This was published 13 years ago
Famed El Bulli chef becomes tourism ambassador
Reign of Spain
The owner-chef of the famed El Bulli on the Costa Brava, Ferran Adria, has added the impressive title of Spanish international tourism ambassador to his curriculum vitae.
Culinary tourism is hugely important to Spain, with an estimated 6 million visitors annually choosing it as their holiday destination for gastronomic reasons. And while no one is suggesting that Adria and El Bulli are solely responsible for those impressive figures, El Bulli's dominance of the San Pellegrino World's Best 50 Restaurants list - it occupied top spot from 2006-09 - lifted both the profile and reputation of Spanish cuisine around the globe.
Adria, who has announced that El Bulli in its present form will close next year to be refashioned primarily as a foundation to educate young chefs, is to open a less-formal restaurant with his brother, Albert, in Barcelona.
Meanwhile, anyone travelling to Madrid should take a look at esmadrid.com, the official emagazine of the Madrid city council.
Esmadrid, which is now being published in English, is an informative guide to what's happening in the city. It has some interesting titbits, such as the fact that Madrid is the only capital city in the world to have a monument dedicated to the devil - it's the Fountain of the Fallen Angel in the Retiro gardens.
See www.esmadrid.com/internationalmagazine.
Gay skiing
Gay ski weeks are big business around the globe, so it's puzzling that the idea hasn't taken off in Australia. To that end, the gay and lesbian event management company, Points of Difference, is organising the Frosty Fruits gay ski long weekend at Mount Hotham on August 19-22.
Packages, including three nights' accommodation, lessons, lifts and equipment hire, plus three events (welcome party, dinner at Tsubo in Dinner Plain and a disco snow ball), cost from $1395 for the coach option from Melbourne and Sydney. A flight package from Sydney is $2100.
See www.pointsofdifference.com.
And while on the topic, Hautes Vacances Boutique Gay Travel has a polo tour to Argentina for gay and lesbian polo players. The tour, on January 9-17, is open to players who want to improve their skills as well as beginners without any previous horse-riding experience.
Accommodation, lessons and games are at Polo Estancia, a polo facility and hacienda close to Buenos Aires. Prices, including accommodation, equipment, lessons in the mornings and matches in the afternoon, internal transport and some meals, are $US4900 ($5600) for players and $US3900 for non-players, land content only.
Personal growth
If your aim is to come home from a holiday feeling like a new person, the "I Can Do It!" Caribbean cruise next January could be the tonic.
Hay House, which bills itself as the international leader in self-help and transformational publishing, has chartered Holland America's MS Westerdam for a seven-day cruise and onboard will be some of its best-known self-help authors.
There are five programs, with topics ranging from spiritual wellness and growth to past-life regression and even how to write a bestseller and then deal with the fame and fortune that follows.
The star attraction will be Wayne Dyer, the man Oprah Winfrey calls the father of motivation. Dyer's first book, Your Erroneous Zones, sold millions when it was published in 1976.
He has since published 30 more books, nearly all bestsellers.
The MS Westerdam will leave Fort Lauderdale in Florida on January 28 and visit Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, Philipsburg in St Maarten and San Juan in Puerto Rico before returning to Florida on February 4.
This is the third Hay House cruise and the two others sold out. Prices start from $US999 ($1140) a person, twin share.
See www.lifejourneys.net/HayHouse/Charter2011.
Between rocks and hard place
The British government has withdrawn £10 million ($16.6 million) previously earmarked for a new visitor centre at Stonehenge.
The site attracts about 900,000 tourists a year and the visitors' facilities are stretched, especially on summer and winter solstice. The Cameron government has also reneged on a promise by the previous government to relocate a highway uncomfortably close to the World Heritage-listed site in Wiltshire.
All work, no play
Australia is the third most holiday-deprived nation in the world, with only the Japanese and the Americans taking fewer holidays than us.
According to Expedia's annual Vacation Deprivation survey, Australians have an average of 20 leave days annually but use only 16.5. The Japanese take only nine days of holiday a year and workers in the US take 14.
On the other hand, the French are displaying their joie de vivre and have been crowned the world's most dedicated holidaymakers, using up all but three of the 37.5 days of annual leave they are entitled to each year.
The survey, which is in its 10th year, includes working adults from 13 countries. This year, 1005 Australians took part.
Send news items to smarttraveller@fairfax.com.au.
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