London leading destination city in 2012-study - Reuters
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - The home of this summer's Olympic Games and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations for Britain's Queen Elizabeth is also the world's top destination this year, according to an index released by global credit card company MasterCard on Monday.
MasterCard's "Worldwide Index of Global Destination Cities" predicted that London will see 16.9 million people arrive by air compared with a million less for second place city Paris and airmiles ahead of New York at 13th place with 7.6 million arrivals.
The index also said that London, for the second year running, will attract the highest international visitor spend at $21.1 million, just ahead of New York at $19.4 million.
"London offers better value for money than New York," MasterCard Worldwide's global economic advisor Yuwa Hedrick-Wong told Reuters.
The queen's diamond jubilee saw London fill with visitors from abroad and around Britain for four days of celebrations at the start of June and the Olympics which will take place at venues in and around London from July 27 to August 12 is expected to pull in visitors from all over the planet.
"As our fantastic Diamond Jubilee celebrations demonstrated, London knows how to throw a party and, as we prepare to host the greatest Games the world has ever seen, it is no surprise our capital is the top choice for tourists," London Mayor Boris Johnson said in a statement along with Mastercard's index.
Well established international destination Bangkok was the other big winner in the index at third place with 12.2 million visitors who will spend $19.3 million.
"Bangkok's advantage is that it's a very tolerant culture," Hedrick-Wong told Reuters. "That explains its durability, especially attracting Europeans and Americans. I cannot imagine Western visitors doing the same thing in Malaysia, even China."
The Index, which encompasses 132 of the world's most important cities, is being marketed as a new map for understanding global connectivity.
Businesses and investors might find the Index's list of city growth rates of more interest than current rankings. Brazilian and Chinese cities also featured highly in the survey for both visitor numbers and spend.
"The growth patterns show how important cities are," says Hedrick-Wong, "and they're popping up from everywhere. They take on some really important local or regional significance overnight because of a new development."
Expect to hear much more about Recife and Belo Horizonte in Brazil, and Chengdu, Harbin, Xian and Guangzhou in China.
Using information gleaned from 87 airlines, national tourism boards, the United Nations and other global agencies, the MasterCard Index offers an optimistic overall forecast.
Total visitor numbers and cross-border spending will increase by 5.7 percent and 10.6 percent respectively for the top 20 destination cities in 2012.
The result is a bright spot in a period of slow world economic output, a persistent euro zone crisis and increased uncertainty in the financial sector.
"The growing need and desire to travel, especially by air, are set to expand in spite of the ups and downs of the business cycles," MasterCard's report said.
In a survey also out on Monday, by Mercer, London was ranked the 25th most expensive city in the world and the most expensive city for expatriates.
(Editing by Paul Casciato)
Vauxhall picks Rockingham for Astra VXR launch challenge - Expert Reviews
Posted on 12 Jun 2012 at 10:32
Vauxhall has confirmed that it is to use the Rockingham motor racing circuit in Northamptonshire to launch the AStra VXR, its most powerful Astra model to date, in a special motorsport event.
The Motor Sport Association-accredited Astra VXR Media Sprint Challenge will see a selection of motoring journalists compete in road and track testing to see who can post the best time in Vauxhall's latest Astra over a course comprising a three-hour 110-mile route on the roads surrounding Rockingham followed by a sprint event on the Rockingham track itself.
Sadly, the event won't be open to the general public: as an MSA-accredited event, participants are required to hold a relevant race licence, while mandatory safety training will be provided before the chosen few are let loose in the new Astra VXR.
Vauxhall has good reason to be cautious: the most powerful production Astra to date, the new Astra VXR has a 280PS 2.0-litre turbo-charged engine which can push the vehicle to 60mph from a standing start in 5.9 seconds and on to a top speed of 155mph. On a track, that translates into a hair-raising ride for the uninitiated.
The Astras used in the event, which is based on the Vauxhall Challenge theme used to launch the Astra GTC last year, will be full retail specification models including the mechanical limited-slip differential, bespoke Brembo brakes and FlexRide adaptive dampening system.
