German tour operator Thomas Cook closed 2004 with $30 million worth of gross benefits, thus reversing the financial woes that pounded the Frankfurt-based company for more than a year.
The yearend spreadsheets of Europe´s second-largest travel company, though, had wrapped up 2003 with a $104 million shortfall.
The Dublin-based company Web Resrvations International, specialized in youth and budget travel, has acquired hotel distributor, WorldRes, adding to its platform 35,000 hotels and 2,000 online distributors, Travel Weekly reports.
Now operating on the WRI´s platform are Opodo, Lastminute.com, SAS.com and Hotels.de, among others. WRI´s existing brands, which operate under its hostels division, include Hostels.com, Hostelworld.com and Trav.com. WRI also provides reservations technology to Rail Europe, Ryanair.com, Lonelyplanet.com and Flybe.com.
Royal Caribbean Cruises (RCCL) is planning to buy a third Ultra-Voyager ship, a 160,000-ton, 3,000-passenger super-ship that would be identical to the Freedom of the Seas.
The company signed a letter of intent with Aker Finnyards to build a third “Freedom class” vessel, which would enter service in early 2008. The agreement is subject to certain conditions, including board approval, RCCL said.
Sol Meliá, the Spain-based hotel chain, wrapped up 2004 with gross gains of €60 million ($80 million), up a blistering 57.4 percent from the year before. The positive outcomes are largely owed to the good going of the company´s top markets.
The group, whose business operations are mostly focused on Spain and the Caribbean, announced net profits for little more that €1 billion at the end of 2004.
Bruce Jones, a Florida entrepreneur, is ready to invest 40 million dollars to build a five star hotel on the bottom of the ocean in the Bahamas, in which anyone willing to dish out 1,500 dollars a night will have the chance to come face to face with sharks from the comfort of his/her undersea room.
The projected Poseidon resort, located off the Bahamian island of Eleuthera at a depth of 15 meters (50 feet), will be connected to the mainland through two tunnels and an escalator, and pressure will be the same as at the surface.
Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños has just wrapped up a three-day visit to Paris on a mission to promote his country’s natural beauties and talk potential investors into pouring far more cash into the Central American nation.
Out of France –Nicaragua’s fourth-largest tourism investor- Mr. Bolaños and his entourage are trying to bring advisory and technical assistance for an array of travel projects, chiefly in the fields of rural tourism and sustainable development, two areas in which the European country has great experience and expertise.