Central American nations have turned to donors and financial institutions to get the cash they need for the execution of tourism development plans that could eventually help the region reap gains and create more jobs. “We want to implement tourism projects at a regional level, so we believe it’s important to keep individual donors that contribute money for Central American countries posted on the regional integration process and its projects,” Salvadoran Tourism Minister Luis Cardenal said.

Foreign investment money could start slipping away from Costa Rica in coming months as a result of corruption cases that have unfolded recently, the local League of Private Enterprise Chambers and Associations (UCCAEP is the Spanish acronym) warned this week. One of the sectors that could take a direct hit from rampant corruption in the country is tourism. As we speak, Costa Rican hotels are badly needing a figure in the neighborhood of $2 to $2.5 billion to get a new lease on life.

Forest caretakers on the Galapagos Islands have been walking the picket lines for the past two weeks and have caused $6 million in losses for the Ecuadorian government up to now, said Roque Sevilla, president of the Tourism Chamber in the province of Pichincha. Mr. Sevilla, who´s linked to several environmental groups, said tour operators have been hit harder than any other sector by the third strike staged by forest caretakers this year.

Foreign tourists that visited Brazil during the first eight months of the ongoing year spent little more than $2.1 billion, up 36.4 percent from the same period of time in 2003. According to statistics provided by the country´s Central Bank, the amount of money spent by foreign travelers in the country and the number of Brazilians traveling overseas combine for a $355 million surplus for the local leisure industry, compared to $87 million the South American nation came in for in the first eight months of last year. In 2003, Brazil welcomed 4.1 million foreign tourists that shelled out some $3.4 billion in all.

Marriott Hotels is planning to build a new lodging facility in the Nicaraguan Pacific coast. The 250-room establishment with an in-house casino will take an initial investment of $50 million. Sources close to the project told Caribbean News Digital that $5 million have already been poured into the new resort, most of it for groundbreaking works. The new colonial-style hotel will be located in the municipality of Villa El Carmen, some 22 miles northwest of Managua.

Leaders of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) agreed to finance the reconstruction of Grenada for the next three months on the heels of a devastating hurricane that hit the island last week. CARICOM members decided to join funds and efforts to rebuild the island after hurricane Ivan razed nearly 90 percent of all houses and buildings and inflicted serious damage to the nation’s crops and leisure industry. The decision was made within the framework of an emergency meeting held this week in Trinidad & Tobago.