The general public will be given the opportunity to get their hands on the vehicles in July, when the Astra VXR goes on sale priced from £26,995.
Author: Gareth Halfacree
London 2012: Olympics opening ceremony details revealed - BBC News
The Olympic Stadium will be transformed into the "British countryside" for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Games on 27 July.
A cast of 10,000 volunteers will help recreate country scenes, against a backdrop featuring farmyard animals and landmarks like Glastonbury Tor.
The opening scene of the £27m ceremony will be called "Green and Pleasant", artistic director Danny Boyle revealed.
He added the show would create "a picture of ourselves as a nation."
"The best way to tell that story is through working with real people," said Boyle, who has reserved a role for NHS nurses in proceedings.
There have already been 157 cast rehearsals and Boyle added: "I've been astounded by the selfless dedication of the volunteers, they are the pure embodiment of the Olympic spirit and represent the best of who we are as a nation."
The set will feature meadows, fields and rivers, with families taking picnics, people playing sports on the village green and farmers tilling the soil.
Real farmyard animals will be grazing in the "countryside", with a menagerie of 30 sheep, 12 horses, three cows, two goats, 10 chickens, 10 ducks, nine geese and three sheepdogs.
One billion people worldwide are expected to watch the opening ceremony.
Boyle, best known for directing Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire and Trainspotting, said the show was inspired by The Tempest and would be about a land recovering from its industrial legacy.
Europe's largest bell will ring inside the stadium to start the Shakespeare-inspired spectacle, featuring 900 children from the six Games host boroughs.
The stadium's 27-tonne bell was cast at London's Whitechapel Foundry, where 13.5-tonne Big Ben was cast in 1856, and is inscribed with a quote from The Tempest's Caliban: "Be not afeard, the isle is full of noises."
It will hang at one end of the stadium, and Boyle said he wanted people to hear it "for hundreds of years".
Among the other features will be two mosh-pits - one representing the Glastonbury festival and another the Last Night of the Proms - filled with members of the public.
Tickets for these positions are yet to be allocated, with organisers still to decide how to distribute them.
The set will feature real grass, an oak tree and "clouds" suspended from wires above the stadium - one of which will produce rain, provided the British weather does not provide its own on the night.
Meanwhile, the home nations will be represented by Maypoles topped with a thistle, a leek, a rose and flax.
A full dress rehearsal will be held for a capacity crowd of 80,000 in the Olympic Stadium, which will be fitted with a million-watt sound system.
The production team at 3 Mills Studios is completing work on nearly 3,000 props, while staff in the production department are creating 23,000 costumes for the four Olympic and Paralympic ceremonies.
'Fantastic celebration'Lord Sebastian Coe, who chairs the Organising Committee Locog, said it would be one of the biggest sets ever built for a show.
"I'm sure [it] will be a fantastic celebration that will welcome the 10,500 athletes from around the world and make our nation proud," he said.
The three-hour ceremony will begin at 21:00 BST with "an hour of culture", followed by the athletes parade, then the lighting of the cauldron and a fireworks display to bring down the curtain.
Boyle is collaborating with electronic musical duo Underworld, whose 1990s rave classic Born Slippy featured in Trainspotting. They have already mixed two tracks at London's Abbey Road studios.
Asked about timings for the ceremony, Boyle said the music will be used to help dictate the pace of athletes parading around the stadium.
The director, who said it would be impossible to keep details of the show secret, said he was trying to represent something of everyone's dreams in the ceremony and hoped viewers would "find something of themselves" in what they saw.
Motorists told to avoid London up to a MONTH before the Olympics so traffic lights can be turned green for VIPs in hated 'Games Lanes' - Daily Mail
- Work on 1,300 signals will start on July 1 to make sure it is all up and running in time
- More misery for commuters because they have already been warned to avoid trains and tube if possible
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Motorists will have to avoid central London from up to a month before the Olympics start so its hated VIP 'Games Lanes' can be up and running in time.
From July 1 more than 1,300 traffic lights will be adjusted to automatically turn green to speed chauffeur-driven dignitaries to venues, while millions of ordinary drivers face gridlock.
