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A reality show wants to send its winning contestant to the ISS
'Space Hero' wants to send a reality TV winner into space, if it can find the money.
Airbnb is buying last-minute hotel app HotelTonight
Airbnb is buying last-minute hotel booking service HotelTonight, in another move on the traditional hotel industry. The HotelTonight booking app and website, which offers day-of hotel reservations at discounted rates, will still operate independently, at least for now. Once the acquisition is completed, HotelTonight CEO Sam Shank will lead Airbnb's boutique hotel category. "We started HotelTonight because we knew people wanted a better way to book an amazing hotel room on-demand, and we are excited to join forces with Airbnb to bring this service to guests around the world," said the HotelTonight CEO in a press release.
Russia will fly two space tourists to the ISS in late 2021
Russia has flown just seven tourists to space since 2001, but it's about to expand that number in the near future. The country's space agency, Roscosmos, has signed a deal with Space Adventures to carry two "spaceflight participants" (read: tourists) to the International Space Station in late 2021. They'll fly aboard a familiar Soyuz spacecraft for a "short duration" trip. The guests haven't been named, although it's safe to presume they'll have large bank accounts.
'Pokémon Go' creator Niantic to develop GPS-based tourism games
It was at the helm of GPS/AR/Maps-based "exergaming" in 2013 with Ingress, saw phenomenal success with Pokémon Go, and will launch a location-based Harry Potter mobile game next year. Now, Niantic is making the natural move into tourism-focused games. In partnership with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), as part of its Travel.Enjoy.Respect program, the games company will create new experiences that encourage players to explore and discover the hidden histories of both their own neighborhoods and further afield.
NASA considers selling trips to space tourists
The Jim Bridenstine-era NASA's efforts to privatize spaceflight could involve borrowing a page from Russia. The Washington Post notes the agency is mulling the possibility of offering seats to private tourists on the ships that take astronauts to the International Space Station, similar to how Russia has accepted space tourists in the past. It's just a proposal and would have to clear NASA's advisory council, but it already has the support of an advisory subcommittee.
How the first space tourists will make it back to Earth alive
When SpaceX launches Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and his eight traveling companions for a trip around the Moon in 2023, the company will be undertaking an unprecedented step toward the future of civilian space flight. But with being the first to attempt this feat comes a number of technical and safety challenges that less ambitious expeditions, like Blue Origin's treks to the Karman Line, won't have to face. So, just how will SpaceX ensure that its first trip to the Moon doesn't turn into a real-life Gravity?
Warner Bros. wants to build a sky tram to the Hollywood sign
Finding your way to the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles typically involves a lot of back-street driving. As the iconic sign continues to get visitors, however, the congestion on those residential roads increases, as well. Warner Bros. has a proposal for the city of LA that it claims will help alleviate all that: a tram that connects the Warner Bros. studio lots in Burbank to the famous landmark, along with a visitor center near the sign.
China may punch a hole in the 'Great Firewall' for select tourists
The Chinese government's prohibition of popular social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has spanned several years. China has previously flirted with relaxing its strict internet rules, but it stood firm and such promises never materialized. Now, its island province Hainan may take the lead -- all in the name of tourism.
Airbnb is encouraging tourists to visit Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico suffered the worst natural disaster in its history in September last year, when Hurricane Maria tore through the island, causing devastation that's still affecting its inhabitants. But it remains one of the most beautiful destinations in the world, and Airbnb wants to help it back on its feet with an expanded partnership effort to boost tourism to the area.
Airbnb just opened an 'Office of Healthy Tourism'
In a bid to counteract tourist saturation in major cities around the world, Airbnb is opening a new global Office of Healthy Tourism. The move is designed to bring the economic benefits of tourism to small businesses and local residents in destinations off the beaten track, while lessening the burden on popular holiday hotspots.
Chinese space theme park to send tourists to the stratosphere
Until Virgin Galactic launches, the only way to get to space as a civilian is to pay Russia a cool $20 million. If you're willing to fudge your definition of 'space' however, you may have a much cheaper option in a couple of years: A theme park under development in China is working on a high-altitude 'deep space' balloon tour that will take visitors into the lower stratosphere.
Airbnb tests an app that plans your trips
Airbnb's efforts to plan your whole trip, not just your stay, just got a little more concrete. The home rental outfit is testing an Airbnb Trips app for Android (an iOS version should also be in the works) that shows you what to do once you've unpacked your bags. You can flip through a guidebook of local attractions, not just the tourist traps, and set an itinerary to keep you moving during your vacation. The test is closed to the public, but it's just as well. A Bloomberg source says that the features and even the name could change between now and launch, so what you see now may not be representative.
NASA's space tourism posters will make you want to suit up
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has a knack for space-themed travel posters. A little over a year ago, its "Exoplanet Travel Bureau" series made its debut with an homage to the iconic WPA prints of the 1930s. This year, the JPL commissioned Seattle-based design firm Invisible Creature to be part of a project/gift for staff. Invisible Creature designed three "travel posters" to be included in the "Visions Of The Future" 2016 calendar. Among the collection are visuals for a multi-planet tour, a stop at Mars and exploring Enceladus, Saturn's icy moon.
