Tourism

Is Mexico safe? That's the question that gets a lot of media attention. When six tourists from Spain were raped earlier this month in Acapulco, speculation began anew. But the tourism board in Cancun, 1,200 miles away and in a state for which the U.S. State Department has no advisory, wants the public to feel safe about visiting that region of the country, especially with the spring break vacation period looming. About 45,000 people visit during the spring travel season. “Last year Cancun welcomed almost 4 million visitors, and while none of our tourists were victims of violent crimes, we understand that safety is always a concern when traveling to a foreign country,” said Jesus Almagauer, chief executive of Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau.

On a nearly deserted downtown block, a small brick building fronted by a curvy neon sign heralds a bygone era here: That's when the big bombs went boom and awe-struck Las Vegas residents watched the mushroom clouds billow into the bright desert sky. At the start of the Cold War, in the 1950s and early 60s, people timed their days to watch the U.S. government's nuclear explosions at the nearby Nevada Test Site. Think of it as a small-town fair with 10,000-pound bombs serving as fireworks.

On a nearly deserted downtown block, a small brick building fronted by a curvy neon sign heralds a bygone era here: That's when the big bombs went boom and awe-struck Las Vegas residents watched the mushroom clouds billow into the bright desert sky. At the start of the Cold War, in the 1950s and early 60s, people timed their days to watch the U.S. government's nuclear explosions at the nearby Nevada Test Site. Think of it as a small-town fair with 10,000-pound bombs serving as fireworks.

Los Angeles has doubled its presence in China. In hopes of welcoming more big-spending foreign visitors, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday that the city has opened a tourism office in Shanghai, the second for Los Angeles in China. To promote trade and travel to L.A., the mayor also announced plans to visit Beijing this month. He will travel with executives from the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports, and the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board on May 26-29.

Looking for a good deal on an air fare? Try an air fare "factory outlet"--a discounter or consolidator. Airlines often sell large blocks of tickets at bargain prices to discounters (also called consolidators), which pass those savings on to passengers. The savings are more apparent on international tickets, but if you need to travel at a day's notice, the savings can also be big on a domestic flight. Of course, such deals come with restrictions.

Despite past assurances that tourists are safe in their country, Mexican tourism officials are again faced with trying to explain away another report of crime against foreign visitors. The latest incident took place in the resort town of Acapulco, where six Spanish tourists on vacation were raped Sunday by masked gunmen. Unlike many crimes involving drug violence in the country's interior states, the rapes took place near the beach, where the tourists were renting bungalows near four-star hotels.

Red double-decker tour buses have begun rolling again in New York and Circle Line boats have started plying the waterways as tourism took a few more baby steps toward normalization after the super storm Sandy, AP reports. The Empire State Building, Broadway theaters, the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum, and many stores, have reopened. But the wire service says city parks (including Central Park), the High Line and the Statue of Liberty remain closed pending damage assessment . . . . Enjoy nibbles from top chefs and specialty food companies at the San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival, Nov. 14-18.

OK, quickly name America's top tourist destination. Orlando, Fla.? Las Vegas? The Grand Canyon? Try New York. By New Year's Eve, New York expected to have made history by snaring more than 50 million tourists in one year, considerably surpassing a deadline that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg set early in his administration for 2015 and then moved up to the end of 2012. When it became clear that the city would come in a year ahead of schedule, Bloomberg staged a media event just before Christmas in Times Square with balloons and billboards and a couple of smiling Brits.

The tourism industry in Los Angeles continues to rebound from the recession, with a projected 2% increase in visitors expected in 2011, according to the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. Bureau President Mark Liberman predicted Friday that Los Angeles would host 26.3 million overnight visitors this year, compared with 25.7 million in 2010. The number of visitors to Los Angeles dropped to 23.8 million in 2009 from the 2007 peak of 25.9 million. "We're forecasting that Los Angeles will welcome more visitors in 2011 than it has in more than a decade," Liberman said.

For the Registry Hotel in Irvine, the good news is that a federal judge last week ruled that hotel officials can continue using the hotel's cash for day-to-day operations. The bad news is that it may not be for long. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge John Ryan decided last week that the beleaguered hotel can use the funds to avert foreclosure for at least four months. Another hearing is tentatively slated for April 13. The hotel's biggest debtor, Homestead Savings & Loan Assn.