These 30 miles of road, part of a wider 109-mile circuit called the Olympic Route Network, will whisk VIPs from their hotels around Park Lane and Mayfair to the venues across the capital in luxury BMWs.
Commuters using public transport have already been warned to take holiday, work from home or travel early or late to avoid chaos on the trains and tube in the same period.
Traffic: Routes like this one, Shaftesbury Avenue, in central London, will have Games Lanes added to allow VIPs to travel without traffic
Transport for London said today they must start work on the traffic lights and new road barriers by the start of next month to make sure lanes are running properly two days before the opening ceremony on Friday, July 27.
They also claim that despite more red lights for normal motorists a ban on roadworks will improve the situation as long as fewer motorists drive into London.
And that the traffic will start to really build up two weeks before the Games when athletes, media and dignitaries arrive, culminating in the London legs of the torch relay in the days running up to the main event, they say.
'During the Games, London will be turned into a massive sporting and cultural venue. We have plans in place to get all athletes, officials and the world’s media to their Games events on time and to keep London moving and open for business,' TfL's commissioner Peter Hendy said.
Plan: Much of the the route will run people to the Olympic Park, pictured,
Busy: Commuters have already been warned to take holiday, work from home or travel early or late to avoid a packed tube system
'From mid-July, central London and areas around Games venues will be much busier than usual. The ORN, which is part of the host city contract for the Games, will be a vital part of managing the busy roads and delivering a great Games.
'It will come into operation on July 25, a couple of days before the opening ceremony.
'Our advice to motorists is clear. From mid-July, avoid driving in central London, around the ORN and Games venues.'
The ORN and the Games Lanes will be enforced from 6am to midnight. They will shut again a couple of days after the Games and will not run between the Olympics and the Paralympics, which start on August 29.
The designated lanes will be set aside for athletes, coaches, administrators and even 25,000 'marketing partners', meaning regular drivers will face traffic jams and travel delays on their way to work.
Fleet: These luxury BMWs will chauffeur VIPs around London during the Olympics
The 25m Olympic Route Network (ORN) will be operational for 17 days of the event, covering the fortnight-long competitive period and a number of days before and after.
The Paralympics will also result in restrictions but they will cover a much shorter period.
Millions of drivers and commuters in London and the South East around the M25 will be hardest hit as jams and journey times increase by a third, traffic on key routes slows to just 12 mph, with the rush-hour traffic peaking 90 minutes earlier at 5.30am and 3.30pm, adding an average 20 additional minutes to a one hour journey.
But this could easily double to 40 minutes in the worst cases. In the 'worst case scenario' the Olympic opening ceremony could be held in 'a half empty stadium' because the other half are stuck in a jam.
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London braced for fresh travel chaos as tube workers vote for strike - Daily Telegraph
''These are the same key staff who keep services running when demand is at a peak and manage the problems when the lines are hit by breakdowns and failures.
"They deserve respect for the job that they do and not the imposition of inferior working conditions and the threat to jobs.''
But London Underground said the action was unnecessary as officials had already addressed most of the unions concerns.
''We have been in discussion with the unions across the entire Tube network, including the subsurface lines, since 2007 on the impact of changes arising from our upgrading of signalling systems," said Nigel Holness, London Underground's operations director.
''We have already addressed nearly all of the issues raised by the RMT, and I would urge the RMT leadership to continue working with us to help staff prepare for these changes, which will be implemented in five years' time.''
The news comes after staff running the capital's bicycle hire network also threatened to strike during the Olympics over bonus payment.
That 'Boris Bike' strike threat came after 21,000 bus workers in the Unite union are being balloted for strike action that could take place during the games.
Bus operators and TfL are not willing to fund bonus payments for drivers.
I think we all should avoid the games, they are so badly organised that they will go down in history as the worst ever, and all this is thanks to Seb and Locog's complete lack of efficiency.
- OLD AND NEARLY FORGOTTEN OLD SOLDIER, somewhere in the world., 12/6/2012 11:50
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