America Inc.'s Volkswagen today made an announcement that the company has associated with Carbonfund.org to neutralise one year of carbon emission from each new vehicle that Volkswagen will be selling in the US between September 1, 2007 and January 2, 2008.

Adrian Hallmark, executive vice president, Volkswagen of America said, "We developed this partnership to help bring our customers to the forefront of environmental initiatives:.

Hallmark also said, "Vehicles are an important and necessary part of our society, but there are actions we can all take to help ensure a cleaner environment for future generations".

In order to help offset their carbon footprint, a range of trees have been planted at the agricultural arm of a Bridgwater College by twenty families who have earlier entered an environmental competition at the college. This initiative was taken by the college department to make them more aware about environmental problems.

The families went to the Cannington Centre for Land-Based Studies for planting a variety of native British trees, an accolade for their green awareness in the event held at the Royal Bath and West Show earlier this summer.

It is no wonder that drives for planting trees, reducing the carbon through vehicles, and similar issues are picking up in UK, and more and more people are showing great interest in this issue. The Cannington Centre for Land-Based studies showed a similar interest and it is no wonder that it received a good response to its initiative from many British families.

A drive intended to help fleet operators to cut down their carbon footprint has been launched by Masternaut. The drive is directly intended to boost the fundamental question that is put forth almost all over the world-reducing carbon emission or compensating it by offsetting the amount of carbon issues into the environment by any company or organisation.

The GreenerFleet system of the vehicle tracking company includes technical developments which are pledging to further enhance the environmental efficiency of the fleets in the UK to reduce the danger to the environment through carbon.

The vehicle tracking company is also on its way to develop a live carbon calculator. The new calculator will evaluate the known carbon amount per kilometer for each vehicle and relate it with its real vehicle mileage tracking system. It will provide the carbon footprint figures for each vehicle and driver on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Through this valuable calculator, everyone would be able to know what amount of carbon his/her vehicle is issuing into the environment. This calculator would definitely propel the drivers to reduce the carbon emission and also to offset it by means of tree plantation.

With the introduction of two beautiful short-term let apartments, the visitors to Edinburgh now have chance to enjoy the five star luxury and style without the confined tradition of hotel living.

The apartments which are in the heart of the capital's city centre will offer luxury short term lets for those who want to enjoy the beauty of city's Georgian New Town without staying in a hotel.

According to Colette Murphy, who is the director of Edinburgh's most prestigious letting company Braemore, visitors are offered a complete city centre home with the two and a three bedroom apartments at 15 and 15a Dundas Street for the same cost a boutique hotel room.

A climate change summit will be hosted by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council on Friday 14 September. Working together to cut down the carbon footprint of the region and making plans for the effects of the intense weather will be at the top of the agendas in the summit. Such summits are going to discuss the hottest topics of tourism industry, namely, carbon offsetting.

At the 'Climate Change summit which will be held at Civic Offices in Basingstoke, experiences and ideas will be shared by the businesses and local environmental and community groups.

In the morning session at the summit, a presentation presenting the relative importance of business on the climate change will be given by Scott Wilson, an international consultancy company based in Basingstoke.

Beachcroft has also joined the movement of carbon footprint, promising a further five per cent reduction in its carbon emissions. In the legal market, the establishment already has one of the lowest carbon impressions.

During the last financial year, it produced 4,526 tonnes of carbon dioxide(CO2), comparable to 7.9 tonnes per lawyer.

The footprint of Beachcroft is only defeated by Addleshaw Goddard, for which it was 5.7 tonnes per lawyer.

While introducing biofuels in planes still remains far, concrete steps are being taken by the airline industry to bring down carbon footprint and fuel consumption. Striking a positive note, Boeing is experimenting the ways to give a momentum to the biofules revolution. However, the challenge remains in substantially shrinking the environmental footprint of jets without overhauling the existing airplane fleet on the globe.

Bill Glover, Boeing's environmental strategy director remarked, "Two years ago we were quite skeptical of this whole area, because we thought there were too many challenges. Then we started to see a few things we hadn't seen before, people entering the field looking at alternatives, all kinds of feedstock."

In partnership with Virgin Atlantic and engine maker GE Aviation, the company has planned to fly a biofuel-propelled 747 sometime next year. This going to be a major step for green tourism.

With major renovations of a restaurant and bar in one of its principal London properties, Hilton Hotel is on the mission to sustain the sports bar format. This endeavour is costing about £900,000 to the firm. With new colors, the Fiamma Sports Bar & Restaurant is opening on 1 September, presenting a classic ambience.

