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A New-format, Four-day Carnival will Welcome the Year of the Rat in Hong Kong

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Kung Hei Fat Choi! The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) announces as the Year of the Rat approaches, exciting plans are underway in Hong Kong. The HKTB, together with title sponsor Cathay Pacific Airways, is going to celebrate Chinese New Year in a brand new way this year – with the “Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Carnival”. Rather than simply staging the night parade on the first day of Chinese New Year, the HKTB is putting together a carnival that will run from the first day (January 25) through to the fourth day (January 28). In addition to the signature parade, the event will feature a variety of family-friendly elements, enabling locals and visitors alike to kick off an auspicious New Year with their loved ones.

HKTB Director- Canada, Central & South America Mr. Michael Lim said, “The HKTB has been staging its Chinese New Year event to spread happiness across the city for nearly a quarter of a century. This year being the Year of the Rat, the leader of the 12 Chinese zodiac signs, it is not only the beginning of a new cycle, but it also marks the staging of the 25th edition of this signature event. This provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate the much-loved festival in a new way. We will show to visitors from around the world with our fun, vibrant celebrations that Hong Kong remains an open and welcoming travel destination.”

The four-day carnival will be held at the Art Park of the West Kowloon Cultural District – also the first time for the HKTB’s Chinese New Year event. The carnival will include daily parades along the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade as well as stage performances from day into the night. These displays will include the greatest number of international performing troupes in the event’s history. A total of 26 international troupes and 22 local groups, totalling over a thousand performers, will treat spectators to exciting demonstrations of acrobatics, dance, music, magic, comedy, jumping stilt performances and more. International teams include:

NBC World of Dance and HHI PH Varsity champions UPeepz and VPeepz from the Philippines will steal the spotlight with their dynamic hip hop dance moves.
Les Vitaminés, Canada, the high-energy duo, who often take part in street carnivals and parties, combine acrobatics, juggling, circus stunts, balancing acts, mime and a great deal of humour to delight their audiences.
While the parade and performances are the highlights of the New Year carnival, there will be far more going on over these days. Popular city photo spots will be decorated with giant installations of cartoon characters that are sure to delight children and provide families with photos that will remind them of their time in Hong Kong for years to come. Workshops on balloon twisting and face painting will also be available to keep children busy and happy.

Lion dances will be performed all over the region: in the streets and villages and even in hotel lobbies. Dazzling and exciting are the events that mark the New Year, but there’s another element that makes this time in Hong Kong so special: flowers. Flowers and plants, most with significance for health, prosperity and happiness in the New Year, are exchanged and displayed everywhere, the highlight being the flower market in Victoria Park where the exquisite offerings are traded under glowing lamplight, creating a display like no other.

And then there’s the food! Hong Kong is famous for its wide variety of food offerings, and the New Year is, of course, no exception. At New Year, restaurants and families serve traditional dishes that, it is believed, bring good luck, while the first Chinese New Year Carnival Market will feature 15 street food stalls offering international snacks to keep the carnival revellers happy.

The Lunar New Year celebrations draw to a close on the 15th day of the New Year with the Yuen Siu, or Spring Lantern Festival. A Taoist tradition, Yuen Siu is believed to be the day when the Lord of Heaven visits Earth to check up on humans. In his honour, exhibitions of brightly coloured lanterns are displayed in prominent public places and at Taoist temples. With Yuen Siu, the New Year celebrations come to an end, and Hong Kong embarks on another busy year full of traditional celebrations, sporting events, art shows, festivals, business and excitement!

For further information about the “Cathay Pacific International Chinese New Year Carnival”, please refer to DiscoverHongKong.com/ChineseNewYear.

