More than 11% of Europeans work in tourism
In the European Union countries, tourism accounts for almost 11% of economic growth. This was stated by Austrian Minister of Economy and Labour Martin Bartenstein following an informal meeting of EU ministers responsible for the tourism industry. "Tourism accounts for 10.9% of economic growth, and according to forecasts, by 2016 this figure will rise to 12%," he said.
According to him, the tourism industry is also a "driver for employment": in the EU, 23.8 million jobs directly or indirectly depend on it, which is 11.8% of the total number of employed people. As the minister emphasized, in ten years this figure will already reach 13%. Thus, every eighth job directly or indirectly depends on tourism.
It is also worth recalling that, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), the turnover of the global tourism industry in 2005 exceeded $6 trillion. This year, a 4.6% growth is expected - to $6.5 trillion. Over the next 10 years, the industry's annual growth will be 4.2%.
Sri Lanka expects to receive 600,000 tourists
According to statistics, 566,000 tourists visited Sri Lanka in 2004. The consequences of the tsunami affected only a small part of the island's tourism infrastructure. Thus, of the 48 damaged hotels on the eastern coast of the island, 41 have already been fully restored.
In 2005, due to the tsunami, the number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka decreased, but it is expected that their number will increase to 600,000 in 2006, and the authorities plan to bring the number to one million. To this end, it is planned to build another 11,000 rooms in addition to the existing 14,000 hotel rooms in 4- and 5-star hotels. Tourism in Sri Lanka ranks fourth in terms of revenues to the country's budget.
Stockholm to restrict mobile phone use
Starting this year, a partial ban on the use of mobile phones will be introduced in Stockholm's public transport. Areas where talking on a mobile phone is not allowed will be designated in buses and the metro.
In this way, the authorities want to ensure passenger comfort, sparing them the "pleasure" of listening to private conversations like: "Darling, I'm on my way, boil the potatoes" or teenagers' flirtation.
Not everyone supports such a decision. Opponents of the ban say that huge amounts of money were invested in installing equipment underground not at all to introduce restrictions now. The local authorities, which adopted the new regulation, do not yet plan to introduce fines for those who forget about the ban. The only punishment will be the disapproval of other passengers.
Germans lured home with absinthe candies
Germany is trying to force migrants in the western part of the country to return home and not empty cities in the post-communist eastern part. Those who recently went home to eastern Germany will receive parcels with delicacies such as candies filled with wormwood tincture, as well as tickets to sports competitions and invitations to arts festivals.
It is also planned to launch a website on the Internet so that people from the east can maintain contacts with relatives and friends who stayed home, which should lift their spirits and, according to psychologists' recommendations, increase the chances that they will want to return.
Eastern Germany has always created problems for the rest of Germans, although migrants are primarily young, well-educated Germans hoping for a better life. Demographers point out that women have turned out to be more mobile than men. In a decade, in eastern regions of Germany, there will be two men per woman, which will have a negative impact on the birth rate.
The implementation of the new action plan to attract residents to the east was started by the Minister of Transport, Construction and Housing Wolfgang Tiefensee, reports the Daily Telegraph. Its effectiveness will first be tested in Magdeburg, the capital of the state of Brandenburg, where the population has decreased to 228,000 people from 285,000 in 1989. "We need to tie young people to home and, where possible, work for their return," the minister said.
Professor Christian Dienel from Stendal College in Magdeburg, where the action plan was developed, emphasizes that the goal is not to stop migration, but to encourage people to return.
No place for homophobes in Holland
The Dutch authorities have decided to subject all potential immigrants to a test of sexual loyalty. Everyone wishing to obtain citizenship of the Netherlands will now have to watch erotic videos for two hours.
According to the new rules, an applicant for citizenship must watch a film without moving a single muscle, in which scenes with kissing gay men and naked beauties walking along the beach alternate. True, besides liberal mores in Holland, from the film one can also learn about traffic jams, unemployment and other problems that an immigrant may face. And after watching the film, reports AP, the test subject is offered to take a computer test on knowledge of Holland's history and life.
The official cost of the exam is $420. You can prepare for it by buying for $75 a film, a CD-ROM drive and an album with portraits of famous Dutch people. Obviously, it is assumed that the immigrant will watch the subversive footage for a long time until he learns to react to it calmly. Meanwhile, for people from some countries, for example, Iran, an adapted version has been prepared: the film contains no homosexual scenes and fewer images of naked bodies.
Exempted from watching the film are citizens of the USA, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan and Switzerland, as well as citizens of EU countries, persons who have applied for political asylum, and qualified workers earning more than $54,000 per year.
USA began issuing passports with microchips
The United States have started issuing passports that contain biometric information on an RFID microchip. The information can be read at a short distance by a special scanner.
According to authorities, the new passports will reduce the risk of identity theft and minimize bureaucratic obstacles encountered when crossing the state border.
Critics of the new passports fear that intruders could use their own scanners to gain unauthorized access to the information stored on the microchip.
Britons have compiled a new consumer basket
The British basket of 650 goods used to calculate inflation has included the chicken Kiev. This is reported by the Scotsman newspaper.
Chicken Kiev has displaced muesli from the 2006 consumer basket. Champagne has taken the place of ordinary imported wine. In turn, CD players have disappeared from the list – their place has been taken by more modern mp3 players. Statisticians' calculations have shown that a home office desk affects inflation more than a dining table. Chocolate cookies were also excluded from the list. This is explained by the fact that their price can easily be calculated based on data on cookies and chocolate. Both of these products are in the consumer basket.
The consumer basket includes not only services and goods, but also the place where they are purchased. Therefore, for example, it includes beer from a nightclub and lunches from ready-meal stores.
Britain's consumer basket changes annually. The consumer price index in the UK rose in January 2006 by 1.9% compared with January 2005.
Argentines will be asked to fast for the motherland
Argentine President Néstor Kirchner has imposed a ban on the export of beef and called on the nation to abstain from eating it, writes The Washington Post. In this way he hopes to create a surplus of this meat on the market, which will contribute to lowering prices and reducing overall inflation.
Inflation is one of the main problems of Argentina's economy. Currently, price growth is 12% per year, but this indicator is very unstable; many in the country remember a time when a carton of milk could double in price in a day.
For Néstor Kirchner, this is not the first attempt to fight inflation through deliberate restraint of consumption of one product or another. Last year, hundreds of Argentines followed the president's call and boycotted Shell gas stations during the global gasoline crisis.
Nevertheless, in the case of beef, economic analysts both outside and inside the country predict failure for the president. The fact is that beef is one of the main foods in the Argentine diet; its per capita consumption (300 kg per year) is the highest in the world.
Based on reports from news agencies.