This year’s Eurovision contest will be held in Belgrade, and the tickets are now on sale. For the first two days, tickets can only be purchased in Serbia, but from January 31 they can be bought online from anywhere in the world.

Tickets are only available in packages until March 17 when they can purchased for single events. The Eurovision will take place in Belgrade from May 20 to May 24. It will the ideal time to take holiday in Belgrade – and be in the audience at the Eurovision for the cheapest prices ever.

Serbian media has pointed out that this year has the lowest ticket prices to the Eurovision ever. Semi final tickets cost only about £10 and the final between £10 and £45.

The new Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 will be fingerprinting domestic passengers. The new terminal is due to open in March, after which passengers on British Airways flights to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester or Newcastle will have to undergo extended security measures.

This due to the fact that the new terminal is one big departure lounge, where international passengers could possibly swap tickets and use fake ID’s to enter the UK, when they are supposed to be changing flights.

The fingerprints are taken to insure the people checked in are the people at the departure gate.

The British backpackers travelling around the world on a budget carry £450 worth of clothes and necessities. In total, there is £1.7 billion in the bags of the British backpackers at the moment.

The high value of their bags is due to the dependence on technology. Phones, digital cameras, mp3 players and even laptops are now crammed in to the bags as people head for their gap years.

The figures were revealed by a new study by AA Travel Insurance. It found that 73% of backpackers take mobile phone with them, and 72% carry a digital camera.

What worries the insurance company is that with this expensive content, backpackers staying in unsecure lodgings travel without any insurance.

Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and other celebrities have been photographed as famous Disney characters by Annie Leibovitz. The photographs are taken as a part of Disney’s Year of a Million Dreams celebration.

At the end of last year, Rachel Weisz was shot as Snow White, and Julie Andrews was portrayed as the fairy from Pinocchio.

This time, Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony were photographed as Jasmine and Aladdin, while Whoopi Goldberg dressed up as the genie in the bottle. Wendy, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell were portrayed by Giselle Bundchen, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Wendy Fey. Jessica Biel was Pocahontas.

The celebrity photos are a part of attracting attention and visitors to the Disneylands and Disneyworlds around the globe.

See all Disney Portrait Series by Annie Leibovitz

The ever booming tourism industry brought a record number of visitors to Singapore in 2007. In total 10.3 million people arrived in Singapore, slightly more than the expected 10.2 million arrivals.

Nearly 500,000 Brits took a holiday in Singapore, another record number. The UK is in the top ten visitor markets to Singapore.

Singapore Tourism Board Area Director North & West Europe, Ms Divya Panickar, says: “We are delighted by the record breaking visitor arrivals to Singapore for 2007. It is particularly pleasing to see that more and more British holidaymakers are choosing to discover the unique delights and experiences that Singapore has to offer.”

German naturists will be able to fly in the nude for the first time with the launch of new flights in Germany catering especially for naturists.

The first nude flights will be on July 5 taking off from Erfut in south-east Germany going to the island of Usedom in the Baltic Sea.

The company running the holidays were inspired by the popularity of naturism in east Germany during the Communist regime. Naturism was an authorised activity.

Enrico Haas, the founder of OssiUrlaub.de said: “In the former East Germany, naturist holidays were a much-loved way of spending the best weeks of the year, we want to make that freedom possible above the clouds too.”

All the passengers will fly naked, but they are only allowed to undress once they are in the plane. But then they will be able to enjoy the hour-long flight in the way God intended,”

Tickets for the flights cost 499 Euros.

Virgin Galactic has unveiled the designs of its two spaceships, which will offer the first commercial space flights. WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) is about 60% complete and Virgin expects to be able to make test flights next summer.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipOne flew to space three times successfully, and won $10 million Ansari X Price. The company has also announced ‘an environmentally benign’ launch system.

Burt Rutan, CEO of Scaled Composites, says: “‘Looking up - way up!’ is an expression we have shared since the X Prize began and now we are all excited that this year the dream will start to become a very tangible reality for everyone involved.”

Two out of three Australians are members of the Mile High Club, or would like to join. 1,110 people answered the survey, which asked if people would want to have a sexual encounter during a flight. Almost half answered yes, and 12% already had done so.
The survey was conducted by Totaltravel.com.

Last year Singapore airlines raised the topic of the Mile High Club when it asked passengers onboard its new super jumbo Airbus A380 not to join the club – they most likely thought people would be more tempted to do so as the jumbo offers double beds.

Gran Canaria has launched its biggest ever ad campaign in the UK. The 600,000 Euro marketing campaign aims to reaffirm the islands reputation in the UK as a great, fashionable holiday destination.

It’s the best time of year to focus on getting the Brits interested in planning a holiday, as the weather is at its worst and people plan their summer getaways.

Head of tourism for Gran Canaria, Roberto Moreno says: “The UK market is a hugely important market for us.

“It is vital that we raise the profile and perceptions of Gran Canaria among potential British holidaymakers.”

Holidays in the Canaries are very popular in the UK, thanks to its good weather and many resorts.

Tourist arrivals in Maldives rose 12.7% last year compared to 2006, a much higher increase of holidaymakers than expected. 675,889 people arrived on the island; the highest number of tourists coming from the UK (125,158), according to the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation.

Maldivian tourism officials say the high increase of tourists is due to the fact that many resorts were reopened last year after being hit by the tsunami in 2004.

Maldives is known as luxury holiday resort, and the island relies heavily on tourism. Nearly 30% of the country’s GDP comes from tourism.

