Milda Cevre

Volcanic activity and an early Easter contributed to a 4 per cent fall in visitor numbers to New Zealand in April and economists are warning the trend in recent months is lower.

Figures from Statistics New Zealand showed that the number of short-term overseas visitors fell 7900 to 188,000 compared with a year ago.

The fall was blamed on an early Easter as well as flight disruptions from the Icelandic volcano which closed airports in much of Europe last month.

The heaviest falls in visitors were from Europe, although population statistics manager Denise McGregor said most of the drop from Britain and Germany came before the disruption.

Visitors from Britain dropped 21 per cent compared with April 2009, to 14,148, the fifth April in a row that British tourist numbers have fallen. Germany also fell by more than 20 per cent on a year ago.

Tourism New Zealand has been warning in recent months that markets such as Britain are likely to be “difficult” in the near future, with resources being focused towards Asia and the United States.

Visitors numbers from Australia rose by 400, the lowest increase in 12 months, although Statistics New Zealand said this was influenced by the timing of Easter.

Short-term visitor numbers for the year to the end of April rose 84,000 to 2.49 million, the highest figure for a year ending April 30.

However, Statistics New Zealand said the seasonal trend in visitor numbers, stripping out short-term factors, was a fall of 3 per cent since November 2009.

ANZ economist Mark Smith said that while April’s figures could be explained by Easter and the volcano, the trend in overall visitors was heading lower.

“If recent stresses in the global financial markets intensify and spillover into economic activity and employment, the expected rebound in European visitor numbers may be tempered once flight disruptions have passed,” Mr Smith said.

“This does not bode well for an expected recovery in tourist spending that is expected to provide support to the New Zealand economy.”

The Tourism Industry Association has warned that mining of national parks could damage New Zealand’s reputation, potentially hurting several industries. In a submission on the Government’s mining proposals, the agency said its members were divided on the issue, with some supporting the need to grow New Zealand’s economic wealth base.

Bryan Barnett isn’t taking any chances on his World Cup trip.

Concern about volcanic ash disruptions in Europe prompted the Douglasville, Georgia, man to change his travel plans to Johannesburg, South Africa, to avoid connections in Europe.

“I have USA – England tickets and had an Air France flight going out of Washington Dulles to go through Paris and then Frankfurt,” Barnett said via e-mail.

“Instead I cashed out all my Delta miles for the much longer and more expensive direct flight avoiding Europe altogether. Just to assure myself I wouldn’t miss the game due to any volcano stuff,” he said.

Barnett, who works as a flight attendant for a charter airline, was delayed by volcanic ash for five hours in Frankfurt, Germany, last week and a longer route to avoid the ash added three-and-a-half hours to his return flight to Washington.

Ash cloud concerns may loom over travelers flying to or through Europe this summer, but there could be some bright spots to the volcanic disruptions affecting the continent.

Deals are likely to emerge for those who are willing to roll the dice on a less-than-seamless journey, said John Stachnik, chairman of the United States Tour Operators Association and president of Mayflower Tours in Downers Grove, Illinois.

“I think the wise consumer will probably be watching for the advent of some bargains coming up to Europe,” he said.

Stachnik expects deals that last-minute bookers can’t resist to turn up within the next 30 days. His business and anecdotal reports from other association operators show an uptick in overall travel sales, but a drop in Europe bookings, he said.

“It’s not that it’s scaring people off, but what we’ve found is when people have their vacations, they want it to be as effortless and seamless as possible. And this is a potential roadblock for them,” Stachnik said.

The impediment is likely to stick around for months. The last time the Icelandic volcano producing the troublesome ash clouds erupted, in 1821, it lasted about 14 months, said Ian Skilling, a professor of volcanology at the University of Pittsburgh. Skilling said it’s difficult to predict how long this eruption will last.

Trying to forecast the weather and keep track of ash levels that vary almost minute-to-minute is difficult, Skilling said.

“You’ve got two kind of chaotic processes kind of superimposed on each other, so it’s difficult to say that one particular bit of airspace is going to be absolutely safe.”

