Hotel Happenings

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has announced the official opening of Four Seasons Hotel Damascus, the seventh Four Seasons property in the Middle East.

The 297-room hotel occupies a prime location on Shoukri Al-Kouwatli Avenue, in the heart of the city’s commercial and diplomatic district. With interiors by Pierre-Yves Rochon, the sleek 18-story structure has a minimalist design that incorporates Ottoman, Persian and Syrian influences, accented with traditional handicrafts.

The InterContinental Resort Taba Heights, on Sinai’s eastern Red Sea Coast, is scheduled to openin April 2006. The 496-room property isdesigned by world renowned designer Michael Graves.

M?venpick Hotels & Resorts has returned to Yemen with the opening of a luxurious 5-star M?venpick hotel in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a. The 338-room hotel targets both business and leisure travelers, with views of the Old City of Sana’a and an on-site spa.

The M?venpick Hotel Sana’a is situated in the newly developed area of Dhahar Hemyer, seven minutes from the city center and 20 minutes from the Sana’a International Airport.

The US-based Space Adventures Ltd has announced ventures to build spaceports in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates, providing bases to launch rockets for suborbital flights.

The space tourism company has agreed to build a $265 million facility in the emirate of Ras Al-Khaimah, while in Singapore it is working with a local consortium on a $115 million base. Space Adventures Ltd is the company that took the world’s first three space tourists to the International Space Station.

Andy Newman, Holland America Line The MS Noordam leaving New York on her maiden voyage

Divers with the World Wide Fund for Wildlife have discovered a previously unknown coral reef in Thailand’s Phang-Nga Province. Initial surveys have identified over 270 hectares of relatively healthy reefs with over 30 genera of hard corals, and at least 112 species of fish from 56 families, including a new record — the parrot fish Chlorurus rakaura, first discovered in Sri Lanka and never seen in Thailand until now, as well as a rare species of sweetlips Plectorhincus macrospilus previously only known from the Similan Islands.

A carriage of Russian Czar Paul I is on display after its restoration at the History Museum in Moscow. The carriage, made in the 18th century in London, was shown to the public on Wednesday after a long and thorough restoration.

This spring, the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood is adding a number of new attractions showcasing The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift and King Kong, new video narration by Oscar- and Emmy-winning superstar Whoopi Goldberg, ‘virtual studio guide’ appearances from Today show star Al Roker, Access Hollywood hosts Nancy O’Dell and Billy Bush, and the opportunity to see more working TV and movie sets than ever before, including sets from Crossing Jordan and the top rated CSI.

Universal Studios Hollywood is the world’s largest movie studio and theme park, featuring attractions such as Revenge of the Mummy: The Ride, Shrek 4-D, Terminator 2: 3D, Jurassic Park: The Ride and a behind-the-scenes studio tour.

EgyptAir has added a third weekly flight to Geneva leaving on Tuesdays, supplementing its existing Friday and Sunday service. The new flights begin service on March 28, with promotional ticket prices offered until June 27, 2006.

The company, which flies daily to London, has added a second flight to London on Wednesdays, with special promotional fares for this service running March 29 to May 31. Special fares are also being offered for EgyptAir’s Tuesday flights to New York, London, Rome, Milan, Paris and Brussels.

Dubai-based Emirates airline has launched services to Addis Ababa. Effective March 27, Emirates will start serving the Ethiopian capital from Dubai with three flights a week, increasing to daily service on December 1, 2006.

Emirates is also adding a second daily non-stop service from Dubai to Düsseldorf from May 1, 2006, due to increased demand. Flights depart Dubai early afternoon and arrive back early morning. Emirates’ other Düsseldorf service departs Dubai in the morning.

As of January, travelers on Lufthansa can receive live television channels on board directly to their laptops. Depending on the region of the world, BBC World, CNBC, EuroNews or MSNBC can be picked up via satellite, a service of Lufthansa FlyNet with high-speed Internet provided through Boeing’s Connexion. Fifty aircraft are already equipped, and by the end of next year, the entire long-range fleet of more than 80 aircraft will include FlyNet services.

Holland America Line has launched its 13th cruise ship MS Noordam, which set out on its maiden voyage in February. The 1,918-passenger liner is to sail on alternating 10- and 11-day cruises to the Caribbean through April before being repositioned to the Mediterranean for summer cruising.

Egypt was elected to the executive council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) at the sixteenth general assembly meeting held last December in Senegal.

The UNWTO is the leading international organization in the field of tourism, serving as a global forum for tourism policy issues and a practical source of tourism know-how. The executive council is charged with making and implementing the recommendations for international tourism.

The general assembly, held every two years, was attended by delegations from 150 member countries, as well as representatives of the tourism private sector and organizations and authorities affiliated to the WTO worldwide. Egypt has been a UNWTO member since 1975.

L uxor’s Valley of the Kings is getting the first World Visitors Center, due to open in March. The LE 20 million center, to be located about 400 meters from the royal tombs, will highlight the history of the antiquities in the area.

A German expedition has unearthed part of a colossal statue on Luxor’s West Bank. The red granite head and shoulders of 18th-Dynasty pharaoh Amenhotep III were found near his temple at Kom El-Hetan. According to Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, “The one-meter-high bust is in good condition except for a slight crack on the right side.”

A French expedition has unearthed two Middle and Old Kingdom anchors made of stone, along with parts of ships dating back more than 4,000 years. The findings are located at Ain Sokhna in a copper mine at Al-Jalala Mountain, where a group of furnaces have been found.

The Alexandria Study Center of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina is creating a model of the ancient Pharos lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, for a website on the cultural heritage of Mediterranean Basin countries.  et