Mauritius: Dream destination for sunseekers, thrill -seekers and especially for divers. Both Maritim hotels on the island are exceptionally well-suited for beach vacationers and watersports fans.

For those searching for more from an idyllic holiday in paradise, the twin Maritim hotels on the island of Mauritius is a dream destination for sunseekers, thrill -seekers and especially for divers.

The archipelago in the Indian Ocean is almost entirely surrounded by a natural reef, making it one of the world’s most beautiful year-round diving areas. The diving centres at the two Maritim hotels, the 5-star Maritim Resort & Spa Mauritius and the 4-star Maritim Crystals Beach Hotel Mauritus, which are situated on the isle’s most idyllic beaches, giving guests ready access to the incredible realm under the sea.

Both Maritim Diving Centre bases are located right on the hotel beach, staffed by highly experienced PADI instructors, along with dedicated camera crews on hand to ensure guests unique memories are recorded.

‘We share our passion for the sea and have a wealth of experience with complete novices, as well as advanced and professional divers’ explains Vikash Purmah, describing the hotel’s numerous training programmes. A certified recreational scuba diver expert who has been diving with Maritim’s guests for over ten years, Vikash overseas all aspects of the dive.

When not exploring aquatic kingdoms, guest can experience a gastronomic experience like no other at the five-star Maritim Resort & Spa Mauritius. For lovers of Asian cuisine, there is a weekly duck festival at ‘Le Banyan Asian Fusion restaurant’, while diners at ‘La Marée Beach Restaurant’ can sample the day’s catch with a personalised selection, cooked bespoke, at the ‘Fish Market’. Those wanting to discover authentic Indian Ocean specialities, the multi-awarded Château Mon Désir, located on the hotel grounds, is widely regarded as the premier restaurant on the island.

Helping guests to indulge in some well-deserved rest and relaxation, the renowned Maritim Tropical Flower Spa, which recently scooped the ‘World Luxury Spa Award’, is an oasis dedicated to wellbeing set in the middle of 3500sqm of lush tropical gardens. In addition to the 13 treatment rooms, wellness pavilion, a hairdressing suite and multiple relaxation areas behind a romantic waterfall, the spa also boasts dedicated spaces to water treatments, including a relaxation pool, two wet rooms, three saunas and a steam room.

The wide range of exclusive pampering treatments offered at the spa include such Ayurveda, hot stone and Balinese massages with essential oils created from tropical flowers, plants and natural oils which are grown onsite. Unique to the Maritim Tropical Flower Spa is reflexology and hydrotherapy treatment the ‘Kneipp Walk’. Using rounded stones submerged in the water, which gradually decrease in size, guests walk barefoot as the stones stimulate foot pressure points, boosting circulation and wellbeing.

Sport lovers can enjoy the 9-hole (PAR 29) golf course on the hotel’s grounds. Designed by the acclaimed Australian professional golfer Graham Marsh, the Maritim Golf Course a variety in length elevation and angle for wide range of shots and is ideal for all skill levels, from expert to beginner. Professional coaching is also available for those seeking help with their swing, putting and pitching.

Unique to the island is the ‘Maritim Equestrian Centre’, located near the ‘Historical Ruins of Balaclava’. The state of the art facility boasts numerous paddocks and is home to ten former Championship race horses.Guests can enjoy horse rides on the beach or through the natural wonders of the Maritim Estate, labelled the “Most Beautiful Garden of Mauritius”. Expert trainers offer private and group lessons with rides along the beach, through the countryside or even a ‘swim with the horses’.

For more information on these hotels, please visit www.maritim.com.

• Exclusive concerts with an intimate atmosphere
• EUROPA 2 cruise from Hamburg to Dublin

When Hapag-Lloyd Cruises’ EUROPA 2 sails from Hamburg to Dublin in September, guests will enjoy exclusive concerts performed by Heather Nova, the internationally-acclaimed singer and songwriter. As part of the UNPLUGGED music format, she will thrill audiences with her unique musical style in captivating stage shows on board the luxury ship.

