Come On Vacation In Greece!

"Come on vacation in Greece!" could be the conclusion of the declaration made by the Greek Culture and Tourism Minister, Mr. Pavlos Geroulanos. He declared textually: "We are guaranteeing to pay any extra room and board any visitor in Greece pays even if stuck here because of a volcano in Iceland", trying to eliminate the last fears of foreign tourist to spend holidays in Greece. All problems of Greek tourist industry began about 2 months ago, when more and more rumors sustained that the southern Balkan country is going to get smashed up. Finally, the reality shown that this announcements were true and Greece avoided bankruptcy only because of the €110 billion (roughly $136 billion) bailout package offered by International Monetary Fund along with the European Union into an international effort to stop the launch of a new monetary crises.

Greece remained a solvent country, at least theoretically, yet the government was forced by the financial condition of the country to take a series of unpopular measures like increasing of indirect takes (such as VAT with 2%), freeze of pensions and diminution of civil sector pay with 30%! Of course, all these unpopular actions led to civil demonstrations, street fights and a lot of strikes, culminating with blocking of public transport, local and international flights, rails and connections by ferry (which have a vital importance into a country with about 6,000 islands spread out on a huge territory of Aegean and Ionian sea). To the national problems added the international crisis of air transport produced by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland after a big quantity of ash threw by it darkened Europe's sky in the northern region.

The facts presented above led to a massive dropping of bookings (experts in tourist industry estimating a 10-15% diminution) to hotels in Greece, a very dangerous situation into a country which has 15 percent of gross domestic product resulted from tourism, especially based on money spent by foreign holiday makers. Immediately all accommodation estate owners lowered the room rates into an effort to lure more travelers to the Hellenic Republic, but it seems that this movement wasn't enough attractive to convince more people to go in summer vacation in the beautiful Greek beach resorts. This is the reason why the Tourism Minister, Mr. Pavlos Geroulanos started a serious advertising campaign and offered guarantees to foreign citizens. However, vacation packages to Greece were highly appreciated on the international travel scene (particularly provided by high end hotels in tourist spots like Athens, Crete, Santorini, Corfu, Rhodes and Mykonos) before the crisis, so there are good chances that holiday makers to return in this summer in big number to vacation on the awesome beaches of Aegean Sea!

Low Season Beach Vacation In Aruba

Beach vacations are always trendy and in the top of preferences, both of families and singles. The perspective of relaxation on awesome sandy beaches, exciting water sports, serene evenings spent in lush gardens laden with tropical flowers perfuming the air with exotic aromas, exploring new sites with plenty of tourist attractions, meeting foreign cultures and peoples is irresistible and the key decision factor that makes people traveling thousands and thousands of miles just to arrive into a remote resort where can forget on all worries produced by the every day life. Of course, everybody is looking for places where the weather is warm and allows spending a lot of time outdoors, so the most visited countries in order to enjoy holidays on beaches are located largely in the tropical and equatorial areas, but some regions with temperate climate like the Mediterranean basin are also great for vacationing on splendid stretches of coastline. However, the warm and humid tropical climate is preferred by many holiday makers and therefore one of the most visited regions is Caribbean.

The Caribbean Sea is located between North and South America, in the eastern side of Central America. There are plenty of islands with countless luxury resorts offering excellent vacation packages from which some of the best known tourist spots are Jamaica, Bahamas and Cuba. Still, going on holiday in this places has a seasonal character due to the rainy season specific to the tropical region when hurricanes and heavy storms sweep out everything on their way. Few people know that in Caribbean is located a splendid island where can be spent beach vacations year-round - island of Aruba. It is located in the southern part of the Caribbean Sea, close to the shores of Venezuela, in South America. Because of this location, Aruba is located outside of the hurricane belt, there's no rainy season and the chance of encountering a serious tropical storm is only of 2%! It seems to be the perfect place for Caribbean vacations, isn't?

In Aruba the high season is January-March, while the low season is between mid-April and end of August. In this period of time everything is less crowded and the room rates provided by most hotels and even luxury resorts drop down significantly so that vacation packages booked then are much cheaper and allow fantastic savings - with just a few hundred dollars can be spent a week of holiday into an all inclusive luxury resort and the deal comprises also the round trip airfare! The beaches covered by white-sand are equally stunning, the heat is tempered by the constant breezes coming from the sea, the rains stay away and visit the island only in September and as result savvy travelers planning beach holidays in Aruba exactly in the low season!

