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tv   The Travel Show  BBC News  March 28, 2021 1:30pm-2:00pm BST

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really, and just kind of get out. it really makes you forget about the whole pandemic and everything that has been going on. volcanologists say they have no idea how long this eruption will last. it could be over in days or it may go on for decades. only mother nature knows. tim allman, bbc news. our director david this afternoon has been helping pronounce it. i won't risk it. i won't even ask matt taylor. of course, you could. we don't need to hear you do it. the weather we have to look forward to presumably will be a lot more temperate. some of you will be digging out your summer shorts in the next few days. much sunday sunshine around. here it is in the channel islands.
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north—east of scotland as well. for most it is cloudy, and it has been raining in north—west wales and north—west england. increasingly into northern ireland and scotland, lots of rain to come in the next few days. a blustery afternoon, but temperatures widely into the teens. rain returns at times to north england and north wales. thoroughly wet in western parts of scotland, particularly around the west island, but look at these temperatures on monday morning. 12 sent thirteens through the central strip. —— 12s and 13s through the central strip a bit of sunshine to northern scotland, but the club breaks up quite widely across central and southern parts of england and wales later, and just take a look — 20 celsius possible, could get warmer on tuesday. more in half an hour.
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hello, this is bbc news. the headlines:
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the un demands international action to stop what it calls a shocking wave of brutality against civilians in myanmar. ahead of a further easing of restrictions in england tomorrow, the culture secretary 0liver dowden says the country is on track and he hopes lifting of curbs will be "irreversible". but the national medical director for the nhs in england warns people not to "squander the gains" made against coronavirus ahead of restrictions easing on monday. the government says lorry drivers arriving in england from outside the uk will need to take a covid test within 48 hours and then one every 72 hours afterwards. prime minister borisjohnson is urged to "swiftly clarify" how many covid vaccine doses the uk is prepared to donate to poorer countries. the latest efforts to dislodge the ship that's stuck in the suez canal have failed — they'll try again today.
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now, on bbc news, the travel show meets the tourism professionals facing an uncertain future more than a year into the global pandemic. this week on the show, working in travel through a year of lockdown. we're doing a virtual livestream, and tonight we are focusing on the plague. seeing spain from the skies. and rebuilding zanzibar�*s house of wonders. it was famous for being an early adopter of electricity and the very first elevator in east africa was in this building. that is actually how it got its name all those years ago, the house of wonders. hello, and welcome to zanzibar.
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this is stonetown, zanzibar city's historic quarter, known for its atmosphere and the cause of that besides these really nice winding alleyways are the buildings. the architecture is from all over. there is an 0mani palace, an indian temple as well as styles left by european colonisers. however, the end of last year spelled disaster for one of the city's most famous buildings. more on that later. first, though... this week, the uk marked a full year since it first went into coronavirus lockdown, with a day of reflection, observed up and down the country, to commemorate the lives lost. for around 3 million people that work in britain's tourism industry, it has been a year of worry and uncertainty.
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initial reports suggest employment in the sector might have dropped by 10% last year, but with hundreds of thousands of vaccinations taking place each day and the prospect of restrictions easing in the weeks to come, we went to edinburgh to find out whether tours and professionals are hopefulfor the summer and how theirjobs have changed over the course of the pandemic. rajan tells us more. with its castle, its cobbled streets and the annual fringe, reportedly the world's biggest arts festival, the scottish capital attracts more visitors to the uk than any other city outside of london, which means it's been hit particularly hard by ongoing travel restrictions. below the royal mile, the main street in edinburgh's old town, one attraction is figuring out how to welcome visitors while keeping its doors closed. i'm kitty, i'm the guest experience
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manager here at the real mary king's close. we are in the heart of edinburgh. a lot of people think that we are underground, however that's technically not true. in 1753, and the royal exchange was built and they built it right on top of four tiny little streets. what this did, was it perfectly preserved the rooms, the houses and streets that we can still explore today. normally, this warren of passages and homes dating back to the 17th century draws around 250,000 visitors a year, but the pandemic has meant they have had to improvise. obviously we are closed so we can't open to the public but what we want to do is bring the close to people at home. we are doing a virtual live stream and tonight we are focusing on the plague. we are looking at the comparisons, specifically 1645 which was when the worst plague ever hit edinburgh and when you look at what we are going through today, it's quite unbelievable how similar
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it all is. the biggest one would be isolation, staying at home. if you thought you had the plague, if you were starting to feel a little bit sick, you'd hang a little white flag outside your house that basically said, "don't come near us, we've got the plague", and it would alert the right people to bring in food and beer because you couldn't go out to get your shop, so it's almost like your tesco delivery but in 1616. so we have just finished our dress rehearsal for the live event tonight and it's always exciting to get, especially when we have the close set up like this, it's not our day—to—day. there's always a bit of nerves in case you say something silly orforget your lines.
