The new Paphos Airport Terminal on Cyprus is running down its final checks before opening to traffic in early November of 2008. The 18,500 square meter terminal includes lots of retail spaces and areas for passengers to relax while awaiting flights or arriving at Paphos International Airport (PFO).   Paphos is located on the southwest part of Cyprus and is quickly becoming a popular destination for...

Kristijan Curavic Kike, one of the world’s best free divers, has opened his latest dive center in the town of Zadar along the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. The Curavic Diving Academy in Zadar is the fifth such center the diver has opened and is the largest scuba diving center in Croatia. Curavic is also planning to open another center in Novi Vinodolski.   Curavic is working to make Croatians more aware...

Property prices down under are following the lead of many markets in the Northern Hemisphere. The most recent real estate values from New Zealand indicate that the global property and financial crises are hitting the island nation, as prices have fallen over the past year an average of 5.8 percent.   Mark Dow of QV Valuations, the group that gathers the figures, said in comments that prices probably...

After government leaders acknowledged recently in public remarks that the UK was heading for a recession, official figures confirmed that the economy is, indeed, shrinking. The data from the Office of National Statistics show that the gross domestic product contracted by 0.5 percent in the third quarter of 2008, which is the first fall since 1992.   The drop in GDP was larger than expected, and caused...

Bangalore has some of the nicest gated communities in India, and its high-tech industry is attracting wealthy residents from around the world. Rentals for exclusives homes in some of the most prestigious communities in and around the city are now over Rs 10 lakh per month. At current conversion rates, that’s well over US $20,000 and some £12,500!   Epsilon Villas is so exclusive that few even know it...

Puerto del Carmen – the main engine room of tourism and the epicentre of the Lanzarote property market – is about to undergo a major revamp.  As island authorities press ahead with a multi million euro project that is designed to “reinvent” tourism in the resort and maintain its competitiveness versus other holiday destinations around the world.    Puerto del Carmen has long been a hot spot for...

The 2008 World Architecture Festival recently concluded in Barcelona, and the first World Architecture Awards were announced. The top prize for World Building of the Year went to the new faculty building at the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan. This impressive facility was designed by Grafton Architects of Ireland, and judges noted that the design “succeeded in distilling the essence of the city into a...

The HMS Britannic, the sister ship of the Titanic, currently sits in approximately 120 meters of water about three nautical miles off the Greek mainland. The less celebrated of the two ships, but just as ill-fated, the Britannic could soon become a tourist attraction for divers and visitors to Greece.   The Britannic Foundation and the Hellenic Centre for Marine Research (HCMR) recently conducted a dive...

Egypt’s Information Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) noted a recent analysis that shows Egypt is in a very good position to take advantage of the global outsourcing boom. The country’s young population, sustainable and abundant talent pool, university graduates, tech-savvy population and geographical position will help to make it a leader as businesses continue to outsource many activities in the...

Passenger traffic for Middle Eastern airlines fell in September according to recently released information from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The IATA said that regional traffic fell 2.8 percent for the month, and it also noted that globally the passenger traffic fell 2.9 percent from a year ago.   This is the first time since the SARS crisis in 2003 that global passenger traffic...