Showing posts with label Eiffel tower. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Eiffel tower. Show all posts

Thursday, 2 June 2016

INDIA: Watch Gujarat Tourism’s Latest Ad

Interestingly just after the ninth season of Indian Premier League was over Gujarat Tourism released its latest ad on Youtube featuring renowned cricketers. The video stars Rajkot based IPL franchise- Gujarat Lions players.

Apart from the Lions skipper Suresh Raina, the ad has local all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, Praveen Kumar, Praveen Tambe, Dwayne Bravo and James Faulkner promoting Gujarat.

Both domestic, as well as foreign players, are seen dressed up in a traditional attire and naming some famous places in Gujarat. The overseas players are even seen playing Dandiya (the traditional folk dance of Gujarat) along with Indian players. Also Watch- Viral video of Vijay Mallya & son Sid cheering for RCB

This year’s IPL was the debut season for Gujarat Lions, who after the league stage finished on top spot with most wins. However, the Suresh Raina-led side lost Qualifier 1 against Royal Challengers Bangalore and then were undone by Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Eliminator.

We have seen ads featuring Amitabh Bachchan, promoting the tourism in Gujarat, in the past and now this one is latest in the list. However, this one isn’t as good as others!

Wednesday, 1 June 2016

FRANCE: Paris Tries To Lure Tourists Back

Paris launched a major drive to attract tourists to the city on Monday following an alarming drop in visitor numbers after the November 2015 Paris attacks, compounded by a wave of protests and transport strikes.

Under grey skies at the Eiffel Tower in central Paris, Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced an advertising campaign, jointly funded by City Hall and the state, to lure visitors back to the City of Light.

“The objective is to reassure both visitors and professionals [in the city] about the security situation in Paris and to project a positive and enthusiastic message that makes Paris a desirable destination again,” they said in a shared statement.

For residents living in the city, life in Paris has mostly returned to normal since the November 13 terrorist attacks. But the number of visitors to the city, vital to its economy, has plummeted, and the effort to entice tourists back has been hampered by a recent wave of sometimes violent social unrest against proposed changes to France’s employment law.

Figures provided by the city’s tourist board show that the number of Japanese tourists was down 56% in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the previous year while 35% fewer Russian visitors came to Paris. The number of Chinese tourists, which reached a record 1.2 million in 2015, fell by 13.9%.

Accordng to an MKG Hospitality report in January, the November Paris attacks cost hotels in the French capital €270 million in lost revenue.

Unions threaten more disruption

Much of the publicity the French capital has received in recent weeks has contributed to the malaise: street protests have been broken up by riot police and teargas, strikes have crippled the country’s public transport and caused flight delays, and union blockades of oil refineries have resulted in huge queues outside petrol stations.

"The scenes of guerrilla-type action in the middle of Paris, beamed around the world, reinforce the feeling of fear and misunderstanding," the tourist board said in a statement.

Paris is gearing up to host the Euro 2016 football championships beginning on June 10 – an event that should be a boon for the city and help offset the recent decline in tourism. But France’s powerful unions have threatened to disrupt transport for the millions of visitors expected in the city if the government does not back down on its labour reforms.

The unions and the government remain at loggerheads on the proposed reforms and there is little sign of either side coming to a compromise. More strikes and blockades are set to take place from the beginning of June.

It is bad news for a city where 500,000 people are employed by the tourism industry, a sector that accounts for 13% of the city’s income and 18.5% of its jobs.

‘Paris is safe’

Si Zyad Si Hocine, director of Paris’s upmarket Grand Hotel, said he was confident that a successful Euro 2016 would help restore the reputation of the French capital after the November attacks.

“The Euro 2016 will be the best opportunity to show the world that Paris is safe and that people here know how to enjoy life,” he told FRANCE 24.

“Since November people have been afraid to come to Paris,” Hocine said. He added that the news media’s focus on the “tiny minority” of violent protesters during the recent social unrest had unfairly tarnished the capital’s image.

“But Paris has not become unsafe,” he said. “Paris is safe, Paris is beautiful, and it must remain the destination of choice for lovers and for [those seeking] luxury.”

Monday, 16 November 2015

FRANCE: France Wants Cooperation In Intelligence Information

French police patrol at the place de la Republique in Paris, France, Sunday Nov. 15, 2015, two days after over 129 people were killed in a series of shooting and explosions. French troops deployed around Paris on Sunday and tourist sites stood shuttered in one of the most visited cities on Earth while investigators questioned the relatives of a suspected suicide bomber involved in the country's deadliest violence since World War II.