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good evening, and welcome to the real mary king's close. thank you for tuning in to be with us here tonight. the hour—long webcast has taken six people a month to prepare. but other tour companies have decided against these big online events. forth boat tours is a family—run business that have been operating cruises around the firth of forth since 2006. they've not organised virtual tours, saying they can't compare to the personal, physical experience. i think the main focus point here is the iconic forth rail bridge along at the end there, that's the one that people come to see. they travel from all over the world to come and join us to go on a trip underneath the rail bridge. pre—pandemic, they'd also expect thousands of visitors from within the uk, but their tours have only been able to operate for 13
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weeks over the past year. it's been a tough year to keep everything ticking over and to get everything and keeping up with new guidance to allow us to operate. i tend to spend a lot of my time out on the water between the tours here, dinghy sailing, paraboating, all of that has just stopped, it's just not happened. it's been difficult. with different parts of the uk opening up at different rates, some companies have expressed concern about their ability to attract staycationers. following announcements made last week, forth boat tours plan to open up again at the end of april, when it is still uncertain whether scotland will permit non—essential travel from the rest of britain. yeah, i'm excited to get in the water. i have some optimism about the summer, i hope that we will get staycations. i think it is really important that people get a summer of activity and they are allowed to go and explore further afield from where they are.
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it is a big shame that the international tourists, it's probable that it doesn't look like they will be back soon. the other thing that we have got that we use a lot here in the forth is cruise ships and i think they have been in limbo for a wee while too and hopefully they return soon as well because they play a big part in whojoins us on our tour. in the centre of the city, guesthouse owner vivian is feeling cautious about the next few months. she doesn't plan to open until mid—may despite restrictions lifting as early as april the 26. i don't see that there is going to be a return to normality for edinburgh this summer. i think people will only want to come to the city when they are guaranteed they can go for a pint around the corner or they can sit in the museum and take their time to look at things. the tattoo for example has said it is going ahead but the festival hasn't decided so i think people like to see what is going to happen from that. she has only been open five days over the past 12 months. guesthouses across scotland
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have called for more government support, after they were ruled and eligible for £6,000 top up grants, paid out to thousands of hospitality businesses, including restaurants and hotels. yes, i miss meeting get an visitors from all over the world, but it's hit me, financially, the hardest. money has been tight, funding from the government has been tight, it is my home as well as my business and i have still a mortgage to pay which i have had to pay every month, still, as well as all the bills that come with owning a house, owning a guesthouse. i'm not ready to throw the towel, i'm still fighting to keep alive and keep going with the business that i have which is a good business when it is open and this travellers here. i want the key thing to be taken
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away from this is to remember the resilience of the people of edinburgh. it is a really, really tough difficult time that they lived through... thanks again forjoining us tonight, folks. stay safe and be resilient. goodbye! smashed it! well done! it's a different type of excitement we are feeling just now, withheld of all these hours of work and research, but you are not getting that immediate reaction that you do with your guests when they are on site. and as a team we are looking forward to welcoming guests again. and the close is hoping to open again in mid—may a couple of weeks after edinburgh's accommodation, attractions and shops are set to reopen themselves on april the 26th. well, international travel
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is still months away for most of us. we are all watching those infection rates really carefully. in the meantime we have found some creative new ways for you to soothe your itchy feet and see a bit of the world from your couch. easter�*s coming up in april and normally thousands of pilgrims head straight for st peter's square in the vatican for the big services. last year they were live streamed as visitors were forbidden from going. but if you are more interested in the art and the history on show there, there are some great virtual tours available on the vatican museum's website including some rooms normally not open to the public. and just around the corner in rome, the mausoleum of augustus open earlier this month. it was built in 28
