Jan 27, 2012 BANGKOK, Thailand – Preliminary results released today by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) show a collective increase of 6 percent year-on-year for international arrivals into Asia/Pacific destinations during each of the months of October and November 2011. For the first 11 months of the year, South Asia was the star growth performer, followed by Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia, and the Pacific, all of which saw tourism demand improve, albeit at different rates of growth. This momentum is expected to continue for the rest of the year and paves the way for an expected full-year arrivals gain of 5-6 percent in 2011, above the global growth figure of 4 percent. The overall international visitor arrivals count to the wider Asia Pacific region – which includes North … Read entire article »

NEW YORK, Jan. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ – The Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) and The Conference Board are joining forces to promote one survey to capture the full scope and scale of annual contributions by leading global companies. CECP, now in association with The Conference Board, produces an annual benchmarking report, Giving in Numbers, which is corporate philanthropy’s premier report focusing on giving and is a resource to assess the trends in corporate initiatives. This association will further strengthen the repository of giving data, building upon the more than $85 billion in corporate cash and non-cash giving collected by CECP since 2001. “Our two organizations share a belief in the power of benchmarking and trend analysis as key instruments for continuous learning, helping companies design programs that better serve … Read entire article »

If the participants in the Sherdog.com MMA Pick’Em fantasy game are to be believed, then Rashad Evans will most definitely have his day against Jon Jones. A solid 76 percent of players have sided with Evans against Phil Davis in the UFC on Fox 2 main event on Saturday at the United Center in Chicago. Evans beat Forrest Griffin for the light heavyweight championship in 2008 but lost the belt in his first defense to Lyoto Machida at UFC 98. Since then, “Suga” has picked up wins over Thiago Silva, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Tito Ortiz. Twice tabbed as the division’s No. 1 contender, injuries have halted the Imperial Athletics representative’s title hopes until now, as a victory over Davis would give Evans his long-awaited showdown with Jones, the current … Read entire article »