Plus there is more! Along with the great time spent on beaches (Palm Beach, Eagle Beach, Manchebo Beach, Fisherman's Huts Beach aka Hadikurari, Arashi Beach or Baby Beach are very popular on the international travel scene), Aruba has plenty of tourist attractions which keep vacationers busy and are offering them funny & exciting ways to fill up the time. First at all there is Oranjestad, the capital city, a picturesque town featuring buildings with pastel-colored Dutch colonial architecture and plenty of restaurants, shops, and museums. Some of the most visited landmarks in the city are the 18th-century Fort Zoutmam, Willem III Tower, Aruba Historical Museum, and the Numismatic Museum. However, the rest of the island offers also many great places for leisure and adventure! The central part of the island is covered by desert, being a perfect area for taking jeep tours and exploring the flora and fauna specific to arid lands. Other interesting points of interest include the Butterfly Farm, Old Dutch Windmill, Santa Ana Church, Santa Ana Church, Bushiribana Ruins, Ayo Rock Formations, De Palm Island with Blue Parrotfish Water Park, Arikok National Park, and many others.

Finally, holiday makers looking for a perfect place where are provided cost-effective all inclusive vacation packages to high end hotels, exciting activities and numerous sites to visit are advised to consider spending beach vacations in Aruba off-season - in this way have the chance to relish one of the hidden gems of Caribbean Sea at cheap prices!

Safari Tours During FIFA World Cup 2010 In South Africa

There are only a few days left until one billion people from all over the planet will follow the exciting football games of the 19^th FIFA World Cup from South Africa. The magnificent event (the first one of this kind hosted by the Dark Continent) is scheduled to take place between 11^th June and 11^th in 10 cities - Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Polokwane, Rustenburg, and Nelspruit. Formerly known as the last country in the world with a racist political system (the apartheid was abolished in 1990 after decades of fights led by Nelson Mandela), South Africa is today one of the most economically developed countries in Africa, with a democratic parliamentary regime and a very strong presence on the international travel scene due to the very rewarding safari tours provided by several wildlife reserves. All local people are very proud and excited about the shortly upcoming event, while the govern treated very seriously the planetary and invested in the country's infrastructure not less than $3.7 billion dollar - there have been renovated roads, airports, cities and five stadiums. In the same time where built other five new stadiums("Green Point Stadium" in Cape Town, "Durban Stadium" in Durban, "Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium" in Port Elisabeth, "Mbombela Stadium" in Nelspruit, and "Peter Mokaba Stadium" in Polokwane), so the country is really prepared to host the final tournament of the FIFA World Cup 2010 and welcome a few million of foreign tourists who are going to attend live the spectacular games!

Holiday makers who arrive this days already in large number in the country have the opportunity not only to follow live the matches, but also to get in touch with the local cultures and people, taste new dishes, and take tours to the awesome national parks and wildlife reserves hosted on the South African territory. There are 20 parks and plenty on wildlife reserves, the most popular park being Kruger National Park, settled in the northeastern part. Kruger is not just the oldest (established in 1898) and largest park (18,989 square kilometers or 7,332 square miles), but features also the richest variety of African species, including the Big Five - lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard and black rhinoceros. The very large number of the animals living in the area is explained by the fact that Kruger is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (together with Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe), a huge territory (35,000 square kilometers) of grassland where animals roaming free and follow old migratory routes. Anyone can picture out how impressive are the immense herds grazing on the African plains or a lion hunting a gazelle! Along with Kruger are many other popular parks to visit like Table Mountain National Park, Greater Addo Elephant National Park and many others.

Football fans interested in spending some memorable time between matches can opt for different safari packages in South Africa. Kruger National Park is the most visited park and as result to this travel destination are provided plenty of tours. In tourist agencies are available packages of different lengths such as "3-Day Classic Kruger Breakaway Tour from Johannesburg" or "4-Day Classic Impala Tour - Kruger National Park, Mpumlanga and Sabie", but there can be taken also day trips and visited smaller areas during a couple hours. Particularly vacationers who are going to attend the games in Nelspruit are very lucky because this city is located very close to Kruger, on the Crocodile River, offering countless opportunities to visit the famous park by taking organized tours or even by hiring a local guide and relishing a customized trip.

The first match (South Africa-Uruguay) is beginning shortly on 11^th June in Johannesburg and just the gods know which teams will play the final on 11^th July in the same city, however is sure that all foreign holiday makers have chance to enjoy some of the most beautiful days of their lives, both by supporting their favorite team along the passionate football games and visiting the wonderful safari parks or wildlife reserves lying in the southern part of Africa!