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The number of British visitors arrested in Egypt has doubled in a year, according to Foreign Office (FCO) figures released today.

The large increase occurred despite a sharp fall in tourism overall since civil insurrection began there early last year.

Consular staff in Cairo handled 66 cases up to the end of March this year, compared with 34 for the previous year. Worldwide, one UK citizen is arrested on average every 90 minutes, according to the FCO figures.

A spokeswoman for the FCO said: "Since the political upheaval we've noticed a crackdown on enforcing existing laws including those around immigration issues. Egyptian authorities are strict on out-of-date visas. Many people don't realise that if the visa is out of date by more than 14 days, then they won't be allowed to leave the country."

Immigration rules for Egypt are more complicated than for other countries bordering the Mediterranean.

The majority of UK holidaymakers stay on the Sinai Peninsula at resorts such as Sharm El Sheikh and Dahab. No visa is required, unless the traveller ventures into other parts of Egypt.

The FCO also reports cases of mistaken identity at frontiers. "Someone having the same, or similar, name to a person on the Egyptian 'stop list' can result in someone being detained whilst checks are done," said the spokeswoman.

UK consular staff handled a total of 6,015 arrests of British nationals abroad, up 6 per cent on the previous year. On a typical day, 16 UK travellers are arrested one every 90 minutes. Half those arrested were under 34. Large increases in arrests were also recorded in China (14 per cent), Canada (23), Belgium (26) and India (44).

But in terms of absolute numbers, the Foreign Office is much more concerned about the 9 per cent rise in arrests in Spain, the most popular country for British holidaymakers.

There were 1,909 arrests there almost one-third of the total and a 160 rise on the previous year. Many were for alcohol-related offences in the Balearic islands. Resorts such as San Antonio in Ibiza and Magaluf in Mallorca remain very popular with young Britons. David Thomas, the consular regional director for Spain, based in Madrid, said local police have a "zero tolerance" attitude towards drink-fuelled offences: "We see many young people being arrested for causing trouble outside bars and clubs. All too often they think they'll spend the night in a cell before being let out. They soon sober up when they realise they're alone in a foreign prison cell, unsure of when they'll be released and unable to speak to officers because they don't speak the language."

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Relentless rise in the number of Britons arrested on holiday

By: Krista Angela M. Montealegre, InterAksyon.com June 28, 2012 2:52 PM

InterAksyon.com The online news portal of TV5

MANILA - After returning to profitability last year, Global-Estate Resorts Inc. expects the momentum to continue in the next three years anchored on the development of integrated tourism estates and the completion of existing projects.

On the sidelines of the company's annual stockholders meeting, Alain Sebastian, GERI assistant vice president for marketing, said earnings of Alliance Global Group Inc.s tourism arm may hit the P1-billion mark in the next two to three years.

For this year, the firm targets to grow its net profit by 20 percent to P264 million from P220 million in 2011, said GERI president Ferdinand Santos.

New project launches, the completion of developments and recurring income from its hotel operations will fuel revenue growth and support the attainment of its earnings guidance, said Santos.

He said reservation sales may reach P6 billion by yearend, up from P1.1 billion in 2011. In the first five months of the year, reservation sales stood at P3 billion.

"With launches of new projects, with the level of reservation sales we mentioned and the expected completion based on timetable, we feel we may really hit that income level," said Santos.

GERI set its capital expenditure budget at P2.5 billion for project development, Sebastian said. The capex will be funded by a combination of internally generated cash and debt.

Riding on the improving tourism numbers of the country, GERI unveiled plans for its flagship projects Boracay Newcoast and Twin Lakes in Tagaytay as well as its Sta. Barbara Heights development in Iloilo.

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GERI eyes P1-billion profit in 2-3 years

By Rick Kelsey Newsbeat reporter in the Balearic Islands Spain saw the most arrests in the last year

More British tourists are getting into trouble overseas, according to Foreign Office figures.

There was a 6% rise in arrests worldwide last year, when 6,015 people were handled by British embassies.

Spain topped the list for detentions, with nearly 2,000 - up 9% on 2010 - ahead of the USA and Thailand.

The Foreign Office thinks the rise could be down to resorts popular with UK tourists developing a zero tolerance approach to drink and drugs.

"Punishments can be very severe, with tougher prison conditions than in the UK, and we cannot interfere in another country's legal system," said Foreign Office minister Jeremy Browne.

On the Balearic islands of Ibiza and Majorca there has been almost a 30% increase in arrests, with more than 500 people in total detained.

The head of the local UK Consulate, Paul Abrey, has described the rise as "dramatic".

"We see younger people coming to places like San Antonio and Magaluf who don't know the laws.

"There are also more drugs available on the street," said My Abrey.

