The GBTA Foundation, the research arm of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), released the Global Business Travel Spending Outlook 2011-2015, a study sponsored by Visa that shows business travel spend around the world increased 8.4 percent in 2010, after falling 7.8 percent in 2009. Moreover, global spending on business travel is projected to grow another 9.2 percent in 2011 to just over $1 trillion.

The Cruise Lines International Association’s latest consumer survey finds that 36.1 million Americans are “likely” to take a cruise vacation in the next three years. In a U.S. population of 304 million, 73 million Americans have cruised before and the 36.1 million are from a core target market of 133 million.

Jamaica, the Caribbean island known for reggae music and white-sand beaches, aims to double tourists from Russia and add direct flights from Brazil to take advantage of emerging nations’ growing wealth and stronger currencies. Jamaican Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett said he is heading to Russia next week to work on an agreement with OAO Aeroflot.

Based on the growth of the tourism industry, Cuban authorities of the sector hope to have 29 golf courts throughout the island over the next 15 years.

Smith Travel Research predicts a 1.7 percent occupancy increase for the U.S. hotel industry this summer. The U.S. hotel industry should expect to see a modest increase in demand for hotel rooms combined with meaningful rate gains this summer, according to STR’s 2011 summer forecast. The summer travel season comprises June, July and August.

American Cruise Lines is doing something that hasn't been done in awhile: It's building a paddlewheeler from the ground up for the Mississippi River market. The new Mississippi River paddlewheeler will set sail in August 2012. The 140-passenger ship, which is still unnamed, is under construction at Chesapeake Shipbuilding in Salisbury, Md., a shipyard that American Cruise Lines works with for many of its ships.