Mexico and Singapore cut a deal to pour $60 million worth of investment into the development of Acapulco´s travel industry, in the state of Guerrero. The pact was inked by Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts and the Mexican Development Group. According to a press release issued by Mexico´s Tourism Department, the accord will pave the way for the construction of the first Banyan Tree resort in Acapulco´s Punta Diamante, the most exclusive area of this destination of the Mexican Pacific.

U.S.-based cruise lines are devoting more and more of their marketing efforts to getting the attention – and euros – of travelers from Germany, the U.K., Spain and Italy. According to Travel Weekly, Holland America Line is taking steps to further penetrate the European market, which now accounts for about 5% of the line´s passengers. David Giersdorf, Holland America´s executive vice president of sales and marketing, said he´d like to see it up to 20% of the total. "We´d have a nice balance in years where North American business was soft because of currency or big [capacity] increases, and we´d have that additional pool of demand," he said. "It´s important to not have all your eggs in one basket."

Spanish hotel chain Sol Meliá pointed out this week that the evolution of its lodgings in the Caribbean Basin made a significant contribution to the company´s good outcomes in the first quarter of the ongoing year. In terms of operations worldwide, the Spain-based megabuck firm raked in €10 million worth of revenues by the end of the year´s first quarter, up 0.1 percent from the first three months of 2003.

Cuba showed off its very best business opportunities during the course of the first Latin America & Caribbean Incentive Market Exchange (LACIME) that unfolded from June 23 through 25 in Brazil. The tradeshow, organized by Reed Exhibitions together with the Brazilian Association of Travel Agencies (ABAV), provided a perfect setting to showcase all business opportunities that Latin America and the Caribbean have to offer as far as events and incentive travel are concerned.

Jamaica´s economy will leapfrog dramatically following the enhancement of the island nation´s cruise service on the basis of a new agreement signed between Royal Caribbean Cruises and local authorities. The treaty will bring a minimum of 2 million cruise passengers to Jamaica and over $16 million worth of revenues over the next five years. A similar accord had been inked last February with Carnival Corporation to take some 50,000 travelers to Jamaican shores, the island nation´s Minister of Transportation Robert Pickersgill told Caribbean News Digital.

The Nicaraguan travel industry put on a whopping 19 percent growth in the first quarter of 2004 compared to the same span of time the year before, according to a report provided by the National Tourism Institute (INTUR). The report indicates that as many as 196,843 tourists visited the country between January and April this year, with $54.9 million worth of revenues.