Belfast traces Titanic’s Irish roots
Galleries show shipyard, launch, sinking, history
The great ship that went down almost exactly a century ago was built, as you may have heard, in Belfast, and the Northern Ireland capital is hoping to cash in on that fact with its Titanic Experience. Set in the new Titanic Quarter, which the city’s been building for several years in preparation for the 2012 anniversary and beyond, the Experience is a series of galleries meant to put the Titanic in its Irish context. Starting today, tourists can learn about the shipyard, the launch, the sinking and what’s happened since in the new 118,000square-foot Eric Kuhne-designed building. See www.titanicbelfast.com.
APES STRESSED BY TOURISTS
According to a study just released by the University of Indiana and Red Ape Encounters, orangutans in Malaysia have displayed higher levels of stress after encounters with humans, leading to disrupted feeding, among other potential problems.
Animal-based tourism, including visiting gorillas in Rwanda and swimming with dolphins, is becoming a huge moneymaker, and the effects on the animals themselves is only now coming to light.
NEW ORLEANS IS BACK
According to the University of New Orleans, the 8.75 million people who visited the Big Easy last year spent more money — $5.47 billion — than they ever have before. That’s $180 million more than was spent in the city last year. Mayor Mitch Landrieu also announced, based on the same report, that about three-quarters of those visi- tors were there for fun rather than business.
RWANDA STREET VIEWS
Starting late last week, Google and the Rwandan Development Board have been mapping the nation’s top tourist attractions to help build the central African nation’s $252 million tourism industry. Last year, 908,000 people visited the country, which is marking the 18th anniversary of the Tutsi genocide on April 7. Top Rwandan sites include the Nile Congo Trail, the Nyungwe forest canopy walk, Lake Kivu and several museums, including the Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali.
HISTORIC HOTEL A MARRIOTT
The Algonquin, opened in 1889 and for many years a CP hotel, has been bought by a consortium after the province failed to reach a deal with Fairmont to continue to manage the Tudor-style hotel in St. Andrews, N.B., 250 km southwest of Moncton. Marriott has announced it will be a part of its Autograph brand of properties. AND FURTHERMORE…
Anew site for luxury pet travel has gone online, the latest hint that maybe the Mayans were right and the end is indeed nigh . . . The Greek diaspora has decided to help out the motherland and has crowd-funded an ad campaign to boost tourism . . . CTV’S W5 just broadcast a segment investigating some of the biggest travel scams in the country . . . New site tingo.com lets you take advantage of hotel price drops that happen between booking and your arrival.
APP OF THE WEEK: METRO
Too often, we travellers take cabs around new cities simply because we’re not familiar enough with local transit. This free app admirably attempts to fix that, with route information for about 400 cities around the world, including Toronto and several others in Canada. Bert Archer writes weekly about travel news to use and amuse. You can reach him with tips, complaints and questions at bertstravel@gmail.com, and follow him on Twitter @ Bertarcher.