Tourists

I like to think of travel as a cure for everything. But there is at least one problem it cannot correct: the death of a beloved partner. For the 2.6 million American men and 11 million American women who have been widowed, time is the true healer. Yet supportive families, hobbies and work often play a role, and I'd add travel to that list as well. Many widows have found that travel helps them redefine who they are, makes them feel strong and accomplished, and gets them out in the world.

DELHI, INDIA - Delhi, India, is closed today. My guide, a solemn man named C.K. Gupta, is deeply apologetic. It is, he informs me, not a holiday, but a peaceful protest. "Too high prices in the shops. " It is 2010, and I am in Delhi on vacation. It is my first time here. Receiving this piece of early-morning information, I am all set for empty sidewalks. The occasional whining ambulance. Maybe a bus. But when we leave my rented car near the Defence Colony, it is impossible to move.

True to his word, Clint Eastwood has made Carmel safe for ice-cream cones. Indeed, in his first six months as mayor, he also has made Carmel safe for tourists and merchants while at the same time reassuring townsfolk that he wants to rein in the unbridled hype that once threatened to turn Carmel-by-the-Sea into Clintville-by-the-cash-register.

LAS VEGAS - It sits along a stretch of median on the less-glamorous south end of this city's glitzy gambling Strip, a stubborn holdover from another era. Yet, as the days turn to night and back into day, it beckons as many tourists, human tumbleweeds and adventure-seekers as any newfangled casino. They come to see, touch and photograph the iconic "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada" sign, a 1959 scramble of colors, typefaces and flashing light bulbs. They come in droves, as if on some obligatory Vegas pilgrimage, arriving in taxis, rental cars, stretch limos, golf carts, pickup trucks, motorcycles, double-decker tour buses.

The appetite for celebrity gossip and video clips seems to show no bounds. And apparently celebrities are happy to oblige those who collect and distribute this stuff. Consider the TMZ Hollywood Tour, a special celebrity tour that was launched last year by Starline Tours, Los Angeles' largest tour bus company, with the help of the celebrity-stalking website and television show TMZ. Starline launched the special tour with one bus and four daily tours. The response has been so strong that Starline added a second bus last September and plans to add two more by July.

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details. Michael Jackson and Simon Cowell are hot. Elvis Presley, Larry King and Christina Aguilera -- not so much. At least those are the sentiments of tourists who requested views of celebrity homes from StarLine Tours, the largest tour bus company in Los Angeles. Based on such requests, the tour company Friday released its top 10 list of most requested celebrity homes for 2011 and the Holmby Hills mansion where the King of Pop died in 2009 was the most requested stop, followed by the Beverly Hills estate of former"American Idol"judge Cowell.

There was a time when a mushroom cloud billowing over the Nevada desert was celebrated as a symbol of American strength — and, about 75 miles southeast in Las Vegas, as a terrific tourist draw. In the 1950s, casinos threw "dawn parties," where gamblers caroused until a flash signaled the explosion of an atomic bomb at the Nevada Test Site. Tourism boosters promoted the Atomic Cocktail (vodka, brandy, champagne and a dash of sherry) and pinups such as Miss Atomic Blast, who was said to radiate "loveliness instead of deadly atomic particles.

BEIJING -- China's National Tourism Administration has issued an advisory on travel to Hong Kong after a video of mainland tourists being insulted and "forced to shop" by a Hong Kong tour guide sparked outrage on the Internet. A former British colony, Hong Kong attracts hordes of Chinese tourists, many of them on shopping trips for luxury or brand-name goods that are more expensive on the mainland. "An undated video clip currently circulating on the Internet shows a Hong Kong tour guide allegedly abusing a group of visitors from the Chinese mainland and forcing them to shop, triggering a backlash from the mainland public," the Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

Can you trust a gambler to tell you the truth about how much cash he's blown? The Las Vegas Review-Journal raised the intriguing question this week when reporting on Sin City's annual visitor profile study, a gauge of who's visiting Las Vegas and where their money is going. By many measures, Las Vegas tourism is starting to regain its footing, though officials are concerned that a spike in gas prices or other financial turmoil could stall the nascent recovery. In 2011, for example, gambling revenue at casinos on the Strip was up 5.1% compared with the prior year.

1 Mexico Officials in Mexico City hope to lure skittish tourists with unusual bait: free health insurance. Under a new program, tourists who stay in participating hotels in the city are eligible for free coverage for emergency medical care, hospital stays, prescription drugs and ambulance services. The initiative, called the "Tourist Assistance Card," grew out of Mexico's recent H1N1 flu crisis, which sent tourism plunging nationwide as would-be travelers steered clear.

