Amongst the events and activities that will take place during MSS 2008 are: The main launch event on the 28th November 2008 at the Bukit Bintang Shopping Precinct. The MSS Lucky Draw and Instant Redemption Promotion with MasterCard, the official card of the MSS. Christmas Band Competition - a musical event to entertain shoppers at the various mall venues in and around the Klang Valley. Shoppers at the Bukit Bintang Shopping District will be entertained by the City Fringe Festival every Friday and Saturday during the sale period, 5pm – 10pm, by a myriad of busking acts. The MSS Children Colouring Contest (at participating malls) allows kids to show off their colouring skills while adults go on their shopping expedition! During the Sale period, tourists to Malaysia will be able to enjoy privileges and promotions at the malls in and around the Klang Valley. All they need to do is pick up a Tourist Welcome Pack from the airport (KLIA and LCCT) and the Tourist Information Counters in the city which contains a booklet and details on the tourist privilege cards, how and where to get them and what kind of bargains await them. www.tourism.gov.my Visit WTM stand AS6400. TRAVEL NEWS EUROPE November 2008 www.travelnewseurope.com http://www.zendaihimalayas.com http://www.tourism.gov.my http://www.travelnewseurope.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008

Cover&Contents
NEWS
WTM News Pages
DESTINATIONS - Tanzania
DESTINATIONS - India
BUSINESS - Winter Holidays
BUSINESS - Exhibitions

Travel News Europe - #88 - November 2008