The 7th International Sand Sculpture Festival (FIESA) is set to take place in the town of Pera in Portugal’s Algarve region beginning on May 22. It is considered the largest festival of sand sculpture in the world by many aficionados and this year’s spectacle will run all summer and end on October 22.   The festival opens to the public on May 22, and some 60 international teams have been busy...

Hilton Hotels has decided to open a second property in the New Zealand resort town of Taupo as it will take over management of a 113 unit that is already located there. This is the second property for the hotel chain, which opened its first in Auckland’s PrincesWharf in 2001. The company’s move to open new properties in New Zealand is good news for the tourism industry, which has struggled so far in...

Two Chief Executives from major Dubai financial institutions have given opposing views on the timing of the end economic crisis. The mix messages come from Dubai based Mashreq Bank and the investment company Dubai International Capital.   Mashreq Chief Executive Abdul Aziz Al-Ghurair told reporters at the World Economic Forum in Jordan. "The head of Mashreq bank MASB.DU said on Saturday. "I feel we have...

The Florida Association of Realtors announced a surprise rise in sales for the first quarter of 2009. The green shoots of a recovery could well be in place with FAR figures indicating a 25% rise in sales of existing single-family homesA total of 31,412 existing homes sold state-wide in 1Q 2009; during the same period the year before, a total of 25,071 existing homes sold. It marks the ninth straight month...

Sales of property in the UK rose in April and some are predicting that prices could stabilize later in 2009. The latest monthly report from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) indicates that house prices fell by the slowest pace in 15 months during April.   The homebuilding industry is starting to look at building additional new homes after pulling back for a number of months. The inventory...

The property investment market in Asia fell in the first quarter of 2009 by 83 percent from the previous quarter, according to global real estate firm CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong suffered the largest falls in sales volume, according to the data. The industrial property sector also underwent the largest drop by segment, falling 95 percent from the first quarter of 2008. Office...

Most American homeowners believe their home’s value has declined over the past year, and research from Zillow.com backs up that belief. However, the news is actually worse than many homeowners think, according to the reports. While 60 percent of American homeowners think that their home has lost value, research shows that as many as 80 percent of homes declined in value.   Additionally, most homeowners...

Island Global Yachting and Nautical Center Prgin (NCP) have finalized a joint-venture agreement for a new and expanded marina in Sibenik, Croatia. The existing marina will be expanded from 350 slips to include 65 megayacht berths. The new and existing facilities will comprise the new Mandalina Marina and Yacht Club. The facility will be managed by Island Global Yachting, which is based in Florida, and will...

A group of 22 British tourists recently spent a holiday weekend in Kosovo, the first tourist group to enjoy the newly formed European nation. The travelers spent the long weekend of May 1-3 in Kosovo on a package deal from a British tour company. The Kosovo company Tourism Planning and Development has worked to develop packages that are designed for British travelers and offered the deal to the British...

Four Polish cities were recently approved by UEFA as being ready to host matches for the Euro 2012 Football Championship. The tournament, which is held every four years as the championship of Europe, is set to be held in both Poland and Ukraine. Due to the financial crisis that has hit the world, and Eastern Europe particularly hard, Ukraine is not as far along in its preparations as UEFA would like, and...