Luring Canadians to shop in Buffalo

Luring Canadiansto shop in Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Attention, Canadian shoppers!
Uncle Sam wants you -- to come to Buffalo.
Canadians are being offered U.S. cash to shop till they drop here, as long as it's an American hotel room they eventually drop in.
The Buffalo Niagara Convention & amp; Visitors Bureau -- www.buffalocvb.org -- has begun offering shopping packages for Canadians beginning at $95 that include an overnight stay in a hotel, a $50 voucher good at area shops and malls, and restaurant discount coupons.
The promotion lasts until March and was launched in time for the holiday shopping season, as hoteliers enter a slow period. It also comes at a time when the Canadian dollar has increased buying power on this side of the border.
The Canadian dollar is worth about 85 cents in the United States, up from 60 to 65 cents a few years ago.
Officials cut faresfor Alaska ferries
KETCHIKAN, Alaska -- Officials say an off-season 30 percent round-trip fare reduction on Alaska Marine Highway System ferries will help boost ridership and revenue on the state's water transportation routes.
The cuts announced recently are the latest marketing effort by Robin Taylor, deputy commissioner of the Alaska Department of Transportation, since he took over as head of the ferry system in March.
The price cuts are a way to bring in passenger revenue to offset recent fuel cost increases and to improve winter service, officials said. The fares are effective Nov. 1 to March 31.
Taylor said that he didn't know how well the cuts will work, but that signs are encouraging.
Reservation lines have been "flooded with winter round-trip reservations" since the discount fares were announced, Taylor said.
For details, go to www.dot.state.ak.us/amhs.
Zoo in New Orleansset to reopen Nov. 25
NEW ORLEANS -- The Audubon Zoo, which has been closed since Hurricane Katrina, will reopen Nov. 25.
"Reopening the zoo is a symbol that the heart and soul of New Orleans survives," said Ron Forman, Audubon Nature Institute president.
Officials said all Audubon-operated facilities will reopen within the next few months, beginning with the zoo and the Audubon Golf Course.
Audubon also operates the Aquarium of the Americas, Entergy IMX Theater, Louisiana Natural Center, Center for Research of Endangered Species, Wilderness Parks, Woldenberg Riverfront Park and Audubon Park.
The zoo escaped major flooding, but piles of debris have had to be cleaned.
King Tut exhibit in LAextended five days
LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles County Museum of Art will extend the King Tut exhibit by five days to accommodate near-record crowds.
The exhibit will be open through next Sunday, according to John Norman, president of Arts and Exhibitions International, a co-producer of the tour.
Norman said the five-month LACMA exhibit ultimately will be seen by about 900,000 people.
Visitors have paid $25 on weekdays and $30 on weekends to view 120 artifacts, 50 of them from Tut's tomb.
The attendance would be the second-most for a Los Angeles art exhibition. More than 1.25 million people turned out for the 1978 King Tut exhibit at LACMA, which featured the boy king's mummy.
Tut's next stop will be the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where the exhibition opens Dec. 15 for four months.
Combined dispatches