Heather Nova made her international breakthrough in the 1990s with her studio album Oyster. Songs such as “Walk This World” led her to her first world tour. Heather’s second album Siren was also a great success and established her on the international music scene. With singles, which have charted around the world, she has also been invited to appear at the biggest festivals in Europe and the USA.

Her music creates a unique connection between different instruments with a very personal style that does not fit into any one genre. Heather combines the sound of a classic rock band with gentle cello melodies overlaid with the siren call of her crystal-clear voice. Her captivating live performances in particular have gained her a large fan base.

The live concerts held on the EUROPA 2 are part of the UNPLUGGED themed cruise format. Unlike concerts in big halls, or stadiums, outstanding musicians appear in the theatre on board the luxury ship, lending their performances to create a personal, almost intimate atmosphere. Another cruise of the UNPLUGGED format will take place in November/December 2018:

UNPLUGGED cruise: From Colombo to Singapore, 29.11.2018 – 09.12.2018 (10 days), from € 5.690 ($ 6,550, £ 4,840) per person. More information online at:
www.hl-cruises.com/cruisefinder/EUX1830

MCE South Europe 2018, Greeces Co-Capital Thessaloniki has the honor!

For its 4th edition, the annual MICE B2B forum MCE South Europe will take place in Thessaloniki, Greece, from the 21st till 23rd October 2018. This high-end workshop will once more be the start of new business cooperation for up to 200 event industry professionals from the MICE & Tourism industry.

Europe Congress dedicates itself to create synergy among its participants, hence its complex screening activities. The convention bureaus and tourism boards as the MICE suppliers as hotels, DMCs and congress centres come majorly from South Europe/As MICE suppliers convention bureaus, tourism boards, hotels, DMCs and congress centres come majorly from South Europe. Their selected counterparts, the international event planners, are brought to the event destination based on their upcoming business needs in exactly that area. The suppliers get an impressive 35 pre-scheduled and match-made meetings with event planners, all with upcoming leads towards their specific destination.

Greeces popularity is on the rise again and within the meetings and incentives sector, this has been very well seen. Thessaloniki is within Greece basically an undiscovered pearl, that does deserve to be the shining highlight within the entire forum is among the most popular destination for MICE events.

Thessaloniki is the birthplace of very well-known historical people, delicious cuisine, cultural highly developed and offering great lifestyle, yet the views on Mount Olympus, also known as ‘the house of gods’ is what makes the destination absolutely unique.

This year’s edition of MCE South Europe will be held in the amazing seafront located hotel Makedonia Palace. “The historical hotel of Thessaloniki, Makedonia Palace, was chosen by Europe Congress to host the highly successful annual Β2Β forum between suppliers and buyers of congress, tourism and MICE in the area of South Europe. MCE South Europe is coming for the first time to Thessaloniki, as a result of combined effort among all the stakeholders of the city. Makedonia Palace Hotel has played a significant role in the excellent effort that was undertaken to have the MCE South Europe 2018 organized in the city of Thessaloniki and we are absolutely thrilled the B2B appointments and accommodation will be hosted in Makedonia Palace. The organization of the congress in the second largest city of Greece is an ideal opportunity for the promotion of the city as a MICE destination, which is yet to be discovered. We are delighted to showcase the vibrant city of Thessaloniki along with the most iconic hotel in the Northern Greece.” said Eva Saringala the Director of Sales of the hotel.

The unique MICE B2B show will offer the deal flow one-to-one meetings and will be completed with numerous networking and social gatherings in exclusive local venues. The Thessaloniki Convention Bureau will assure the evening program to be a memorable experience for all participants, creating more reasons why to choose Thessaloniki as a destination for anyone’s upcoming MICE events.

For more information and participation possibilities, please contact Europe Congress on:

Email:info@europecongress.com

or Telephone: +420 226 804 080

London, UK – Air Astana, the flag carrier of Kazakhstan, has been recognised for 4 Star service excellence, retaining the accolade of “Best Airline in Central Asia and India” in the Skytrax World Airline Awards for the seventh consecutive year. The prestigious awards ceremony took place at the Langham Hotel in Central London today.

