"Rwanda launches 'gorilla tax'"

According to iafrica.com, "Rwandan companies using the country's famous mountain gorillas' image for marketing purposes will have to pay a tax aimed at financing the endangered species protection, officials announced this week.
'We are launching this campaign to generate income earmarked for the species' protection,' said Fidele Ruzigandekwe, in charge of conservation at the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks." Read more>>

"Tourists not safe in incredible India"

As reported by Hemendra Singh Bartwal, of the Hindustan Times, "Rising Incidents of crimes against foreign tourists has pushed the Tourism Ministry to send a communication to all states asking them to speed up the process of creating a special tourist police force.
The urgency was highlighted by an incident in Mumbai earlier this week where a Latvian national was raped by a driver who offered her a lift.
The ministry had reminded the states to speed up the matter in June at the chief secretaries meet. Today, only 10 states have implemented the measure — the communication had first been sent last year — while the rest continue to drag their feet" Read more>>

"Airlines 'should be forced to increase leg room'"

As reported by Colin Brown, at The Independent, "Airlines should be forced by a change in the law to provide two inches more leg room on board passenger jets, a cross-party committee of peers said in a report on air travel.
The Lords committee on science and technology accused the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of ignoring its own research which recommended the regulatory minimum distance between seats should be increased to 28.2ins (71.6cm) or ideally to 29.4ins from a current minimum of 26ins.
The lack of leg room for seating in passenger jets has been linked to scares over deep vein thrombosis (DVT) which can cause fatal blood clots, particularly on long-haul flights. The research also showed more space between seats could allow passengers to evacuate planes more safely in an emergency." Read more>>

"New rules end confiscation of duty-free liquids bought at Singapore airport from transfer passengers"

As stated by the EU Press Room, "Today, the European Commission adopted a regulation allowing air passengers arriving from Singapore and transferring at an EU airport to take duty-free liquids on-board their connecting flights. When changing planes in the EU, these passengers will no longer be obliged to abandon liquids bought at Singapore airport and carried in their cabin baggage. This is the first application of a recent regulation that introduced the possibility of such exemptions for liquids bought in the airports of third countries."

This Press Release is available in full text.

5th Editur and the 1st Ibero-American Seminar of Tourism Law

Organized by IBCDTur - the Brazilian Institute of Tourism Sciences and Law, next week in Piracicaba SP, will take place the 5th Editur and the 1st Ibero-American Seminar of Tourism Law that will deal with the "Propedeutics and Tourism Law: epistemological foundations".

Sponsored by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism, this event counts with the participation of the Presidents of other two National associations of MERCOSUL, Diego Benítez of AADETUR - the Argentinian Association of Tourism Law and Julio Facal of AUDETUR - the Uruguayan Association of Tourism Law.

The Education, Training and Congresses Committee of IFTTA is in charge of one of the Sessions with Uta Stenzel, from the University of Rostock in Germany, representing the Chairman of the Committee Prof. Klaus Tonner, and member of the Board of Directors of IFTTA, Manuel Masseno, from the Polytechnic of Beja in Portugal, also from the Board of Directors, and Graciela Guidi, from the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

USA: DHS Begins Collecting 10 Fingerprints From International Visitors At Washington Dulles International Airport

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is now collecting additional fingerprints from international visitors arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport (Dulles). The change is part of the department's upgrade from two- to 10-fingerprint collection in order to enhance security and fingerprint matching accuracy.
Department of State (DOS) consular officers and DHS Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers collect biometrics—digital fingerprints and a photograph—from all non-U.S. citizens between the ages of 14 and 79, with some exceptions, when they apply for visas or arrive at U.S. ports of entry. The department's US-VISIT program checks this data against a joint Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)-DHS watch list of criminals, immigration violators and known or suspected terrorists. Watch list data comes from several sources, in particular the Department of Defense (DOD), FBI, DHS and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.

Source: DHS press release of December 10, 2007 ; more information here.

"EU initiative to strengthen consular protection for citizens outside the European Union"

According to the EU Press Room, "Every Union citizen travelling to or living in a third country where his or her Member State is not represented is entitled to protection by the diplomatic and consular authorities of any Member State on the same conditions as the nationals of that State. The Commission has presented an Action Plan to strengthen this right which is enshrined in Article 20 of the EC Treaty."

This Press Release is available in full text.

"Attorney General Brown petitions EPA to regulate aircraft emissions"

As reported by Jane Kay, at the San Francisco Chronicle, "Air travel contributes to global warming, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should curb carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted from airplanes, according to petitions expected to be filed today by California, four other states and three environmental groups.
California Attorney General Jerry Brown and the other petitioners want the EPA to start imposing tough limits on plane emissions within six months. The federal government now does not regulate greenhouse gas emissions from aircraft or any other vehicles, including cars and trucks." Read more>>

EU: new rules to clear up airline ticket prices

The European Union agreed Friday new measures to make airline ticket costs more transparent by obliging companies to included all taxes and charges in the headline price first shown to consumers.
The measures, agreed Friday by the EU's 27 member states in concert with the European Parliament, are based on the principle that the price the traveller sees should be the real cost of the ticket.
They are aimed at better informing potential passengers and allowing them to compare prices, as in future all the taxes, fees, surcharges and other fees will be figured in.

Source: afp.google.com. Read full article here.