Uruguay’s hospitality industry chalked up roughly $70 million worth of revenue for the national economy as a result of 308,798 foreign trekkers that visited the country in the twelve-month stretch, the National Tourism Department (SENATUR) informed this week.
Closing figures available through December 20 reported a final tally of $69.5 million with daily spending hovering around $186.5 per tourist.
John Q. Hammons Hotels’ board of directors agreed to grant limited exclusivity to the Barcelo Crestline Corp. through Jan. 31 to negotiate on a proposed merger between the two companies, the Travel Weekly magazine has reported.
In October, Barcelo Crestline Corp., the parent of Crestline Hotels & Resorts, announced its intention to acquire John Q. Hammons Hotels, an independent developer, owner and manager of 60 hotels and resorts, for 64 million US dollars in cash.
Through its "Take 5" fare sale program, JetBlue Airways is celebrating its Fifth Anniversary with a new fare policy that puts select Caribbean and other routes on sale with discount rates when booked at www.jetblue.com, the company announced.
From New York´s JFK to the Caribbean, JetBlue´s sale fares start from $75 each way to San Juan and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and to Santiago and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and from $95 each way to Nassau, The Bahamas.
For 2005, Miami area hoteliers are ratcheting up revenue forecasts and pricing plans further as they move into the high tourism season beginning today, after 2004 marked the end of post-9/11 room rate discounts that sapped profits, according to the Tribune Business News.
A growing economy, strong European currencies, improving consumer confidence and an extra year of distance from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have generated rosy predictions for hotel performance both in South Florida and across the country, the Miami Herald reports.
The Venezuelan government will appropriate over $156 million in 2005 for tour and travel advertisement in an effort to lure more foreign travelers and put its own destinations on the map, Venezuela’s Tourism Deputy Minister Dalila Montserrat said this week.
Most plans for the upcoming year are focused on the opening of new travel destinations, like the Manaos-Margarita Axis, a combination that will benefit both Venezuela and Brazil.
Cuban President Fidel Castro broke some good economic news in the Parliament on Christmas Eve as he went through an assortment of trade outcomes in 2004 and laid out new business opportunities for the island nation next year.
Investments in the nickel industry, the discovery of oil wells, credit lines and donations, heftier trade and financial ties with China and Venezuela, among other factors, helped the Cuban economy grow 5 percent in 2004.