Adventure World, the Swiss company that is under investigation over the deaths last year of a group of 21 canyoners who were caught in a flash flood, has suspended operations after the tragic death of a bunjee-jumper recently. The 22-year-old American smashed into a car park in the Lauterbrunnen Valley, after the wrong bunjee-cord had been attached. Matthew Coleman had been offered a choice of jumps, from a height of either 100 metres or 180 metres, and had opted for the shorter. He was mistakenly hooked up to the rope for the 180 metre jump.
Bunjee-jumping has become a major tourist draw worldwide since AJ Hackett jumped safely from the Eiffel Tower in 1986, and opened a dive site in Queenstown, New Zealand. His company is not connected with the operations of Adventure World.
Tourism in Sweden and Denmark has been given a big boost this month with the opening of the 16-kilometre Orseund Bridge which links the two countries.
The bridge, which connects Malmo in Sweden to Copenhagen, has a four-lane highway, a tunnel and a duel-track railway. It takes only 10 minutes to cross the bridge. Previously, the only connection was by ferry, which takes an hour.
The project should boost trade and tourism figures between the two countries, but there have been complaints that the toll fees are exorbitant.
Britain has been free-spending on millennium projects this year, but the strong pound is deterring foreign visitors and making it cheaper for residents of the UK to go abroad this summer, forsaking the attractions at home. Last year, the number of visitors to the UK fell by five per cent.