Americans will take a record number of trips this spring, according to a new report by the Travel Industry Association (TIA), even though the overall increase in trips is expected to be only slightly higher than that of spring 2004.
TIA is estimating Americans will take 281 million person-trips of 50 miles or more one-way from home during the months of March, April and May. That represents a 1.2% increase from last spring when travelers took a record 277.5 million trips.
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.
Faced with losses of up to US$847 million and total liabilities of US$890 million, Air Jamaica has said it will not rule out any option, including retrenchment, in a bid to reverse the financial downturn of the debt ridden airline.
The company´s chairman Vin Lawrence said the airline is desperate to cut costs and reiterated that members of the management team have accepted salary cuts ranging between 18 and 30 percent.
Talking at the recent opening of the new Charlotteville home and community development in western New Providence, Primer Minister Perry Christie said The Bahamas is headed for unprecedented economic activity.
With respect to New Providence, the Prime Minister said the development is happening while the third phase of Atlantis (hotel resort) is underway, resulting in substantial increase in construction work.