Source: Hong Kong Tourism Board Canada

U.S. Travel Agencies Set Air Ticket Sales Record in 2019: Year’s Total Reaches $97.4 Billion as Passenger Trips Increase 2.3%

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Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) announced today that U.S.-based travel agencies achieved record sales of airline tickets in 2019. The consolidated dollar value of tickets sold last year totaled $97.4 billion, a 2.8% increase when compared to 2018.*

The increase was aided by a 10% surge in December ticket sales when compared to the same period in 2018, totaling $6.1 billion. The average U.S. round-trip ticket price in 2019 was $494, a $4 increase over 2018.

Total passenger trips settled by ARC for U.S. travel agencies in 2019 increased by 2.3% compared to 2018, to 302,323,757. In 2019, U.S. domestic trips increased by 2% while international passenger trips increased by nearly 3%.

Electronic Miscellaneous Document (EMD)** sales in December swelled 44% to help total 2019 sales increase by 8% to $84.6 million. EMD transaction volume last year increased by 8.5% over 2018, totaling 1.4 million.

More detailed information is available on ARC’s website.

About ARC:
An industry leader in air travel distribution and intelligence, ARC provides channel-agnostic tools and insights to help the global travel community connect, grow and thrive. ARC enables the diverse retailing strategies of its customers by providing flexible settlement solutions, innovative technology and access to the world’s most comprehensive air transaction dataset. In 2019, ARC settled $97.4 billion in transactions between airlines and travel agencies, representing more than 302 million passenger trips. For more information, please visit arccorp.com

Frankfurt Airport Serves More than 70.5 Million Passengers

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Frankfurt Airport (FRA) served more than 70.5 million passengers in 2019 – achieving a new all-time record by exceeding the 70-million mark for the first time in a calendar year. Compared to the previous year, this represents a passenger increase of 1.5 percent. Following a positive trend in the first half of 2019 (up 3.0 percent), passenger volumes largely stagnated in the second half of the year (up 0.2 percent). In the months of November and December 2019, passenger numbers declined for the first time since November 2016. The relatively weaker growth in full-year passenger numbers can be mainly attributed to domestic traffic (down 3.4 percent) and European traffic (up 1.2 percent). In contrast, intercontinental traffic to and from FRA increased by 3.4 percent in 2019.

Fraport AG’s executive board chairman, Dr. Stefan Schulte, commented: “The reduction of airline flight services for the current winter schedule had a noticeable impact on passenger volumes at Frankfurt. After a long and extraordinarily strong growth phase – during which we gained almost 10 million passengers in the last three years – we can now see that the aviation industry is entering a consolidation phase. Broader economic and geopolitical uncertainties have worsened, while unilateral national measures – such as raising the local air traffic tax – are placing an additional burden on the German aviation industry in 2020.”

The number of aircraft movements at FRA rose by 0.4 percent to 513,912 takeoffs and landings in 2019. Accumulated maximum takeoff weights (MTOWs) were up 0.8 percent to about 31.9 million metric tons. Cargo throughput (airfreight + airmail) contracted by 3.9 percent to 2.1 million metric tons, reflecting the ongoing slowdown of the global economy.

In December 2019, FRA’s passenger traffic declined by 1.2 percent year-on-year to 4.9 million passengers. With 36,635 takeoffs and landings, aircraft movements shrank by 4.4 percent. MTOWs slipped by 2.9 percent to just under 2.4 million metric tons. Cargo volumes decreased by 7.2 percent to 170,384 metric tons.

The airports in Fraport AG’s international portfolio continued to show largely positive performance during 2019. Affected by the bankruptcy of home-carrier Adria Airways and other factors, Ljubljana Airport (LJU) in Slovenia recorded a 5.0 percent traffic decline in the reporting year (December 2019: down 21.6 percent). In contrast, Fraport’s two Brazilian airports of Fortaleza (FOR) and Porto Alegre (POA) posted combined traffic growth of 3.9 percent to 15.5 million passengers (December 2019: up 0.3 percent). Peru’s Lima Airport (LIM) continued the strong performance of previous years, with traffic rising by 6.6 percent (December 2019: up 5.4 percent).