Avner On, The hotel's general manager observed, "With over 1,000 bedrooms, we're one of London's largest hotels and we need a venue which caters for everyone's tastes and provides a place for guests and visitors to unwind. There is a real buzz when you enter our hotel and Fiamma is a great part of that atmosphere – once it reopens we'll have a superb range of eating and drinking experiences including the Lounge Bar, Caffe Cino and Nippon Tuk restaurant."

The interior designing is accomplished by Jestico & Whiles. The bar and restaurant are separated from each other offering a diversified choice of seating comprising an alcove, sofa and bar areas, all set in to provide a contemporary feel. The highlight will be the Hilton Breakfast in the morning with two buffets comprising 140 delicacies. The wine section is enhanced with more variety of drinks and snacks.

With Recycle becoming UK's national campaign to persuade personal environmental action, people are urged to recycle all their holiday brochures once they return after a vacation. A survey estimates that over 180 million holiday brochures are distributed to Brits every year, which can easily stretch three times from London to Australia when placed end to end.

At the verge of summer, lot of Brits may be deciding to dispose last year's brochures before planning their next trip. The organization 'Recycle' stresses that rather than just dumping the old brochures in bins, it is important to recycle them.

Commenting on the issue, Recycle's public relations head, Amanda Barry Hirst remarked, "It's now easier than ever to book online but if you do need to pick up a brochure then think how it can be recycled or reused once finished. The simplest is for holidaymakers to take advantage of their easy and convenient doorstep recycling service or drop them off at their nearest recycling centre."

With the firm extending its carbon offset scheme, even the owners of older Land Rovers can now join the scheme. Through offsetting, the producers of carbon dioxide are given the opportunity to invest in schemes like tree planting, which will eventually contribute to neutralize the effect of carbon emission. Acclaimed to comprise some of the potential steps to save the environment, recently offsetting is becoming popular among reputed vehicle companies, many of which have already implemented this programme intensively.

Coming into effect with the 2007 model range, Land Rover has already committed itself to offset the first 45,000 miles of motoring of all vehicles it sells. In a significant move, the company has extended this scheme to welcome even the owners of the older models of Land Rover.

It is not a doubt now that all major companies of the world very keen to launch programmes that can help in carbon offsetting.

As announced by FIFA this Sunday, in 2009, the United Arab Emirates is hosting the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Dubai. The announcement highlights the fact that Dubai is emerging as the sporting capital of the Middle East. 

Jérôme Valcke, the General secretary of FIFA has also told that the 2008 competition will be hosted by France at the city of Marseille. Quite interestingly, this is the first time in the history of the event that it is held outside its birthplace of Brazil.

The chairman and chief executive of the Emirates Airline group is an official partner of FIFA who remarked, "Dubai is the perfect choice as the venue for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2009, it is through the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, that the infrastructure is in place for the city to be able to hold an event of this magnitude. Emirates is very pleased that the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup will take place on our home soil in 2009 and will provide any support necessary to make this a unique experience for all football fans from all over the world."

With a sponsorship from AquaCity Resort, owned by the British government, Slovakia, Europe's popular environmental friendly holiday destination is to host the globe's first ever carbon neutral rally this weekend on Friday, 31st August and Saturday, 1st September.

Incidentally, during the past seven years, this is the first time when a sport is allowed on the protected terrains of High Tetras. Setting the Slovak Rally Championship on ethical grounds, AquaCity resort has contributed the surplus of its carbon savings to this event to offset carbon emissions during the event. Environment friendly vehicles, conventionally powered hotels, and the green conference complex are the highlights of the event.

Mr. Jan Telensky, the owner and CEO, commented "AquaCity is virtually self-powered, using geothermal water and solar power, saving around 27 tonnes of carbon emissions from entering the atmosphere each day. AquaCity was built to show the world that being green can still be affordable, enjoyable and luxurious. We're notionally donating our carbon saving to the `Tempus Rally' for the duration of the event to demonstrate that being green doesn't have to totally take the enjoyment out of life. Even an apparently non-eco event like a rally could still take place if major carbon savings were to be made in other areas, such as we do every day at AquaCity. By working closely with AquaCity, it's not just the drivers who will be winners at the end of August, it's the planet too".

