Eliana Willis

Saint Lucia’s landscape is as diverse as her heritage. No two parts of the island are alike! Some parts of Saint Lucia are ideal for bustling nightlife and beachside parties, while others offer opportunities to get away from it all and explore dense jungles and quiet vistas.
NORTH SAINT LUCIA

North Saint Lucia is one of the most popular locations for visitors to stay. It has seemingly everything just a few minutes away. While this area is harder to get to from the airport, many visitors are likely to stay in this region during their visit.
Nature lovers will appreciate Pigeon Island National Park, which you can reach by car over a causeway. This park offers hiking opportunities, as well as places for kayaking, snorkeling, and swimming. Take some time to walk around the old fort ruins and imagine what it would be like back in the 1700s.ADVERTISEMENTNorth Saint Lucia is also home to the town of Rodney Bay, which has some of the top Saint Lucia beaches as well as popular nightlife spots. Plantation beach faces the Atlantic side, so you can take advantage of wind sports and surfing. Or you can visit Treasure Bay Casino Saint Lucia and try your luck with cards or roulette. North Saint Lucia has more diverse activities, and is ideal for groups of people traveling together or for families.
SOUTH SAINT LUCIA

The south side of Saint Lucia is closest to the airport, which means you can relax on beautiful beaches and check in to luxury resorts just minutes after your plane lands. The south part of Saint Lucia island is also one of the most historic. Explore ruins and hike around Vieux Fort, which still has rusty canons and old bricks scattered around.
The south side of Saint Lucia also has some quality beaches. Sandy Beach and Anse Des Sables Beach both offer clear water and white sand to relax on. These beaches are known for their length, so you can find a place far away from other visitors if you need to get away for awhile.
Visitors may enjoy taking day trips to other parts of the island if they stay on the south side, so they can explore other parts of the island instead of just the bottom tip.
WEST SAINT LUCIA

The west coast of Saint Lucia is home to Soufrière, the original French capital. While this town is quiet in the off-season, it is a popular tourist destination and a port for many cruise ships. During your visit to Soufrière, walk around the Old Town and pick up a few handcrafted souvenirs for your friends and family back home. You can also use Soufrière as a jumping off point for other excursions around the island.
Soufrière is tucked just under the Petit Piton (the smaller Piton). Its name actually comes from the smell of sulfur emissions from the now-dormant volcanic plug. You can leave the town and go hiking around the Piton and swim in some of the more impressive waterfalls.
The west side of Saint Lucia is also home to Anse Chastanet Beach, which is one of the top snorkeling beaches in the area. If you aren’t staying on the west side, consider making Soufrière, the Petit Piton, and Anse Chastanet Beach into a day trip for natural and cultural exploration.
CENTRAL SAINT LUCIA

The final part of Saint Lucia that visitors can explore is the central area. While this part might not have the Saint Lucia beaches that the other parts are known for, it offers a variety of unique opportunities that the other parts don’t.
The central part of the island is home to various forest reserves that protect the natural plant and animal life of Saint Lucia. Edmund Forest Reserve is one of the most popular out of all of these. Hike past streaming waterfalls and past rushing streams to reach some of the best views on the island. There are lookouts around the reserve where you can see the small towns and pristine beaches below. Along the way, you might spot some of the island’s more exotic birds and even a few small mammals.
While it is harder to find hotel lodging in the central area of Saint Lucia, you can stay in on one of the nearby beaches and visit the center throughout your visit.
Regardless of where you stay on Saint Lucia, whether you choose the bustling Rodney Bay or quieter Soufrière, you’re sure to find something you love. Great food, amazing snorkeling, and pristine beaches are right around the corner and beckoning you to stay longer.
To find out more on this amazing destination go to https://www.stlucia.org/en_UK/

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With some Disney magic and a very special pair of glasses, a bride’s dream of seeing the world in color became reality during her recent Disney Fairy Tale Wedding at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Bride-to-be Kristin Robinson of Harleysville, Pennsylvania heard about specialty glasses that allow the colorblind to see the world in color. Having been colorblind all her life, Robinson jumped at the chance to wear a pair of the glasses for the first time on her wedding day in The Most Magical Place on Earth. 
Robinson was elated when she saw the world and her groom, Nick, illuminated in color for the first time. 
“This is surreal,” said Kristin minutes after seeing color for the first time. “I’ve always dreamed of this; I finally get to see the colors.”

