Travelogue… with Bob Nicolaides

Floating hotel designed for World Cup 2022 in Qatar   Adding luxury to comfort, a floating hotel designed by Finland-based Sigge Architects is the latest avant-garde construction plan for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar™. Ideal to accommodate football fans from all over the world, the exclusive five-star facility is expected to include top-notch restaurants, a lavish spa, a nightclub and a rooftop pool. Besides, the hotel can be moved to another coastal location after the World Cup 2022 to cater to the requirements of other events. The ultra-modern facility will not depend on location infrastructure, as it will have independent sewage treatment, power generation and recycling capabilities, making it a true architectural achievement. Admares Floating Real Estate, a partner in the project, reveals: “The floating hotel provides all of the same services and amenities that are available in hotels constructed on land, while simultaneously offering the additional experience of floating on water and all-around access to exceptional views. A floating hotel is a viable option for areas where land is scarce, fully developed or challenging to develop.” It also adds: “The exterior architecture is fully customizable to suit the location’s surroundings. In addition, a parking garage can also be built into the hotel complex, which guarantees parking spots to guests even in fully developed city areas.” Moreover, the floating hotel will be tailored to meet the exact needs of an operator, in terms of the number of rooms, types of restaurants, number and location of pools, placement of balconies and terraces, which can all be altered to suit the purpose. The construction timeline of the project has not been revealed yet, but the floating hotel promises to be a main attraction for VIPs and jet-setters. Events in Ukraine rings SOS alarms for European tourism   Growth of tourism within Europe is expected to slow this year due to recent political upheaval in Ukraine and Crimea. rism within Europe grew faster than the world average in 2013, but that rate of growth is not expected to continue in 2014. "For 2014 we expect the region to consolidate growth," said John Kester, acting director of the United Nations World Tourism Organization Tourism Market Trends Program. "Most source markets show good prospects, but due to the recent events growth might soften from the Russian Federation, one of the fastest growing markets for many ETC member destinations recently". He was speaking at the recent annual meeting of the Marketing Intelligence Group (MIG), which is part of the European Travel Commission. During the meeting, Visit Flanders research manager Vincent Nijs was elected as the new chairman of MIG. Emöke Halassy and Tünde Mester from Hungarian Tourism and Peter Nash from Tourism Ireland were elected as vice-chairpersons. "Improving knowledge transfer, by which I mean the process that goes from eliciting information needs into research projects and actionable findings, is the key objective of my term," said Nijs.

Rising seas could drown Italy's prized heritage   Several major Unesco World Heritage-listed sites in Italy including the ancient ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum could eventually be swallowed up by rising sea levels, a new study claims. Global warming could also deprive Italy of 10 other cultural treasures including Venice and its lagoon, the towns clinging to cliffs that make up the Cinque Terre and the Amalfi coast. Also at risk are Pisa’s Piazza del Duomo and the historic centre of Naples That's the conclusion of a new study looking at the potential loss of world heritage worldwide through global warming. Using sea level rise estimates and topographic data, the researchers looked at the impact of rising sea levels in different countries over the next 2,000 years. "In this time scale, ocean heat content and glacier ice mass can be considered to be in equilibrium with global temperatures, and relatively independent of the warming path of the initial 100 years," the Germany and Austria-based study authors said. They found 40 Unesco sites worldwide would be affected by rising oceans over the next 2,000 years if global warming continued at the same rate. These included a slew of sites in Spain including Seville's Alcazar palace, several in France and Germany and two in Sweden. But they found that a "not improbable" three-degree Celsius rise in temperature over the same period would have an even more serious impact, affecting 136 Unesco sites worldwide. The researchers in the study published in the journal IOP science recognized the difficulty of making models of climate change, and also admitted they hadn't taken into account local conditions like flooding. But they said the consequences of inaction could be disastrous. "Our analysis illustrates that the spatial distribution of the existing and potential future cultural world heritage makes it vulnerable to sea-level rise," the study authors wrote. "Future generations will face either loss of these sites, or considerable efforts to protect them," they warned.     Machu Picchu tourists warned over nude pictures   PERU has increased surveillance at popular archaeological sites to counter a new trend of tourists taking nude photos at Machu Picchu. Tourists have been posting the naked pics on blogs, prompting a statement from the cultural ministry rejecting “any disrespectful act committed by visitors” to the historical sites. “We have redoubled efforts for continuous surveillance and monitoring of the site,” so security personnel can intervene to stop the exhibitionist photography, it said. The ministry called on visitors to help protect the historical sites and to “be alert to this kind of attitude that's solely aimed at getting attention.” Authorities are also worried over a recent spate of graffiti attacks. Last week, the famous 12-Angle Stone — an example of intricate Incan masonry and design — was hit with spray paint, police said. The suspect has been fingered in several other attacks on archaeological sites, they added. “Although there are new techniques for erasing, the paint used could leave irreversible consequences for the most important stone in the Inca Roca palace,” a spokesman from the cultural ministry in Cusco said Ricardo Ruiz Caro, head of the ministry, told reporters that in the first three months of 2014, “four similar spray-paint incidents have been recorded, adding to 33 remembered in 2013,” including one at the key tourist site at the Incan Imperial City. The official announced the relaunch of the Heritage Watchers program, with the support of universities, schools and neighboring communities, in a crusade to defend the country's heritage. Under Peruvian law, unauthorized destruction, alteration, sale or removal of any of the country's archaeological treasures is punishable by three to eight years in jail and a fine.