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.

Thomas Cook, the Germany-based tour operator, is hoping to get a double-digit increase in the number of bookings through the oncoming European summertime season, the company informed in Frankfurt. “As we speak, we’re seeing a good trend in the booking of travel packages,” said Detlef Altmann, a member of the firm’s board of directors.

European tourists blasted the extremely high commissions demanded by Costa Rican banks for changing euros, a situation that has raised concerns in the country’s National Tourism Institute. Members of the institution fear this move could send bad ripple effects all over the nation’s leisure industry and ultimately make a dent in the flow of arrivals.

Spokespersons from the National Bank of Costa Rica explained the current exchange rate was adopted because the country has no room for euros and is therefore bound to export the European currency at a very high price.

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.

Nicaragua’s leisure industry churned out $150 million in 2003 thanks to the coming of half a million travelers for a walloping $34 million spike from 2002, thus underlining its role as the country’s top source of hard-currency revenues, the Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (INTUR) reported.

The institution’s stats reveal the local travel industry has way outnumbered the six-digit figures made by such commodities as coffee, mutton, lobster, raw gold and peanuts from the list of the nation’s top twenty exportable items.