This project, called NYCGo , is made of a partnership with Travelocity, which is the booking search engine. It aims to create exclusive offers for NYCGo.com. The one with Time Out New York will able to get next events RSS flowing.

This new tourism office, located on the 7th Avenue, will prevent from getting lost in New York.

Actually, inside, there are big touch sensitive tables connected to Google Maps and Google Earth. You can go sightseeing in New York by touching screens.
With the function “You are here” It is even possible to plan an itinerary in saving interest points, to print it, to send it via email or to save it in your mobile phone.
You, also, can project the image of where you have decided to go on the walls, in order to get an idea of what you are going to visit, still sitting on a chair.

For those who have got a Smartphone, you can get all touristic events by SMS, with a link to Google Map Mobile application, in order to get there easily and quickly.

Don’t forget to go on the website called Dealomatic. It gathers all special offers and discounts for New-York city events and attractions.

In crisis time a touristic strategy is welcome. It will, maybe, attract more people. Here is a video introducing THE tourism office of the future.

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From this selection, made by the North American newspaper, classical places are, obviously highlighted, such as Las Vegas, Berlin, Rome, but also others interesting destinations to discover such as Kazakhstan, Beirut,The Philippines or Bhutan.
Oddly, Cuba is in this list where as Americans are not allowed to go to this island: none planes take off from the US to Cuba. Actually, if they wish to see Havana and Cuban beaches, they must catch a plane from another country (Canada, Mexico…) and ask to not get a stamp on their passport.
Destinations are also classified by categories: luxury, family, ecology, culture, etc.

And you, where would you go this year?

@Direction l’espace avec Voyageurs du Monde © Virgin Galactic

Everyone has dreamt about it at least once in his life.

In 2010, the agency Voyageur du monde will take you there, on board of the Spaceship2. You will be driven, first by the Whitenight till the altitude of 5249 feet, then, SpaceShip’s jet engine will take over and propel yourself to a speed of 217.480 miles per hour. Your body will have to bear more than 3 Mach (about three times the sound speed). Once out of the Earth’s atmosphere (limit between Space and Earth), the five novices will be able to unfasten their seatbelt and go for a walk, in order to look up to this amazing landscape. This trip takes about two hours.
Don’t be worried about landing. The SpaceShip was made to glide once its engines are off. This spaceship will go back to its starting point, New Mexico, and land with delicacy.

Le SpaceShipTwo et le WhiteKhight de Virgin Galactic Photo © Virgin Galactic

According to the company, one trip per week will be possible. It is the first that an empowered company is doing this kind of travel.
This destination was, till now, only for special customers. Will it become THE destination of the future????

La vue promise par Virgin Galactic Photo © Virgin Galactic

What about the price???

Stop dreaming. Going to stars has an amount. It will cost you 136000 pounds in exchange of 2 unforgettable hours.
We all agree that this king of tourism is still for wealthy people, but if we have a look deeply, the Russian program costs 20 millions of dollars and a 6 months training is required. This French agency offers a three days training and 136 000 pounds! It is a king of better price.
This price will get down in some years with a view of satisfy more inquiring mind.

You can already book tour ticket on http://www.virgingalactic.com/ .You will get in touch with someone from the agency that will help you.

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The Printed Blog is a free news paper which was born in Chicago and in San Fransisco. Its biggest particularity is not its publication itself, but more the fact that it contains, on paper, contents generated on internet.
Even if we have already seen something similar before, it is the first time a newspaper, made entirely of blogs, is published.
It will be financed by local commercials and profits will be shared into bloggers. The Printed Blog has 300 bloggers as information source, and will be given out weekly and for free.
Even if, for now, it will be published only in these two cities, this newspaper yearns for being published daily and projects to launch an edition with specific contents about the most relevant cities in United States.
Interaction between lectors
On the website of this newspaper, which will be in use online theprintedblog.com, lectors will be also able to recommend blogs in order to incorporate them in syndication. Of course, the newspaper itself has a blog.

What do you think about it? You could also have a look at more pictures on de Paul The Wine Guy Flickr website.

Last August, in the highest holiday season, the low cost airline, Ryanair, brought suit Atràpalo and other web sites, in order to stop the sale of its flight tickets through online agencies.
Atràpalo’s web site enables, thanks to its search engine, access to offers from 70 airlines, which gives the possibility to compare prices and to combine options. Manuel Roca, executive director of Atràpalo explains his position in a press release, to media and to consumers:
“Our objective is to provide, the most offers as well as technology required to reach it in order to be able to compare prices. Our use is totally transparent and indisputably in favor of our consumers; we believe Ryanair is looking for establishing a distrust atmosphere towards online agencies to try selling its flight tickets through its own web page, avoiding price comparability.
Ryanair had threatened to not accept passengers who bought their ticket through an agency online, which created a big mess between users.
Two things follow from those actions: On one side, Ryanair’s dishonesty and wrong concurrence practices which created stress in clients’ mind, with the only objective to be harmful to our image and to our company, without doubting, that our consumers are also their clients. Moreover, instead of looking for new ideas to attack buyers, they preferred conflict and scandal.
Though, Atràpalo gave to its consumers, a message to reassure them: “It would be grave that the company cancels tickets already issued. The European Commission demonstrated this hypothesis is deplorable.”
Even if in reality the Irish company had never done it, this caused interventions of organizations such as the European Commission, which obligated Ryanair to respect reservations already done by internet users, giving notice of the illegality of the hypothetic threat execution.
The judge rejects Ryanair’s request against Atràpalo
On the 23th of January 2009, the court of Barcelona has rejected Ryanair’s request again Atràpalo about selling its flight tickets through our web site.
The court had recognized the right for Atràpalo to be an intermediary in ticket sale, and no prejudice is made to the airline.
The court had recognized Atràpalo as a travel agency legally accredited, and, from this fact, has the capacity to develop this activity.
The judgment emphasizes also that Atràpalo “does not need Ryanair’s approval to carry out its activity” and it is able to keep in conducting its clients to Ryanair’s home page to end their order (such as booking for suitcases, or insurance…), in total legality.
The judge recognized also that internet is a huge network which put in touch a lot of people, allowing communication and information exchanges and with the conclusion that, if the airline resorts to this channel to publicize its flights and its prices, there can be any limit, for users, to know these services.
For Ignacio Giral, travel executive director, “the biggest beneficiary from the judgment, is the consumer, whom the right to access to information is not limited, with the aim to compare and to chose companies and prices matching the most their needs”.
Atràpalo will be able to get on with selling Ryanair’s and other companies’ tickets in total legality .