One month in Taiwan – a dream come true for Maria Hartwig and Boris Benesch. They were chosen by the Taipei Tourism Office in Frankfurt am Main and the student’s magazine UNICUM to spend a Work and Travel on the „Ilha Formosa“ as Taiwan scouts.

They reached their destination on April 1 and have since been reporting about their experiences in the Taiwan community. The first blog entries are already on-line – the two scouts were cordially welcomed and didn’t have to wait long for a first taste of the island’s culinary adventures. In addition to Chenchu Naicha, the scene drink containing tea, milk and small dumplings, one of the students even dared try the exotic specialty of duck’s feet.

Germany’s second-largest air carrier Air Berlin was able to improve its returns per seat kilometer to 5.45 euro cents in March, 4.2 percent on the previous month’s 5.23 euro cents. Although capacities were reduced by only 0.8 percent compared to March of the previous year, the number of passengers decreased by 5.6 percent to 2,053,960 (March 2008: 2,175,427). At the same time, aircraft utilization decreased by 3.7 percentage points to 74.1 percent (March 2008: 77.8 percent). The decrease in passengers is partly due to the Easter season, traditionally strong in revenues for the tourism-centered airlines, not taking place in the month of March this year.

Travel managers expect crisis to last

Only 20% of travel managers organized in the “Verband Deutsches Reisemanagement e.V.” (VDR – German Travel Management Association) have not yet observed an impact on business trip activity by the financial and economic crisis. While more than 60% were affected in winter of last year, the percentage rose to slightly above 80% by mid-February. This was shown in a survey among travel managers organized in the VDR conducted by Prof. Dr. Ernst-Otto Thiesing of the tourism management department at Karl-Scharfenberg Faculty Salzgitter, Technical College Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel, in February.

Cape Arkona Bunker in Putgarten on Rügen
Cape Arkona, on the island of Rügen, was the northern-most spot in the GDR and thus a location of military significance. Directly adjacent to the two lighthouses on the cape, there are two military bunkers. One of them, the Arkona Bunker, was built and used by the Wehrmacht in the Third Reich. In the GDR, it was the the headquarters for the 6th Border Brigade Coast. The second bunker, erected between 1979 and 1986, may be explored in guided tours today. An exhibition informs visitors about the history of the 6th Flotilla/Bow and the People’s Navy of the GDR, and displays former bunker equipment and a photo series about the People’s Navy.

The Dominican Republic is and will be a dream destination for many vacationers, as proven by nearly four million satisfied foreign tourists, more than 3,000 new hotel rooms in the exclusive four and five-star segments and record results of USD 4.2 billion. The Dominican Republic was able to further consolidate its position as leading Caribbean destination in 2008.

The new Minister for Tourism of the Dominican Republic, Francisco Javier García, inaugurated in August 2008, supports further expansion of the infrastructure. He intends to take up the policies of his predecessor, promoting the positive investment climate through growth and consolidation and thus positioning the tourism industry as the economically strongest industry in the country.

FlyBalaton will be back on April 4, 2009

Spring will bring not only the birds back to the Balaton – the fliers will return, as well! From April 4, 2009 on, FlyBalaton Airport (www.flybalaton.hu) will resume operating after a winter hiatus caused by the general crisis.

Main contributor to the renewed traffic will be weekly flights performed by Lufthansa City Line in a joint initiative by special operator Mutsch Ungarn Reisen and Hévíz Tourism Marketing Association (www.hevizmarketing.hu). They will connect Germany to the western Hungarian thermae region and the Balaton “on the fly” every Saturday via direct flights from Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Hamburg.