The Skytrax World Airline Awards are recognised throughout the world as a valued benchmarking tool that is independent, impartial and global. The survey measures passenger satisfaction among business and leisure travellers, across all cabins (First Class, Business Class, Premium Economy Class and Economy class).

Over 19 million air travellers were surveyed about their experiences with airlines on the ground and in the air over a 10-month period. The survey measured passenger satisfaction across a wide range of performance indicators of airline front-line product and service, including check-in, boarding, on-board seat comfort, cabin cleanliness, food, beverages, in-flight entertainment and staff service. The survey covered over 200 airlines, from the largest international airlines to smaller domestic carriers.

“We are of course delighted and honored to be recognised once again. This award is particularly important and valued as it has been won based on the personal choice of our customers. I would like to offer them my sincerest thanks and look forward to welcoming them on board again soon. I would also like to recognise our team of dedicated employees who go the extra mile each and every day to provide consistently outstanding service to all our passengers. We will continue to work hard and strive for even higher standards.” said Peter Foster, President and CEO of Air Astana.

Image taken from Pixabay

Berlin, Aug. 13 (CNA) A German student whose paper on human rights lawyers in China got him into trouble with the Chinese authorities told German newspaper Die Welt he does not regret what he did and would consider becoming an exchange student in Taiwan.

David Missal, 24, a journalism student at Tsinghua University in Beijing, was forced to leave China by Aug. 12 after his student visa was revoked apparently because of a paper he wrote on human rights lawyers in China.

As to why his master’s program report ran afoul of the Chinese authorities, Missal said he also shot a nine-minute documentary on dissident Qin Yongmin (秦永敏) who is in jail in Wuhan, central China.

Missal said he visited Qin with Lin Qilei (藺其磊), a human rights lawyer he got to know through Li Wenzu (李文足), wife of lawyer Wang Quanzhang (王全幛) who is also currently being detained.

Because his paper focused on the plight of lawyers in China, Missal said he had touched on a “taboo” topic — which he said is why his student visa was revoked. He was originally set to stay in Beijing for at least one more year.

He told Die Welt on Aug. 12, before heading back to Germany, that as a journalism student, it is his duty to try to “cross boundaries.” “I do not regret what I did,” he added.

Missal did say he felt sorry he may no longer be allowed to visit China, where he got to know a lot of brave people like the lawyers he met.

Following a German tradition of being a volunteer while at high school, Missal stayed in Nanjing for a year teaching German, an experience that inspired him to learn Chinese.

He now plans to finish his master’s program at Germany’s Freie Universitaet Berlin, while also considering becoming an exchange student in Taiwan.

(By Lin Yu-li and S.C. Chang)
Enditem/AW

Los Angeles, Aug. 13 (CNA) Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) praised former U.S. President Ronald Reagan for standing up for the values of democracy and freedom and voiced her appreciation for his support of Taiwan during a visit to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Monday.

Tsai evoked Reagan in telling gathered Taiwanese media, “Anything can be negotiated except that our freedom and our future cannot be compromised.”

“I believe this is also how we Taiwanese feel now,” Tsai said, referring to current relations between Taiwan and China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.

The quote apparently goes back to something Reagan said after failing to agree with then Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev on arms reduction in Iceland in 1986: “I went to Reykjavik determined that everything was negotiable except two things: our freedom and our future.”

The library, situated in Simi Valley, California, some 64 kilometers northwest of downtown Los Angeles, is also the final resting place of Ronald Reagan, who served as president of the United States from 1981 to 1989, and his wife Nancy Reagan.

In January 1979, diplomatic relations between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the U.S. were severed as Washington established diplomatic links with Beijing.

Although Reagan had never made good on his election promise to resume the ties during his eight-year tenure, he was friendly toward Taiwan.

In 1982, he approved the Six Assurances toward Taiwan, which include U.S. pledges on arms sales and assurances not to pressure Taiwan into negotiating with Beijing or to formally recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan.