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bce and has been hidden for 100 years, largely overlooked. a few years back, ari went to see how the restoration work was progressing. it's hard to believe that in its heyday, these walls were three times higher than they are now and they were covered in white marble. of course, none of us can go there and visit yet but the team has spent a lot of time and effort putting together the story of the motherly, which is told ——the mausoleum which is told in an interactive timeline on their website. let's hope we can all go and visit soon. new york city is beginning to look ahead to a time when it can get its actors and musicians recording again. ny pops up is a festival of hundreds of surprise performances that began in february and will run until the tribeca film festival and june. the shows are unannounced and un— ticketed to stop too many people from gathering in one place and you will be able to catch some of them on the festival's instagram and facebook websites. and an annual
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highlight of the uk sporting calendar, the oxford—cambridge boat race takes place on the third of april, but not in its usual place on the thames and london. for social distancing reasons and because there are safety concerns at hammersmith bridge, it is all taking place behind closed doors at ely. the flat fenland there should provide some atmospheric backdrops to the race, but the big attraction in those parts is ely�*s enormous norman cathedral and, of course, its resident tour guide dave, who you'll find on the website. you must remember this is a mediaeval cathedral. it is out to get you. so mind your head. still to come on the travel show, we meet the spanish pioneers of aerial photography. and disaster at the house of wonders — how to fix zanzibar�*s heritage showpiece.
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it won't be as it used to be. it will be a repaired house of wonder. so don't go away. next this week to spain, and we are with the family who has spent almost 70 years photographing the country from the air. collectively, they have amassed more than a million pictures documenting a period in which the country's landscape has been transformed by mass tourism, so we asked them to open their archives for us and share some of those images.
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next this week, zanzibar, a short hop from the tanzanian coast. i'm doing a little bit of exploring through the winding streets of its capital. i think i'm lost!
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but i kind of like it, actually. these alleyways snake through stone town, which is zanzibar�*s historic quarter, and they are quite beautiful — actually, the whole place, all of this island, is really stunning. there are all kinds of influences — persian, arabian, african, of course, and european. this was a trading city. a real crossroads. people would come here for spices. but sadly, slaves too. one of the world's last open slave markets is marked by a powerful memorial. stone town was made a unesco world heritage site in the year 2000 and ever since, experts have complained about the condition of many of the old buildings here, the state of their conservation being a particular concern. and then in december last year, catastrophe. screaming. zanzibar�*s most famous buildings, the house of wonders, collapsed during restoration work.
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two people died and the city's cornerstone 0mani palace was left in ruins. the palace was built in 1883 by the second sultan of zanzibar. it was designed to impress. the front door, for example, was made wide enough to enter on an elephant. it was famous for being an early adopter of electricity, and the very first elevator in east africa was in this building — it's actually how it got its name all those years ago, the house of wonders. i came here knowing there was going to be damage, but that is a lot of damage. is there a possibility to restore it? for the time being we're just protecting it from further collapse. but after the completion of this first phase of protecting the building, we are going to reconstruct the building in iron to ensure that the building will come as it was before, and it will be super. to help the restoration closely match the original building, experts from the university of cape town have been here with 3d scanners
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to digitally map the remains. i was shocked, obviously, right? because 20% of the building was not there any more. it was really a very spectacular building and it's — and in east africa, probably one of the more important buildings. we also documented the house of wonders in 2019, which turned out to be very fortuitous — now, we have a very accurate record of what it looked like. so the engineers see construction, engineers see architects can now create an exact replica. i very much hope it can will reconstructed and i'm sure the capability is there, the expertise is there, actually, no — no question, and the will is there, so i hope there is gonna be another house of wonders in a few years�* time. jamila grew up in the shadow of the palace and she'd had concerns about its condition for many years now. i stayed here, i played here, i know this place very well because i was almost in tears to see the house of wonders falling down.
