The high cost of operating Dominican airline companies, due to excessive taxes and the fact that many costs must now be paid in US dollars, could soon mark the demise of the fledgling Dominican aviation industry, according to a report in El Caribe daily. Isabel Patin, of Servicios Aereos Profesionales, says that company yields are at a minimum because airfares are sold in pesos, while aviation companies must pay their operating expenditures in hard currency, DR1.Com reports.

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.

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.

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.