Traffic at the 14 Greek regional airports expanded slightly by 0.9 percent to nearly 30.2 million passengers in 2019 (December 2019: down 2.2 percent). Following years of dynamic growth, traffic at Varna (VAR) and Burgas (BOJ) airports in Bulgaria declined by 10.7 percent, due to airlines consolidating their flight offerings (December 2019: up 23.3 percent).

In 2019, traffic at Turkey’s Antalya Airport (AYT) once again advanced rapidly by 10.0 percent to almost 35.5 million passengers (December 2019: up 2.8 percent). Pulkovo Airport (LED) in St. Petersburg, Russia, saw traffic climb by 8.1 percent to some 19.6 million passengers (December 2019: up 5.7 percent). At Xi’an Airport (XIY) in China, traffic jumped by 5.7 percent to more than 47.2 million passengers (December 2019: up 4.7 percent).

SOURCE Fraport AG
https://www.fraport.com

Zehnder’s Snowfest Celebrates Its 29th Snow and Ice Extravaganza January 22 – 27, 2020

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Six days of winter fun is on the menu for the 2020 Zehnder’s Snowfest, January 22-27. Larger than life snow sculptures and dazzling ice creations will fill the Bavarian-themed village of Frankenmuth, just 90 miles north of Detroit. Both amateur and professional snow and ice sculpting teams will compete for championship titles. If Michigan weather is too mild, snow machines will pile up giant blocks of snow for the carving competitions.

Visitors can take the chill off at the festival warming tent that will feature live music from rock to the U.S. 338th Army Band and a Karaoke contest. On January 24, the Detroit Tiger Winter Caravan returns to Snowfest. Visitors can meet staff, coaches and players during a question/answer period. Free admission, but sorry, no autographs for this event. Outside there will be pony rides, a petting zoo, carousel rides and more for youngsters.

“Every year we work to create a special week to celebrate the winter season,” said Zehnder’s Chairman/CEO Al Zehnder. “Our staff, volunteers, sponsors, Frankenmuth businesses and our Chamber of Commerce comes together to welcome visitors and area residents to the best of Frankenmuth.” More than 100,000 winter enthusiasts are expected to attend Zehnder’s Snowfest.

The fun begins on Wednesday, January 22 when World Class professional snow sculptors begin to carve out giant works of art. Local teams from Michigan will also compete in the State of Michigan category. High School snow teams will join in at Frankenmuth Riverplace later in the week.

The “All Things Chocolate Baking Contest” returns on Wednesday, January 22 in the Warming Tent. There will be door prizes, food samples and demonstrations plus complimentary recipe books and live musical entertainment.

Doors open for the Snowfest Luncheon at 11:30 a.m. on January 23. The show stars Gary Todd who is a one-man show. His program features his mastery of 10 instruments, music, song, comedy and more. Tickets are $45 per person; includes meal, tax, tip and entertainment. Call (989) 652-0450 for reservations or for more information.

The Collegiate Alumni Ice Carving Challenge and Collegiate Ice Carving Competitions begin on Friday, January 24 embracing the theme, “Under the Stars.” The event takes place on Main Street at the Edwin L. Zehnder Park. The annual fireworks display is scheduled for Saturday, January 25 at 6:45 p.m.

On Monday, January 27, Snowfest concludes with the 29th annual Chef’s Hot Food Competition and Tasting at Zehnder’s restaurant beginning at 6:00 p.m. This year the theme is a Culinary Salute to Caribbean Cuisine. Food will be prepared by local chefs and area culinary students. Sponsored by the American Culinary Federation/Saginaw Valley Chapter, tickets are $30 per person. Proceeds support the Saginaw East Side Soup Kitchen “After School Meal Program”. Reservations: 989-652-0450.

For a complete Snowfest schedule filled with activities, concerts, food, fireworks, entertainment and directions, go to www.zehnderssnowfest.com
Source: Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth

Tourism to Japan reaches record figures in 2019: Japan’s tourism boom in 2019 in figures

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In 2019, Japan recorded its highest number of foreign visitors , ending a ten-year growth period in the country’s tourism sector, with more international travelers using Japanese railways than ever before in the decade. Visitors are also increasingly choosing to travel with a JR Pass as the number of pass sales doubled during the year.

