Chile’s LAN Airlines, the air carrier with the soundest spreadsheet all across Latin America, is hoping to reach out for the Argentine market this year by acquiring American Falcon, a U.S. low-budget air company.

Argentina is a strategic market for LAN in its bid to become the premier regional operator with flights all around the South American Cone, said Alejandro de la Fuente, LAN’s financial director.

NH Hotels netted €1.52 million worth of gross benefits in the first quarter of 2004 against €3.62 million in losses that the company endured in the same period of time last year, NH Hotels CEO Gabriele Burgio announced.

Mr. Burgio revealed these figures during the course of the Ordinary Meeting of the NH Board of Shareholders, whose members agreed to pour €29.9 million of the revenues reaped in 2003 into offsetting stockholders with €0.25 per share beginning on June 1.

Foreign tourists spent more than $300 million in Chile over the past summertime season, according to figures revealed today by the National Tourism Service (SERNATUR).

The number of incoming foreign vacationers during the southern-hemisphere summer months of January, February and March was up 21.1 percent compared to the same span of time the year before.

The Central American overall economy will jump 3.3 percent this year according to estimates reckoned by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL is the acronym in Spanish).

The economic going of Central American nations, though, will hinge heavily on the good health of the U.S. economy.

Around 60 percent of Central America’s exports are headed for the U.S. market and that nation provides half the number of tourists that visit the region in a single year.

Cash flow into Latin America –mostly drawn by the travel industry- could peak $43 billion this year, up $19 billion from 2003, the International Institute of Finance (IIF) reported today.

The institute, formed by the world’s top banks, explained capital flows to emerging markets could reach similar levels to those seen before the Asian crisis that swept that region between 1997 and 1998.

The number of airborne tourists that landed in the Dominican Republic during the first quarter of the ongoing year grew 8.29 percent compared to the same span of time in 2003, the country’s National Hotels & Restaurants Association (ASONAHORES) informed.

According to stats provided by ASONAHORES, the amount of incoming travelers climbed 7.6 percent in January, while figures in February and March peaked 12.32 and 5.03 percent respectively from the same months last year.