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Britain’s Princess Eugenie Visits Thailand’s Royal Phuket Marina

Britain’s Princess Eugenie, daughter of the Duke & Duchess of York and granddaughter of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, was the latest in a line-up of high profile guests visiting Thailand‘s premier ‘luxury lifestyle resort community’ the Royal Phuket Marina over the recent Easter holiday weekend.

The young princess was accompanied by four friends for lunch and a boat trip around Phuket’s famous Phang Nga Bay which is renowned for its iconic James Bond Island which featured in the ‘Man with the Golden Gun’ with Roger Moore, as well as Phi Phi Island which appeared in the film The Beach, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Princess Eugenie and her friends were guests of marina developer Gulu Lalvani, a close friend of the British royal family. The tycoon founder of Binatone, the world’s second largest manufacturer of digital cordless phones, is partly based in London and features regularly on the Financial Times’ annual Rich List.

Princess Eugenie, 19, is the second daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and Sarah, Duchess of York. She is on a gap year before university, having completed her A-levels at Britain’s prestigious Marlborough College.

Royal Phuket Marina is becoming a magnet for the world’s celebrities and socialites looking to escape the limelight and enjoy the idyllic lifestyle of Phuket. Gulu Lalvani recently welcomed tennis star Martin Navratilova while his Christmas guest list included Hong Kong entrepreneur and Shanghai Tang founder Sir David Tang, model Kate Moss, British heiress and fashion icon Daphne Guinness, London property tycoon Nick Candy, Louis Vuitton CEO Yves Carcelle and Japanese designer Kenzo.

Located on Phuket’s eastern seaboard overlooking scenic Phang Na Bay, Royal Phuket Marina is Thailand‘s first world-class luxury lifestyle community rivaling top marina resort communities in Europe and the Caribbean.

It was developed by tycoon Gulu Lalvani, founder of Binatone, the world’s second largest manufacturer of digital cordless phones, whose vision is to promote Phuket as a world class yachting hub in one of the world’s most scenic and assessable locations.

Royal Phuket Marina has become a popular entertainment and lifestyle hub with open air restaurants and bars overlooking mega yachts moored in the Mediterranean-style marina.

Following the successful completion and sale of Phase I with its luxury condominiums and penthouses, Royal Phuket Marina has just completed its unique ‘Aquaminium’ penthouse apartments which come complete with their own integral boat berth as well as a series of ultra luxury private villas, also with private berths, which complete Phase II of the complex.

More than half of the Royal Phuket Marina development is devoted to leisure, shopping, recreation, and dining set amidst landscaped gardens overlooking the 350-berth marina.

Source: LuxuryTravelMagazine.com

Hong Kong

Hong Kong Disneyland halts $500 mn expansion

An anticipated $500 million expansion of Hong Kong’s struggling Disneyland theme park has been put on hold, a news report said Tuesday.

Disney has laid off 30 planners and halted all creative and design work on the expansion after learning the Hong Kong government had no timetable for the work, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unnamed sources.

The move followed an apparent breakdown in discussions over the way to expand the three-year-old park on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island, which has been criticised for being too short on attractions.

Disney has worked since last year on plans to add an extra 20 hectares of attractions to the site to help it boost disappointing attendance figures. The work was expected to be carried out by 2013.

But the design work has been put on hold because the Hong Kong government, which is a 57 percent stakeholder in the park, has yet to commit to a timetable for the work despite two years of talks, the Post said.

Walt Disney spokesman Leslie Goodman told the newspaper no agreement had been reached “after two years of Disney investment in creative and design work”.

He added: “The uncertainty of the outcome requires us to immediately suspend all creative and design work on the project.”

A Hong Kong government spokesman said he was “puzzled by the company’s decision” and said the laying off of staff was “not conducive” to discussions on the expansion.

Hong Kong Disneyland, which covers 120 hectares, opened in September 2005 and was funded largely by Hong Kong taxpayers in a joint venture between the government of the former British colony and the Walt Disney Co.

