Word: tourism
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...many Japanese-language students had their druthers, they'd probably want a pair of cool cats to helm their classes. In May, Japan designated Hello Kitty as a tourism ambassador, two months after Doraemon, the aqua-hued robot feline, was named the nation's first cartoon envoy. The designation of these two cat representatives symbolizes just how much Japan's overseas reputation is tied to pop culture. That's a connection that surely pleases Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso. The 68-year-old premier, who is a self-confessed manga addict, has called for Japan to pursue what...
...That outlook looks less rosy, of course, since the global economic crash and collapse of the region's oil revenues. Although tourism and property developers are still planning massive new projects, there are signs of a shakeout in Dubai's boomtown housing values, with some analysts expecting up to a 20% decline in the next three years. The combined debt of Dubai's government and public-sector companies has escalated to the point where some analysts say the city-state Dubai might one day need a bailout from its super-rich sister emirate Abu Dhabi, which has more than...
...Nelson Mandela, attending the South African hero's 90th birthday party in London in June. By the time apartheid fell, Kerzner was selling off his properties in South Africa and going global, notably with the launch of the Atlantis in Paradise Island in 1996 - a spectacular success that revived tourism in the Bahamas. Kerzner, who maintains residences in London, the Bahamas and the south of France as well as in his native country, arrived in Dubai in 1997 to build one of its first glitzy resorts, the Royal Mirage, for the ruling family. In 2001, he approached bin Sulayem with...
...Even better, Kerzner and bin Sulayem think, would be to make piles of money together in times that are looking increasingly difficult for tourism. They plan to open other major resorts in Morocco, Zanzibar and South Africa in the coming year or so, although a deal with MGM Mirage to launch a major new casino project on the Las Vegas Strip is being put on hold at least until the credit squeeze eases up. "It's been quite challenging," Kerzner says. "We continue to do reasonable business but there's no question the marketplace has taken...
Perhaps it will. But it also evokes an economic negative: South Florida's incorrigible reliance on low-wage industries like tourism. It has exacerbated the effects of the recession here - and it has led to a widening, Third World-style gap between rich and poor. The average wage in Miami-Dade County is less than $40,000; but according to a report this year by Florida Atlantic University, a family needs an income closer to $100,000 just to afford an average single-family home here. The in-your-face lifestyles of Miami's rich-and-famous have encourged...