With a sonic boom that resounded above the Mojave Desert, a rocket plane belonging to British billionaire Richard Branson's commercial space venture Virgin Galactic got one step closer to carrying tourists into space. On Monday the company's SpaceShipTwo ignited its rocket motor in mid-flight for the first time and sped to Mach 1.2, faster than sound, reaching about 56,000 feet in altitude. The test flight is the biggest milestone in Virgin Galactic's 81/2-year endeavor to be the world's first commercial space liner, which would make several trips a day carrying scores of paying customers into space for a brief journey.

LAS VEGAS - For nearly five years, the steel-and-concrete skeleton of the abandoned resort project has taunted this city, a glaring reminder that casino operators here can't win every economic wager they place. The stalled Echelon project sits on hallowed gambling ground: It's where the old Stardust casino was imploded. Construction on the new $4-billion resort began in 2007 and froze a year later - a failure so embarrassing that city officials later ordered owner Boyd Gaming Corp.

Are you in summer vacation planning mode? Every state and many cities in America publish their own tourism guides, vacation planners, whatever you want to call them -- and they're usually free for the asking. Sure, the glossy, color magazines are out to lure you to visit, but they're also packed with good information and maps. The deal: You can find guides by searching online for state or local tourism offices. For example, the 108-page Official State of Alaska Vacation Planner is offered in hard copy (it takes three weeks by mail)

MEXICO CITY - Scientists who take the annual measure of Mexican forestland famously occupied by migrating monarch butterflies said Wednesday that the butterfly population is the smallest they have seen in two decades. The likely cause is unseasonably warm weather recently in the United States, as well as a dramatic loss of habitat in the U.S. Corn Belt, the scientists said. In a survey carried out in December and January, researchers found nine monarch colonies wintering in central Mexico, occupying a total of 1.19 hectares, or 2.94 acres, a 59% decrease compared with the previous year's study.

A bright spot in the local economy - tourism - continues to generate big numbers for Los Angeles County's hotels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses. Tourists spent $16.4 billion in 2012, most of it on lodging, food and drinks, according to a study commissioned by the Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board. By comparison, the group said, tourists spent $15.4 billion in 2011. Tourism last year also generated more than $2 billion in state and local taxes, according to the study by Los Angeles economics research firm Micronomics.

MEXICO CITY -- Just days into his job, the top tourism official in the western state of Jalisco was chased and gunned down in a weekend attack that police promptly blamed on the official's previous business-related activities and not on his government post. Jose de Jesus Gallegos was shot to death in his vehicle on Saturday afternoon after a short car chase near a major intersection in Zapopan, a suburb of the state capital of Guadalajara. According to  early reports , Gallegos' driver attempted to outrun the gunmen shooting from a luxury vehicle before another car cut off the official's path, causing a collision.

Alaska , here we come!  Whether you love Sarah Palin or hate her, there’s little doubt that the free-spirited politician's new eight-part TV series, " Sarah Palin's Alaska ," will boost tourism to her home state. The series, which will make its debut Nov. 14 on TLC, documents America's final frontier through the eyes of its most famous current citizen. The state provides a breathtaking backdrop as the Palin family goes salmon fishing and climbs a peak in Denali National Park & Preserve . Wildlife is everywhere: A brown bear placidly swims by the Palins as they are fishing, while later a pair of bears wrestle their way into the water – so close that the ensuing splash looks as if it almost could have capsized the Palins’ boat.

President Obama wants to make it easier for foreign tourists to come to the United States without making it easier for terrorists to get in. Speaking to a crowd at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Obama announced new initiatives to increase travel and tourism in the United States, including one that will make it easier for tourists from Brazil and China to get visas to visit. As first reported this morning by the Orlando Sentinel , the new executive order signed by Obama calls for a 40% increase in processing capacity in both countries over the next year.

CAIRO -- A hot-air balloon exploded over the ancient city of Luxor on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people and adding fresh turmoil to Egypt's beleaguered tourism industry, which has been struggling since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak two years ago. Authorities said the balloon was drifting at about 1,000 feet when it caught fire and the basket plummeted into sugar cane fields outside a village shortly after dawn. Officials said the dead included nine passengers from Hong Kong, four from Japan, two from France, two from Britain and one from Belgium.

DAMASCUS, Syria - Somewhere between the Christian and historical Jewish quarters of Old Damascus, labyrinthine alleys lead to a nondescript cobblestone tunnel that opens onto an Ottoman-era home, one of this ancient capital's many boutique hotels. Inside, across a courtyard and along the basalt stone wall, several young artists and musicians sit beneath a tangerine tree chatting and smoking a hookah, or water pipe. One strums a setar , a three-string lute indigenous to the region.