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.

Dominican businessman and lawyer Enrique de Marchena Kaluche has just been voted for as president-elect of CHA. The votes were cast during the annual Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference that came to an end Tuesday in Miami, Florida. Mr. Marchena will now start a 12-month preparation process before taking over a CHA President to serve a two-year term.

A lawyer by trade, Mr. Ivanov has been involved in the travel sector since 1994 as chairman of a world-class tour operator -Protocol CD- and president of the Sofia Tourist Council

The Dominican Republic’s travel industry posted an 8.4 percent increase in 2006 in terms of international arrivals and hopes to go that figure one better this time around. In the first two months of 2007, the country has put more good numbers on the board and heads for a successful first-quarter homestretch. The Caribbean nation keeps improving the tourist infrastructure and raising the quality of its hotels in a bid to draw in far more visitors.

In 2006, the Dominican Republic underscored its leadership as one of the Caribbean’s most sought-after travel destinations with a whopping 8 percent growth in the number of foreign visitors. In the first quarter of 2007, the growing trend goes on and poses a new source of encouragement for national and international investments the country’s tourism continues to reel in.

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.