Travel

MOSCOW, May 10. /TASS/: Russian voyager and survivalist Fedor Konyukhov has finished his solo rowboat voyage on board Akros, crossing the South Pacific from New Zealand to Chile for 154 days 13 hours and 13 minutes, the Ocean Rowing Society said on Friday.

"On May 09, 2019 at approx. 18:00UTC Fedor crossed the finish line of Diego Ramirez Longitude (68.68W) within vicinity of land and with this has officially completed his row across the South Pacific Ocean from west to east," the statement says adding that it took the Russian traveler 154 days 13 hours and 37 minutes to do it.

MOSCOW, May 9. /TASS/. Rescuers have found the body of the fourth tourist out of seven people who had died in an avalanche in the Altai Mountains in West Siberia, the Investigative Committee’s local branch told TASS on Thursday.

"The body of the fourth dead tourist has been found. It has not yet been delivered to Gorno-Altaisk for identification," the investigators said.

The bodies of three tourists found earlier have been identified, the investigators said.

MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/: A tourist group consisting of nine people got into an avalanche in the Altai mountains on May 6, seven people died, while two tourists survived, the press service of the Russian Emergencies Ministry informed TASS on Wednesday.

6 May 2019; MEMO: Turkey’s national flag carrier has extended its free city tours range by offering evening Bosphorus tours to transit passengers in Istanbul, says Anadolu Agency.

Within the scope of the “Touristanbul” project, Turkish Airlines enables transit passengers who stay from six to 24 hours in Istanbul Airport to see the historical and natural beauties of the city, Abdullah Yormaz, tour marketing manager of Turkish Airlines, told reporters Monday.

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/: Russian voyager and survivalist Fyodor Konyukhov, who is now on a solo round-the-world rowboat voyage, has set a world record, being the first to cross the 55th parallel south in the Southern, or Antarctic, Ocean, Konyukhov’s eldest son Oskar, the organizer of the journey, told TASS on Sunday citing his father’s diary.

GRAND CANYON, the United States, May 1 (Xinhua): China will soon overtake Europe to become the top outbound tourist market of the U.S. state of Arizona, tourism officials here have said.

"We expect China to become our number one overseas tourist market by 2025," Scott Dunn, public information officer for the Arizona Tourism Board (ATB), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Chinese visitors currently lag behind Germany, France and Britain with 81,000 travelers per year to the Grand Canyon, America's prime tourist attraction and one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. State Department has issued a heightened travel warning for Sri Lanka after last Sunday’s suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people.

The department is urging Americans to “reconsider travel to Sri Lanka due to terrorism.”

The U.S. has also ordered the departure of all school-age family members of U.S. government employees. And it has authorized the voluntary departure of nonemergency U.S. employees and family members.

Friday night’s advisory warns, “Terrorist groups continue plotting possible attacks in Sri Lanka.”

Islamabad, Apr 26 (PTI) Pakistani archaeologists claimed that they have discovered remains of metal workshops from the Indo-Greek period dating back to the 2nd century BCE.

The archaeologists from the University of Peshawar (UoP) made the discovery from a site in the Hayatabad neighbourhood of Peshawar, Dawn reported.

Professor Gul Rahim told media that the site is located close to the border of the Khyber district, adding that excavation work at the site has been going on for the past three years.

STOCKHOLM, April 26 (Xinhua) -- Pilots at the Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) in Sweden, Denmark and Norway went on strike Friday as talks on wages and other issues broke down, leading to many cancelled flights, SAS said.

The strike, called by the Scandinavian pilot unions, came after the pilot group and the airline failed to find common ground on a collective bargaining agreement on salary increases and other issues related to working hours and schedules.

BANGKOK, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's cabinet approved in principle on Wednesday an extended waiver of the fee for visa on arrival of foreign tourists to Thailand, according to a summary of cabinet meeting published online.

The waiver of the one-time entry fee for visa on arrival which was proposed by the Royal Thai Police, will be extended from May 1 until Oct. 31.

Such temporary waiver of the fee for visa on arrival will be extended in accordance with 2019's ministerial regulation for one-time entry of tourists from specified foreign countries.