Tsai said the Six Assurances have been an important foundation of the U.S.’s Taiwan policy.

“For Taiwan-U.S. relations to be able to develop in a stable and solid manner over the past several decades, Reagan’s contributions during his tenure cannot be forgotten,” she said.

Tsai is the third president of Taiwan to have visited the library during an overseas trip, following Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in 2014 and Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) in 2001.

It was the first time, however, that Taiwan-based reporters traveling with a Taiwanese president were allowed to file stories from U.S. soil.

Before departing Los Angeles for Paraguay, Tsai thanked the U.S. for the arrangements it made for her U.S. stopover.

Tsai arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday for a transit stop en route to Paraguay and Belize, two of Taiwan’s 18 diplomatic allies.

(By Sophia Yeh, Tsao Yu-fan and Elizabeth Hsu)
Enditem/ls

Image taken from Pixabay

London, Aug. 13 (CNA) Taipei has moved up two places in the rankings of the world’s most livable cities to 58th place, according to the 2018 Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU) Global Livability Ranking. Taipei edged past the South Korean capital Seoul, which dropped one spot to 59th from last year, according to the report released Monday.

For the first time, the Austrian capital Vienna topped the list of 140 cities surveyed by the EIU, dislodging Australia’s Melbourne, which had held first place for a record seven consecutive years.

Although both Melbourne and Vienna have registered improvements in livability over the last six months, increases in Vienna’s ratings, particularly in the stability category, have been enough for the city to overtake Melbourne, the report said.

Vienna’s top ranking also reflected improvements in stability and safety in Europe, which has had to step up security due to a higher perceived threat of terrorism, according to the report.

Vienna, with a score of 99.1, and Melbourne (98.4) were followed by Osaka in Japan (97.7); the Canadian city of Calgary (97.5); Sydney, Australia (97.4); and Vancouver, Canada (97.3).

Rounding out the top 10 were the Canadian city of Toronto and Japan’s capital Tokyo, both with a score of 97.2, Copenhagen in Denmark (96.8), and Adelaide in Australia (96.6).

In Asia, after Osaka and Tokyo, the third most livable city was Hong Kong, which rose 10 spots in the rankings to 35th overall, followed by Singapore at 37th in the world rankings.

China’s best ranked cites were Suzhou (74th worldwide), Beijing (75th), Tianjin (77th), and Shanghai (81st).

The survey assesses living conditions in 140 cities worldwide, scoring them on the basis of some 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories, namely stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure.

It gives an overall score of 0-100, where 1 is “intolerable” and 100 is “ideal.”

At the bottom of the list this year was Syria’s war-torn capital Damascus, with an overall score of 30.7.

(By Tai Ya-chen and Lee Hsin-Yin)
Enditem/pc

Wizz Air, la plus grande compagnie aérienne low-cost de l’Europe de l’Est et Centrale, vient d’annoncer 11 nouvelles routes. Une d’entre elles sera la liaison entre Brussels South Charleroi et Craiova dans le sud de la Roumanie. Cette route sera desservie deux fois par semaine (le mardi et le samedi) à partir du 15 décembre 2018. Wizz Air offre la possibilité de réserver un billet d’avion sur wizzair.com à partir de EUR 14,99*. Craiova est la sixième destination roumaine que Wizz Air relie avec Charleroi.

La compagnie aérienne low-cost annonce aujourd’hui également l’ouverture de 10 autres routes : Budapest-Doncaster Sheffield, Tirana-Dortmund, Vilnius-Lviv, Pristina-Mulhouse, Pristina-Dortmund, Pristina-Memmingen, Varsovie-Vienne, Gdansk-Kharkiv, Wroclaw-Kharkiv et Lviv-Bratislava. Incluant les routes annoncées aujourd’hui, WIZZ ajoutera cette année civile plus de 125 routes supplémentaires et 700 vols hebdomadaires extra à son réseau.