Visitor numbers have been disappointing and the expansion is expected to be funded by Disney, which also loaned the joint venture $420 million to repay commercial loans from 26 banks.

The park, which has refused to release official figures, is understood to have attracted around 4.5 million visitors from October 2007 to September 2008 against a pre-opening target of 6.22 million visitors.

It reportedly fell around 500,000 visitors short of its 5.7 million first-year target and then saw numbers plunge by more than 1 million in its second year of operations.

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India

Developments cloud Mount Kailash region

For centuries, only a few hardy tourists have joined the hundreds of Buddhist, Hindu, Jain and Tibetan Bon pilgrims who make an annual trek to Asia’s holiest peak, Mount Kailash.

Many Tibetan nomads still walk across the high plains and mountains that isolate Kailash from the rest of the world, often carrying tents, bedding and cooking pots on packhorses.

The Tibetans’ traditional pilgrimages to the 6,675-metre holy mountain can take weeks or even months, especially if they perform prostrations along the whole route, but most now reduce the journey to a few days by hiring trucks or jeeps.

Tourists usually reach the area from India or Nepal by crossing China’s nearby Himalayan borders or from Lhasa, the capital of China’s Tibet Autonomous Region.

That could change dramatically next year when plane-loads of tourists are scheduled to begin arriving at a newly expanded airport in Tibet’s Ali, also known as Nagri, which administers Kailash.

The airport expansion is a key part of a government plan for development of tourism infrastructure to create a new Sacred Mountain Holy Lake Scenic Area around Kailash and the nearby Lake Mansarovar, said Li Yujian, head of the Ali tourism bureau.

“Ali airport has finished construction and will be put into trial use this year and full use next year,” Li said by telephone.

“My expectation is that at the beginning, there will be one flight to Lhasa every few days,” he said. “We will gradually adjust the flights later, according to the rise in the number of tourists.”

The state-run Tibet Tourism company has acquired the development rights to the new Kailash scenic area in cooperation with Ali’s Burang county government, Li said.

Tibet Tourism plans to invest up to 600 million yuan ($88 million) over the next few years to “make the Sacred Mountain Holy Lake Scenic Area into a national-level, and even a world-level, fine-quality tourist area”, a Tibet regional government website reported.

It plans to upgrade the main road from Lhasa and build hotels and restaurants near Kailash, where the small village of Darchen serves as the transit point and campsite for Tibetan pilgrims.

The price of a tourist ticket for the Kailash area, to which Tibetans are admitted free, has already risen to 200 yuan, Li said.

“We expect several thousand tourists this year,” he said.

“Last year, the situation was really bad,” Li said, apparently referring to the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s suspension of tourism in Tibet for much of the year after widespread unrest and anti-Chinese protests.

“There will be a sharp rise in the future,” he said of the tourism development plan. “I am confident of that.”

China has already developed several Tibetan areas into major tourist destinations, such as Lhasa and the official Shangri-la tourist town in Yunnan province.

The Communist Party said it has improved the economies of some of the country’s poorest and remotest areas by attracting tourists from China’s affluent cities.

Yet supporters of Tibetan exiles argued that the development largely benefits China’s Han ethnic majority and rides roughshod over Tibetan culture and religion.

“Tibetans welcome appropriate and responsible development that respects their cultural and religious traditions but not the fast-track commercialisation that Beijing is prioritising in so many areas of Tibet including now in the sacred Mount Kailash region,” said Kate Saunders, communications director of the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.

“Claims that it will help develop the area are, essentially, bogus,” Matt Whitticase of the London-based Free Tibet Campaign said of the tourism development in Tibetan areas.

“The model is effectively based on rapidly developing infrastructure … with little or no regard to how that model of tourism is impacting on the environment,” Whitticase said.

As well as upgrading access to Kailash, local authorities have improved the pilgrims’ path, or kora, around the snow-capped peak in recent years.

Trucks and jeeps can now drive along about half the 57-km kora, raising speculation that a circular vehicle route could be completed by building a road over the steep 5,636-metre pass of Dolma-la, where Tibetan pilgrims believe they are reborn.