Eurocontrol, the European aviation organization that coordinates the opening and closing of airspace, is confident that current guidelines are safe. Disruptions of the magnitude experienced in April are unlikely, according to Brian Flynn, Eurocontrol’s assistant head of operations.

“The traveling public I think can rest assured that the models that we have and all of the work that has been done over the last month, of the information that we have on the aircraft engines and the tolerable levels of ash means that the disruption will be minimized.”

At the worst stage of last month’s ash crisis in Europe, about 75 percent of European airspace was closed. Through extensive analysis resulting in adjustments to the safe threshold for operating in volcanic ash, the same level of ash cloud now would only close about a third of European airspace, Flynn said.

Still, that’s a big unknown. In Ireland, tourism officials are aware of travelers’ concerns and are eager to reassure visitors. Tourism Ireland has created an ash-related visitor charter, which more than 1,000 travel providers have signed since it was announced this week, according to Joseph Byrne, Tourism Ireland North America senior vice president.

The charter includes an agreement to waive cancellation fees for ash-affected travel disruptions and to offer consistent, contracted rates should visitors have to extend their stays.

“We obviously hope that none of this will have to be called on by anybody,” said Joseph Byrne. “But for anybody who is worried, it’s nice to know that the Irish government has actually encouraged the industry to come up with a charter and that the industry has actually responded in that immediate way.”

While ash has interrupted many travelers’ plans, it doesn’t seem to have had much of an effect on future bookings.

Ireland travel providers are reporting better week over week sales this year than last year, Byrne said. He attributes the uptick to improving consumer confidence and the increasing strength of the dollar in recent weeks.

Paired with that attractive exchange rate are deals that have been enhanced in the wake of the volcanic ash disruptions. “The values that were already very good have become even better,” Byrne said.

The country is keenly aware of tourism’s important role in its own struggling economy and is campaigning and “paring prices to the bone” to attract as many visitors as possible.

“It really is the year to pull out all the stops,” Byrne said.

Spain says the number of tourists visiting the country dropped in April coinciding with flight disruptions caused by an ash cloud released by an Icelandic volcano.

Tourism Ministry arrival figures released Friday show 3.9 million visitors landed in Spain that month, a 13.3 percent year-on-year drop.

The Eyjafjallajokul (pronounced ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) volcano in southern Iceland erupted for the first time in almost 200 years in late March, casting a plume of ash containing concentrations of potentially damaging silicates into much of western Europe’s airspace, affecting many flight paths in April.

Routes from Britain and Germany, key tourism sources, were hard hit with British intake down 28 percent while German arrivals dropped 20 percent.

U.S. arrivals increased 5 percent.

Greek Culture and Tourism Minister Pavlos Geroulanos and his Turkish counterpart Ertugrul Gunay signed on Friday in Athens a joint declaration for enhanced bilateral cooperation in culture the tourism, focusing on Chinese visitors.

The agreement ratified during the first meeting of the High- Level Greek-Turkish Council for Strategic Partnership in the presence of the prime ministers of Greece and Turkey, George Papandreou and Rejep Tayip Erdogan, promotes first of all joint Greek-Turkish tourism packages to third countries, such as China.

In this framework, a delegation of Chinese officials is expected to visit Turkey and Greece, which faces a severe economic crisis.

The crisis has recently affected its tourism industry, a vital source of revenues for Greece’s national economy.

Athens and Ankara will also seek closer collaboration on cultural tourism, by organizing a forum on tourism this autumn and will exchange know-how and experiences regarding the protection of cultural treasures and against the illegal trade of antiquities.

The two sides have also agreed to host festivals promoting the cinematography, theater, dancing, classical music, literature and various forms of Arts.

ATHENS, May 15 (Xinhua) — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayip Erdogan winded up his visit to Greece on Saturday with the signing of the Olympic Truce initiative with his Greek counterpart George Papandreou.

“The string of declarations and agreements we signed over these two days boost a new course that leads to peace according to the ancient Greek ideal of the Olympic Truce,” said Papandreou, welcoming Erdogan at the Panathinaikon Stadium in central Athens, which hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.