The color-reveal moment proved emotional for the entire Robinson family. The bride’s father and two brothers are also colorblind and joined her in wearing the special glasses for a heartfelt reveal where they not only saw the bride in color but were able to see the world in color for the first time, too. ADVERTISEMENTWhile color blindness affects people differently, Robinson’s deuteranopia is a common type of red-green color blindness. It prevents her from seeing colors like pink and purple and makes it difficult to see shades of red, green and brown. The team at Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons ensured that her wedding dazzled with color. Pink flower arrangements decorated the wedding pavilion. At Disney’s Wedding Pavilion, a picture-perfect view of Cinderella Castle against a vibrant blue sky provided a backdrop for the ceremony and the fairy-tale day concluded with a private reception and a glittering firework display. Robinson’s colorful wedding was nothing short of magical. 

About Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons
Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings & Honeymoons is a global brand making dreams come true for over 30 years, offering epic destinations for weddings, vow renewals, honeymoons, engagements and anniversaries. A global industry leader providing fashion, jewelry and products as well as inspiration through a dedicated television series on Disney+, this brand is based on unmatched wedding planning services and the desire to make wedding dreams a reality. For more information, please visit DisneyWeddings.com

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The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has today revealed positive signs of recovery for the Asian Travel & Tourism sector, with five major metropolises seeing a significant economic rebound. The report, researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, analysed key indicators such as Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP, employment and traveller spend in 82 cities from around the world.
There were five Asian cities amongst the top 25 whose Travel & Tourism sectors have the greatest impact on their local economies. 
According to the study, the highest performing Asian cities in 2022 were Bangkok, Beijing, Seoul, Singapore, and Tokyo.
Following continued border closures and strict travel restrictions, the report shows that in these major powerhouses, Travel & Tourism’s direct contribution to GDP is recovering, albe-it at a slow pace.
Whilst it’s a slightly different picture for international visitor spending, all cities are starting to show signs of economic recovery thanks to overseas travellers spending once again. ADVERTISEMENTMost of the cities’ sector job levels are also increasing once again, with the exception of To-kyo, whose sector job market is recovering at a slower rate.
GDP contribution of Travel & Tourism sector slowly recovering
The WTTC’s Cities Economic Impact Report shows that in 2019, the Travel & Tourism sector contributed $106.9BN to the capitals of these five countries combined.
But the pandemic has had a damaging and long-lasting effect on the region with only Bei-jing recovering close to 2019 levels.
Beijing reigns supreme as the largest city destination in Asia, showing the strongest signs of recovery. In 2022, the GDP contribution from the sector was just 4% below 2019, at $32.6BN, thanks to a strong recovery of domestic tourism.
Tokyo has the next largest Travel & Tourism economy in the region, worth $18BN in 2022, but this is still 30% lower than in 2019.
In Seoul, the GDP contribution last year was $8BN, 33% lower than in 2019. 
In Singapore, the GDP contribution last year was 45% lower than in 2019.
In 2022, the sector’s GDP contribution to Bangkok was $9.2BN, 54% lower than in 2019. 
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “Asia has long been a world-favourite destina-tion and after more than two years of disruption, it is great to see tourists and business travellers heading back. Tourism provides a massive boost to both the economy and job creation.
“Our Cities Economic Impact Report shows that we expect Beijing to overtake Paris to be-come the world’s largest city Travel & Tourism economy within the next decade.
“It is crucial that the national and local governments continue to recognise the importance of Travel & Tourism for the local and national economies, jobs, and businesses.”
Jobs on the rise
In 2019 there were more than 3 million people employed by the Travel & Tourism sector across these five capital cities in Asia.
Beijing and Bangkok each employed the largest number of people, with more than 1.3 mil-lion employed in Beijing and just over one million in Bangkok respectively.
But by 2022, following two years of painful job losses, the total employed by the sector re-covered to 2.5 million jobs.
All cities had fewer sector jobs in 2022 than in 2019 however Tokyo continues to witness worrying year-on-year job losses.

