New resort lodge to open near Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- A $51.5 million north woods-themed resort hotel under construction near Kansas Speedway will feature a 38,000-square-foot indoor water park and a 100-game arcade.

There's nothing else like it in the region, said Tom Holden, director of the Hotel and Motel Association of Greater Kansas City.

"This is a destination by itself," Holden said.

When it opens in late May, the Great Wolf Lodge in Kansas City, Kan., -- a four-story log cabin at the intersection of State Avenue and Interstate 435 just north of Interstate 70 -- will be the fourth family resort in the rapidly growing group being developed by Great Lakes Cos. Inc. of Madison, Wis.

The water park at Great Wolf Lodge will have five full pools and seven water slides, including two tube rides of 300 feet or more that wind outside the building and back in again.

Rooms sleep up to eight persons and start at $259, but Great Lakes operations vice president Kim Schaefer said the lodge's Web site, www.greatwolflodge.com, and other sources will have regular discount offers. The water park generally will be restricted to people staying at the lodge, but Great Wolf will offer group packages for birthday parties and other day outings.

French tourism down since outbreak of war

PARIS -- Reservations with French tour operators have plummeted 15 to 25 percent since war broke out in Iraq, tourism officials say.

The figure applied to French people traveling abroad and varied depending on the destination, Bruno Fareniaux, France's tourism director, said.

"We're in a situation where people are waiting, which is rather classic in a period of conflict," he said. "There's no panic in the air."

France's top tourism official, Leon Bertrand, said 18 percent fewer U.S. tourists visited France in 2002 than the previous year. The fear of flying since Sept. 11 is one reason, as is the weak exchange rate for dollars in Europe, he said. The pattern appeared to continue in the first three months of 2003.

-- From wire reports