Virgin America airlines and Sundance Film Festival have announced new programming for the Sundance channel available onboard Virgin America airplanes.

Passengers on Virgin’s modern airplanes can watch independent films on the Sundance channel programmed exclusively for the airline. The new improved programming will start in March with all the latest documentaries and films from independent movie makers.

Kirk Iwanowski, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Branded Entertainment & Sponsorship says: “Sundance Channel is excited to partner with Virgin America to bring the work of emerging and established filmmakers worldwide to a whole new audience on Virgin America’s flights.”

The onboard programming will include groundbreaking documentaries, director’s cuts of feature films and Sundance channel original programs.

Las Vegas has rolled out a new slogan, “Your Vegas is Showing”. This new slogan is being promoted on TV and print ads. Las Vegas is investing heavily in tourism in the next four years; a total of $40 billion will be invested mainly in high-end projects from big names.

Erika Pope of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority says the new slogan promotes Vegas as a growing shopping, dining and rock-star style party destination.

“It’s not replacing ‘What Happens Here, Stays Here,’ but is complementary …. adding a product message to the brand message — adult freedom experience,” she says.

Travel and Tourism leaders are expecting the year 2008 to see a continued growth of tourism, despite global economic problems. In 2007 international tourism arrivals increased by almost 6% to nearly 900 million tourists around the world, according to UN World Tourism Organisation.

A new research by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and Oxford Economics (OE) shows that despite fears, 2008 has taken off promisingly although the growth might not be as high this year as it has been in previous years.

WTTC President Jean-Claude Baumgarten says: “Tourism growth has been particularly rapid in developing countries with the fastest average growth in tourism arrivals in the Middle East region.

“These countries are not only recognising the development potential of Travel & Tourism and therefore investing heavily in new infrastructure and facilities but their citizens are also seeing rapid economic growth boost their incomes beyond the level where international travel becomes both a feasible and desired option.”

Valentine city breaks are becoming more popular every year, and new romantic city break destinations are beginning to emerge, online travel agency Holidays-direct.co.uk reports.

The old time favourite romantic city breaks in Paris, Rome and Venice are still the most popular choice for Valentine city breaks, but new trendy destinations are emerging. City breaks in Reykjavik, Monaco and Barcelona have become much more popular in recent years, without taking travellers away from the beloved city breaks in Paris, Rome and Venice.

This shows that Valentine city breaks have become much more popular among couples. Part of the reason is that new flight routes have provided people with new cheap romantic city break opportunities. Flights to Iceland have become more affordable recently, which is one of the reasons city breaks in Reykjavik have become a popular choice for Valentine’s Day holiday.

Online travel agency Holidays-direct.co.uk has a website specialising in city breaks; on www.citybreaks-direct.co.uk people can search for their ideal romantic weekend break for Valentine’s Day.

Jon Pearce from Holidays-direct.co.uk says: “City breaks are growing in popularity every year, and especially around Valentine’s Day people want to take a romantic city break together. We can offer many cheap romantic city breaks for our customers, and there are so many great destinations available. Paris, Rome and Venice of course are great choices, but we can recommend people to try somewhere different.

“For example, where better to spend a romantic weekend break than in a city called “beloved”? The name of Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana means just that. The city is a smaller Prague, with less tourists buzzing around and the incredible history has left the city with a very romantic feel and a chance for a great Valentine city break.”

Last year 59.2 million tourists arrived in Spain, a 1.7% rise from the previous year. The largest number of tourists arrived from the UK, a total 16.3 million. About 10 million tourists arrived from Germany and over 9 million from France making them the second and third largest contributors to Spain’s tourism.

Almost half of the British tourists arriving in Spain were headed for holiday in the Canary Islands or in the Balearics. These are the most known holiday areas in Spain. But the most visited area in Spain was Catalonia, which includes Barcelona.

A new luxury hotel resort will be built in Mauritius by InterContinental Hotels (IHG) with a massive $50 million budget. The InterContinental Mauritius Resort Balaclava Fort hotel is scheduled to open in late 2008 with over 200 rooms.

The hotel will be on a beach near the popular are of Grand Baie, 20 minutes from the islands capital Port Louis.

“We are thrilled to be developing InterContinental Mauritius Resort Balacava Fort, especially in a destination that is synonymous with the ultimate in luxury travel,” said John Bamsey, chief operating officer, IHG, Middle East & Africa.

All rooms in the hotel have an open-plan design, and rooms facing the Indian Ocean will have a stone bath and a private balcony or terrace.

Holidays in Mauritius and other Indian Ocean destinations are popular with those seeking luxury.

Snowboarders are twice as likely to end up with broken bones on the slopes. The most likely ways to fall and hurt yourself is to ‘fall onto and out-stretched hand’ – Foosh as it’s called by emergency staff.

Ski holidays are very popular, and snowboarding is becoming a popular choice over traditional downhill skiing. According to the new research 34% of snowboarders are likely to sustain an injury from their sport, compared to 17% of skiers.

The new research was conducted by Debenhams Travel Insurance.

The Austrian region of Vorarlberg has had the best winter tourism season in 10 years. Overnight stays were up 14.9% in November and December 2007, with a total of nearly 8 million overnight visitors during the whole year.

Austria is a famous winter holiday destinations, especially for ski holidays Austria is the first choice for many people. Vorarlberg covers the western part of Austria. It has become known as a winter sport destination since the 1930s, before that it was known only for summer activities like climbing and walking.