With roughly 3,500 rooms scattered in eleven lodgings, Sol Meliá Co. continues to have a leading presence in Mexico´s vast travel market. Penciled in as the best foreign hotel chain in congress and convention tourism, Sol Meliá has also jotted down the names of two of its facilities –the Gran Meliá Mexico Reforma and the Gran Meliá Cancun- on the list of the leading hotels of the world.

In a keynote address to CIMEX, the Caribbean Media Exchange, Geoffrey Lipman, Special Advisor to the Secretary General of the World Tourism Organization, said that Tourism should be the leading issue for Caribbean States in trade and development strategies. He said that "The world economy needs a successful Doha Development Round and tourism should be an important part of the final package with balanced & structured liberalization to help develop the export economies of the world´s poorest countries.

”Tourism could be a key factor in the battle for stepped-up development, education, job creation and dignity among the world´s poorest countries,” said Geoffrey Lipman, special advisor to the UN secretary-general, at the recently concluded general assembly of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Gains in hard-currency revenues, the advance of corporate initiatives, infrastructure improvements and the creation of millions of jobs in the travel sector could chip in considerably to the so-called Millennium Development Goals.

Mexico and the seven Central American countries will seek ways for a stronger air integration in an effort to cash in on the more competitive advantages that the region´s travel industry has to offer today. The agreement wrapped up a two-day meeting of Central American Tourism Ministers and officials from Mexico´s Tourism Department held over the weekend in Cancun.

Jamaica´s Foreign Affairs Minister Keith Desmond Knight stressed in Havana his country´s tough stance against extraterritorial laws in a clear-cut reference to the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Quite recently, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush threatened to impose sanctions against execs from Jamaica-based hotel company SuperClubs for their operations in Cuba. Eventually, the company decided to pull up stakes from three of its resorts on the island nation.

Air traffic of passengers worldwide grew an astounding 38 percent in May compared to the same month a year ago, to combine a 19.4 percent increase in the first five months of 2004, the International Aviation Transport Association (IATA) informed this week. The report indicates that cost-cutting policies continue to be a top priority amid spiking fuel prices.