Erdogan expressed his great honor to support such a cause with his signature, adding that the two long-time archrivals send a positive message to the whole world with their will to cooperate from now on closer in order to solve differences and write a new chapter in the history of bilateral ties.

Papandreou gave one more promise to Erdogan before his departure for Ankara, that Greece will also support Istanbul’s bid to host the Olympic Games in 2020 and will help in every way with the valuable experience gained during the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.

Greek media which followed Erdogan’s two-day visit, however, do not express such optimism about the short future of bilateral relations.

In reports and comments printed on Saturday, major Greek newspapers pointed that apart from broad smiles and vague pledges to enforce collaboration in many sectors, from economy to tourism, the stand of both sides remained unchanged in many sensitive issues, such as the Cyprus issue and flights of Turkish jet fighters over the Aegean Sea.

During a meeting held on Saturday with political analysts of Greek newspapers, Erdogan asked the media to be more prudent and cautious when reporting cases of flights of Turkish war planes in the Aegean, noting that they do not send the “right messages to people.”

He stressed that his government will examine Papandreou’s call that Ankara will first notify Greek authorities on the flight pattern of Turkish Air Force in the future, so that Greek fighter jets will not implicate in mock dogfights with Turkish pilots. “We are not at war. If we remove weapons from the aircrafts, we will make a step towards peace,” Erdogan stressed, noting that Turkey has already reduced defence expenses in recent years.

Commenting on the Cyprus issue the Turkish leader repeated his proposal for a restart of talks between the two sides on the divided island after the election of a new Turkish Cypriot leader.

Falling price of Euro is going to help Europe Tourism suffering huge losses from Volcanic Eruption. Falling Euro has made Europe as cheap tourism destination, which will attract more tourists to travel.

Europe Tourism
Europe is certainly becoming a cheap tourist’s destination for American Tourists with falling Euro prices against US Dollar, therefore tour operators believe that in the European Summer they may see heavy tourists flow to Europe.

Academic and Industry Researchers has claimed that fluctuations in exchange rates effects flow of international tourists. Two years back Dollar felt against Euro to the record low levels, which resulted in less US Tourists traveling to Europe. This time experts believe reversal of what happened last time around.

The most popular tourists destinations in Euro Zone are Spain, Greece, France, Italy and Germany. These popular tourists destinations will be benefited from the fallen Euro. However, impact of Greece will remain to be very low due to the violence in the country.

On the other hand Spain is believed to be benefited most from the fallen Euro. Hotels prices in Spain have already fallen due to lack of tourists interest in the country. Now fallen Euro will only make it more attractive for tourists and will help Spain continue its momentum going forward.

All this will come only in play if the Iceland’s Volcano doesn’t cause more Havoc in the upcoming months. Volcanic Ash remains to be a big threat in the region. Spain, England, Germany all remains to be effected by the volcanic ash, therefore its very important that Volcano doesn’t cause much trouble to the tourists or the effects of fallen Euro will be minimum on the tourism industry.

To end on the positive note, Its probably the best time to travel your favorite destinations in Europe or reasonable prices. Just to give you an idea how you are going to save money by traveling to Europe, US Dollar price has fallen from $1.25 per Euro to $.85 per Euro, which means you, are going to save $40 per 100 Euros.

(thanks to the good pepole of Ceramic knives from Shenzhen knives to send us this)

ATHENS, Greece — Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a landmark visit to Athens on Friday (May 14th) amid tight security, in a bid to resolve longstanding issues between the two neighbours. The two governments signed a total of 21 agreements, declarations and memorandums, covering such issues as illegal immigration, boosting tourism, energy and transport. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called the visit an historic event, adding that the countries must work together to normalise ties. Reunifying Cyprus, long a stumbling block in bilateral ties, would contribute significantly to that goal, he noted.

Commenting on Erdogan’s visit to Athens, Cypriot President Demetris Christofias said he hoped it would “open the road to a real improvement in relations”. He added, though, that resolving the Cyprus problem was a condition for any major boost in ties.

