More than a thousand entrepreneurs from as many as fourteen Central American and Caribbean countries, plus Colombia, huddled in a two-day powwow in the northern Colombian city of Cartagenas de Indias for the so-called Business Macro Round, a commercial effort aimed at looking for ways to egg on trade operations.

The share portfolio of Germany-based tour operator TUI, the world’s leading firm in the sector, was up 11 percent Monday at the Frankfort Stock Exchange after the company revealed its reserves are making a comeback and the German giant will close 2003 in the black. TUI’s shares grew 11.2 percent and closed at 12.3 euros apiece.

A year after the strengthening of Summa Alliance, the company’s president Juan Emilio Posada announced a reshuffling plan aimed at grappling with the economic crisis the firm is going through. The action package to make Summa keep its head above the water includes flight cutbacks, timetable overhauls, the return of seven aircraft and a 30 percent slash in the number of collaborators.

The leisure industry topped Panama’s hard-currency makers in 2002 with a final tally of $678.8 million, $53.1 million more than in 2001and way over the earnings churned out by operations in the Colon Free Trade Zone and the Panama Canal, the Panamanian Tourism Institute (IPAT) reported today.

A grand total of 800, 161 visitors came to Panama in 2002. The country’s main gateways were the Tocumen International Airport, chased closely by the Balboa and Cristobal seaports, and Paso Canoa on the Costa Rican border, IPAT officials stated.

Hotel fares ratcheted up 4.6 percent in April compared to the same month in 2002 and earnings per room jumped 2.4 percent over the past year, the National Statistics Institute (INE) reported in a press release.

Cubana de Aviacion and Chile’s International Network Group S.A. have just signed an agreement to forge a joint-ventured travel agency.