France is urging its European partners to move swiftly to boost intelligence sharing, fight arms trafficking and terror financing, and strengthen border security in the wake of the Paris attacks.

The top French official in charge of European affairs, Harlem Desir, said on Monday that “clearly, decisions must be taken.”

He underlined the need for “cooperation in matters of intelligence, (between) police and the judiciary, the fight against terrorism on European territory.”

Desir’s remarks came in Brussels ahead of talks with European Union foreign ministers.

He said that “France was attacked, but all of Europe was hit. We were hit together, and we will respond together.”

Britain’s government says it is doubling spending on aviation security and is recruiting some 1,900 security and intelligence agents as part of Britain’s response to the terror attacks in Paris.

Prime Minister David Cameron announced the actions during the G-20 summit being concluding Monday in Turkey.

Cameron, who, pledged a 15 percent increase in the 12,700-strong staff of the security and intelligence agencies and a doubling of the 9 million pounds ($13.7 million) annual outlay on aviation security. Funds will also be provided for aviation security experts to provide regular assessments of airports around the world.

The steps are part of an extensive review of spending and not a direct response to the Paris attacks.

The Paris prosecutor’s office says two more suicide bombers involved in deadly attacks in the French capital have been identified.

Prosecutors said Monday that one suicide bomber who blew himself up in the Bataclan music hall Friday night was Samy Amimour, a 28-year-old Frenchman charged in a terrorism investigation in 2012. He had been placed under judicial supervision but dropped off the radar and was the subject of an international arrest warrant.

Prosecutors say three people in Amimour’s family entourage have been in custody since early Monday.

A suicide bomber who blew himself up outside the national soccer stadium was found with a Syrian passport with the name Ahmad Al Mohammad, a 25-year-old born in Idlib. The prosecutor’s office says fingerprints from the attacker match those of someone who passed through Greece in October.

Belgium’s foreign minister is urging European countries to exchange information more quickly and efficiently to better tackle extremists like the Islamic State group.

Didier Reynders said on Monday that “we need to exchange more and more intelligence.”

He said at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers that sharing intelligence “is the only one way to find the people with such a level of radicalization” as those who carried out the Paris attacks.

He also says Belgian authorities need “to organize more and more actions” in the Molenbeek neighborhood of Brussels, which has been a focal point for religious extremism and fighters going to Syria.

One of two French men believed to have carried out the attacks lived there.

European stock markets have opened lower but the retreat is less than many analysts were predicting in the wake of the attacks in Paris.

Though there are concerns over the impact on the French economy, especially what happens to consumer sentiment, the markets have largely held up early Monday.

The Stoxx 50 index of leading European shares was down 0.2 percent, while the CAC-40 index in Paris was only 0.4 percent lower.

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spreadex, said there is “no sign of the panicked trading that could have been justifiably expected.”

Unsurprisingly, stocks within the travel and tourism sector, such as Germany’s TUI and Britain’s Thomas Cook, underperformed.

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls says no world leader has asked for the upcoming climate conference in Paris to be delayed, but some side events might be canceled.

Valls, speaking on French radio RTL Monday morning, says the climate summit is “crucial to the planet’s future”. At least 117 heads of state and government have accepted tinvitations to come on the first day of the Nov. 30-Dec. 11 conference.

Valls says “a series of events that were scheduled might not take place,” referring to a live music show near the Eiffel tower and a march for climate scheduled on Nov. 29 in Paris’ streets.

France’s prime minister says there have been “over 150 police raids” overnight in France.

Manuel Valls spoke on French radio RTL Monday morning, reaffirming President Francois Hollande’s declaration that “we are at war” against terrorism following Friday’s attacks in Paris.

Valls also warned that more attacks could hit “in the coming days, in the coming weeks.”

Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley has announced he is refusing Syrian refugees relocating to his state.

In a news release Sunday Bentley said, “After full consideration of this weekend’s attacks of terror on innocent citizens in Paris, I will oppose any attempt to relocate Syrian refugees to Alabama through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. As your governor, I will not stand complicit to a policy that places the citizens of Alabama in harm’s way.”

According to the release, Alabama Law Enforcement Agency is working with federal agencies to monitor any possible threats. To date there has been no credible intelligence of terror threats in Alabama.

French foreign minister Laurent Fabius says France had the “legitimacy” to take action against Islamic State after Friday’s terror attacks in Paris.

Fabius said Sunday on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Turkey that the decision to conduct airstrikes in Raqqa against Islamic State targets was a “political” one and that France had to be “present and active” following Friday’s attacks that killed 129 people.