In 1655 England seized Jamaica from Spain- it would appear that now, some 350 years later, the Spanish are back en force. Over the last couple of years the Spanish tour operators and hotel companies have been grabbing headlines with large-scale projects all over the island. And they’ve been welcomed with open arms. Despite Jamaica’s strong position with U.S. and Canadian travelers, Europe has been less consistent in recent decades. Spain has made a major commitment to the island and there’s hope that this will lead to the reopening of other European markets.

Jamaica has benefited from positive trends within the travel industry that have in-effect anointed the Caribbean a safe haven in an otherwise troubled world. In addition, Jamaica’s infrastructure including its major airports and new highways, that have improved access to remote parts of the island, have encouraged investment. To keep up the momentum, the Jamaican Tourist Board launched a new ad campaign with the tagline, Once You Go, You Know, focusing on the extraordinary diversity, culture and charms of the island – and designed to maintain that growth of the tourism industry.

Jamaica’s tourism officials estimate that overseas investment will add more than 5,000 rooms to the island’s inventory by 2007. In 2004, Spain’s RIU group opened more than 800 rooms between two properties in Negril, and they have plans for a further 850 in Ocho Rios in 2005. Sandals Whitehouse on the south coast, with 80 suites among its 360 rooms, welcomed its first guests in February. The Sunset Resort Group will launch Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort (formerly Renaissance Jamaica Grande) with 720 rooms, while Negril Cabins is open under the new name Sunset at the Palms Resort & Spa. Country Country in Negril, acquired by the owners of the Coyaba Resort, adds six rooms to the existing 14 this winter with another 50 expected by 2006; while a new SuperClubs hotel, Rooms on the Beach (formerly Club Jamaica) opens in November with 104 rooms and suites. Other major projects underway or in the works include:

Rose Hall Expansion

In 2004 Prime Minister P J Patterson broke ground for a US$850 million hotel project in the Rose Hall area of St James, just beyond the Wyndham. It is a joint venture between Rose Hall Developments Limited and Iberostar, a Spanish hotel chain that presently operates in the Dominican Republic, United States, Spain, Greece and Turkey. According to chairman of the Iberostar Group, Miguel Fluxa, his company will be constructing three hotels over a five-year period, resulting in 950 new rooms at Rose Hall. These properties will cater mainly to Europeans. Iberostar will spend US$200 million in the first phase, to construct a 350-room hotel that is scheduled to be on the market and ready for business in winter 2006. The hotel will feature, among other things a swim-up bar, a theatre bar and cigar bar. Rose Hall Developments and the Resort Properties Group announced plans in mid- February 2005 for The Palmyra Resort & Spa at Rose Hall, located next to the Ritz- Carlton on 16 acres of pristine waterfront. The Palmyra will stretch along one-half mile of Caribbean ocean and includes 26 villas and 504 one-, twoand three-bedroom condominium units. This is the last of the great beachfront properties, said Robert T. Trotta, moving force behind the Resort Properties Group. The Palmyra presents the perfect occasion to create a sustainable, luxury community that celebrates the island’s resources through architecture, amenities and experience. We’re pleased to offer a ground floor real estate opportunity in a culturallyunmatched seaside haven. Groundbreaking for the first phase of development, consisting of two condo buildings, the Palmyra E’SPA, infinity pool and beach is set for spring 2005, with the project reaching completion in late 2006. Also under construction are the ‘Shoppes at Rose Hall’, an upscale shopping, dining and entertainment complex.

Trelawny Development

The most ambitious project underway in Jamaica is the US$1.2 billion Harmony Cove development located between Ocho Rios and Montego Bay. This 1,400-acre beachfront property will include three major luxury hotels, three themed boutique resorts, two golf courses, more than 200 exclusive residential homes (manors and villas), upwards of 200,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space, as well as a world-class, 300-slip marina and private airstrip at Braco. Rumours have even circulated that Donald Trump, is looking to secure a licence from the Government to operate a casino in Harmony Cove. Other projects in Trelawny parish include, AM Resorts four hotels that will create 1,700 rooms and Grupo Pinero’s three new hotels totaling 1,800 rooms in nearby St. Anne.

I love Lucea

Prime Minister P J Patterson announced in 2004 that plans are well advanced for the acquisition of a property on the eastern side of the Lucea harbour in Hanover for the construction of a 1,500-room fivestar hotel by yet another Spanish hotel chain. Patterson also confirmed that design work for the construction of the Lucea Shipping Pier was progressing satisfactorily, and that negotiations were taking place for the acquisition of a parcel of land to facilitate the development; this would include a cruise ship facility. I am sure that the development of this part of Hanover between the harbour and the hotel makes progress for Lucea and its environs irreversible, said the prime minister.

**for more information visit http://www.jam-boree.com/, Jamaica’s visitor website, the complete source for travel and tourism information featuring hand-picked deals on vacation packages, hotels, villas, flights and car rentals**

Jam-boree.com

During the last decades, Netherlands also known as Holland has become the symbol of freedom due to its legalization of light drugs, euthanasia and marriages between gays and lesbians. Amsterdam, its capital, is the most visited city in the country but besides the access to the above-mentioned liberties visitors have a great chance to see very beautiful city with a lot of cultural attractions.

The government of Amsterdam now is trying to make the city one the world leading business centers and their efforts have a success ? now Amsterdam hosts a significant number of international fairs, business meetings and conferences. Many of the influential multinational corporations have their headquarters in Amsterdam.

Netherlands? capital is a mix of the new and old ? ancient houses of the XVII century border with the up-do-date office buildings.

Amsterdam received its name in the honor of the river Amstel crossing the city. It was founded in XII century as a small fishing village. Now Amsterdam status has some paradox ? although it?s a capital of the country, the capital of its province is Harlem and the country?s government is situated in Hague.

Amsterdam has rich, glorious history. It reached it highest peak in the XVII century the most of the historical attractions belong to that time. In XVII the famous Amsterdam channel net was created. Due to the huge number of channels Amsterdam has become a city of bridges. Now there are about 1200 bridges of different styles, sizes and beauty. A lot of Amsterdam’s canals were filled in the beginning of the 20th century because of the sanitary reasons.

The city has a numerous amount of the museums, some them are world-famous. The Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh Museum and Stedelijk Museum are the most renowned, but the full list counts about 50 names.

The centre and the heart of the city is Dam Square, a place with historical significance, still boasting beautiful buildings, one of which is Royal Palace. Koninklijk Paleis – The Royal Palace dates back to 1648. Another Dam square?s attraction is Nieuwe Kirk dating back to the 15th century. Although Amsterdam is trying to escape the reputation of the world?s drug capital coffee shops belong to the things Amsterdam is famous for. There are few hundreds of coffee shops in Amsterdam. Popular ones are the commercial and franchised Bulldog and the Grasshopper.

Coffee shops in the country are allowed to sell only small amounts of cannabis. Furthermore, coffee shops must not sell to anyone under 18 and they must not sell more than 5g to any customer. Hard drugs are strictly prohibited.

Another thing Amsterdam is famous for is Red Lights district. It occupies the significant part of the historical centre of Amsterdam.

The whole Holland is known for its love for flowers. Vondelpark is considered to be one of the most beautiful parks in the world. Its style reminds of the best examples of the English style of the XIX century. A lot of lakes, meadows, walking routes present the great opportunity to spend your free time.

For booking a hotel, please, go to Amsterdam hotels page.

The four-star Parador Ronda occupies an absolutely awesome location. It sits right on the edge of one of the deepest gorges in Spain – the Tajo. The views are stunning. If you aren’t timid of heights, walk out across the puente nuevo – the new bridge (that was built in 1761!?) just outside the Parador grounds, and you can look straight down 500 ft. to the river below! There are scenic footpaths through the Parador gardens and grounds that will lead you to lookouts with incredible vistas.

The Ronda Parador building is the former town hall. It has a very modern appearance inside, presents the traveler with every amenity, and all of it in very good taste. The Parador of Ronda is famous for the quality of the service they provide, and for the attentiveness of the staff.

Ronda itself is a fascinating city with an equally fascinating history. A moorish stronghold for centuries, it later became essentially a haven for bandits. They would loot the surrounding countryside and then return to their nearly impregnable location in Ronda and dare the authorities to try and get them out.

Modern bullfighting was invented here, and Ronda’s bullring is said to be the oldest in Spain. Wander the old town to your hearts content. You’ll get pleasantly lost – a few times – but it’s great fun exploring and you’re never far from the way back.

From here, you could drive out to some of Spain’s most typical white villages – Setenil, Grazalema, Gaucin, Olvera, Ubrique, Zahara de la Sierra, – and many others – each a dazzling drop of ancient culture in these rugged sierras.

Interesting excursions from the Parador:

- The Ba?os Arabe: these public baths which were already in use in the 13th century – are still functioning!

- Plaza de Toros: this is reputed to be the oldest bullring in Spain. There is also a fine museum dedicated to the history of bullfighting there.

- Casa del Rey Moro (House of the Moorish King): Parts of this are now closed, but an unusual walk will take you down 365 steps – through a kind of ‘mine’ – to the river below. This is how the city accessed the water during times of seige.

Interesting day trips include:

- The Parque de Grazalema: Wildly beautiful natural surroundings amidst the rugged mountains of the area. Lots of great hiking opportunities.

- A drive in any direction will bring you to wonderful white villages so typical of this part of Andalucia. Stop and walk around. Have a glass of wine and a tapa on the main plaza – this is as close as you’ll get to what Spain was like 3 or 4 centuries ago.

- Drive down to the little town of Gaucin – called, the balcony of Europe, because of the views you can have there. On a clear day, you can see across the straits of Gibraltar all the way to Africa!

- The Costa Del Sol is near enough for a day trip. Estepona is nice, and a bit less built up than the towns and cities further along the coast.

The Parador of Ronda is a wonderful place to stay while touring around the south of Spain. It has a fascinating history that is still alive today, and the ruggedly beautiful mountains form an incomparable backdrop for a visit that will fulfill many travelers’ vision of Spain.

SpainParador.com makes it easy for you to plan and arrange your next trip to Spain. This time stay in palaces, castles, and other places of great historical interest and rare beauty – the wonderful Paradors of Spain. http://www.SpainParador.com

This is an article to discuss the perspective of an accommodation booking agency based in Central London.

Because of the boom in the travel and tourism industry in the whole of UK, there has been a huge increase in tourists coming to London. London, a very big city is distributed into zones – more for the benefit of an underground traveller which has now become a medium of calculating how costly (in terms of property) and posh a place is. Zone 1, consisting of areas like Victoria, Kensington, Bayswater, Tower Hill, Aldgate and Kings Cross is rated #1 followed by zones 2,3,4,5 and 6.

Together, London has about 2000 hotels/bed and breakfasts/lodges/motels/apartments to offer and the number of agencies selling this accommodation is not much fewer than that number. Therefore, starting a new agency service to sell the same accommodation has to be properly targetted and the rules of marketing should be defined on the table before the work starts, or else it will be a failure with so much competition.

We analysed the market and to our surprise we found that the worldwide market has been taken already by top agencies like expedia, laterooms, bedbank etc. All these agencies have huge presence in almost all countries around the world and therefore all tourism is carried out via their websites or GDS’.

We looked a little within that scope and found that the most easy to target audience is that within England and if that sounds like a narrow view, the figure stands at a staggering much more than 1 million travel tourists per year. And there is no one targetting them wholeheartedly.

That was 2 years ago, and because of the timely and realistic estimates and marketing strategies to sell Central London Hotels, we were able to create one of the biggest booking service for hotels in central London.

There is always a niche market waiting to be explored.

The author has been in the London hotels’ industry since the last 15 years and has extensive marketing and promoting experience especially in central London hotels bookings

Over 150 years ago, Hong Kong was described as a barren rock. Today, it’s a dynamic, 21st century city that has gone from British Colony to one of the world’s must-visit tourist destinations. Its colonial charm is still to be found in the historic mansions dotted around The Peak and quaint customs like firing the Noon Day Gun, yet this is an international city proud of its Chinese heritage and Cantonese gusto.

After the handover from Great Britain in June 1997, Hong Kong became a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China. While some things have changed, you’ll marvel at this melting pot of east meets west.

Where else can you gaze in awe at a Manhattan-style skyline filled with iconic modern architecture by IM Pei and Norman Foster, and just a few streets away, bargain your heart out for silk and jade at a local laneway market. That’s Hong Kong for you. It’s fast, efficient, entrepreneurial, yet truly Chinese at heart.

Location is everything.

Situated at the south-eastern tip of China on The South China Sea, Hong Kong is actually just one island out of a group of 263. Most visitors spend their time on Hong Kong itself, the popular Kowloon Peninsula and the more rural New Territories. Take a ferry trip to one of the outlying islands such as Lamma, Lantau or Cheung Chau and see how lush and green the scenery is. Hong Kong offers the nature lover wonderful treks across mountains tops and amazing scenery, so when you’ve had enough retail therapy, head for the hills.

When it comes to serious shopping, Hong Kong has it all.

What hasn’t been said about shopping in Hong Kong! Right across the Island, you’ll discover that retail must have been invented here. In Central, slick designer shopping malls such as Landmark and Prince’s Building, cater to expensive tastes. A who’s who of labels, brands and temptations that will entice your credit card time and time again. In contrast, there are street markets like Li Yuen East and Li Yuen West, not forgetting factory outlets where you can go bargain spotting at great prices.

Wan Chai: Wan Chai’s streets are steeped in history and you can happily spend an afternoon exploring the shops and the wet market. (It sells food, fruit, flowers, fish, meat – quite different from a US supermarket experience.) Spring Garden Lane between Queen’s Road East and Johnston Road, is a good place to pick up clothes at very competitive prices. The market stalls sell products originally meant for export, meaning quality and price are very competitive.

Causeway Bay: This has become known locally as Little Japan because of the major Japanese department stores in the area. It is hip and young, with stores specializing in shoes, electrical appliances and fashion. Don’t miss the small street market called Jardine’s Bazaar, filled with low-cost fashion and accessories.

Stanley Market: Jump on a bus or take a taxi to Stanley, famous for its warren of stalls, shops and restaurants. (The ride along Repulse Bay Road is spectacular with superb views across the sea to outlying islands.) Here you’ll find paintings, curios, cashmere, silks and ceramics, along with cut-price fashion. Open from around 10:00am to 6:00pm daily.

Hungry for more. A world of exquisite, mouth-watering dining options.

As you would expect, good Chinese restaurants are found everywhere in Hong Kong. Some of the best can be found in major hotels and shopping complexes. Most specialize in one or more of the following: Cantonese, Chiu Chow, Hunan, Szechuan, Peking, Shanghainese or Chinese Vegetarian. If you’re hungry for a taste of home, you can find just about everything – from American-style burgers to homemade Italian pasta. Day and night, Hong Kong’s gourmet delights are plentiful – whether you want to pick up a snack or get dressed up and hit the clubs of Lan Kwai Fong, it’s all waiting for you.

What’s new to see and do in Hong Kong now. A Symphony of Light.

As if Hong Kong wasn’t colorful enough, at night’s it’s electrifying. This new multimedia show creates an all-round vision of lights, laser beams and searchlights, performing an unforgettable spectacle synchronised to music and narration that celebrates the energy, spirit and diversity of Hong Kong.

Already named the World’s Largest Permanent Light and Sound Show by Guinness World Records, it has been expanded to involve 33 key buildings on both sides of Victoria Harbour. If you are in Hong Kong during a festival, special pyrotechnic displays launched from the middle of the harbour add extra sparkle to the show.

Hong Kong Disneyland. Visit the magical kingdom.

Hong Kong Disneyland on Lantau Island, the fifth in the world, opened in September 2005.It has proved to be a huge draw card for both international and local visitors, so if you’re planning to go, it will busy. You can discover a magical kingdom of thrilling adventures, wonderful journeys and beloved Disney Characters. The park consists of four themed lands similar to those in the other Disneyland parks: Main Street, USA, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. By the way, this Adventureland is the biggest one out of all the Disneyland parks.

If you’re keen to actually stay here, you can. There are two enchanting hotels offering unique shopping, imaginative dining and family recreation — all delivered with the style and service you expect from Disney.

Take a journey of enlightenment.

Ride the stunning 5.7km cable car ride up the side of a mountain on Lantau Island to a culturally themed village next to the Giant Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. The Ngong Ping Skyrail travels from Tung Chung adjacent to the airport over spectacular countryside offering panoramic views, across the South China Sea, the mountains and monastery. This is planned to open in mid 2006.

Hong Kong Wetland Park.

Located next to the internationally recognised Mai Po Marshes bird sanctuary, this huge park is designed to demonstrate the diversity of Hong Kong’s wetland ecosystem. You can get closer to nature through integrated themed education and recreation facilities, with audio visual shows, interactive demos and wetland simulations.

Hong Kong Hotels to match every budget.

Hong Kong is one of the world’s top ten travel destinations. You’ll find every type of accommodation available to suit your budget – from major 5 star international names to smaller hotels offering great value rates. Book online and see what hot deals you can find. During holiday time and special Chinese festivals, it pays to book ahead. Web sites such as http://www.hotel.com.au/hongkong have dozens of choices, in all the shopping, business and nightlife districts.

Hong Kong is easy to get around with safe public transport, a reliable subway, trams and ferries, so you’re never far from a bargain or for that matter, a memorable time.

I’ll leave the last word to Noel Coward.

Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun. The smallest Malay rabbit deplores this stupid habit. In Hong Kong, they strike a gong and fire off a noonday gun….

About the Author Matthew Lawson heads up http://www.hotel.com.au and is an avid traveler.

In Cambodia, Angkor Wat is the main draw for tourism today, and rightly so, called the Crown Jewel of South East Asia the temple complexes? 40 Sq Kilometers? of temples is famous the world over, but now, more people are visiting the rest of Cambodia and the word of mouth is that the rest of the Cambodia is worth a visit as well. The Beach resort of Sihanoukville is fast becoming a holiday destination in its own right, with lots of islands and parks and things to do from hiking and exploring, scuba diving & snorkeling and boat rides, water falls, jungle treks and chilling in a hammock in a quiet beach park reading a good book. Culturally there are the markets, the local wats and the schools, where many come to donate time and money towards educating the kids.

Sihanoukville has a 5 star resort on its own kilometer long private beach. The pool could be classified as a small lake and is almost visible from space, complete with a bridge to its own little island. The hotel is only 2 years old and has a staff to guest ratio of 4/1. The prices for comparable hotels in South East Asia would be substantially higher.

If you are a budget traveler then Sihanoukville is your place as well, there are many rooms available with air con, hot water, refrigerator and Cable TV for $10 – $20 a night and if you want a place to stay for 6 months or more, you can get a business visa at the border on demand and stay as long as you like, works out to around $1 a day for the visa extensions, making the town attractive to pensioners and semi retired people.

Backpackers also like Sihanoukville with a few places offering 50 cent tall cold beers and cheap food starting at $.50. Some are also finding work as bar tenders and working the restaurants. Backpacker hostels start as low as free, Yup free, all you have do is buy one of your meals at the lodging and the price for the food is still cheap $1.50 to 2.50 a plate.

One local expert expat?s guess?s that there are more western owned business per population in Sihanoukville than any other place in Asia! Many are coming and starting guesthouses & hotels, small bed and breakfast places, restaurants and bars and small resorts with a few starting to pop up on the islands off the coast. Want to rent your own fantasy island for a week check out Magic Island?

Logistically everything that you will need is here including reliable electricity, internet, and western restaurants as well as a lot of Asian European specialty foods prepared with the western travelers tastes in mind including Khmer seafood, Thai, Vietnamese, French, Italian, German, Russian, Indian, Sri Lankan and more coming soon. English languages schools are many in Sihanoukville, so you can almost always find someone to speak English when you need it.

Money use to be a problem as you had to go inside the banks to get cash and with 26 holidays on the Cambodian calendar, you could get stuck with out cash for a few days, now there are ATM locations in Siem Reap- Angkor Wat, Phnom Penh, Battembong and Sihanoukville. You can change just about every currency including Yen, Euros, Baht, Kip, Dong, and Sing Dollars. US Dollars and Cambodian Riel are the two most common currencies in use.

Sihanoukville is getting easier to get to with cheap international flights into Bangkok and really cheap regional flights into Phnom Penh. Flights into Sihanoukville are very close to being a reality as well. Regularly scheduled busses from Phnom Penh will get you to Sihanoukville in 4 hours on a excellent American built road. You can also arrange taxis and vans for moving groups of people, and an established over water route form Bangkok to Trat to the Had Lek – Klang Yai border to Sihanoukville. You might even arrive here via a cruise ships, as more are placing Sihanoukville on their itineraries.

The Islands of Cambodia in the Gulf of Thailand are mostly uninhabited; you will find isolated Spartan fishing villages with populations normally fewer than 100 people. One Island, Koh Tang, has only 7 residents and would take the better part of a day to hike around, so if you are looking for that deserted island to strand yourself on, to work on your coconut carving and ship in a bottle skills there are many here to chose from, bring your own hammock and Gal Friday or they can be acquired here in Sihanoukville.

The Cambodia of the past always seemed to bring up horrific images of the past misfortunes that the Khmers suffered at the end of the Vietnam War. Even today, the genocide in Cambodia is still in the news as the country has its tribunal to hopefully put the events behind them,

One of the few backhanded benefits of the recent past history was that Cambodia missed out on all of the heavy industrialization, that the other countries in the region experienced, notably Thailand and Vietnam; which means that they missed out on the pollution that goes with it. A UN survey of the waters in Asia, that included Cambodia, found only 3 areas of concern for ocean water quality near shore, where as Vietnam and Thailand, had allot problem locations, mostly from the industrial pollutions and shrimp farms. This may change, unfortunately, as oil has been found in Cambodia and the drilling of exploration holes has begun. So now is a really good time to come.

As Cambodia moves forward towards the future, it is obvious to most that the future in Cambodia is tourism. And for Cambodia?s beach resort of Sihanoukville, to misquote the tune ?the futures so bright, in Sihanoukville, that your gonna need shades?

Fred Tittle has lived and worked in resorts his entire life, from South East Wisconsin at the famous Lake Geneva Playboy Club and Nippersink Resort, Aspen Colorado where he was a rock jock for KSPN FM, Waikiki on Oahu in Hawaii where he drove big bikes and learned to scuba dive and now as a owner of EcoSea Dive in Sihanoukville Cambodia where he teaches PADI and SSI Scuba Diving and runs holiday adventure tours to the outer islands. Fred is working on a new website project CheapCharliesHotels.com as a excuse to travel more and work less, basically his life?s ambition. His website is http://www.ecosea.com