At a ceremony held at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, the international Melina Mercury Prize was awarded to Meimand Village, a historical township located in the rocky mountains of Kerman province, the Iran Daily reported. The Iranian village won the prize for safeguarding the cultural heritage of historical lands. A team of international experts selected Meimand for the award following thorough examination of nominees for the award submitted from different countries. Melina Mercury Award, which was initiated six years ago by the Greek government, includes a cash award of $20,000 and is sponsored by UNESCO and ICOMUS.

Online travel agencies are facing a tough situation due to devastation caused by recent hurricane Katrina, says a report in The New York Times. "As the Gulf Coast reels from Hurricane Katrina´s devastation, online businesses are struggling to gauge the impact of the possible loss of half a million prospective customers for weeks or months," says the report. "Online travel agencies like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz are no doubt feeling the pinch more than most online retailers. Not only must they cope with a deluge of calls from customers who had booked trips to the Gulf Coast and now want their money back, they must also face up to the possibility of a slump in sales as some vacationers and business executives deterred from flying to New Orleans drop their travel plans altogether."

More and more people are trading in the trifle for travel and escaping the U.K. for more far flung regions over the holiday season, said a leading specialist tour operator. Waymark Holidays, which runs cross country skiing and other snow experience tours in the winter, said bookings for their Christmas trips continue to rise every year, prompting them to add extra departures to their programme.

Further to concerns expressed by the Travel Business Roundtable (TBR), a strategic partner to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA), and other industry organizations, TBR is pleased that the Department of State and Department of Homeland Security have delayed a December 31, 2005 deadline for the first proposed phase of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which would have required travelers to and from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Central and South America to present passports or other accepted secure documents at U.S. ports of entry. WHTI will require passports or other accepted documents for all air, sea and land travel to and from the Caribbean, Bermuda, Central and South America, Canada and Mexico by January 1, 2008. Currently, travelers need only a birth certificate and/or valid driver´s license to travel between the U.S. and these locations.

Emergency cleanup crews were summoned to three Rio de Janeiro state beaches yesterday after about 2,000 litres (530 gallons) of oil spilled from a ship, authorities said. More than 50 truckloads of oil-contaminated sand had already been removed from the Boa Viagem, Flechas and Icarai beaches in Niteroi, a city facing Rio de Janeiro across the Guanabara Bay, Rio de Janeiro state´s environmental agency (FEEMA) said.

Amsterdam Manor Sales & Marketing Manager, Amy Ras, received an amazing opportunity to start in a new position at the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association (AHATA) as Membership Manager. In the same breath, Rebecca Brock has been named new field coordinator at the Aruba Hotel and Tourism Association.