La compagnie aérienne low-cost annonçait antérieurement trois nouvelles destinations depuis Charleroi, notamment Sibiu, Iasi et Chisinau. Ce qui rend le total de routes WIZZ depuis Charleroi à 12.

Lors des sept premiers mois de 2018 Wizz Air transportait 470.000 passagers à destination et en provenance de la Belgique. Ce chiffre représente plus de 8% de croissance comparé avec la même période l’année dernière. Les activités de Wizz Air ont créé plus de 580 emplois locaux** dans le secteur de l’aviation, de transport, de l’hôtellerie et la restauration et de tourisme.

NOUVELLE ROUTE DE WIZZ AIR: BRUXELLES CHARLEROI – CRAIOVA

András Radó, Corporate Communications Manager de Wizz Air, déclara: « Nous sommes ravis d’ajouter Craiova comme nouvelle destination depuis Charleroi. WIZZ ne cesse de créer de nouvelles routes et notre réseau se développe de plus en plus. Nous offrons à nos clients des voyages à des tarifs très abordables. Parallèlement nous stimulons vigoureusement l’économie locale des régions desservies, car les plus de 125 nouvelles routes ajoutées à son réseau soutiennent le tourisme et renforcent les liens économiques entre les différentes régions. »

* Simple trajet, redevances aéroportuaires et suppléments non-optionnels.
** ACI affirme la création de 750 emplois pour un million de passagers transportés par an.

A PROPOS DE WIZZ AIR
Wizz Air, la plus grande compagnie aérienne à bas prix d’Europe centrale et orientale, offre plus que 600 routes depuis 25 bases aériennes. Elle relie 141 destinations dans 44 pays. La flotte compte 104 Airbus du type A320 et A321. Wizz Air embauche plus de 4000 professionnels offrant un service supérieur. Durant les 12 derniers mois, Wizz Air a transporté plus de 31 millions passagers.

WIZZ offre actuellement des vols vers 12 destinations depuis Brussels South Charleroi Airport, à savoir : Bucarest, Budapest, Chisinau, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Iasi, Ljubljana, Sibiu, Skopje, Sofia, Timisoara et Varsovie.

Wizz Air est une société cotée à la Bourse de Londres sous le symbole WIZZ et fait partie des index FTSE 250 et FTSE All-Share. Wizz Air a remporté avec succès le IATA’s (International Air Transport Association) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), un standard international en matière de sécurité aérienne. Wizz Air a été nommée «European airline of 2017» par Aviation 100, une publication phare qui récompense chaque année les meilleurs acteurs de l’industrie aéronautique.

www.wizzair.com

Brussels Airport verwelkomt in mei volgend jaar de nieuwe luchtvaartmaatschappij Primera Air. De maatschappij start in mei 2019 met rechtstreekse vluchten naar New York (EWR), en in juni 2019 met vluchten naar Boston (BOS) en Washington DC (IAD). De vluchten worden uitgevoerd met de nieuwe, hoogtechnologische Boeing 737 Max 9. Twee toestellen van Primera Air zullen Brussels Airport als basis hebben.

“We zijn verheugd met de komst van Primera Air die directe vluchten van Brussels Airport naar Noord-Amerika zal opstarten. Met hun low-fare aanbod bevestigt haar komst nogmaals dat onze luchthaven het breedste aanbod aan luchtvaartmaatschappijen biedt voor alle type passagiers. Een nieuwe route voor onze luchthaven is die naar Boston, waar heel wat pharmaceutische en biotech bedrijven gevestigd zijn, en ook een sleutelsector in ons land. We kijken er ook naar uit om de toegangspoort te zijn tot Europa en België voor heel wat meer Amerikaanse bezoekers”, zegt Arnaud Feist, CEO van Brussels Airport Company.airport is Boston, home to many pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and also a key industry in our country. We also look forward to being the gateway to Europe and Belgium for an increasing number of American visitors.”

