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PARIS, Aug 12, 2023 (AFP) – A security alert Saturday prompted the evacuation of three floors of the Eiffel Tower in central Paris, France’s most emblematic symbol which drew 6.2 million visitors last year. SETE, the body which runs the site, said bomb disposal experts as well as police were scouring the area, including a restaurant located on one of the floors. “It’s a usual procedure in this kind of situation which however is rare,” […]
BRUGES, Belgium, Aug 5, 2023 (AFP) – Inhabitants of Belgium’s cobblestone-and-canal city of Bruges are clear: summertime tourism has hit capacity. “It’s really reached a red line now,” says one, 55-year-old architect Arnout Goegebuer, as he sits inside a cafe, peering out a window across a packed outside terrace. “We don’t need more tourists anymore, it’s enough — maybe a little bit less” is needed, he says. It’s a sentiment reiterated by other residents of […]
By Joris FIORITI Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The UN’s cultural agency UNESCO on Monday recommended that Venice be added to its list of world heritage in danger, saying the Italian authorities needed to step up efforts to secure the historic city and its surrounding lagoon. UNESCO said in its recommendation that Venice risked “irreversible” damage due to a string of issues ranging from climate change to mass tourism. The recommendation will now go […]
SEOUL, July 21, 2023 (AFP) – When a member of a tour group visiting the Demilitarized Zone on South Korea’s border suddenly sprinted away from the pack, a US soldier shouted: “Get him”. But it was too late. Private Second Class Travis King had crossed the border into nuclear-armed North Korea, where he is now believed to be in Pyongyang’s custody, with the United States saying it was “very concerned” about how he would be […]
TAIPEI, June 29, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan has rejected applications by Chinese tourism officials to enter the island for an international travel fair next month, authorities said Thursday, citing the current “cross-strait situation” with China. China views self-ruled democratic Taiwan as part of its territory — to be seized one day, by force if necessary — and exchanges between the two sides had tapered off due to political tensions as well as pandemic-driven border closures. […]
By Emmy VARLEY and Briseida MEMA Agence France-Presse NARTA , Albania, June 15, 2023 (AFP) — Flamingos and Dalmatian pelicans laze in the azure waters of a shallow lagoon near Albania’s Adriatic coast. But this avian paradise’s days may be numbered, ecologists warn, with a new airport being built close by to cash in on the Balkan nation’s tourism boom. Its construction near Vlora has triggered protests from environmentalists, who say it is being built […]
By Alice PHILIPSON Agence France-Presse HA LONG, Vietnam, May 26, 2023 (AFP) — Squinting in the bright light of a hot summer morning, Vu Thi Thinh perches on the edge of her small wooden boat and plucks a polystyrene block from the calm waters of Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay. It’s not yet 9 am, but a mound of styrofoam buoys, plastic bottles and beer cans sit behind her. They are the most visible sign […]
By Parvaiz BUKHARI Agence France-Presse SRINAGAR, India, May 22, 2023 (AFP) – A G20 tourism meeting was set to begin on Monday amid high security in Indian-administered Kashmir, with China and Pakistan condemning holding the event in the disputed territory. Muslim-majority Kashmir has been disputed between New Delhi and Islamabad, both of which claim it in full, since their independence 75 years ago. The Indian-controlled portion has been roiled for decades by an insurgency seeking […]
ENEVA, May 20, 2023 (AFP) – A tourist plane crashed in a wooded, mountainous area of western Switzerland on Saturday, killing the three people onboard, police said. The small tourist plane crashed in a steep and forested area near Ponts-De-Martel in the Swiss canton of Neuchatel at around 10:20 am (0820 GMT), regional police said. “The pilot and the two passengers died on site,” the Neuchatel police said in a statement, without providing further details […]
by Hélène COLLIOPOULOU Agence France-Presse PAROS, Greece (AFP) — It’s early morning in the picturesque village of Naoussa on the Greek island of Paros, and jackhammers are already echoing as locals ready for what they hope will be a record tourist season. After two bad years because of the pandemic, tourist numbers bounced back spectacularly last year, and this summer the Aegean island hopes to do even better. Construction sites are abuzz all over the […]
Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Sunday 4/2/2023 Two people have died after a hot-air balloon flying near Mexico’s famed Teotihuacan archeological site caught fire, the government said Saturday. “The passengers jumped from the balloon,” the government of the state of Mexico said in a statement, adding that a child suffered burns. It identified the victims as a 39-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man, without providing their names. It said the minor had suffered second-degree […]
by Peter MURPHY Agence France-Presse BUKOVEL, Ukraine (AFP) — Far from the Ukraine war’s frontlines, only the whirring of generator-powered ski lifts disturbs the calm at Bukovel in the country’s west, a winter resort nestled in the pine-forested Carpathian Mountains. For Liliya, an English interpreter from Ukraine’s Sumy region just 20 kilometres from the Russian border, who declined to give her surname for safety reasons, a first-time skiing holiday offered welcome if only brief respite. […]
