Tourism has panned out to be Panama’s number-one industry, doing one better to the toll money collected by the Canal. Today, the local leisure sector churns out $1.2 billion worth of revenues on a yearly basis. On the other hand, the industry has been growing steadily, peaking a whopping 16 percent increment in 2006 and forecasting a similar figure -or slightly higher- this time up.

For the Iberostar Tainos Hotel in Cuba’s Varadero, clinching guests’ satisfaction is the name of the game. This magnificent establishment has what it takes to lure visitors from all around the world. This is what the property’s general manager had to say in this exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital.

“Cuba is living the best of times in the realm of tourism and that could become a magnificent steppingstone for the rest of the Caribbean,” said Alvar Ojeda in this exclusive conversation with Caribbean News Digital. With that view in mind, the hotel he’s been at the helm of over the past four months is working hard to cash in on this new window of opportunity.

Costa Rica -Central America’s tourism powerhouse- is charged with the responsibility of planning this year’s Central America Travel Market, a fair created to promote and sell travel and tourism offers in Europe, Latin America and Asia from each and every country within the region. The country is already cranking up preparations for an event it will pour nearly $1 million into in an effort to gather over a hundred exhibiting companies and a similar amount of wholesalers.

Amid promotional and advertisement efforts to be conducted across Europe by means of CATA, Nicaragua’s travel industry is determined to reinforce its presence and stance in the Old World by showcasing its own natural and cultural assets. This Central American nation is also trying to get a nonstop flight from Europe and is interested in bringing in the continent’s big-time hoteliers.

Central America is stirring great interest among both tourists and businesspeople in Europe, so Iberia, the Spanish airline, decided to create a new hub in the region back in 2004 and the effort is certainly paying off. Right now, the carrier holds a 50 percent share of that market. In other words, one out of two passengers traveling from Europe to Central America is flying Iberia.