The ever first "cosy bike" of Scotland is ferrying the roads of Edinburgh at speeds of up to five miles per hour. Engineered by a 31 year old former theater technician, the bike's design attracted Iain Urquhart, the Edinburgh businessman, who right away got one shipped from Germany. The seven-person cycle has now altered Iain Urquhart's desire to set up a mountain biking company. The maker claims this as the perfect way to go around the city's parks and promenades.

Iain Urquhart remarked, "Its real name is a conference bike, but it seemed a bit too formal. I call it a cosy bike as it's a very friendly and sociable bike to ride. It was originally designed by an American artist living in Amsterdam, but a German company made it a bit more elegant and streamlined. This is the first time one is available in Edinburgh. There are about 200 around the world, but only four in the UK. A lot of them are in theme parks. I'm hoping to hire it out for all sorts of events. It's great fun for parties and weddings, as well as festivals and parades."

Cosy bike can seat seven people with independent pedal sets with one controlling the steering. Mr Urquhart has decided to enter cosy bike hiring business fulltime. The rent would be £100 per hour with discounts for charity events. With exciting design and no emission, cosy bikes are sure in enthusing tourists and environmentalists.

The biggest flower tapestry of the UK has been designed for a wonderful show in a Suffolk market town. In the Abbey Gardens, Bury St Edmunds, the largest floral carpet measuring 750 square metres was created using an unbelievable 350,000 begonia flower heads.

The volunteers from the Lions Club of Stowmarket and District are hoping that the Old MacDonald themed show will generate a sum of thousands of pounds for the charity.

The flowers used in the carpet are leftovers from the gardening businesses in Belgium. These were collected on Wednesday night to bring over to Suffolk.
 
Over one hundred people, including those having a relation to the club, were involved in the massive arrangement operation.

In order to ensure the safety of the swimmers, the beaches of Cape Town are to get 160 additional lifeguards.

The city is planning to extend its alliance with the Western Province Surf Lifesaving Association. The alliance to provide the lifeguards was created two years ago. The Mayoral Committee is to put forward the approval for the extension of the partnership for a further term of three years.

Counsellor Grant Haskin, Mayoral Committee Member for Amenities and Sport said, "This will give WPSLA greater certainty for a longer period and is an expression of our confidence in WPSLA. They will now be able to embark on a long term training and development strategy for clubs and their individual surf lifesavers".

According to Fiona Luhrs, Tourism Industry Association Chief Executive, the increasing consumer awareness of environmental affairs offers a promising opportunity for the tourism industry of New Zealand.

Two-thousand organisations and businesses are represented by The Tourism Industry Association within the tourism industry.

The members that are included are: accommodation providers, airlines, airport operators, inbound tour companies, providers of tourism services, regional tourism organisations, rental car, coach and taxi operators and training organizations.

Artsfest is the grandest free arts festival of UK that one cannot afford to miss. The event shall house more than 25 hours of live performances by more than 400 performers in addition to an amazing street art theater and over 32 locations projecting the best scenes of the West Midlands art. It is going to be gala affair!

The Big Birmingham weekend is a perfect event for families to take a break and enjoy a range of diversified fun and celebration. The various highlights of the event shall extend from Indie bands to Inspiring art, Comedy on the bmibaby beach to Classical Fantasia with the CBSO, Ballet to Bhangra, Samba music to the Short Cuts Film Festival, Jasper Carrot at the walk of stars and unending hours of fun, frolic, and appeasing entertainment. A comprehensive set of activities are there in the festival.

Most importantly, this year marks the tenth anniversary of the most popular Artsfest big weekend at Birmingham. All the events of the Birmingham's Big Weekend shall trigger off with a whole night of live music on Friday night. The events of Friday night will also include Indie invasion night at Centenary Square entitled "Made in the Midlands". There will be big blasts and chart topping acts with enthralling sound, light and fire extravaganza for the evening. Surprisingly, one of the displaying artists of the evening marking the beginning of Artsfest is going to be the twice nominee Richard Wilson.

An expert report for Transport Scotland, a government agency maintains that to offset road traffic pollution at Scotland, a forest not less than the size of Edinburgh needs to be planted every year. The report observes that the idea of planting trees to soak up the climate-wrecking fumes of vehicles is not practical. The report does not see the viability of the previous Executive's plan to cultivate trees on the roadside verges in a move to protect the environment. Considering all the verges are planted with trees, only 17% of the problem can be combated.

More than one million tonnes of carbon is emitted by vehicles on the roads, which would require trees on 244 square kilometers area, the area equal to the size of Edinburgh. The report comments, "This will only offset emissions for one year and the trees will need to be maintained for all time."

