This year, the Spanish city of Zaragoza hosts its first international exhibition, Expo Zaragoza, which is based on issues related to water and sustainable development. The Expo will be staged on a specially constructed riverside site, covering 150 hectares, two kilometres outside the city. The event runs from 14 June to 14 September, and during that time over 7.5 million visitors are expected. The Expo aims to bring together water providers and consumers, government departments concerned with sustainability and NGOs. At the same time, says Turespaña, the Spanish Tourist Office, it will showcase the city of Zaragoza – Spain’s fifth largest city and the ...

In 2007, for the fourth consecutive year, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) ranked the Republic of Montenegro as one of the top three destinations in the world in terms of forecast travel and tourism growth over the ensuing decade. And preliminary estimates put Montenegro in second position in the growth ranking for 2008, behind Macau – the Special Administrative Region of China. To be ranked alongside Asian powerhouses such as China and India is no mean feat for a country whose tourism industry ground to a complete halt during the 1990s as a result of the Balkan conflict. Since WTTC produced its first Tourism Satellite Account and Country ...

In a move that shows the Croatian Government’s increased support for the tourism sector, a new Ministry of Tourism has been created, and its Minister Damir Bajs says that Croatia’s public and private sector will invest up to €1.8 billion in tourism infrastructure this year. Croatia’s tourism is one of the country’s most important industries, generating revenues of €6.92 billion last year, up by 10% on 2006. Croatia attracted 11.2 million visitors last year (+ 5.7%), translating into a total of 56 million overnights. Germany, Italy and Slovenia remain Croatia’s top incoming markets, with 1.55 million visitor arrivals, 1.25 million and 1.02 million ...

To respond to the increased competition from low-cost carriers, Turkish Airlines is creating a new low-cost airline (LCC) subsidiary. Anadolu Jet will fly to neighbouring destinations from Ankara to compete with LCCs such as Pegasus Airlines. It is set to begin its flights from Ankara to domestic and foreign destinations on 31 March. The fleet will include six Boeing 737-400s with 162 seats each (the airline will not offer business class). Foreign destinations will include Vienna, Basel, Tehran and Frankfurt, and the airline will also fly to 16 domestic destinations, including Izmir, Adana, Trabzon, Dalaman and Bodrum. Meanwhile, another subsidiary of ...

Greece’s Minister for Tourism Development, Aris Spiliotopoulos, wants to radically change the image of Greek tourism. Since taking up his post last year, the minister has highlighted his vision for a new way to promote tourism to the country. “We must get rid of the old ‘sun and sea’ formula to promote our tourism to focus more on quality. In a global world, our country must have a multi-faceted image to become a global brand which can target any type of travellers,” he says. The minister cites Spain as an example to avoid in tourism development. “Look at the price paid by Spain for the development of its coastal tourism, with its crowded, artificial ...

The opening of Marseille’s first low-cost airline terminal, MP2, has proved a boon for outbound, as well as inbound, tourism. The new budget terminal was served by six airlines offering 13 destinations this past winter. For the current summer season, the terminal is linked to 22 destinations, with Ryanair alone proposing 17. Low-cost carriers (LCCs) transported 1.07 million passengers to Marseilles in 2007, up by 189% over 2006’s level. The low-cost market share jumped from 6.6% in 2006 to 15.8% in 2007. The total passenger count was over 6.9 million and 7.4 million are forecast for 2008. LCCs helped to boost tourism activities in Marseille, according ...