An official from Tibet Tourism declined to discuss its plans for Kailash, saying only that the project was “in preparation” and a senior official had discussed it with the national government in Beijing in early April.

But Li said the development would “protect normal religious activity” and the environment around Kailash. It was “impossible” to complete a road around Kailash, he said.

“It is a sacred place, and a road would kill its sacred meaning,” Li said.

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India

Citizens demand heritage city status for Agra

Ahead of the polls, several citizens’ groups have asked candidates of various political parties to support their demand for heritage city status to Agra visited by millions of tourists every year.

Party candidates are being asked to clarify their stand on various issues that concern the development of this historic city.

As the city celebrates World Heritage Day Friday, questions have also been raised about the poor conservation efforts and the failure of authorities to rid the three World Heritage monuments (the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri) of ugly encroachments.

Historians, conservationists and activists met at a round table conference Thursday organised by the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society. They expressed concern at the indifference shown by the city administration to check encroachments which were not only disfiguring the historical ambience but were also threatening some valuable structures that were less known but historically important.

“The Archaeological Survey of India was dragging its feet in implementing its own rules as well as the directives of the Supreme Court of India, in respect to new constructions and maintenance of the older ones,” said Surendra Sharma, president of the society.

With land prices sky-rocketing, and builders of all sorts making a beeline to usurp every inch of available space in the city, the survival of many of the smaller and less known structures has become uncertain, according to social activist Netra Pal Singh.

Before independence there used to be “more than 240 monuments in and around Agra but now fewer than 50 exist”, Sharma said. “Who has gobbled up all these symbols of history, the pride of India?” asked concerned members of the society.

“Conservation and preservation have to be a joint venture of government agencies and people’s organisations, as it was not always possible to police all the monuments,” Amit Mukerjea, head of the history department, St John’s College, told IANS.

A large number of monuments including Christian cemeteries have disappeared, their land acquired by colonisers and government town planners. “The Protestant cemetery in Bagh Farzana has almost disappeared with a dozen shops mushrooming around it,” said Mukerjea.

The city looked better planned and maintained in the 1960s and 70s than it does today, say the old timers, despite a plethora of development bodies and urban planning agencies which have actually made a mess of the Mughal metropolis.

Babar’s Ram Bagh across the river and Mariam’s tomb near Sikandra are just a few feeling the heat and being threatened by squatters. The Archaeological Survey of India routinely sends out notices but the district administration rarely takes any action.

Mukerjea said the open spaces around the monuments were deliberately left for gardens and green cover as these buildings were made to perfection with amazing geometrical precision.

While the local historians and voluntary groups have long been agitating for a heritage status for Agra, the governments at the state and centre have not shown any urgency in the matter. When the question was raised in the Supreme Court three years ago, the central government stated that the city did not deserve a heritage status because of its unplanned haphazard development.

This angered the urban planners and historians of the city who asked “whose fault was it that the city was not following the master plan and was growing haphazardly in all directions.”

Conservationists feel there are a “whole lot of contradictions in the government stand, because till date nobody has clarified which areas of the city come under the heritage description and which structures need conservation efforts,” historian R.C. Sharma told IANS.

“Yes, in the so called modern Agra there is evidence of haphazard planning and irrational growth, but then those are not the heritage pieces one would like preserved,” says N.R. Smith, a chronicler of Agra’s modern history.

“We have to begin by demarcating the areas as Mughal Agra, British Agra and the Agra Development Authority’s Agra. Only then can one go ahead with conserving the real heritage of the city of the Taj Mahal. And those who think people and their work places need to be demolished to make way for modern malls or parking slots are only hurting the spirit of conservation.”

Granting heritage city status to Agra, feel tourism industry leaders, will trigger a series of changes. It will ensure that foreign tourists prolong their stay in the city which abounds in monuments.

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India

Mahindra Holidays plans major expansion in Kerala

Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India, part of the Mahindra Group, is planning major expansion in Kerala, including developing a brand new resort in Wayanad district and increasing the number of its home stays to 150 by the year-end, a top official said.

