Paris Outside of France
No not talking about Paris Hilton, but a hotel and casino in Nevada, America, bears the name Paris Las Vegas.

The hotel on the Las Vegas Strip prominently displays its theme, which is, what else but the capital city of Paris in France.

For instance there is a half sized replica of the Eiffel Tower, and a scaled down version of the triumphal arch, Arc de Triomphe.

The front of the hotel’s building is reminiscent of the French architectural masterpiece: the Paris Opera House, and of one of the most visited museums in the world, the Louvre.

Paris Las Vegas is owned by American company Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc (listed on the NYSE: HET), which is the largest gaming company in the world.

Tourism of Paris (the city, not the hotel) has grown to the position where it is the most popular tourist destination in the world.

The city has branded itself for being romantic and stylish while housing quite a few of the world’s most iconic landmarks.

According to infoplease.com, France was the most visited tourist destination in 2006 and ranked number 4 in the World’s Top Ten Country Brands.

With regard to my earlier post about a hotel in Australia with the suffix Maldives, there are a few points to consider in light of all this.

The name ‘Paris Las Vegas’ indicates where the hotel is, so the issue of ‘Which Paris?’ does not arise.

Which brings us to the question of whether ‘Paris’ is a brand.

If so, in naming the hotel, did the owners of Paris Las Vegas get permission from France to have the city’s name in their hotel’s name, and did France give it?

What was the reaction in France after another country named a hotel after their most famous city?

Did France do anything about it?

Also see:
A Maldives in Australia

There’s A Maldives In Australia?
If you want to spend a night in Maldives, then head to Australia.

That is if you want to holiday in Breakfree Maldives, a hotel in the Gold Coast that has been named after the popular Indian Ocean tourist destination.

According to The Australian, apparently some people have mistaken this hotel with the actual Maldives.

The 4 star hotel is located really close to the golden sands of the Main Beach, so it does some justice to being named after the country with the world’s best beaches.

So is there a trend here? What other establishments around the world have actually got Maldives in their brand names?

Exhaustive searches yielded no results of a hotel with the name Maldives, outside of, well, Maldives.

So for the moment, both the country and the hotel in Australia are unique, each in their own sense.

Also see:
There’s A Paris In America Too 

Interactive Classrooms In The Islands

Students and teachers in the islands in Maldives are in for a new experience as they are being taught with the virtual learning environments provided by the new Teacher Resource Centres (TRCs).

Interactive learning is brought to the forefront in this new project, aimed at helping children become more actively involved in their learning.

Smart boards in classes now allow students to manipulate images on the screen just with their hands.

Teachers can also bring up colourful images to illustrate their lessons and make them more fun and interesting.

All of this is possible due to increased broadband connectivity across the country.

The teacher resource centres are in effect one learning community, which will bring together administrators and teachers from all over the country.

The TRCs, one in each of the 20 administrative atolls, are linked together by a dedicated website and a virtual learning environment.

The website lets teachers search for materials for their next lessons and communicate with teachers in different atolls.

The virtual learning environment lets up to 400 teachers to be trained at the same time by taking part in an online course.

This is a big breakthrough in education for the country in the Indian Ocean, as nearly 80 per cent of teacher training costs are related to transportation.

The TRCs will reach out facilities and educational opportunities to teachers and students who were previously hard to reach.

The TRC initiative is part of a programme run by the Ministry of Education and UNICEF to bring an improved quality of education to every Maldivian child.

Education In Maldives

The education system in the Maldives is being driven towards being more child centred through active learning.

Child friendly learning is now effective in all registered pre-schools and over a hundred primary schools across the country.

Maldives has always stressed on providing quality primary and secondary eduation that will promote individual potential of each student.

Maldives Wins Over Malaysia 1-0

Maldives national team won 1-0 against Malaysia’s under 23 in a friendly match in KL on Saturday.

Maldives Captain Assad Abdul Ghani scored the winning goal in the 46th minute by heading the ball into the corner of the net.

“This is the second time that we have lost to the Maldives off a corner kick.” said assistant coach of the Malaysian team, Sheikh Ahmad Saki.

Some 500 football fans gathered in the Petaling Jaya City Council Stadium to watch the first friendly for Malaysia’s team.

Maldives World Rankings

Maldives ranks in at 174 in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings as of October 2007.

This is down 9 positions from 165 in September 2007.

The highest FIFA ranking the country got is 126 which was in July 2006 and the lowest was in August 1997 when the rank was at 193.

FIFA calculates the average position of Maldives at 154.

Links
Official Website for Football Association of Maldives
Also check Maldives Football News blog

US Dollar Not As Accepted Now In Maldives As Dollar Weakens

According to the VisitMaldives website, the most commonly used currency for tourists in the Maldives is the US Dollar. This is because the currency is convenient for visitors to use.

But apparently now the dollar is not as widely accepted in the country now, an unusual trend for the country, considering that the local monetary unit, the Rufiyaa tends to do worse in the global market.

While small nations like the Maldives cannot decide the fate of the mighty Dollar, the more these countries start skirting wide of the dollar, the greater the challenge that the US faces.

At the moment the conversion of 1 US Dollar is 12.79 Maldivian Rufiyaa.

Maldives Best Brand For Beaches & Relaxation

The Maldives ranks first in this year’s World’s Best Country Brands Index for Beaches and Rest & Relaxation.

Tahiti and Bahamas followed the Maldives in both these categories.

The small island nation in the Indian Ocean also came in second in Resort and Lodgings and third in Natural Beauty.

United Arab Emirates beat Maldives in Resort and Lodgings while New Zealand and Australia placed higher in Natural Beauty.

Australia earned the coveted spot of the world’s top country brand, followed by US and UK.

The Country Brand Index is a comprehensive study of international travelers through conducting research to explore new trends and themes in each category.

Maldives Holds Summit To Combat Climate Change

More than 20 small island states have gathered in the Maldives on Tuesday for a summit against climate change.

The Male’ Summit will address the threat to their existence cause by rising water levels and will discuss a policies to counter climate change.

A new concept of ‘human dimension‘ will also be introduced to see how climate change like global warming will affect individuals and their rights and liberties.

Maldives President calls for a unified position on all issues relating to climate change while speaking at the summit’s inauguration ceremony.

Effects of global warming is of deep concern to low lying Maldives as rising sea levels threaten the existence of the country.

Soneva Fushi resort and Six Senses Spa voted second greenest in the world

Maldivian hotel, Soneva Fushi resort and Six Senses Spa has come in second in Travel + Leisure list of 15 green hotels.

The list appeared in the magazine’s November issue, which was devoted to “responsible tourism”.

Maldives has always had a policy of sustainable tourism, with stringent measures to protect the natural balance of the islands.

Soneva Fushi has taken this one step further and is planning to cut greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy consumption, increasing energy efficiency and implementing renewable energy schemes.

Soneva Fushi Resort and Six Senses Spa have received international recognition for their environmental efforts, including Kuoni’s “Green Planet Award” in 2007.

Developing countries make green hotel list

It is interesting to note that the top three hotels in the list are from developing countries, with the first from Grenada and Sri Lanka coming in at third.

There are also a lot of hotels from such countries in the list, which shows that these countries are taking heed of preserving and sustaining the environment.

As such, ecotourism seems to be a viable option to them to sustainably continue towards development.