Tourism drives Sri Lanka’s recovery
COLOMBO, 5 January 2011 – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank on Tuesday forecast the island’s post-war recovery would accelerate this year with 8.5 % economic growth on the back of a blistering expansion in tourism.
The country’s economy grew 8.0% in 2010, up from 3.5% a year earlier when security forces were in the final stages of crushing Tamil Tiger rebels and ending decades of ethnic bloodshed.
“We expect growth to accelerate to 9% in 2012 and 9.5% in 2013,” Central Bank governor Nivard Cabraal said in a statement outlining the bank’s monetary policy for 2011.
Nepal’s tourism up 15%
KATHMANDU, 4 January 2011 – A record number of tourists flew to Nepal last year, with most of the growth coming from neighbouring India and China, according to official figures released Monday.
The Nepal Tourism Board said the arrival of 448,769 foreign visitors at the country’s only international airport in 2010, 15% more than in 2009, showed tourism had recovered from the impact of a 10-year civil war.
Australian floods hurt economy
SYDNEY, 4 January 2011 – Massive floods washing through northeast Australia, wiping out crops and swamping coal mines, are pushing up commodity prices and could shave national growth figures, economists said Tuesday.
The flood disaster in Queensland state, which supplies half the world’s coking coal used for steel manufacture, has brought major mining operations to a standstill amid warnings it could be months before full production resumes.
Dubai might privatise public firms
DUBAI, 29 November 2010 – Debt-laden Dubai is looking into a possible privatisation of public sector firms and offloading international assets, but is waiting for the right time for a good return, officials said Sunday.
“We continue to work to diversify our financing sources and broaden the space for participation in the wealth of our economy,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, the head of Dubai’s Supreme Fiscal Committee.
“We continue to work on opening the door for public subscription in some of our large companies,” he added in a meeting with the media titled “Dubai economic update forum.”
Tourism to help Dubai’s recovery
DUBAI, 26 November 2010 – A year after scaring global markets over its debt crisis, Dubai still has a huge legacy of debt to deal with over the medium term, and is leaning on its core economic sectors for recovery.
The focus in the city-state has shifted to the traditionally strong sectors of trade, logistics and tourism in order to recover slowly from a crisis caused primarily by a boom-to-bust real estate frenzy.
Financial markets woke up in the red last year, 26 November, after Dubai signalled its need for a standstill on debt payments by its largest conglomerate, Dubai World.
Spain arrivals signal recovery
MADRID, 23 November 2010 – The number of foreign visitors to Spain rose in October for the sixth straight month despite a drop in tourists from Britain and Germany, its two main markets, government data showed Monday.
The country welcome 4.8 million foreign tourists last month, a 4.2% increase over the same time last year, bringing arrivals in the first 10 months of 2010 to 47.2 million, up 1.2%, the tourism ministry said.
Economic forecast bullish on ASEAN
November 11, 2010 by TTRweekly Staff
Filed under News
BANGKOK, 11 November 2010 – The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development named the six countries under ASEAN that it claims have recovered from global economic crisis and should record growth rates of around 7%.
OECD identified in its ASEAN economic forecast 2010 the six core members of ASEAN namely Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand stating their economies are recovering and claiming they could record growth rates of between 6 to 7.3% over five years.
First European flight in 20 years lands in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, 1 November 2010 – The first flight by a European carrier in 20 years landed in Baghdad on Sunday, marking an important step for a country looking to post-war reconstruction following the ravages of the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Airbus A319 operated by France’s Aigle Azur airline from Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport touched down at 6:00 am (0300 GMT), carrying on board France’s Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac and 111 passengers, including 40 French businessmen, officials said.
Russia chases tourist dollars
MOSCOW, 15 October 2010 – Despite being home to some of the world’s great attractions – from Red Square and the Kremlin in Moscow to the famed Hermitage museum in Saint Petersburg – Russia has struggled to attract tourists.
With some of the most expensive hotels in the world, inadequate tourism infrastructure, a reputation for surly service and bureaucratic headaches for visitors, Russia is hardly an easy destination for travellers.
Now the Russian government is hoping to change all that and is planning to launch an ambitious programme to make the country a tourist paradise by 2016 and thrust it into the ranks of major tourism destinations.
Smooth talk on Silk Road
SAMARKAND, 11 October 2010 – The United Nations tourism chief on Friday hailed the historic Silk Road as a potential major tourist destination, speaking in Uzbekistan at a meeting of officials from the region.
“Already Silk Road countries account for 30% of international tourism arrivals and 20% of international tourism receipts,” said Taleb Rifai, the secretary-general of UN’s World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
