Argophilia

Αργοφιλία: For the love of the journey.

Vesak Day in Singapore: A day of Enlightenment

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Vesak Day is the most auspicious day of the year for Buddhists the world over, the day that commemorates the Buddha’s birth, enlightenment and death. It is a time of immense joy, reflection and peace, and nowhere is it embraced with more passion than in Singapore. In Singapore, thousands of Buddhist faithful flock to the […]

Building on its Potential – The Crimea

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With its virtually sub-tropical climate, its seaside location, the health-resort potential and now, with backing from the local government, the Crimea is set to become the capital of Eastern European tourism. These ambitious dreams were voiced by Vasyl Dzharty, the Prime Minister of the Crimea during a recent two day trip to Brussels and London. […]

The Trouble with Russian Travel

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Despite Russia’s prominence as far as its proliferation of World Heritage listed cultural and natural sites goes, the country is struggling to have much of an impact on world tourism, with the travel industry accounting for just 3% of its gross domestic product. Compare that with say, Malta, whose tourist industry accounts for 35% of […]

The Sorry State of India’s Leading Travel Portal

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Yatra.com proudly boasts they are India’s “leading online travel company”, offering a host of services that are designed to make the traveler’s life more convenient, such as hotel reservations, transportation bookings, holiday packages and the like. What’s more, they claim to be able to offer the best rates for Indian travelers on all of the […]

Exploring Zen Tourism in Vietnam

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With its Buddhist history stretching back more than 2,500 years, together with more than 10 million followers of Buddhism and over 100 pagodas in the country, Vietnam is a most wonderful Zen tourism destination. Zen, which espouses experiential wisdom in the path to enlightenment, is a school of traditional Mahayana Buddhism. The school favors direct […]

Ballooning in Cappadocia

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Thousands of years ago, the ancient region of Anatolia in Turkey was a very violent place – angry volcanoes exploding with an intensity of the like we will never see today, blasting rocks, molten lava and red hot clouds of ash and dust into the sky for miles around. It’s this volcanic activity which forms […]

Fukushima Tourism Struggles On

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Family and friends of the Ryan family from Florida thought they were crazy.  “You’ll come back glowing bright green,” they said. “You’ll die.” “You must be insane,” they were told. But the Ryans were resolute in their determination to stick to their original schedule as planned – Fukushima in Japan. And now, looking out over […]

Marinduque – A Rising Destination

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The sheer choice of destinations in the Philippines is simply overwhelming. With 7,107 islands in its chain, choosing just one can be a daunting, let alone challenging, prospect. To make things easier for you, there is a simple answer. Go straight to the heart of the Philippines – Marinduque. Home of the colorful Moriones Festival, […]

Expedia Introduces New Android App and Mobile Website

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Expedia and its sister company Hotels.com released new mobile apps for Android as well as an upgraded mobile website for Expedia.com. Expedia is showcasing the new apps and features at Google I/O Developer Sandbox. Among the new features in the Android app are: Interactive view of all hotels in an area with multiple sorting options […]

A hidden gem in Europe’s smallest capital city – Ljubljana

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With its tiny, 2 million population, Slovenia is probably one of the most overlooked destinations in Eastern Europe, yet it’s also one of the most unexpectedly delightful of them all. Located where the worlds of the Germanic, Slavic and Mediterranean people meet, Slovenia proudly boasts breathtaking mountains, eerie caverns, lush countryside and historic villas. Existing […]

Father Accuses Thai Police of Tourist Deaths Cover-up

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The father of a tourist who died in suspicious circumstances while on holiday in Thailand is accusing authorities of attempting to cover up the circumstances surrounding his daughter’s death. Richard Carter from Auckland, whose daughter Sarah Carter, 25, passed away while backpacking in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, has set up a website […]

Malaysian Mega Sale Carnival 2011

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If you want a holiday where you can shop till you drop, then you could do a whole lot worse than wind up in Malaysia this summer. With its multitude of shopping malls, dazzling markets and individual souvenir stores selling everything from the latest mobile phones and attractive Malaysian clothes to local artworks, DVDs and […]

United Airlines and Amadeus Part Ways with $75M Payment

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United Airlines will make a one-time payment to Amadeus for $75 million, ending a contract that has been stalled for years.  United originally contracted Amadeus to migrate its internal reservation system from Travelport’s Apollo to its own Altéa platform, but the migration never happened. When United Airlines merged with Continental Airlines, it decided to migrate […]

Indian Medical Tourism Will Not Stop Growing

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Indian medical tourism is set to continue growing, despite efforts by the US government to curb the number of Americans travelling to the third world to find affordable healthcare. Talking to reporters at a press conference last weekend, the chief vascular and cardiothoracic surgeon at the Fortis Group Hospitals in India, Dr. Vivek Javali, revealed […]

World’s Wackiest Festivals

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Cheese rolling, baby jumping, tuna fish-tossing – these are just some of the crazy festivals celebrated around the world. We have taken it upon ourselves to scour the globe, drawing up a list of the world’s five wackiest celebrations to add to your calendar. Check out the world’s most mental festivals below! 5. The Tunarama […]

Summertime Festivals in Serbia

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Serbia isn’t nearly as popular as some of its Balkan cousins when it comes to travel, something which is often difficult to fathom why. Granted, Serbia lacks the beaches of its near-neighbor Croatia, and then there is the stigma of the country being the target of not one, but two NATO air strike campaigns just […]

Indonesian Shadow Puppets Come To Life

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If you thought that puppetry was a little outdated and tired in today’s age of television and the internet – you might want to think again. While Punch and Judy may have had their day, there’s a lot to be said for the unique charms of “Wayang” shadow puppetry in Indonesia. The “dalang” puppet master […]

BTC: Hidden Fees from Airlines Increase Managed Travel Cost

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Businesses are paying the price for hidden airline fees, according to the Business Travel Coalition.  Managed  travel programs invariably purchase their airline tickets through travel agencies and TMC (travel management companies), both of which airlines utilize but fail to share their additional service fees. These hidden fees have big implications for corporations that use these […]