According to the environmentalists, mass-tree planting is an inadequate and unreliable way of offsetting traffic pollution. Head of policy at Friends of the Earth Scotland, Stuart Hay observed, "It is a dangerous distraction from making real carbon savings. Planting more trees along our roads might help to hide the government's failure to tackle growing traffic levels, but will do little, if anything, to offset rising emissions."

A new survey released recently rates Norwich among some of the smallest carbon footprints in Britain. After a month long tour across the nation investigating the size of carbon footprints at households, the data released by Powergen Carbon Shoe Shine tour shows that in an average, the carbon footprints of Norwich amounts to 5.1 tonnes per year, which is almost half of the carbon released at the cities of Birmingham and Nottingham measuring 12.2 tonnes and 12.1 tonnes respectively.

Besides experimental data collection, the Carbon Shoe Shine tour of Powergen also was engaged in providing energy efficiency advice to over 4,000 people throughout July while visiting airports, town centres and railway stations at Norwich. The principal aim of this tour was to educate the general public regarding the ways of reducing their impact on the environment. Quite interestingly, the tour made use of a specially designed chair to measure people's carbon footprint besides offering them a shoeshine.
 
A poll of shopkeepers rated the city of Norwich as the greenest city in UK. The residents of the city are found to take active interest in buying more amounts of green goods than the residents of any other city of UK.

The national average of green goods buyers is 63pc while the same is found to be 79pc at Norwich, even as the people having to spend £260 more than their annual budgets. The survey also observes that Norwich people spend considerable time helping the environment.

It is time now to give a send off to paper airline tickets. The body supervising the distribution of air tickets has announced that no more paper tickets will be issued from next year. Placing its last order for paper tickets, The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said that the last batch of paper tickets would be distributed to over 60,000 travel agents for the last time. It is also confirmed that with effect from June 1, 2008, tickets will be issued only through electronic mode.

Commenting on this interesting move, the IATA's Director General and CEO, Giovanni Bisignani remarked, "This is 'last call' for paper tickets. E-ticketing went from 16 per cent in June 2004 to 84 per cent today. And in just 277 more days the paper ticket will become a collector's item."

Giovanni Bisignani also added, "We are changing an industry with tangible benefits for travellers, agents, airlines and the environment. Consumers enjoy the convenience and flexibility of paperless travel. Agents have the opportunity to broaden the scope of their business and serve their customers remotely."

This year's Greenwich Open House weekend on Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 September will let open a range of Maritime Greenwich's wonderful iconic buildings and awesome hidden treasures of architecture, which are otherwise not open to general public. This event will provide an occasion to appreciate amazing architecture and urban development. The list of these sites will include museums, educational centers, entertainment spots, historic houses, and a hospital located in and around the World Heritage Site and places inside the Royal Naval College.

On both the days of the event, visitors can join the guided tour and view the Admiral's House, Jacobean Undercroft, Victorian Skittle Alley, Nelson Room exhibition and Samuel Pepy's accomplishments in the Painted Hall. However, the famous courts designed by Sir Christopher Wren like King Charles, King William, Queen Anne and Queen Mary can be visited only on Sunday.

Among the other sites opening for the event, the notable one at the National Maritime Museum is the Caird maritime reference library. The interior rotunda entrance designed by Lutyens, a collection of 15,000 rare books and manuscripts and the oak lined reading room are unique features of this library. The other important sites available for the visitors are the Ranger's House, Dreadnought Library and St Alfege Church.

London based Bedouin Paths, an ethical tourism company, is introducing quality hiking tours in Sinai, Egypt. To benefit the local community, the company has decided to make use of a considerable amount of the profit of this endeavour to offer English classes for the children of Bedouin; besides developing the Wadi huts in the mountains. The website 'Bedouinpaths.com' was launched on August 7 and the hikes are to begin in early October.

There are options of seven, 10 or 14 day hikes on Sinai Mountains or the surrounding deserts. The desert hike is of 150 km going through the stunning desert and landscape of Sinai. For people who want to rest their legs, camel rides are also available. The hike will follow the path of Moses with overnight stay at the oasis and a look at the ruins of historic times. The mountain hike is a challenging one through the ancient monastery of St Catherine besides the mountains of Sinai and St Catherine. Hikers will have to swim the rock pools and enjoy the sights of ancient Byzantine ruins, mountain panorama and the campfires at night. The hikes are made extremely special with a lot of local input.

