South Carolina looking for tourism comeback this year

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Are you going to South Carolina this year? Well, someone you know must be. The state expects its tourism busines to bounce back this year. This business is good for $18.4 billion in South Carolina economy, which is a pretty good reason to celebrate the revival of the tourism business. In 2006, tourism brought in only $16 billion,according to the South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism.

Of course, it’s going to be tough to tell how many people actually sink money into the state until 2011. We still don’t even know how much the recesion cost South Carolina in 2009, as the $18.4 billion result is for the year before. The 2009 data won’t be around for another year, so we probably won’t know about a 2010 recovery until 2012.

According to Chad Prosser Director of the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism, golf is the key to South Carolina tourism, explaining to The Associated Press, “You see it very profoundly in the golf market. When they can’t golf up north it does increase our numbers.”

Royal Caribbean mixes innovative iPhone app with on-board Wi-Fi

by Scott Carmichael on

Cruise ship technology is pretty advanced – on many cruise ships, you can surf the Internet, make and receive phone calls, and even check email on your smartphone, no matter where in the world the ship is.

Royal Caribbean is taking things to the next level with their “Royal Connect” service. Royal Connect combines the 1000 hotspot locations on the ship with an iPhone app and Wi-Fi enabled wrist bands.

Once installed on your phone, you pay $17.50 for the duration of the cruise, to get access to stateroom calling, online restaurant and spa reservations, guest locator, daily schedule and best of all – a kid tracker.

Children can wear a special tracking wristband, and parents can use their phone to track exactly where on the ship their kids are.

Additional features allow Royal Connect users to call or text each other without having to hunt for a shipboard phone.

Of course, as technology like this evolves, we become less “unconnected” on vacation, though I do think larger families can really benefit from the free phone-to-phone service, without having to pay insane roaming charges.

The service is currently only available on the massive Oasis of the Seas.

Universal Orlando resort reveals its first Wizarding World of Harry Potter vacation package

by Scott Carmichael on

Even though the exact opening date has not been revealed, Universal Orlando just revealed its first Wizarding World of Harry Potter vacation package.

Starting at $645 per adult ($1,548 for a family of four), guests can enjoy the new resort with the following benefits:

  • Four-night accommodations at one of Universal’s three on-site AAA Four Diamond hotels: Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, HardRock Hotel and Loews Royal Pacific Resort
  • Three days admission to Universal Studios and Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme parks (park-to-park not included)
  • Complimentary Universal Express access to bypass the regular lines at select theme park rides and attractions (a $70 value per person, per day)
  • Early park admission to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
  • Traditional British breakfast at the Three Broomsticks
  • Commemorative ticket for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter
  • Good for travel beginning May 28, 2010

Notice that last line? This obviously gives a bit of a hint as to the opening date, but Universal is quick to point out that the date was only set to help consumers plan their vacation, and that it does not represent the opening date. The current time frame is still “Spring 2010”.

To learn more about the available vacation package options, head on over to the Universal Orlando web site.

Scotsman completes epic ride from Anchorage to Ushuaia

by Kraig Becker on

Scotsman Mark Beaumont completed his Cycling The America’s expedition yesterday, reaching Ushuaia, Argentina 268 days after he set out from Anchorage, Alaska. Mark crossed through 12 countries on his journey, racking up 13,080 miles, and climbing two major mountains, in the process.

While this would seem like an incredibly long ride for just about anyone else, for Mark it’s only his second longest ride. Back in 2008, almost two years ago to the day, he finished circumnavigating the globe on his bike, a journey that took him just 195 days to complete, which was a record at that time.

To spice things up on his latest adventure, the Scotsman decided to throw a couple of new challenges into the mix. Not only did he climb the 20,320 foot tall Mt. McKinley, in Alaska, he also reached the summit of Aconcagua, which stands at 22,841 feet and is located in the Andes mountains of Argentina. The two peaks are the tallest in North and South America respectively.

While he peddled away the past eight months, Mark has also been blogging his experiences extensively, and it has made for an interesting travelogue. He clearly enjoys spending his time on the road, exploring the countries he passes through, and getting fully immersed in the local cultures. For their part, many of locals that he met along the trail thought that he was a little crazy for making such an epic journey on just his bicycle, but Mark was often touched by the kindness of strangers, who were usually curious about his expedition.

For certain sections of the ride, Beaumont was accompanied by a camera crew, but he also carried his own camera, and filmed much of it himself as well. All of the footage will be edited together to make a BBC documentary that will air in the U.K. later this year. No doubt it will be a fascinating adventure to watch unfold.

Kim Kardashian creates storm over Federal Air Marshal mention on Twitter

by Scott Carmichael on

Let me open by admitting that I have no idea who Kim Kardashian is — I’m guessing she does something in show business, because she has over 3 million people following her on Twitter.

Apparently enough people listen to what she has to say, because when she used Twitter to announce that she was sitting next to a Federal Air Marshal, she got a ton of criticism from people claiming she endangered people on her flight.

According to Ms. Kardashian, she used her “sleuthing skills” to discover his secret identity. So, let’s get a couple of things set straight here:

  • Federal Air Marshals are not hard to spot, and you certainly don’t need the so called “private eye skills” of Kim Kardashian to spot them. I’ll spare you the details on how to spot them, out of respect for what they do.
  • Telling Twitter that there is a Marshal on your flight is not going to endanger anyone. It is a well known fact that you have a pretty decent chance of flying with a “FAM” on your plane. In fact, the only “dangerous” tweet would be telling the world that there is NO Marshal on board.
  • Any Marshal stupid enough to let Kim Kardashian uncover him was probably not a Federal Air Marshal — I’m guessing it was just someone who saw her and decided that “Air Marshal” was more believable than “secret agent.”

What do you think? Is outing a Marshal a stupid move or just a waste of time?

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(Image credit: ICE/X17Online.com)