Japan’s tourism boom in 2019 in figures

The number of foreign visitors to Japan reached its highest level in 12 months, reaching 2.3 million in September 2019.
68,400 British tourists visited Japan in October 2019, enough to fill 51 Shinkansen trains during the peak period.
Japan ends the decade with its highest overall tourism statistics in the past ten years (more than 32.5 million foreign visitors).
In 2019, Japan welcomed 3% more train passengers compared to 2018, reaching 25.6 million rail passengers .
The number of JR Passes sold in 2019 doubled compared to the previous year, with 44% more American citizens buying a pass, as well as 8.5% more British travelers.
Japan carries 4.5 million more rail passengers per year than the German railways, despite 28,000 fewer rail routes.
The number of international travelers to Japan in September 2019 reached 2.3 million (an increase of 5.2% compared to 2018).
Japan’s revolutionary transportation plans for 2020

Japan Tourist Boom 2019

Japan aims to target 40 million foreign visitors in 2020, with a high number of vacationers scheduled for the Tokyo Olympics .

This year will also see the launch of the N700S Shinkansen trains on the Tokaido Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Osaka . The N700S class is the first improved Bullet type train to be introduced in 13 years and has the potential to reach speeds of 360 km / h.

A new station will be opened on the Yamanote line from Tokyo to serve events taking place in Tokyo Bay during the Olympic Games. The Takanawa entrance station will be the first new stop in 48 years on the Yamanote line.

The Tokyo Olympics will also host 100 autonomous vehicles , the operation of which is planned around the new station and the Olympic venues. These autonomous cars will be supplied by the national car manufacturers Nissan and Toyota.

About JRailpass.com: JRailpass.com is a private company not affiliated with any government service specializing in international sales. It offers a simple and user-friendly method of purchasing a JR card online before arriving in Japan.

SOURCE: JRailPass.com
https://www.jrailpass.com

Shaanxi, the Ancient Millennium Capital is Growing Into a Web Celebrity in the Tourist Destinations

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In recent years, Shaanxi has been taking the globally leading position of promoting tourism and culture, and now has grown into the “web celebrity” in the global tourism market. In the era dominated by social media and network flow, Shaanxi has been closely following the pace of the development of the Times.

The history and culture of Shaanxi are everywhere, and the perfect integration between the thousand-year-old capital and the modern city is irreplaceable in China. City Wall, Terracotta Warriors, Tang Paradise, and many other historical spots are “the most searched hashtags” among the tourists.

Shaanxi puts traditional resources creatively displayed. Xi’an, its capital, has been striving to build “Music City,” “Museum City,” and “City with Book Aroma.” It also held a variety of fantastic events, including the Silk Road International Film Festival, International Marathon, and light show in the Tang Paradise, to present the visitors an international metropolis with ancient charm.

The Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism

VidCon, the world’s largest celebration of digital video and online creators, was grandly held in the USA this July and attracted thousands of web celebrities and fans from all over the world. The creative booth brought by the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism made a debut at the event, which broke through the traditional mode of promoting the tourism and culture in the global market. Interactive experiences it brought blended with various elements of Shaanxi tourist attractions and culture, leaving the fans with deep impressions. By integrating the web celebrity marketing, TikTok and the VidCon, it effectively improved the exposure and the international reputation of Shaanxi tourism and culture, introducing Shaanxi history and human civilization to the fans all over the world.

Shaanxi has been insisting on an open and inclusive attitude and has been positively building the international first-class cultural tourism center with historical and cultural characteristics. In the future, Shaanxi will continue to focus on providing excellent cultural products and services, combined with the promotion on the international social media and the launch of online and offline creative activities at home and abroad.

SOURCE The Shaanxi Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism