Sometimes being second best is still an exciting thing: That's what they're thinking down in Tasmania where they've just discovered the world's second tallest tree.
The giant swamp gum tree measures 330 feet, making it quite a few feet smaller than the tallest tree found in California's Redwood National Park. But being second isn't harming the tourism potential of this tree with plans already taking shape.
Luckily the tree is close an already-existing tourist attraction, the Tahune AirWalk. The forestry people in Tassie are looking at erecting a boardwalk to get visitors close to the massive tree. And they're also hurriedly measuring the rest of forest to see if they can win the tallest tree award too.
Australian explorers were prone to naming landmarks with a few depressing names: Lake Disappointment or Mount Hopeless come to mind. But some Aussies in Tasmania have learned something handy. Bad names like this don't attract tourists.
For this reason Forestry Tasmania has just made a big decision. Dismal Swamp, a tourist attraction near Smithton, has now been renamed Tarkine Forest Adventures and they've added a bunch of nocturnal wildlife spotting and other tours to the only blackwood sinkhole in the world.
There's still a Great Dismal Swamp between Virginia and North Carolina, so perhaps it'll be up next for a name change. Something cheery, please? We'll take suggestions.
We might be jumping the gun a little bit here, but figured we'd throw our support behind Melbourne since it's quickly becoming top dog down under.
Engineers are busy at work as the construction deadline for the city's Southern Star observation wheel continues to approach. Set to open late this year, the wheel is similar is design to the London Eye, and will rise more than 38 stories into the air.
Even with the warmer weather on the way out, Niagara Falls is still a great place to take in some of nature's beauty in cooler temperatures--especially within heated "pods."
The Niagara SkyWheel, situated on the Canadian side of the falls within Clifton Hill, rises more than 175 feet into the air as it slowly rotates to give riders a view of the falls.
When you start running out of ways to attract tourists to your town, you have to start turning your thinking upside-down. And perhaps that's why the German town of Usedom--which had hoped to become famous on the strength of its nude beaches, until it ran into trouble on its Polish border--is now trying to grab tourists with its upside-down house.
There's just one problem. Nearly all the visitors who walk into this house, which looks upside-down from both the outside and the inside, say they feel ill. "Dizzy" and "disoriented" are feelings that often come up, and they're not really the kind of feedback you want from paying customers, except maybe on roller coasters.
It's a tricky problem because turning the house up the right way will make for a pretty boring exhibit. Perhaps they need to get the former nudists involved somehow to really beef up the tourist numbers.
A 45-year-old man and a six-year-old boy drowned in the Seine after a boat they were in sank Saturday. The vessel may have collided with one the flat-bottomed boats that ferry tourists up and down the river or the Pont de l'Archeveche, which links Île de la Cité to the Left Bank. Police are still investigating.
Another ten passengers were plucked from the water after the incident, and a barge from the tour company Bateaux-Mouches is reportedly moored near the scene. The boat's captain and first officer are both in custody.
Though boating accidents on the Seine are quite rare, The New York Times says currents near Paris' bridges can be unpredictable. We'll be sticking to the beach this summer.
The next time you travel to Kuala Lumpur, don't expect to find the Eye on Malaysia. The nearly 200-foot-tall Ferris wheel is going on a sort of permanent vacation.
It's been decided that the wheel needs to be dismantled and transferred to elsewhere in Malaysia. The ride was constructed last year in conjuction with the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 event, but now its contract is up and it's got to go.
Ever been to Taiwan? We have, but apparently not enough tourists do get there, so Taipei County has decided to create a "coastal amusement resort" similar to the waterfront of Dubai. There'll be restaurants, gardens, hotels and miscellaneous skyscrapers. Developers plan to spend about T$10 billion (more than $300 million) but take just three years to build.
According to spokesperson Chou Hsi-wei:
It's bigger than Disneyland, a lot bigger. It's a huge, huge place. Only like this can you get international tourists to come.
Um, really? Maybe promoting some interesting local culture or highlighting something unique to Taiwan could work too. Couldn't it?
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by amandak