Holiday in Turkey – its popularity today is beyond the usual European framework. It is possible that after the already traditional for Turkey tourists from Germany, Russia, England and Holland U.S. residents will also choose accommodation in the local resorts. In order to stimulate American interest to the Turkish tourism, in California the second consecutive year, was arranged a large-scale Turkish Festival. This year it was held from 6 to 9 May, near Los Angeles.

Turkish Festival in California is organized by the local Turkish diaspora. The significant support is also provided by the government of Turkey. Thus, among the current sponsors of the festival was marked also a special fund of the Prime Minister of Turkey, which funds tourism promotional campaign of the country abroad.

One of the central activities of the Turkish Festival in California this year was the presentation of cultural values, traditions and cuisine of the Anatolia region. In addition, the current festival was unique in its kind thanks to the solution of the exhibition. The Turks brought with them models of the five cities of the country, known for its sights and tourist attraction. Thus, the festival was organized in five pavilions where guests could see copies of such cities as Istanbul, Antalya, Konya, Van and Mardin.

At the festival were presented miniature models of several iconic sights of Turkey: Topkapi Palace and the Fountain of Ahmed III in Istanbul, the ancient Greek Amphitheater of Aspendos, which is located on the coast of Antalya near the town of Serik and the Armenian Church, located on the island of Akdamar in the center of Lake Van. At the pavilion, dedicated to the city of Konya, visitors could see the model of the Mausoleum of Rumi, beside which today give their concerts famous dancing dervishes.

In total, at the Turkish Festival in California, were presented more than 100 stands. Certainly, for Turkey festival was one of the biggest promotions in the recent history. Tasting of Turkish food, in which the Turkish cook up tons of Turkish ravioli – Mantas was the feature of the exhibition. You could try it in traditional Turkish coffee house, which was located in the heart of the festival area.

Organizers of the Turkish Festival in California spent in total more than a half million dollars. In its size in 2010, it was twice larger than last year. Today, the Turkish authorities are considering options for the acquisition of land in California, so the festival will be able to obtain a permanent residence, according to todayszaman.com.

We can add that for those who intend to go this summer on vacation in Turkey datscha-booking.com portal proposes rental villas in Turkey, apartments and other types of private housing in the Turkish resorts online.

We all know and have seen solar panels, and we all basically understand what they do and the power behind them. However, not too often we actually go beyond such panels and try to understand what they are made of and how the work. Solar panels are made of solar cells that allow the photovoltaic process  or better, the transformation of solar energy into solar electricity, bringing all the full benefits to our homes and cities. All this because small cells that are capable of catching something as powerful and beautiful as the Sun. As you can see, solar cells are the true heart for the full implementation of solar energy.

Solar cells are becoming very frequently used as the demand for solar panels keep on increasing and the desire to use alternative forms of energy in a world that rapidly is turning into a dangerous black hole, due to bad energetic policies and constant pollution, caused by oil and gas generated sources of power. Without mentioning the tremendous level of cost that energy is reaching nowadays without leaving any room to continue the way we are doing. It is probably a wake up call, so next time that you see a solar cell, think how important that little piece is for our planet and our life in general.

Many people are growing a major interest for solar power, especially today when the oil is at an all time high and the air is more polluted than ever. Citizens want solutions and especially they seek alternative energies, hoping to live in a better and more efficient world. From small devices to houses, solar power is aggressively making its way in, and solar power information is getting more and more accessible. Thru media, books, magazines and of course the internet, it is possible to address questions and get real answers that lead the end consumers to an education that is important and also very vital for the future of the entire planet Earth.

Many websites and specialized magazines dedicate thousands and thousands of pages to solar power information and this is a clear sign that solar energy is not just a trend any longer. Indeed, among all the alternative energies, solar energy seems to be the one that makes the most sense and probably is the one that in the years to come will be fully implemented into our communities and into our lives. Today, words like solar panels, Solar Garden Lights, solar electricity and solar cells are common language and part of an ongoing education that is rapidly catching the interest of mankind.