The Mexican government is laying the grounds to make local tourism knock down the oil industry a decade from now from the number-one spot among the nation´s hard currency earners, Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo owned up this week.
In recent days, Mr. Elizondo trumpeted new development plans for the area of Mar de Cortes and similar investment possibilities for Loreto, Los Cabos, Huatulco and other circuits along the Pacific Coast.
VASP, the formerly hot Brazilian air carrier, announced this week its intention to keep several aircraft out of the skies as employees turned up the heat on the front office to get their back salaries before the situation gets worse off.
Last weekend, the South American nation´s fourth-largest air company ordered all domestic flights with half of their seats empty be called off.
Chipping in more money to the nation´s GNP is the top priority for the recently created Tourism Ministry of Venezuela. Tourism Minister Wilmar Castro revealed in a meeting with representatives from the public and private sectors that the local travel industry´s contribution to country´s coffers peaked 4 percent in 2004.
Mfr. Castro explained his Ministry is setting out to work on three different fronts, including the sketching of a National Staff Training Plan and the improvement of signaling in major tourist areas and zones.
Citigroup Venture Capital Equity Partners, the U.S.-based buyout firm that leveraged up some monies to buy Worldspan, has submitted a bid for Amadeus that was higher than the one selected by Amadeus´ owners, Air France, Lufthansa and Iberia.
However, they decided to negotiate instead with two firms, Cinven and BC Partners, whose $5.7 billion bid was lower than Citygroup Venture Capital´s, according to Travel Weekly magazine.
The seaquake that hit South East Asia in late December has caused thousands of millions of dollars to several countries in the region, Malaysia´s Tourism Minister Leo Michael Toyad was quoted as saying this week in the local press.
"Rendered in monetary terms, the impact of the killer tidal wave is simply unfathomable," Mr. Toyad said during the opening of a conference in Malaysia that gathered tourism ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
SuperClubs is about to have its second hotel in Brazil under the Starfish trademark –the Starfish Reserva Imbassai Resort in Costa dos Coqueiros in the state of Bahia, some 41 miles from the city of Salvador. The new lodging is part of a €61.8 million project the Jamaica-based company is making in the South American country.
Besides the Caribbean, Brazil has turned out to be the second-largest expansion ground for SuperClubs Hotels in Latin America. Following the grand opening of the Breezes Costa do Sauipe, the chain decided to keep on putting its smart money on Bahia.