The Inter-American Development Bank has made available $1.3 million for the development of environmental and community programs by the Bayahibe and La Romana Hotels Association. The three-year donation requires $535,000 counterpart funding from the Association, for a total program of $1.8 million. The plan is to support sustainable tourism in the area, back best practices and small and promote the integration of midsized business into the tourism sector.

Caricom leaders huddled in Port of Spain, Trinidad, for the 17th International Heads of Government Conference, are prepared to re-instate Haiti back into the Caricom community. This was the view of Jamaican Prime Minister PJ Patterson, as well as what he said was the view of other regional heads. Mr. Patterson made the disclosure as he spoke with reporters during a news briefing at the Trinidad Hilton Hotel on Wednesday.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, Brazil´s state-controlled oil company, and Bolivia plan to create joint ventures to increase Bolivia´s control of its energy assets while securing Brazilian supplies of natural gas. Rio de Janeiro-based Petrobras, the Bolivian Hydrocarbon Ministry and Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales Bolivianos, Bolivia´s state oil company, expect to sign an agreement this month, Petrobras said in a statement.

GOL, Brazil´s low fare, low cost airline, today released preliminary passenger statistics for the month of January 2006. System-wide passenger traffic (RPK) increased 53 percent, while capacity (ASK) increased 60 percent y-o-y. GOL´s system load factor for the month of January 2006 was 73 percent. Domestic passenger traffic (RPK) for January increased 51 percent, while capacity (ASK) increased 59 percent. GOL´s domestic load factor for the month of January 2006 was 73 percent.

American carrier Frontier Airlines (FA) has shared that its revenue passenger miles increased 10.6 percent to 575,024,000 for January 2006 from the same period last year. The airline stated that available seat miles increased 13.1 percent to 870,032,000 for January 2006 from the same period last year. This resulted in a load factor for January 2006 of 66.1 percent, a decrease of 1.5 points from January 2005, when the airline reported a load factor of 67.6 percent.

According to the new 2006 outlook for the Dominican economy, all indicators point to a sustained growth during the year. The outlook is positive in several areas of its principal macro-economic indicators. Above all, the unemployment rate, that is expected to reach just 15.6 percent by the end of 2006. However, the authorities have opted to embark on the new course of the GDP with a lot of caution, and are working on goals as set out by the IMF of a GDP growth of just 5.5 percent.