Author: News Team

Over the last decade, Vietnam has emerged as one of Asia’s most accessible and exciting travel and leisure destinations. It’s an unusual development, particularly as the country was one of the world’s most tightly controlled and economically inaccessible just twenty years ago. As Vietnam increases its ties with the United States, the surge in international visitors could speed up development. It’s the summer of 2010, and Saigon’s large boulevards are showing signs of rapid development and economic improvement. While the rest of the world has spent the last three years fighting off major recessions, Vietnam has been in a state…

While Singapore certainly has a reputation for expense, the city’s restaurants offer some of the most varied and affordable food in the world. Mixing the best of Malay, Indian, and Chinese cuisine, the food on offer in Singapore’s street-level dining establishments and outdoor restaurants is varied and exciting – just what any food obsessed tourists lives for. We took a look at the city’s ubiquitous ‘hawker stands’ – large, table-filled, inexpensive food centres found on just about every major street corner. The ‘stands’ are similar to the food courts found inside most shopping malls, offering a selection of Singaporean treats…

For years, one of the world’s most well-known hotel chains lacked a presence in Hong Kong. While the Conrad and Intercontinental reserved spots in Hong Kong Island’s immense skyline, there was no sight of the acclaimed Ritz-Carlton luxury hotel on either side of the city’s harbour. Was it a lack of corporate interest, or merely an oversight in one of Asia’s most popular tourist destinations? It appears to have been neither, as the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company recently announced it will return to Hong Kong with a spectacular new Kowloon-based property. The luxury hotel chain has bought a sixteen-floor share in…

Throughout the world’s temperate zones, there’s are two words that inspire fear whenever they get lumped in alongside a vacation: rainy season. It’s a fear that’s common across tropical vacationers across the world, particularly those with limited time to spend overseas and a budget that doesn’t extend beyond a single destination. But more often than not, we’ve found that the ‘fear’ of rainy seasons just isn’t justified. With most tropical destinations experiencing at least some degree of stormy behaviour and limited monsoon activity, the dreaded rainy season is often little more than a minor inconvenience. From Thailand’s tropical beaches to…

In the midst of one of the world’s worst recessions, a growing number of unemployed Americans are opting to turn their dire financial situation into a period of ‘funemployment’. Thousands of the country’s growing unemployed population have started using their period of forced unemployment as an opportunity to improve their lives through domestic travel, dubbing it as ‘funemployment’. Some have called it a revolt against Dilbert-style work environments, while others claim that the rise in funemployment is occurring alongside a change in America’s social outlook. Whichever is true, the increase in Americans enjoying their period of extended joblessness seems to…

Five years ago, Thailand’s lucrative tourism industry looked untouchable. But due to the country’s ongoing political struggle and a series of global health scares, the once unshakable Thai economy appears to be stuck in a permanent rut. Internally, the economy is an image of health, but a sunken tourism sector and limited demand for long-haul flights may continue to keep travellers away. Thailand has historically been one of Asia’s tourism capitals, drawing in millions of visitors every year and enjoying an industry that brings in almost seven percent of domestic revenue. However, a series of political movements have left the…

Due to the massive growth of low-cost carriers such as AirAsia and Tiger Airways, Malaysia has turned into one of Asia’s most popular travel destinations and a hub for transfers between major continental airlines. While the country’s remote resorts and exotic cities continue to attract those prepared to shop, relax, and treat themselves, it’s the country’s scenery that really sets it apart. Most visitors to Malaysia turn towards the country’s largest city, Kuala Lumpur, in search of warm relaxation and worthwhile shopping. While the capital is unlikely to disappoint, it’s certainly not the country’s only major attraction or stopping point.…

Beating out competition throughout North America and Asia, Hong Kong has claimed the title of the ‘world’s best skyline’. The large city and global financial centre is renowned as a photographer’s dream city, housing numerous buildings of over four-hundred metres and one of the world’s most well-known and recognizable harbours. Competitors included New York City, Chicago, and Seoul – all major population centres boasting over eight million residents. With a population of eight million, Hong Kong is considered a ‘small’ city when compared to its competitors. Other inclusions in Emporis’s countdown included Tokyo, which boasts a population of almost thirty…

Think Hong Kong and you’ll probably think of skyscrapers, luxury shopping, and some of the best restaurants in the world. And you’d be right. The city is known for its skyline and shopping chops, bringing in millions of tourists annually with no plans beyond moving from boutique to boutique, filling their suitcases and emptying their wallets in the process. But there’s more to Hong Kong than the tech-heavy city. Dotted along the peninsula are some of the world’s most impressive beaches, each benefiting from Hong Kong’s unique atmosphere and heavy dose of tropical heat. Better yet, due to the limited…

In a city famed for its expensive accommodation, a website encouraging users to welcome travellers into their homes is rapidly gaining popularity. The city is New York – one of the most wealthy cities in the world – and the website is CouchSurfing.com – a free project aimed at providing free housing and accommodation for international travellers and low-cost globetrotters. The median price of a hotel room in Manhattan is approximately $200 – a figure that prompts many of the city’s million monthly tourists to look outside the city’s central districts. But while hotels and serviced apartments demand high prices…