Jamaica schedules cleanups of areas
Jamaica schedules cleanups of areas
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Jamaica plans to spend $11 million to clean up and prepare several resort areas for the high tourism season.
Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett says cleanups at six of the island’s parishes will start soon. The government recently announced a similar investment into renovating tourist attractions. Crews will target cities including Negril, St. Ann and Kingston, according to Bartlett.
An estimated 1.3 million people visited Jamaica from January through August this year, a nearly 6 percent increase from the same period last year. The majority of new visitors were Canadians.
Spot in Utah looks to be top snowkiting stop
NEW YORK — It’s a cross between skiing and paragliding, and it requires a kite and a frozen lake or smooth field of powder.
It’s called snowkiting, and the December issue of Men’s Journal magazine says a place called Skyline Drive, 90 minutes south of Salt Lake City near the town of Fairview, Utah, is “poised to become the country’s top snowkiting destination.”
Snowkiters use skis or snowboards and hold on to kites pulled by the wind to glide across snow or ice. Skyline Drive, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet, has flats for beginners and slopes for more advanced snowkiters.
The 2008 Snowkite Summit will be there Dec. 6-7, with demonstrations, lessons and races.
For more information, visit www.snowkitesummit.com.
Resort offers free lift tickets as part of deal
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The ski resort at Steamboat Springs is offering free lift tickets from opening day on Nov. 26 through Christmas Day if you book a minimum three-night stay.
The offer is good for skiers who book through Steamboat Central Reservations before opening day with a $50 refundable deposit, with the stay completed by Dec. 25.
Lift tickets are per person, with a limit of two people per bedroom, and are valid one day less than nights stayed.
Book through (800) 922-2722 or online at www.steamboat.com.
Intrepid Museum reopens after being restored
NEW YORK — The Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum has reopened to the public after nearly two years of restoration.
Visitors returned to the World War II aircraft carrier after a ceremony Nov. 8 at its Manhattan pier.
The museum on the Hudson River underwent a 22-month, $120 million overhaul at a New Jersey drydock.
After WWII, the ship saw service in the Korean and Vietnam wars and was twice a recovery ship for NASA astronauts.
Since 1982, it has become a popular tourist attraction, drawing 750,000 visitors yearly over the past decade.
Ski shops are looking to rent more equipment
DENVER — Colorado ski-rental shops are expanding their inventory and making it easier for vacationers to rent equipment amid increasing airline baggage fees, according to The Denver Post.
The spike in inventory at some shops comes as industry experts say bringing all the necessary skiing equipment in a second, oversized bag can cost skiers as much as $250 each way on some airlines — and that’s not counting what it would cost to bring skis for the whole family.
“You can buy a new set of skis for these prices,” Mike Boyd, with Evergreen’s Boyd Group aviation consulting firm, told the newspaper.
Ski shops are banking that the high baggage fees will put their rental equipment in high demand this season.
Winter Park spent $250,000 on new rental gear and Monarch Ski and Snowboard Resort tripled its inventory while others are enticing skiers by offering to deliver ski and snowboard rentals to hotels and condos, the Post reported.
Combined dispatches