Declining to reveal the investment details of the resort project in Wayanad in northern Kerala, Mahindra Holidays managing director Ramesh Ramnathan told IANS on phone from Chennai that the project was still on the drawing board.

The company will also develop 50 cottages at their backwater retreat resort in Kollam, which was taken over from a private party 18 months back.

“The Kollam property right now has 23 cottages and we plan to invest Rs.30 crore as part of our expansion and it would be completed later this year,” Ramnathan said.

In October 2008, Mahindra Holidays took over another property, which has 34 cottages, from the Taj group in Thekkady in Idukki district and renamed it as Tusker Trail.

At present, the company’s total investment in Kerala’s tourism sector stands around Rs.150 crore.

The company has also entered into a tie-up with the Kerala Tourism Department for promoting home stays.

“By the end of this year, the total number of home stays will be 150. We will charge a nominal fee for these home stays,” Ramnathan said.

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India

Mahatma Gandhi’s pocket watch a slice of tourism history

Mahatma Gandhi’s personal time-keeper, a Zenith pocket watch, which was acquired by liquor baron Vijay Mallya at a controversial New York auction, was a traveller’s symbol of “universality, punctuality and style”, the manufacturer said Monday in a statement.

The 1910 sterling silver pocket watch, said the watch-maker Zenith-LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton Group in a statement Monday, was born out of founder Georges Favre-Jacot’s love for “sharing and togetherness” that inspired travellers across cultures and sexes to “travel together as groups”.

It represented a slice of tourism history, the manufacturer said.

The company recently released rare images of Gandhi’s watch – including the sale certificate.

The pocket watch faithfully accompanied Gandhi during his travels around the globe.

Jacot, who founded the company in 1865, believed in the “universal distribution” of his watches and cashed in on the tourism boom of the early 20th century.

With rapid success, the company, which employed more than 1,000 people by 1875, started producing pocket watches, pendulum clocks and counter instruments for the navy and travellers.

Jacot was awarded a gold medal at the Swiss National Exhibition in Geneva in 1896 and honoured at the Universal Exhibition in Paris four years later.

The early 20th century witnessed the development of travel, particularly with a view to boosting business in an era of international expansion of industry and commerce, as well as exploratory forms of tourism.

“Waking up on time and having a dependable watch were essential prerequisites…and travellers required to rely on a time measuring instrument that would accompany them by day and night,” the manufacturers said.

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India

Chandigarh expects a million tourists in 2009

The tourism industry in Chandigarh is booming, apparently untouched by global recession, and officials say they expect tourist arrivals to the ’city beautiful’ to cross the one million mark in 2009.

According to tourism officials here, 960,912 tourists visited the centrally administered city in 2008. Of these, 32,074 were foreigners.

This year, the tourism department is expecting more than one million tourists. The city, with its wide, clean roads and large gardens, was designed by legendary French architect, Le Corbusier in 1950s.

It has pretty places to boast of – the Rose Garden, Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake and the government museum.

“We had an overwhelming response from tourists in 2008 and this year we are expecting their number to comfortably surpass the one million mark. The start of the year has been encouraging for us as a lot of tourists, both domestic and foreign, visited the city during January,” Vinod Kalia, deputy director of tourism, told IANS.

“All the tourist destinations here like Rose Garden, Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake, the government museum and the Sector-17 plaza are bustling with thousands of tourists everyday,” Kalia said.

The tourism figures of the last few years shows a clear rise in tourist inflow to the city, considered a gateway to Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Punjab.

In 2005, nearly 638,000 tourists visited the city, while it was 730,000 in 2006 and 954,726 in 2007.

Kalia added: “This overwhelming response is just because of the constant efforts of the administration and tourism department. Last year we had launched many special schemes for tourists like Chandigarh City Card, tourism police and bed and breakfast scheme.”

These days, Sukhna Lake here has become the focal point among tourists with its vibrant environment and diverse activities like boating, bird watching, camel riding and fishing.