The U.N.'s World Trade Organization says 1 billion people will cross international borders as tourists this year for the first time . That's about 4% higher than last year. The top three destinations? The U.S., France and China . . . . United has moved its John Wayne Airport ticket counter operations to Terminal C. The temporary move (eight weeks) is necessary to allow the TSA to make security upgrades to the baggage-handling system in Terminal B . . . . Grand Canyon National Park celebrates endangered species and wildlife May 18-19, a Friday and Saturday.

The Catalina Island Conservancy has accomplished the rare feat of encouraging tourism and, at the same time, preserving wildlands on the most visited of the Channel Islands archipelago off the coast of Southern California. The conservancy, endowed 40 years ago, handles a million visitors a year while protecting animals and plants and bringing back from the brink of extinction a unique island fox. Now it is considering ambitious proposals that would enhance the tourist experience, partly to generate increased revenue for preservation but, more important, to pique people's interest in becoming ongoing members of the conservancy.

On two separate occasions over the last nine years, Olen Steinhauer has brought a thriller series to a close. The first was the end of a five-novel series set in an unnamed Eastern European bloc nation. Focusing on a People's Militia homicide unit and stretching over a 40-year period, the historical sweep and breadth of those novels catapulted Steinhauer's work from the mystery to spy genre in a spectacular and satisfying manner - and created high expectations for the series that followed.

Tourism is already a booming industry in Los Angeles and may soon be even bigger. The city is gearing up to host one of the nation's largest trade shows for the travel industry, an April 21-25 gathering at the Los Angeles Convention Center that is expected to attract more than 1,500 travel business operators and generate at least $10 million in spending during the event. Known as the 2012 International Pow Wow, the trade show expects dozens of tour operators from China, Mexico, Russia, Italy, the Netherlands and other countries who specialize in bringing tourists to the United States.

The appetite for celebrity gossip and video clips seems to show no bounds. And apparently celebrities are happy to oblige those who collect and distribute this stuff. Consider the TMZ Hollywood Tour, a special celebrity tour that was launched last year by Starline Tours, Los Angeles' largest tour bus company, with the help of the celebrity-stalking website and television show TMZ. Starline launched the special tour with one bus and four daily tours. The response has been so strong that Starline added a second bus last September and plans to add two more by July.

Deep Ocean Expeditions offers the ultimate Titanic tour this summer: See the shipwreck firsthand from a tiny submersible during the 100th anniversary of its sinking. Despite the stiff $60,000 price tag, the Titanic dives became so popular among tourists that the company added a third trip. Now expedition coordinator Rob McCallum tells National Geographic News that Titanic dives planned for July and August will be the company's last. Deep Ocean holds the exclusive charter for Titanic dives.

Mexico's Yucatan peninsula got a bit of a break Thursday as Hurricane Rina weakened to a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center . But the rains and choppy seas of the storm expected to hit Cancun and Cozumel on Thursday evening have still taken a toll on tourism. Reuters reports an exodus of 13,000 tourists from Cancun since Tuesday, and more than 90 flights in and out of Cancun's airport canceled Thursday, though the airport remained open as of Thursday morning.

When Lebo Malepa decided to rent out his bedroom and another room in 2003, his economist father doubted his son's ambitious vision for tourism in unlikely Soweto township. "Soweto is a township full of energy and full of trendsetters," Malepa said. "When I started my business, I was convinced I was going to make it happen. " Malepa's enthusiasm, hard work and ability to spot a market niche helped Lebo's Soweto Backpackers expand dramatically. He now has 57 bicycles and two tuk-tuks (three-wheelers)

This post has been corrected. See the note at the bottom for details. Michael Jackson and Simon Cowell are hot. Elvis Presley, Larry King and Christina Aguilera -- not so much. At least those are the sentiments of tourists who requested views of celebrity homes from StarLine Tours, the largest tour bus company in Los Angeles. Based on such requests, the tour company Friday released its top 10 list of most requested celebrity homes for 2011 and the Holmby Hills mansion where the King of Pop died in 2009 was the most requested stop, followed by the Beverly Hills estate of former"American Idol"judge Cowell.

Gamin French film star Audrey Tatou, 35, who became known to American audiences in the whimsical rom-com "Amelie," crosses the Atlantic again with her latest movie, "Delicacy," about a young widow who finds love again with an unexpected suitor. The film, directed by David and Stephane Foenkinos, opens Friday in Los Angeles. -- You've said that you look for enriching experiences in the roles you choose. How did you find that in "Delicacy"? I was interested in the joy of the character.