ISLAND HOPPING
Pass gives full access to Kualoa Ranch
Kualoa Ranch is offering an all-day Experience PASS, which gives guests unlimited access to eight tours, including the Movie Sites and Ranch tour, Jungle Expedition, Legends and Legacy, Ancient Hawaiian Fishpond and Garden tour, hula lessons, Hakipuʻu hike, Secret Island beach and Ocean Voyaging.
The pass is $69 for adults and $29 for children 3-12 years old. The cost with dinner and entertainment is $109 for adults and $49 for children ($89 and $39, respectively, for kamaaina). Dinner and entertainment are offered on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays and will expand to daily on April 1. Call 237-7321 or visit www.Kualoa.com.
Maui welcomes whales with festival
The Maui Whale Festival kicks off at 5 p.m. Jan. 26 with a free public reception opening a "Photo Tribute to the Whales" exhibit at the Ma‘alaea Harbor Shops.
The free exhibit is one of many festival events during whale-watching season, which continues through March. For a listing, visit www.mauiwhalefestival.org.
GLOBE TROTTING
Art museum highlights nature
ATLANTA » Atlanta’s High Museum of Art is presenting works by a Georgia-based jewelry designer.
The High will present "Gogo: Nature transformed" from Saturday through June 23. The exhibition features the work of Janet "Gogo" Ferguson, who lives on Cumberland Island off Georgia’s Atlantic coast.
More than 60 pieces of Ferguson’s work and decorative home pieces will be on display. The exhibition will explore her evolution as an artist as well as the debut of two new pieces created specifically for the High: a 6-by-8-foot wall sculpture inspired by New England seaweed and an ottoman inspired by a sea urchin.
MGM Resorts upgrades public Wi-Fi
LAS VEGAS » MGM Resorts is unveiling vast Wi-Fi networks that will allow visitors at its Las Vegas casinos free wireless Internet access in public areas.
The company announced the project Tuesday, saying the system is already in effect at the Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and The Mirage. It’s expected to be installed this year in the Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Luxor and Excalibur.
Company officials say basic Internet access is available to anyone who comes into public areas such as the lobby, pool area, casino and restaurants, and doesn’t require a password.
Hotel guests get an upgraded service, and convention attendees can upgrade to top speeds.
Guam tourism gets 13% boost
HAGATNA, Guam » Guam’s visitor industry had a banner year in 2012 with more than 1.3 million tourists visiting the island, according to the Guam Visitors Board.
Tourism officials said that is nearly a 13 percent increase over the previous year.
The Pacific Daily News said Gov. Eddie Calvo gave his thanks while speaking Monday at the Guam Visitors Bureau general membership meeting at the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort. The governor thanked the tourism industry’s managers, workers and business stakeholders for working together to achieve such a stellar year for the island’s visitor industry.
"You are the lifeblood of Guam’s economy," Calvo said.
The governor’s office said the last time Guam saw numbers that high was before the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.
