World News

Jade Mountain's latest recognition by the Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2015 is the fourth time and third year in a row readers have cast top votes for St. Lucia's storied resort. The magazine listed Jade Mountain as the number one Caribbean resort which defines the very best in travel.

Known for its otherworldly landscapes and scenery, it comes as no surprise that Iceland has been used for lunar training by NASA astronauts since 1965. This year, to mark the 50th anniversary of the first training exercise, a number of special events have been organized in the region, including a return to the training area for three Apollo astronauts.

The San Antonio Missions have officially been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The decision was announced on July 5th at the annual UNESCO World Heritage committee meeting in Bonn, Germany.  An elite list with just 22 existing U.S. landmarks included, the five Missions (including The Alamo) are taking their place among other great American historic and cultural institutions like the Statue of Liberty and Independence Hall.

From racecourses and golf courses to Sydney's spectacular harbour and shopping precincts, The Bledisloe Cup Festival will take over the harbour city for four days from 5-8 August 2015. Most festival activities are free and some offer the chance to meet Qantas Wallabies players.

With a solid framework for environment and social sustainability in place, 11 Centara properties have achieved Silver Certification from EarthCheck, the world’s leading environment certifier of travel and tourism organizations.  In order to achieve Silver, Centara properties were required to submit operational data that was benchmarked against industry best practice.

La Digue is one of Seychelles’ most enchanted islands and the many small hotels there continue to make the charm of this beautiful island. Tucked in a beautiful garden filled with neatly-cut trees not far from the La Passe jetty on the island, are 10 chalets forming part of the latest tourism establishment run by well-known Hotel L’Archipel belonging to top Seychellois hotelier Louis D’Offay.

Commonwealth Secretary-General, Kamalesh Sharma, yesterday completed a successful two day official visit to Guyana. “The aim of my visit was to discuss the priorities of Guyana’s leaders and to reiterate the Commonwealth’s enduring commitment to developing Guyana practically at the grassroots through capacity-building programmes. I also briefed the leadership on our advocacy and the range of pioneering global initiatives,” said Mr Sharma.

Barely touched and retaining a purity unlike anywhere else, Antarctica is home to ice-bergs, glacial islands and an abundance of wildlife blissful in their complete isolation. Aurora Expeditions and their voyages to Antarctica opens the door to a frozen wilderness; an ethereal backdrop to a voyage packed with once in a lifetime adventures.

Living up to its reputation as the best kept secret in the Maldives; Kandolhu Island is a 5 star luxury boutique resort located in the middle of the beautiful Ari Atoll. With just 30 contemporary villas, the resort boasts the highest restaurants to villas ratio in the Maldives with four gourmet restaurants on offer and beach front bar.

This summer, the magic of Monet's famous water gardens in Normandy comes to the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show from Tuesday 30th June to Sunday 5th July with the press day on Monday 29th June. In anticipation of the 2016 Normandy Impressionist Festival, the Normandy Tourist Board will be hosting an Impressionist Garden designed by James Priest, Head Gardener at the Fondation Claude Monet in Giverny.

It's time for stakeholders in the Caribbean's hospitality industry to more broadly represent the multicultural nature of the region and serve the growing diversity of visitors to the Caribbean by learning to speak more than one language. 

Birmingham Muslims planning to travel to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage have been urged to check the latest health advice before booking trips. The pilgrimage to Mecca is expected to fall between September 21-26 and traditionally many people begin making travel plans during the holy month of Ramadan.

This Independence Day weekend, fans are flocking to the sun-drenched island of Barbados for an exclusive concert by rising electro-pop stars, Priory. Dubbed an “emerging” band by Billboard Magazine, the Portland-based band will debut on-island July 5 at hotspot The Boatyard with hit songs from their latest album “Need to Know.”

This year continues to be a landmark year for the Islands of The Bahamas, with this latest recognition for leading the way in delivering a quality product and service by the ESQR (The European Society for Quality Research), which awarded The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism with Gold at its Quality Achievement Awards last week in London.

U.S. resident Joyce Arias was the winner of the Virgin Islands Nice Challenge, a social media competition launched by the United States Virgin Islands Department of Tourism to kick off a summer promotion built on its current "Virgin Islands Nice" campaign.

The 19^th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers (19CCEM) starting today will tackle the tough challenges facing governments in providing quality education and employable skills for young people, Deodat Maharaj, Commonwealth Deputy Secretary General, has said.