From World Cup to contemporary tourist destination: part one

by Alex Robertson Textor on

The World Cup is first and foremost a sporting event, though it’s also a chance for national brands to be disseminated widely, and for a sense of shared excitement to gather around the countries competing. No country has the opportunity to launch an ambitious branding effort like the host country, of course, and South Africa has done a good job drumming up interest in its people, history, and sights.

The next step, at least for anyone interested in tying an increased national profile to prospective tourist revenue, is to motivate people to actually visit the countries in question. Following, one hotel or resort each from countries selected from World Cup Groups A, B, C, and D ideal for putting their country’s modern (and in most cases relatively reasonably-priced) foot forward.

Group A. Mexico: Hotel Básico, Playa del Carmen.

Hotel Básico is minimalist yet completely Mexican in spirit, a blending of edginess and warmth. The tourism portrait of Mexico doesn’t usually extend to contemporary cool. This is a shame, especially given Mexico’s strong modernist bona fides. Hotels as bold as Básico go some distance toward rectifying the impression. Doubles from $178.

Group B. Argentina: Home Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires.

There are pricier and cushier hotels in Buenos Aires, but none gathers the ridiculous cool of post-economic crisis Buenos Aires like Home. Décor is chic and fresh, and the location in ultra-hip Palermo is perfect for stylish city slickers. Doubles from $130.

Group C: Slovenia: Nebesa, Livek.

The marriage of modernity and mountains is wonderfully center-stage in Slovenia. Nebesa, from its mountain perch in the tiny village of Livek on the Italian border, gathers this Slovenian tradition. The views are extraordinary (see above) and the houses are perfectly executed. Houses for two from €210 per night.

Group D: Germany: Arte Luise Kunsthotel, Berlin.

Berlin, in the immortal words of its mayor Klaus Wowereit, is “poor but sexy.” Germany’s most electrifying city isn’t just sexy and poor. It’s also remarkably easy on the wallet for visitors, and happily this fact extends to the city’s hotel stock. The Arte Luise Kunsthotel, located in the exciting Mitte ‘hood, features artist-decorated rooms in a range of themes. Double rooms from €79.

(Image: Flickr/Andrea Musi)

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk 010: Paragliding, Tijuana, USS Midway, Stone Brewery & surfing the Bruticus Maximus!

by Stephen Greenwood on

GadlingTV’s Travel Talk, episode 10 – Click above to watch video after the jump
Travel Talk has hit double digits!! To celebrate, we have an incredible lineup of adventures from San Diego, California – including a short dash over the border to Tijuana, Mexico!

This week we talk about Kim Jong-Il as a fashion icon, a new great way to hail a cab in NYC, and share a book that covers how to travel by freight ship! We have an answer in the debate of whether or not sarcasm exists in every culture, and of course we’ll show you pictures of the disruptive Eyjafjallajökull (Icelandic Volcano) that has shut down flights throughout Europe this week.

Stick with us as we try paragliding for the first time, learn how to brew beer from the masters at Stone Brewery, and do our best to surf the Wave House’s Bruticus Maximus. We’ll also take a peek onboard the USS Midway and show you how tourism has affected Tijuana in the past 5 years. Enjoy!

If you have any questions or comments about Travel Talk, you can email us at talk AT gadling DOT com.

Subscribe via iTunes:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the Show directly in iTunes (M4V).
[RSS M4V] Add the Travel Talk feed (M4V) to your RSS aggregator and have it delivered automatically.

Links
CabSense iPhone App – ‘the smartest way to find a cab’.
Amazing pictures of Eyjafjallajökull in action – Boston.com Big Picture.
Kim Jong-Il noted as world fashion icon.
Read the book! Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World.
LiveScience article on sarcasm.
Interested in hang gliding?? Check out this movie about the history of the sport!

Hosts: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea
Special Guests: Ken Wright, Bill Liscomb, Bob Puetz, & Vern Jumper.
Produced, Edited, and Directed by: Stephen Greenwood, Aaron Murphy-Crews, Drew Mylrea

Special Thanks: Torrey Pines Gliderport/ Stone Brewery, Escondido / Wave House San Diego / USS Midway Museum
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Music:

Stone Brewery
“Got it Made (Burn L.A.)
the Pacific
http://myspace.com/thebixbyknolls

All other music used in partnership with nonstopmusic.com

“Narco cinema” offers B-movie depiction of “life” in Mexico

by Laurel Miller on

Mexico is famous for many things: tequila, a glorious cuisine, gracious people, beautiful beaches, puking spring breakers. Unfortunately, in the last year, the beleaguered nation is getting more attention than usual for its vicious drug cartels. Although the violence isn’t directed at tourists, fear is a powerful thing. Tourism– especially in Baja-has dropped drastically, further devastating an already impoverished country.