Samsung will lend you a free Galaxy Note 5 while you're in Korea
South Korea really, really wants you to know that it's a technology hub, and it's willing to offer some unusual perks to tourists to underscore that point. The Korea Tourism Organization is teaming up with Samsung and SK Telecom to offer free Galaxy Note 5 phones to "select" visitors coming through Seoul's main airport (about 250 per week) for up to five days. The hope, of course, is that you'll be so impressed with the country's mobile technology prowess that you'll share it with your friends back home. You only get 1GB of data, but that beats paying through the nose for international roaming or local prepaid service.
Brussels wants you to make internet calls to random locals
Brussels is having a tough time lately. While it's the effective capital of the European Union and famous for its street art, the combination of terrorism fears and an economic slump has kept the tourists away. The Belgian city has a clever solution for that, however: calling random people on the street. If you visit Call Brussels between 9AM and 7PM local time no later than January 11th, you can make internet calls to who picks up the phone in one of multiple public locations. As you've probably guessed, Brussels is hoping that you'll hear how wonderful the city is and book a vacation.
Russia will resume space tourism in 2018
Russia's Roscosmos space agency is in a bind. It makes money ferrying American astronauts to the International Space Station, but it's going to have a lot of unclaimed seats once NASA starts using capsules from Boeing and SpaceX. The solution? It's resuming space tourism. When 2018 rolls around, Energiya (the main company handling manned trips) will fill the empty third chairs on Soyuz flights to the ISS with tech moguls and anyone else who has the time and money to enter Earth orbit just for kicks. It's not going to be as glamorous as purpose-built space tourism programs (whenever they're finally ready), but something tells us that Russia won't have a problem finding paying customers. [Image credit: NASA, Flickr]
The Mog Log: A tourist in Final Fantasy XI
I don't write much about Final Fantasy XI in this column, but those with some knowledge of its history know that wasn't always the case. There are long stretches of the column that have focused on Final Fantasy XI's trials and tribulations. It's just that as I've said many times over, there's not a whole lot of point to talking about FFXI on a regular basis now. While Final Fantasy XIV keeps getting bigger and better, FFXI is slowly and quietly declining. But that doesn't mean you can't take a trip back. A few weeks back, my wife and a dear friend floated the idea that the three of us could try heading back to Final Fantasy XI, exploring the game from the start, completely fresh all over again. It would be very different from how it had been before. And true to form, it certainly has been. The game is very different now from the one I remember, and it's interesting to look at why, even from the perspective of someone just about to hit 20 for the first time on a single class.
Balloons could power space tourism by 2016
Richard Branson is investing in a plane that'll take tourists to the edge of space, but who needs that when you've got balloons? A company in Arizona is working on a high-altitude craft that'll use a huge balloon to gently carry passengers voyagers to the edges of the atmosphere. It's already tested the technology with a 10-percent size scale model, which carried and safely returned a payload of 200 kilos. The next step is to build a full-sized equivalent, capable of journeying 120,000 feet into the air and back again -- just short of the 127,852 feet that Felix Baumgartner fell during the Red Bull Stratos experiment / publicity stunt. Of course, anything that involves a trip to space (or as close as anyone can say) is going to be expensive, and it'll set you back $75,000 if you choose to get in line when commercial trips begin in 2016.
Google reportedly halts print editions of Frommer's guidebooks
Were we really expecting a different outcome? Several months after Google bought Frommer's to bolster its location efforts, Skift hears that the iconic travel guide maker has completely stopped publication of print editions as its focus swings to the online realm. Authors say that many of their scheduled Frommer's books now won't be published; a few say their contracts were simply delayed, but the usual raft of guides that would show at this time of year just haven't materialized. We've reached out to Google to confirm what's going on, although the writing may have been on the wall when the bookstore disappeared from the Frommer's site in September. If true, many travelers will have to either switch to rival guides or use Google's digital parallels to learn what's interesting in a strange new land. [Image credit: Caitlin Regan, Flickr]
Google Trekker goes to the Grand Canyon, takes Street View souvenirs back home
You might remember Google's unveiling this spring of the Street View Trekker, a seeming cross between a backpack and Van de Graaff generator that lets the mapping team produce 360-degree imagery where even trikes dare not tread. The portable camera ball is just going on its first trip, and Google has chosen the most natural destination for a novice tourist -- the Grand Canyon, of course. Staffers with Trekkers are currently walking trails along the South Rim of the canyon to provide both eye-level points of reference for wayward hikers as well as some breathtaking, controllable panoramas for those who can't (or won't) make it to Arizona. Once the photos make it to Street View sometime in the undefined near future, it'll be that much easier to turn down Aunt Matilda's 3-hour vacation slideshow.
