Still in its first year of operation, The Westin hotel in Henrico County has won one of AAA’s prestigious Four Diamond Awards for superior service and amenities. The 250-room, full-service Westin, owned by Musselman Hotels of Louisville, Ky., only opened its doors Dec. 18. “We came out of the gate strong on our service component, said Feliks Schwartz, general manager of the hotel at 6631 W. Broad St. “We have not taken any shortcuts.“

Much like Don Quixote fighting for his lady’s hand, local advertising veteran Doug Burford is leading a one-man campaign to get the Richmond area known as America’s most historic city. “I may be the only one who believes it can be done, but we have the greatest product in America to sell, and that product is history,“ he said. Burford, president of Richmond-based Burford Company Advertising, believes the area is underselling its historic significance.

Tibet received a record 4.75 million tourists in the first nine months of this year, state media reported Wednesday, marking a rebound from ethnic rioting and security clampdowns last year that shut the Himalayan region to travelers.

Anheuser-Busch InBev said yesterday that it will sell its 10 theme parks, including Busch Gardens near Williamsburg and three SeaWorlds, to private equity firm Blackstone Group for at least $2.3 billion. The world’s largest brewer, based in Belgium, has been shedding assets to help pay for the $52 billion takeover of St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch that formed the company last year.

Virginia’s Historic Triangle saw a drop in tourism for the second straight year, as some businesses are reporting fewer visitors and lower spending than last year.

They love us, the really love us. The state’s long-running tourism slogan, “Virginia is for Lovers,“ has been elected by popular online vote to the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame in New York City. “This goes to show that love does conquer all,“ said Alisa Bailey, president and CEO of the Virginia Tourism Corp. Virginia Tourism and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine will celebrate the award at 12:30 p.m. today on the south steps of the state Capitol.

Marking an economic bright point for the capital region, the Greater Richmond Convention Center saw record attendance for its 2009 fiscal year. The downtown center hosted 341,422 people at events during the fiscal year ending June 30, compared with 325,955—the previous record—the year before, according to Michael A. Meyers, the center’s general manager.

Virginia’s two theme parks will be hiring about 650 part-time workers for this fall’s Halloween attractions. Kings Dominion will hold a job fair at the amusement park in Doswell tomorrow to hire more than 400 part-time employees. Busch Gardens near Williamsburg has openings for 250 people “looking to offset the effects of the economy while having fun this fall,“ the park said.

A recent editorial on the GOP and the South quoted a decade-old passage from The Atlantic arguing that Republicans are too conservative, but also “too liberal, too, as their all-out retreat from shrinking the government indicates.“ For close-to-home evidence that the charge still holds, look at the otherwise appealing gubernatorial campaign of Bob McDonnell.

Show your love, Virginians. “Virginia is for Lovers,“ the state’s long-running tourism slogan, has been nominated for the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame. Virginia lovers will be able to show their love for the slogan by casting their votes online. “We need their votes and support,“ said Tamra Talmadge-Anderson with the Virginia Tourism Office.

Police in Italy say they have arrested two people for dumping raw cesspool sewage into the waters of Capri’s Blue Grotto.

The National Park Service says a section of the Colonial Parkway will be closed for at least four months while a bridge damaged by a boat is repaired.

A bus carrying mostly Dutch tourists collided with a passenger car on a highway in northeastern Spain, leaving six people dead and 39 injured, the regional government of Catalonia said.

The European Union’s transport chief said Thursday that airlines cannot arbitrarily bar suspected swine flu sufferers from flights.

Officials say a Swedish couple looking for the pristine waters of the popular island of Capri ended some 400 miles away in the northern industrial town of Carpi after misspelling the destination on their car’s GPS.