Up to the month of August, Costa Rica’s travel industry has climbed a staggering 9.5 percent, way above the estimated 5 percent increase the UNWTO has predicted for the Central American nation this year. This country continues to put the smart money on the sector’s sustainable development and, as all of the region, strives in a head-on battle against sexual tourism.
Q & A with Carlos Fonseca, General Manager of the Costa Rica Natural Travel and Deputy President of the Central American Tour Operators Organization
The Central American Tour Operators Organization (CTO) is a relatively young association that gathers a group of companies from the region’s countries and moves some 100 tourists a month to the alternative segments of historical and cultural travel, as well as ecotourism -a growing market that’s all the rage in Costa Rica. Caribbean News Digital talked exclusively with one of CTO’s top-brass execs.
As a follow-up to the opinions on the Central America Travel Market that we posted in the Outlook section on Monday, Caribbean News Digital is bringing on this exclusive interview with Honduran tourism minister Ricardo Martinez, who voiced some view of his own about this event held in Costa Rica.
Pullmantur and Royal Caribbean are opening a new stage with the arrival of Jose Arriola as their new director general. This change will breathe new life into the company’s philosophy and layout under the direction of a Cuban-American impresario with great character and a leadership style of his own. Caribbean News Digital talked exclusively with Mr. Arriola in his first day at the helm of this cruise company.
Martina Beeken is the head of the Meier’s Weltreisen Division for Central America, South America and the Caribbean, as well as other parts of the world. Right now, Mrs. Beeken is keeping a watchful eye on the 2007 “Welcome Cuba” Mega Fam that kicked off Sept. 12 in different Cuban destinations with the participation of some 80 travel agents and partnership representatives dealing with Meier’s -all of the hailing from Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
In the face of this event, Mrs. Beeken talked with Caribbean News Digital on the early going of this Mega Fam and the niceties that Cuba has to offer as a travel destination.
by Frank Perez Alvarez
As maker of major publishing and business projects in Cuba, the Caribbean and the Americas, the Excelencias Group’s President, CEO and Editor-in-Chief says his company is turning its first decade fully committed with the promotion of tourism, cultural values and full-fledged integration across the entire region.