It is, however, boating that is the most popular activity at the lake. One usually finds a long queue of people waiting for their turn.

“This is the peak season but during the last few days the rush had been subdued due to foggy weather and the cold. However, we are again experiencing the same kind of response. Our boats are booked throughout the day,” Sonu, who runs a shikara boat at Sukhna Lake, told IANS.

Apart from the Dal Lake in Srinagar, Sukhna Lake is the only other place in north India where one can find shikaras. There are five shikaras here that were introduced 2007.

“Seeing the response, we have recently introduced many colourful pedal boats in the shape of ducks, dragons and frogs. We have also imported a fire resistant jetty with hi-tech engine that is a rare thing in this part of the country,” A.K. Malhotra, general manager of Chandigarh Industrial and Tourism Development Corporation (CITCO) told IANS.

Foreign tourists are also enjoying visiting the city.

“This is my fourth visit here in the last 10 years. Earlier I came here on a business assignment but gradually I fell in love with this city. The greenery all around and wide roads are the best feature here,” said Dale Adams, a German tourist.

Oscar Muller, who is accompanying Adams, said: “This city reminds me of old streets of Paris. I am a great fan of Nek Chand, the curator of Rock Garden. Besides, people here are also very warm and hospitable.”

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India

More trout to attract anglers to Himachal Pradesh, India

Trout cultivation in Himachal Pradesh is set to get a big boost with the state government planning to encourage more private players. Brown and rainbow trout are abundant in the state. Being a game fish, it is an angler’s delight.

“We (the fishery department) are encouraging farmers to adopt trout farming under a central government-assisted scheme to boost production,” state fishery department director B.D. Sharma told IANS.

“Our main focus this year is to establish at least 100 run-of-river farms in Shimla, Kinnaur and Chamba districts to fill the gap between demand and supply. This will also help locals raise their standard of living,” Sharma said.

As per fishery department estimates, commercial production of trout during 2008-09 would be around 70 tonnes, and is expected to cross 100 tonnes at the end of the next financial year.

A 600-km stretch on the Beas, Sutlej and Ravi rivers in the upper Himalayas is the habitat of trout. The state has 81 trout farms, including six that are run by the government, mainly in Kullu and Mandi districts.

“These are areas where no other fish species survive because of the extreme cold climate, but the high altitudes of Shimla, Kinnaur and Chamba districts have proved perfect for trout propagation,” said M.S. Johal, chief investigator of an India-US project, “Ecology of hill streams of Himachal Pradesh and Garhwal”.

He said in the US, where rainbow trout is in high demand, more than 90 percent of trout available in the market is farm-reared.

According to him, improved availability of feed and selective breeding practices can now make it possible to produce market-size fish in as little as 10 months.

“If the hill state manages to make optimum use of its water resources, it can emerge as the leader in aquaculture,” added Johal, who is also a former professor at the Department of Zoology, Panjab University.

Ishwar Dhiman, a fish farmer from remote Nagni village in Kullu district, said the trout price at Chandigarh is between Rs.300 and Rs.350 a kg. In Delhi, it is sold at around Rs.400 a kg.

According to Dhiman, the major problem in marketing trout is that it starts rotting faster than other fish. “We prefer to sell it in nearby areas. It’s selling at around Rs.220 per kg in Manali,” he said.

Agreed fishery director Sharma: “Trout marketing is a big problem for those who individually sell their produce in Delhi and Mumbai. We are encouraging them to form cooperatives so that their produce can be marketed even in foreign shores.”

The history of trout in Himachal Pradesh dates back to colonial rule. The British introduced trout in 1909 to promote angling. At that time fingerlings were released in various streams.

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Egypt

Egypt sells itself as leisure and business tourist destination

The land of pharaohs and pyramids, Egypt, is hard selling itself in India as a destination for leisure as well as meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.

The northern African country is cheaper and more attractive than destinations in Europe and Africa, director of Egyptian tourism in India Magdi Selim said.

“India is the focus market of Egypt this year. We will promote Egyptian culture in cities like Bangalore, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad. Egypt is an ideal leisure and business destination,” Selim told IANS in the capital.

