A 72-room hotel in Japan to be manned by a team of 10 lifelike robots

The hospitality industry in Japan is going hi-tech with plans to use a team of 10 lifelike robots to look after the needs of residents of the 72-room Henn-na Hotel in Sasebo. Come July and the machines would take over functions right from the reception desk.
They would be assisted by only two flesh-and-blood staff members on the premises.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 2 June 2015.

The robots would greet the guests, carry their bags, and even clean rooms once a guest leaves. The robots would have eerily realistic female face, they would be multilingual with ability to speak a number of languages and respond to guest enquiries.
There would be facial recognition software to open doors.
Robotics is employed in many hotel around the world for specific activities but the Japan experience would be a new one, one that would be totally dependent on robotics.
This may not be good news for every receptionist or bellboy but, an imminent robot uprising appears to be certainly on the cards.
(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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Travel trends 2015 - British tourists opting out of beach holidays in 2015

#beachholidays #ABTA #BritishTourists #packagetours As 2014 enters its final hours, the word is going around that in 2015, the British are gradually opting out of beach holidays and plan to go to Austria, Botswana and Cuba – these destinations appear to be new trends in the tourist maps. A research carried out by British travel association ABTA has shown that in 2015, nearly 43 per cent of people are planning a city break while 42 per cent are planning a beach holiday. Moreover, there appears to be a growing trend for the desire to live like a local in search of ‘more authentic’ experiences. Hence, holiday companies are modifying their strategies and offering people the chance to enjoy hidden gems alongside traditional tourist attractions. The report of ABTA has also listed 12 destinations that are expected to emerge in 2015 and Austria is at the top of the list, then comes Botswana, Cuba, Dominican Republic and Japan. It seems over 35 percent of British holidaymakers nurse a desire to travel to a new country in 2015, a country that they have never visited earlier. The tourism boom is expected in Cuba following the decision of the US to lift restrictions on travel and trade. The survey was carried out among 2,001 Britons, and 20 per cent of respondents said they would spend more on trips next year compared to 15 per cent who will spend less. Some of the reasons for this growth is that more affluent holidaymakers are taking more holidays, package trips and a desire to maximize leisure time by combining travel with adventure or activity holidays or events.

Rare albino dolphin caught by the Japanese will not be killed

Japanese fishermen chanced upon a pod of dolphins in a shallow cove in Taiji, Wakayama, central Japan. There were 12 dolphins and they killed 11 of them but spared a rare albino. They have captured it and transferred it into a small holding pen where they are trying to tame it and teach it to eat dead fish and adapt to human interaction.
They expect to sell the albino dolphin for at least £300,000 for being displayed in captivity. This has been revealed by the members of the Sea Shepherd conservationist group. These campaigners are trying to stop the controversial annual hunt of the dolphins in the town, as well as the sale of the mammals to aquariums.
It seems these rare, beautiful, and unique animals will spend the rest of their days confined to small tanks and will have to perform tricks for their food.
This controversial hunt takes place annually between September and March in Taiji, Japan and, while most of them are killed for their meat, some are sold live to aquariums around the world.
In the opinion of the Sea Shepherd group, the dolphins do not belong to Japan but to the ocean – and, since the beginning of the latest hunting season, 15 pods of dolphins have been slaughtered in the cove by Japanese fishermen accounting for the death of over 170 dolphins.
Moreover, during a four-day period in January the fishermen of Taiji had selected 52 dolphins for sale into captivity, slaughtered 41 for meat, and subsequently drove the surviving pod members back out to sea.
Incidentally, the locals do not see anything wrong in killing dolphins – to them it is just another animal slaughtered for its meat.