But. In the last decade, talented Mexican filmmakers such as Alejandro González Iñárritu (“Amores Perros”) and Alfonso Cuarón (“Y tu mamá también”) have made a major impact worldwide, proving that new Mexican cinema is a force to be reckoned with. Unbeknownst to most of the global market, however, Mexico is importing something way more awesome than Gael Garcia Bernal flicks (you’re still my boy, Gael) and coke: narco cinema.

VBS.TV broadband television co-founder Shane Smith visited Texas, Tijuana, and Mexico City to explore the films inspired, and often funded by, Mexico’s drug cartels, a genre known as narco cinema. Smith went so far as to talk himself into a role as an extra in one film, after outfitting himself in the requisite endangered animal-skin cowboy boots, Western-style suit, and cowboy hat. Fledgling narcos might want to consider investing in designer Miguel Caballero’s bullet-proof clothing line.

Smith also explored the musical equivalent of narco cinema. “Narcocorridos” are often the basis for the films. They’re reworked versions of traditional Mexican Revolutionary songs, but if musicians get careless and sing in the wrong territory or about the wrong person, they get whacked. According to a source interviewed by Smith, there have been 25 musicians murdered in Mexico since 2007, most of them narcocorridos.

According to VBS, Mexico is considered the superhighway of drugs entering North America. It supplies most of the coke, meth, marijuana, and poppy derivatives consumed in the United States, and today the Mexican drug trade is a $100-billion-a-year industry. Approximately 30 percent of that is reportedly repurposed to bribe government officials and law enforcement.

Smith explains that drug culture has infiltrated Mexican society, from religion (there’s a patron saint of drug trafficking) and music, to film. Narco cinema came about in the 1980s, inspired by the B-movie tradition of the Mexican cinema of the ’60s and ’70s. The genre is Quentin Tarantino meets Sergio Leon: extreme carnage, guns, big trucks and hats, explosions, slutty women, and drugs. Because 82 percent of the Mexican population can’t afford to see mainstream theater releases, cheap, straight-to-video accessibility have helped narco cinema become increasingly popular. Mexicans of all ages now watch these films, as something of a national pastime. Better that than DWTS, I say.

Iberostar Hotels taps Antonio Banderas as new spokesperson for brand

by Melanie Nayer on

The scene: Two women lying on a perfectly combed white-sand beach, waves crashing in the background and sun shining directly on them. The mood: seductive. The setting: luxurious. Remarking that things couldn’t possibly get any better, one woman turns to the other and says, “All I need now is Antonio Banderas to show up on a shiny black stallion.”

Enter: Antonio Banderas on a shiny black stallion.

The “On Vacation Everyone is a Star” marketing campaign from Iberostar Hotels & Resorts was launched during an international press conference at the brand’s Grand Hotel Paraíso in Riviera Maya, Mexico. According to the agreement, all print and broadcast advertising will feature Banderas (and his shiny black stallion) and to add a little more sexy to the game, guests will hear Banderas’ voice when they access the hotel’s site online and take a virtual tour of one of Iberostar’s properties.

Banderas said at the press conference: “This partnership has developed in a very natural way: Iberostar is a brand with a large international presence and corresponding prestige. I share their values, their philosophy, and, of course, their understanding of vacations, which at the end of the day is most important.”

Iberostar has resort properties on some of the most remote beaches including those in Mexico, Jamaica, South America, Greece, Italy, and Spain.

[via Hotels Magazine]

Photo of the Day: 3.24.10

by Melanie Nayer on

This photo just makes you want to grab a margarita and celebrate summer, doesn’t it?

Spring is officially here, which means only one thing: Summer is right around the corner! It’s time to start thinking sunshine, beaches and bathing suits, and of course, summer cocktails! Today’s festive photo of the day comes courtesy of fdean55 and was captured in Tulum, Mexico.

If you have a photo that screams summer, or just captured a priceless moment you want us to consider for Photo of the Day, submit to the Gadling Flickr pool. You never know — we might feature your shot next!