Travel briefs
KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Looking for a fun way to wind up your summer before putting the beach towels away and sending the kids back to school? Here are some festivals scheduled for Labor Day weekend around the country.
The Kansas City Irish Fest, Aug. 29-31, bills itself as one of the largest Irish festivals in the country, attended by some 85,000 people last year. Dancers, artisans, story tellers, a children's area and more than two dozen musicians on five stages are all part of the fun. Hotel packages start at $99 a night and include two tickets to the festival. Admission is $10 a day, kids 12 and younger free; www.kcirish fest.com.
Seattle's Bumbershoot takes place Aug. 30-Sept. 1 with 1,500 musicians, visual artists, comedians and others at 20 indoor and outdoor venues around the Seattle Center. The contemporary music and urban arts festival will be headlined by Beck, Death Cab for Cutie and the Stone Temple Pilots. Admission is $35 a day, children 10 and younger free; www.bumbershoot.org.
In Los Angeles, the Sweet and Hot Jazz Festival will be held Aug. 29-Sept. 1, featuring big band, traditional jazz, swing and Dixieland. Over 200 musicians will perform at 175 scheduled events in eight venues with four dance floors at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel. Ticket prices vary; admission starts at $25; www.SweetHot.org.
The Bass Mountain Bluegrass Festival, Aug. 29-31, is held in Burlington, N.C. In addition to the music, you'll find camping, fishing, hiking, horse-drawn wagon rides and more. Free camping is available for weekend ticket holders. Admission starts at $15. Daily ticket prices vary; www.bassmountain.com.
BURBANK, Calif. -- Adventures by Disney is adding eight new destinations to its list of family tours, including Alaska, the Galapagos Islands and South Africa.
Other new trips include Italy and Switzerland (Stresa, Zermatt and Lake Lucerne); Boston, Newport, R.I., and New York City; Sorrento and Florence in Central Italy; Lake Tahoe, Yosemite National Park and San Francisco; and Glacier National Park in Montana and Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. The South Africa trip includes Cape Town and a safari at the Kapama Game Reserve.
The new itineraries will be available beginning in the spring of 2009.
Also new next year will be a more luxurious version of the standard itinerary on the South Africa and Yosemite trips. These Disney Signature Trips will offer upgraded accommodations, amenities and special events.
The company will also be offering some of the same trips as last year, with itineraries that include Western Europe, the Czech Republic and Austria, Costa Rica, Peru, China and Australia.
Prices are based primarily on when you book and when you travel. Vacations start at $2,429 per adult (based on double occupancy) for the seven-night ''Spirit of America'' tour of Philadelphia, Washington and Williamsburg, Va. Early booking rates may be available when booking at least 90 days in advance, discounted to $2,129 on the same itinerary.
Details at www.Adventuresby Disney.com or (877) 728-7282.
NAIROBI, Kenya -- The number of tourists to Kenya dropped by more than a third in the first half of the year, a top tourism official said, blaming deadly post-election violence.
More than 1,000 people were killed in the protests and violence that followed the disputed presidential elections last December, prompting some governments to warn their citizens against traveling to the East African nation.
President Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga, who was named prime minister, signed a power-sharing deal in February to bring an end to the clashes. But the turmoil cost Kenya -- which relies on tourism to its famed wildlife safaris, beaches and other attractions -- up to $1 billion, officials said.
About 561,000 tourists visited Kenya in the first half of 2008, compared with more than 873,000 visitors for the same period in 2007 -- a 36 percent drop.
Many tourists canceled trips between January and March -- Kenya's high season -- and the first six months of the year saw a 32 percent drop compared to last year.
Kenya Tourist Board Marketing Director Jennifer Opondo predicted it will take Kenya a year and a half to recover. She said the board will spend $19.2 million on marketing in key countries such as Britain, Germany and the U.S.
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- The Mesker Park Zoo in southern Indiana has opened a new $13 million Amazon rain forest exhibit.
Zoo officials cut a vine, rather than a ribbon, to officially open the 10,000-square-foot exhibit, which includes a jaguar, squirrel monkeys and other South American animals and plants.
The zoo also opened a new $2 million entrance area. Details at www.meskerparkzoo.com.
AP