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Research by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has revealed that within the next decade, Beijing will overtake Paris to become the world’s largest Travel & Tourism city destination. The report, sponsored by Visa and researched in partnership with Oxford Economics, ana-lysed key indicators such as Travel & Tourism’s contribution to GDP, employment and trav-eller spend.
But while long term the outlook for a number of Chinese cities looks positive, prolonged travel restrictions and border closures slowed down the recovery in the short term.
WTTC studied the impact of the Travel & Tourism sector in four major cities across China; Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shanghai and found a mixed picture across the four city destinations.
In all four cities the sector’s GDP contribution last year almost fully recovered back to 2019 levels.
The GDP contribution from the sector to Beijing and Chengdu’s economy in 2022 was just 4% and 2% below 2019 levels respectively ($34BN and $5.4BN), compared to $31BN and $5.5BN. ADVERTISEMENTLast year, the Travel & Tourism’s GDP contribution in Guangzhou and Shanghai was around 7% below 2019 levels. In Guangzhou the sector contributed $13.2BN in 2022 compared to $14.1BN pre-pandemic, while in Shanghai, the sector contributed $29.7BN compared to $31.5BN in 2019.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “China has long been a world-favourite holiday destination and after more than two years of disruption, it’s great to see tourists heading back. Tourists provide a massive boost to both the economy and job creation.
“It is crucial that the national and local governments continue to recognise the importance of Travel & Tourism for the local and national economies, jobs and businesses.”
Jobs on the rise
In 2019, there were 1.35MN people employed by the Travel & Tourism sector in Beijing. But in 2020 this figure dropped to 1.16MN (-15%). In 2021, employment grew by more than 5% and is expected to have grown a further 4% in 2022 to reach 1.27MN jobs.
In the other three cities, it’s a similar picture.
Before the pandemic, there were 1.32MN Travel & Tourism jobs in Shanghai, but this num-ber fell to 1.13MN in 2020 (-14%). A 10% rise in 2021 saw the number increase to 1.25MN and it was predicted to see a slight increase to 1.26MN in 2022.
In Guangzhou there were just over 603,000 jobs in 2019 but this dropped by 23% to just over 464,000. A slight 4% rise in 2021 saw jobs increase to just under 481,000 and WTTC is ex-pecting a 16.5% increase in 2022 to bring the total jobs to over 560,000.
Chengdu is seeing an even stronger return to pre-pandemic levels. In 2019 there were 336,000 jobs in the city which dropped by 12% to just under 297,000 in 2020. The following year saw a small 5% increase to 311,000 jobs and last year the global tourism body is pre-dicting a 6% increase to 329,500 jobs – just 2% below pre-pandemic levels.
Visitor spend struggles as borders have remained closed
Due to the prolonged border closures imposed by the government, international visitor spend is taking longer to recover than in other countries around the world.
But light is at the end of the tunnel. Whilst international visitor spend is still on average 53% lower in 2022 than it was in 2019, all of the cities analysed are showing modest year-on-year increases.
International visitor spend in Beijing is just 41% what it was in 2019, with visitors spending a predicted $5BN in 2022 compared to $12.1BN in 2019. In Chengdu, international visitor spend is performing better than the capital with recovery at 61% of 2019 levels. Travellers spent $1.5BN in Chengdu in 2022 compared to $2.5BN in 2019. 
Both Shanghai and Guangzhou have seen international visitor spend drop to 44% of 2019 levels. In Shanghai it went from $11.9BN before the pandemic to $5.2BN in 2022, while in Guangzhou it went from $4.3BN in 2019 to $1.9BN in 2022.

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PortAventura World has kicked off its longest season, which will last almost 300 days, with the expectation of exceeding 5.3 million visitors, after reaching 5.1 million in 2022The resort, which will hold its first Carnival for several consecutive weekends, inspired by the festivities in Rio de Janeiro and Venice, hopes to definitively win back international visitors this season, with estimates of up to one million French and half a million British and Irish visitors, and placing the focus on opening up to new international markets.
During the presentation of the season, David García, General Manager of PortAventura World, explained that “we are beginning this new season with much enthusiasm, energy and great news. After closing 2022 with 5.1 million visitors and record revenues, this year we are clearly committed to growth. As such, we are open every month of the year and we have continued to invest in the customer through new products such as Carnival and the new attraction that will open in spring”.
The early season has allowed the company to expand its workforce and generate up to half a thousand new hires, reaching a peak of 3,800 active employees at key times of the season with campaigns such as the resort’s first Carnival, Easter, Halloween and Christmas.
Likewise, in 2023, the company will continue to grow sustainably moving outward, reinforcing its strategy of innovation and diversification. The company, which in 2022 acquired and began to manage two hotels outside the resort, has announced that it will continue to focus on growth in this new line.
One of PortAventura World’s major novelties in the first half of 2023 will be the opening of the world’s first dark ride roller coaster ‘Uncharted’, developed in partnership with Sony Entertainment and with an investment of more than 25 million euros. As part of the creation of this new attraction, the company is preparing a pilot project for an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experience for people with disabilities, with the aim of spearheading change in how these customers experience the park.ADVERTISEMENTAlso in the ESG area, PortAventura World will continue to drive forward its sustainability commitments. In this regard, it will inaugurate its photovoltaic plant, PortAventura Solar, which will cover a third of the resort’s energy needs.
Video – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2005076/PortAventura_World.mp4

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