"Our hikes are specially designed by those with extensive local knowledge, and our customers not only have a once-in-a-lifetime experience but also get to help the people they meet along the way," said Mark Knutton, founder and owner of Bedouin Paths.

As the first ever Carbon Neutral car rental company, for the past eight years Avis is working in close quarters with The CarbonNeutral Company, which was known as Future Forests earlier. Without just shouting the slogans of environmental protection, the practical moves of Avis to reduce the amount of CO2 emitted by its vehicles and offsetting unavoidable emissions through adequate climate-friendly and forestry projects have been greatly applauded among several reputed circles.

Everywhere across Europe, Avis is already a CarbonNeutral company. In addition, during the past eight years, the company has also offset 94,500 tons of CO2. Quite innovatively, the company provides an option to its customers to offset the footprints of their car rental by paying just £1. During last year, about 23% customers have valued this option.

Daniel McCarthy, the Commercial Director of Avis UK remarked, "There is board-level commitment to reducing the environmental impact of Avis' operation. Further to our efforts over the past decade, we are putting formal programmes and initiatives in place to meet more stringent targets this year and into the future."

The quest of Virgin Atlantic to emerge as the first commercial carrier to make use of bio-fuels for giving power to its aircraft could be the motivation required to pick up the potential in the alternative energy sector of Kenya.

A test flight on bio-fuel has been scheduled by Virgin Atlantic in early 2008.

In June, the owner of the airline, Richard Branson has also committed Sh210 billion for the research into environmentally-friendly energy resources.

Summer has finally come and this Bank Holiday, Bristol is going to witness some hot summer savings, an order of breathtaking events, outdoor activities and great attractions, says a message from Destination Bristol, the tourism body for Bristol and South Gloucestershire.

Destination Bristol has created special pages on the website, Visitbristol.co.uk, the city's tourism site dedicated to the summer breaks

"The site features some great suggestions for summer holiday fun, as well as an abundance of savings and special offers for both residents and tourists alike", said Kerrie Grist, Marketing Executive, Destination Bristol.

Another award was added to the name of White, Hilton Auckland's award winning restaurant, after it was named as one of the Great Hotel Restaurants of the World for 2007 by HOTELS Magazine.

John Ingram, General Manager Hilton Auckland, said, "To be recognized along side some of the world's great hotel restaurants is a great achievement, a milestone to be truly proud of".

The HOTELS Magazine, which is published by Reed Business Information in the USA, is considered as the leading magazine of the hospitality industry.

The L.E.K. Carbon Footprint Report issued by L.E.K. Consulting said that more than half of the consumers in the UK are demanding information about the carbon footprint of what they are purchasing. The report also said that about half of the UK customers would shift to the brands with lesser carbon footprints, even if it is not their first choice.

About 46 per cent of those questioned would rate the details about the carbon footprints of a product while buying the product; and about 44 per cent would shift to the product or service with a smaller carbon footprint.

Another twenty per cent of the respondents would visit a less convenient retail shop to get such products.

The walkers participating in a trek to spread awareness about the climate change across Britain visited Derby yesterday. The participants have been attracted by the Christian Aid hike from as far away as Brazil and Congo.

The walkers' group left Northern Ireland on July 14. It is expected that after completing visits to as many places in Britain as possible, the group will arrive in London on 2nd October.

After leaving Bakewell and yesterday morning, the group passed though Belper, Duffield and Whatstandwell.

The opening of the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool has marked the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade designated by UNESCO. It is the first museum of its type in the whole of UK.

The newly opened museum features lively, powerful and exciting shows related to the story of the transatlantic slave trade, uncovering the generally buried account of the injustice to the Africa as well as Africans.

The displays are addressing the tradition of transatlantic slavery-contemporary and historic. These displays reflect the issues which find relevance with Britain today, as well as Africa, the Americas, the Caribbean and Western Europe.

A survey says that an increasing number of the UK's holidaymakers spend most of their holidays on two wheels. The awareness about green tourism is increasing among the UK holidaymakers.

According to analysts Mintel, Brits took 450,000 cycling breaks in 2006, an increase of 30 per cent from the last year's figures. The report also said that in 2006, UK holidaymakers spent around £120m on such breaks, with the arrival of Tour de France in England developing interest.

"Britain is becoming a nation of cycling enthusiasts", said Richard Cope, senior travel consultant at Mintel.

This year, millions of UK's motorists will be taking to the roads for enjoying their holidays. Several of them are planning to cover even longer distances.