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we are trying to see that it is being rebuilt and maintained as it used to be, but it won't be as it used to be — it will be a repaired house of wonder. we are very, very sorry. the buildings have affected every individual person in zanzibar, who really like this country, because we say that is our face, that is our an icon. so it holds our value. it represents us worldwidely as a cultural heritage town, so its collapse has really affected us psychologically. we are not happy. you hear so much about the natural beauty of africa, like its wildlife, and very little about the architecture. many of the old low—lying swahili trading settlements along the east coast are at risk from rising seas and coastal erosion. it's going to take a lot of money and a lot of will to preserve and restore this fascinating history for future generations.
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well, unfortunately, that's all the time we have left for today. next week, lucy's here to revisit some of our favourite adventures in south america. including the time i lived like a gaucho in argentina's wetlands. this is one of the craziest things i've done in my entire life! the water does not taste very good. and there's miscellaneous things — some slimy, some spiky — rubbing against most of my body! and remember, you canjoin our adventures by following us on social media. we're in all the regular platforms. for me, mike corey, and the rest of team here in beautiful zanzibar, keep planning your adventures and we'll see you next time.
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some of you may want to dust off your summer wardrobe in the next few days. temperatures are set to soar across parts of england and wales. it will look very wet to the west of scotland. keep the winter wardrobe handy though, because by the time we head towards easter, things will be much colder again. 0ut there at the moment, a daisy chain of low pressure system and weather fronts are piling across the north of the country, and a risk of flooding in parts of western scotland. to the south, we are drawing in tropical l, south, we are drawing in tropical l, so even though it is quite below week, we have temperatures well into the teens, around 16 celsius this afternoon in eastern england. the best sunshine in the channel islands and the north—east of scotland. it will turn wetter across the west of scotland through the rest of today. we could see armand's worth of rain
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in the next few days. much of england and wales will be dry with clearer skies, england and wales will be dry with clearerskies, good england and wales will be dry with clearer skies, good night to see the full moon. temperatures will be off where they should be by day for the central swathe, 12 or 13 celsius on monday morning. rain in the southern highlands will push on or through the day, moving away from northern ireland, which will brighten up. frightening skies across northern england and north wales, but sunshine will come out for the midlands and the south as we had through monday afternoon, temperatures of 20 celsius here, maybe 18 celsius in north—eastern scotland. rain affecting scotland, as it will do into tuesday. we continue to draw in continental air across england and wales, which means sunshine for most of the remiss to start. a brighter day for southern scotland and northern ireland, the rain still there in the northern highlands. temperatures in most places well above where they should be for this stage in march, 23 celsius the potential hire for
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south—east england, widely into the 20s for england and wales. changes through mid high pressure building between us and iceland, pushing weather fronts south, between us and iceland, pushing weatherfronts south, bringing rain and hill snow across scotland. not too much rain this time, and a better day for the west us —— the west of scotland and we have at the start of the week. a big contrast in temperatures — single for figures start of the week. a big contrast in temperatures — single forfigures in northern scotland, still into the 20s in parts of the south and south—east of england. before we get carried away, towards the end of the week and into the weekend, temperatures drop uk wide. many places will be dry, one or two showers, particularly in the east, and as we see easter weekend out, some of those could turn a little bit wintry.
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this is bbc news with the latest headlines... with further easing of restrictions in england tomorrow, the culture secretary says the country's on track — he hopes the lifting of curbs will be "irreversible". at the moment, we are on track, so thanks to the work of the british people and the excellent vaccine roll—out, we are confident both in going ahead with the easings from tomorrow and the next stages. but the national medical director for the nhs in england warns people not to "squander the gains" made against coronavirus, ahead of restrictions easing on monday. the government says lorry drivers arriving in england from outside the uk will need to take a covid test within 48 hours and then one
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every 72 hours afterwards.

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