Executive Vice President of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) Sue Springer urged regional cruise destinations "to move away" from imposing a controversial head tax on cruise ship passengers. At the moment the charges vary significantly in each destination, ranging from US $2 to US $65, as is the case in Bermuda.

The Competition Defense System (CDS), a watchdog attached to the Spanish Ministry of Economy, okayed Iberojet Travels –an affiliate of the Iberostar Group- to buy 51 percent of all shares owned by tour operator Viva Tours.

After checking on the file, the CDS decided not to hand it over to the Competition Defense Tribunal, sources close to Spain’s Ministry of Economy revealed.

In early January, Iberostar put the CDS on notice that it had already taken over control of Viva Tours with 30 percent of all shares in the bag.

The number of flown passengers in the first four weeks of 2004 soared 3.8 percent compared to the same period of time the year before, the European Airlines Association (EAA) informed.

All markets operated by EAA-member airlines logged dramatic increases in the number of flown passengers in January 2004.

The North Atlantic market features the highest increase with 4.7 percent, followed by the Intra-European market with 2.2 percent, and Asia & Oceania with 1.3 percent.

Spanish companies with trade interests in Argentina cashed in on President Nestor Kirchner’s recent visit to Spain to hold a series of meetings that served to breathe some fresh air into their business expectations and underscore their confidence in the Latin American nation’s economic rebound.

During a four-day visit to Spain, Mr. Kirchner huddled with Florentino Perez, president and CEO of ACS Building Co., and Francisco Gonzalez, president of the BBVA Bank.

Spain-based Barceló Hotels & Resorts and Portuguese carrier Air Luxor signed an important agreement Wednesday at the 2004 FITUR. The signing ceremony took place at the Spanish hotel chain’s stand and was presided over by Jose Nery of Air Luxor and Jose Brichs, Head of Corporate Marketing for Barceló Hotels & Resorts.

The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) has presented its comments on the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery Report (CRNM) on "Tourism Services Negotiations: Implications for Cariforum." This official position has now been taken forward to Caribbean negotiators on behalf of CHA, representing the views of the Caribbean tourism private sector.