The latest figures show that during 2006, nearly 9.2 million people opted for car holidays. The main reasons that caused taking driving holidays include: airport security checks, convenience, delays, overall cost and the environment.

The study that is conducted by insurance company Zurich shows that almost a quarter of the drivers are ready to take epic drives of over 750 miles. It also shows that around twenty per cent feel happy to take a drive of 15 hours or more to reach their destination.

The top 10 beaches for beachcombing in the UK have been announced by cottages4you-the UK's top provider of holiday cottages, in association with Qualitycoast.org.

In addition, an online beachcombing guide that includes the tips has also been put together by the company.

It is believed that the drive initiated by Miranda Krestovnikoff - BBC presenter of Coast and zoologist, with the support of Cathy Yow - the world champion beachcomber, will be helpful in promoting holidaying in the UK.

With the start of a seaplane service from August 7, which will be operating from the heart of the city centre, Glasgow joined counterparts Seattle, Sydney and Vancouver. Now, tourists can fly to Oban in the stunning West Highlands of Scotland in just 24 minutes.

The newly launched service is the only regular seaplane service flying from the centre of a city in Europe.

The service is a major attraction for people coming to Glasgow. It will allow them to enjoy a comfortable return day trip into the Highlands.

The official opening of Scotland's most expensive new spa at the De Vere Deluxe Resort at Cameron House on the Banks of Loch Lomond took place on 22nd of August.

The newly inaugurated Spa, a £10 million facility will be competing with the top destination spas around the world.

The beautiful scenes across the Loch Lomond to Ben Lomond in the distance make the new Spa an ideal place for giving rest to body as well as mind. The location is also perfect for getting away from disordered schedule of one's life.

Dreamlike auto creations will fill the streets of Manchester after it stages the UK's first Art Car Parade on Saturday, the 8th September. The Art Car Parades are famous in the US, with the biggest, Art Car Parade in Houston.

Every year, up to two hundred and fifty decorated vehicles are being showcased in Texas, and that attracts more than 200,000 fans.
 
Michael Trainor, Curator of Art Cars 2007, said, "An Art Car is a drivable installation – any vehicle which has been re-imagined, restyled, remodelled, or completely metamorphosed by an artist".

Trainor added, "Vehicles can be decorated, sculpted, adorned, illuminated or bejewelled to create 'transports of delight' in the shape of cars, trucks, bikes, mobility scooters or even pedal or solar-powered contraptions".
 
The Art Car Parade in Manchester will be starting in the Cathedral Gardens at 11 am where the visitors will be able to meet the vehicle owners. The public can also see the twenty-nine entrants that are being made ready for a parade through the city centre, which will take place at 2pm.

In the month of September, over 300 volunteers, two orchestras and the bells of St Paul's Cathedral will unite to produce a wonderful premiere performance equal to Tate Modern of London.

A part of the UBS Openings of the gallery: Live series, the concert will take place on the fourteenth day of September. It will be the first performance of Maritime Rites in the UK by Alvin Curran-the American artist and composer.

From a barge in the center of the Thames, the American artist and composer will himself will play a synthesizer/keyboard.

'The camping capital of United Kingdom', is the new name that Hampshire has received, thanks to a number of joyous campers who return to basics for an inexpensive and pleasant holiday in the region.

In a survey by Yell.com, the soaring number of campers asking for Hampshire has brought in the county the title of the campers' favourite destination: whether it is beneath the canvas or in the comfort of a caravan.

Moreover, in spite of the summer flooded with rain, the campers in their droves are making their headway to drop in.

Anticipations of a delayed summer weekend in the sunshine seem to cause a blockage of several roads from today noon as the nation is set to its traditional bank holiday travels in the month of August.

Very long queues of extra skeptical holidaymakers are also expected at the airports and ferry terminals. The fears of travel disruption due to flooding have also been lifted, including the previous warnings of floods in the rivers in the Fens. The Highways Agency has also suspended nearly half of its large-scale road works.

But still there are 39 blockages left that are affecting almost 94 miles of motorway and roads. The same will also be applicable around large weekend attractions, including the twinned music festivals in Reading and Leeds.

A £1 million boost has been announced by the government for the rural economy of Britain. The additional funding was announced by the Culture secretary James Purnell during a meeting with the tourism chiefs.

The funds will be used for the promotion of the businesses and the regions of England including attractions, caravan parks and B&Bs.

"Britain is open for business. Right acro