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British tourist arrests up by 6%

Major Lazer from HARD Haunted Mansion 2011 / Photo by Erik Voake

Earlier this month, the media baron Robert F.X. Sillerman made waves in the electronic dance music scene when the New York Times reported his plans to spend $1 billion buying up local and regional dance-music promoters in the effort to create an entertainment behemoth to rival Live Nation, a company formed out of Sillerman's previous holdings. But he'd better act fast: Live Nation seems determined to snap up the goods first. Last month the company acquired England's Cream, the mega-brand behind club nights in Ibiza and Liverpool as well as Creamfields festivals around the globe, and yesterday it announced its acquisition of Los Angeles' HARD Events, the company responsible for dance-music events like HARD Summer and HARD Haunted Mansion, the New York Times reported late yesterday.

Until now, Live Nation's ventures in electronic dance music have focused mostly on tours by artists like Avicii and Kaskade as well as the Identity Festival, a tour featuring Arty, Datsik, Doctor P, Eric Prydz, Paul van Dyk, Porter Robinson, Wolfgang Gartner and others slated for 15 cities across North America this summer. The addition of HARD to Live Nation's roster gives the publicly traded company's dance-music division a key foothold in Southern California, one of the United States' strongest markets for electronic dance music, as well as outposts in HARD stomping grounds Toronto, Miami, and New York and, for that matter, on the high seas, thanks to HARD's Holy Ship!, a Caribbean electro cruise. According to the Times, Live Nation intends to expand HARD to further markets, but plans have yet to be confirmed.

While HARD's balance sheet was probably Live Nation's primary interest, the L.A. festival's left-of-center brand might have been an added enticement. Interestingly, while pop-palatable artists like David Guetta and Avicii have driven much of the media coverage of America's current EDM-fatuation, HARD's lineups have typically skewed slightly more underground than rival events like Electric Daisy Carnival or the Identity Festival: Performers on this year's lineup include Squarepusher, James Murphy, Little Dragon, Claude VonStroke and even John Talabot, along with Skrillex, A-Trak, Nero and other staples of EDM's biggest marquees.

In an interview last year, HARD founder Gary Richards told me that variety has always been an essential element of his events. Of HARD's inaugural edition, he said, "Going into it, I knew that I didn't want it to be a rave. I didn't want it to just be a place for young kids to do stupidness, and I wanted the music to be quality. I wanted to show people that, hey, there's a lot of electronic music, different genres and a lot of quality. It doesn't have to be the same trance guys that have been coming to L.A. for the past 20 years."

Richards, who also DJs and produces under the name Destructo, has been throwing events in Southern California since the early 1990s. With a promoter named Mr. Kool-Aid, he produced the original Electric Daisy Carnival; the name was later taken on by Los Angeles promoter Pasquale Rotella for the festival's current incarnation. After a stint at Rick Rubin's Def American label in the era of the Prodigy and Lords of Acid as well as a detour through heavy metal, managing bands like Slipknot, Mudvayne and Hatebreed with his late brother Richards launched HARD in 2007.

"In 2005 or 2006, I just realized that putting out records, selling CDs, it's like trying to sell air to people," Richards told me last year. "They're free, this is a joke. So why don't I go back to my roots of DJing and producing an event? And I started HARD. Our first event was Justice, Peaches, 2 Live Crew, Aoki, A-Trak, Whitey, Busy P, all that stuff, when it was really brand new. So for once, after almost 20 years, my timing was good. In this world, it's all about the timing. If you're too far ahead, it doesn't really matter."

"I was on the Prodigy 10 years too early," admitted Richards in an interview with SPIN in April. "I was always just too early. As cool as it is to be like, 'I know about this really cool thing,' if the climate or whatever else is going on in the world at the time doesn't line up, then you're screwed. But it's funny, Rick [Rubin] told me, 'The cream rises to the top.' At the end of the day, the good shit always gets out there, and he was right. It just took a long time to boil that pot."

For skeptics who doubt that corporate consolidation will be of lasting benefit to fans and artists, it remains to be seen whether another culinary metaphor might be appropriate: That of too many cooks in the kitchen. Ironically, just two months ago, Richards took a dim view of the industry feeding frenzy, telling the New York Times, "You can't just franchise this like McDonald's."

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Live Nation Acquires L.A. EDM Promoter HARD: Will the Mainstream Get More Ravey?

An issue of Rave Magazine from 1998, left, and from 2012. The magazine's publisher announced yesterday it would close.

The days of picking up your favourite street press publication around the streets of Brisbane are numbered. Soon they'll all be gone.

That's the assessment of Scene magazine publisher Howard Duggan in the wake of Rave Magazine's closure this week.

The director of the publication's parent business Eyeball Media had no problems speaking frankly about the future of the industry which he believed could only be online - battling for advertising in a heavily populated sphere of operation.

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Scene magazine.

"It is a sad but inevitable day," Mr Duggan said.

"It has been clear for quite a few years that the writing has been on the walls for print and it is simply a matter of time when all the titles are gone and the order that they disappear is of no consequence."

Rave Magazine publisher Colin Rankin closed the publication on Tuesday after almost 21 years of operation and 1047 issues.

Mr Rankin told brisbanetimes.com.au a decline in print advertising revenue was the catalyst for the move with the industry beset by the same problems as major metropolitan newspapers.

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Street press publisher predicts industry demise