Thalys lanceert een nieuwe formule voor trips met twee personen

Augustus 2018 — Nu de zomervakantie over de helft zit, begint het stilaan tijd te worden om een volgende vakantie te plannen: een citytrip met vrienden in Düsseldorf, een romantische trip naar Parijs of een culturele ontdekking van Amsterdam met de tienerdochter of -zoon? Thalys lanceert haar nieuwe ‘Premium Mini’-formule, die een antwoord biedt op alle behoeften van reizen in het najaar.

Alle Premium-diensten aan verlaagde prijzen!
Met ‘Premium Mini’ opent Thalys de deuren van Premium voor alle vakantiegangers. Ze genieten van een korting (-30% ten opzichte van de normale instapprijs) en kunnen, met uitzondering van de flexibiliteit betreffende omruil- en terugbetalingsmogelijkheden, profiteren van alle Premium-diensten: een maaltijd geserveerd aan de zitplaats, een taxireservering, het comfort van een eerste klas zitplaats, internationale pers en gratis wifi.

“We hebben een dubbele doelstelling met ‘Premium Mini’: we willen zoveel mogelijk mensen het beste van Thalys laten ontdekken – ons Premium-aanbod – en tegelijkertijd blijven bouwen aan onze missie om de Europese mobiliteit verder te ontwikkelen. Door het meest correcte aanbod voor te stellen, waarin ieder iets vindt dat beantwoordt aan zijn of haar behoefte, zullen we meer reizigers toelaten om tussen onze bestemmingen te reizen”, verklaart Agnès Ogier, CEO van Thalys.

Voor reizigers die al geboekt hebben voor september: er zullen elke maand 2000 zitplaatsen worden aangeboden, zodat die reisverlangens het hele jaar door kunnen worden ingelost.

Technische details

Start verkoop: 7 augustus 2018 voor reizen vanaf dinsdag 4 september
Bestemming: alle bestemmingen (uitgezonderd binnenlandse of seizoensbestemmingen)
Prijs: vanaf €40/persoon (enkele reis België-Duitsland), in Premium; vaste prijs, afhankelijk van de beschikbaarheden
Distributie: beschikbaar via de verschillende Thalys-kanalen
Aantal personen: van 2 tot 6 personen
Reservatie : beschikbaar zodra de verkoop open is
Verkoopsvoorwaarden : tickets zonder omruil- of terugbetalingsmogelijkheid

Meer informatie : https://www.thalys.com/be/nl/aanbiedingen-en-tarieven/premium-mini

Primera Air announces the opening of 3 new departure points in Europe: London (Stansted, STN), Paris (Charles de Gaulle, CDG) and Birmingham (BHX) for starting flights to New York (EWR airport) and Boston Logan (BOS airport) in April 2018. Two more transatlantic routes from the new bases will be announced by the end of summer 2017.

Providing flights between emblematic destinations on each coast of the Atlantic has always been an important stake in air travel. While traditional carriers have covered these routes with wide-body aircraft for decades, a new generation of airlines wants to change this paradigm.

Building their groundbreaking strategies on the efficiency of new-generation aircraft, these airlines offer transatlantic flights at prices previously unseen. This innovative approach not only enables travelers to discover new destinations on the other shore of the Ocean but can also prove lucrative to seasoned leisure and business travelers.

A new competitor – Primera Air – is aiming to make a quick and firm move to become an indispensable name in the transatlantic flight market. This airline will not only operate transatlantic flights but link the main airports of major cities such as Paris, London, Birmingham, New York and Boston. Primera Air will commence daily flights to New York and 4 weekly flights to Boston from the three European cities with a fleet of brand-new Airbus321NEOs airliners as early as in spring 2018, while working on more routes for the near future.

According to President and Chairman of Primera Air Andri M. Ingolfsson, these direct flights will provide “a product and service concept merging low fares and high quality”. This new transatlantic player will focus on very competitive low fares while providing its passengers sought-after onboard services such as Wi-Fi access and the option to charge their devices.

The evolution of transatlantic air travel market in 2018 will be exciting to follow as Primera Air’s vision and concept will surely bring new inspiration to travelers on both sides of the Atlantic.