The Mumbai-based Selim will work with local tour and travel trade agents and operators in these cities to push through attractive holiday packages and events, with the promotion campaign being kicked off with an “Egyptian Night” at Hotel Lalit over the weekend.

“The number of Indian footfalls in Egypt has been increasing over the last few years. In 2008, nearly 100,000 Indians visited Egypt and spent over 800,000 nights. Most Indian travellers, including the corporate incentive groups, prefer classic delights like the shopping experience, nightlife and cruises,” Selim said.

Destinations like the Aswan Dam, Luxor, Alexandria and Hurdaga are popular with the Indians.

Selim, who was visiting the capital for the first time since his appointment, said he was expecting tourist flow from India to grow 10 percent this year. In 2008, it had risen 7.7 percent from that in the previous year.

Egyptian ambassador Mohammed Hezagy said the historical ties between the two countries and the cultural synergy were driving tourist arrivals from India.

“The outbound flow from India to Egypt has doubled over the last three years because of several reasons. The country caters to the Indian taste in terms of culture, religion, entertainment and shopping experiences. And several bilateral initiatives at the political and cultural level over the last couple of months have also helped,” Hezagy told IANS.

Trade between the two countries has touched $4 billion and Egypt wants to double this by next year, the envoy said.

Despite the downturn, Egypt is keen to tap India’s corporate sector offering packages for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions.

“We have already taken large Indian corporate groups from Orient Fan, HDFC Bank, Crompton Greaves, Asian Paints and Nokia for three nights-four day incentive holidays to Cairo. And we are looking for more,” Cairo-based Ahmed Roushdy, marketing and sales director of Eastmar Tours, told IANS.

Bollywood is also another area from where Egypt expects more footfalls.

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USA

Take your family on holiday to Maui

Located on the southwest side of Maui, the Fairmont Kea Lani Maui is an all-suite and luxury villa oceanfront resort overlooking the turquoise waters of Polo Beach. The Fairmont Kea Lani is a family resort that offers a host of beach and water sports activities including snorkelling, sailing, kayaking, and windsurfing. Besides water sports, the resort is also popular with golfers and tennis enthusiasts.

Visitors here can play on any of the Wailea Golf Club’s three championship golf courses or enjoy a game of tennis at any of the 14 courts the resorts tennis centre offers. When not trying out the resorts sporting facilities, or when you’re tired from too much activity, grown-ups can get some much deserved personal time and rejuvenation with a massage and spa therapies at the Spa Kea Lani.

The resorts accommodation is either suites or villas, so there is no need to squeeze your entire family into a tiny room. The suites at Fairmont Kea Lani are a minimum of 840 square feet offering separate living room, marble bathroom and a separate tub for soaking.

The private twin-level (duplex) villas are located minutes away from the beach and are between 1,800 – 2,200 square feet, providing ample space for large families. These villas are ideal for larger families as they offer a full service kitchen and a private courtyard with a plunge pool and barbeque for grilling out.

Keiki Lani is the hotel’s activity centre for kids. It’s a state licensed facility for children between the ages of 5 and 13, giving parents a break from watching their kids. Here, children can enjoy painting coconuts, building sand castles, exploring the tide pools, learning how to dance the hula, and even making real flower leis. The activity centre can accommodate up to 19 children, so be sure to call ahead and reserve a place for your children.

If you are planning to explore the island of Maui with the kids, we found that you can save a lot of money by taking a package that includes a free rental car. This way, you can explore the island at your will without having to worry about paying any extra money. However we know that hire cars are not everybody’s thing, and so you can also book on pre-arranged guided tours and excursions here.

For a family holiday, Maui is truly a one of a kind destination. There are many different things to do here for everyone in your family, even if they are indeed hard to please.

Once your family experiences Maui and everything there is on offer, you’ll never look at beach holidays the same way again. Maui has that kind of power – especially when it comes to comparing its warm weather, fantastic surf and pleasing people with other holiday destinations the world over.

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