Europe is one of Guatemala’s top outbound markets, doling out an array of great offers among visitors from the Old World, including archeological sites, fishing, birdwatching, religious and cultural tourism, modern and colonial cities and a whole lot more.

Regardless of holding on to the U.S. as its number-one outbound market, Puerto Rico is beginning to look far more thoroughly to Europe and especially to Spain, not only in an effort to lure more visitors, but also a larger chunk of corporate money. Companies like Spain’s Sol Melia are bidding up for the lovely island with plans in the offing to add as many as 5,000 new hotel rooms during the ongoing administration. Puerto Rico is making good on this endeavor by attending major tourism fairs like FITUR.

The Paradisus Princesa del Mar hotel is the seventh lodging Spain-based company Sol Melia has opened in Cuba’s Varadero Beach, a destination this Spanish group eyes as a major steppingstone to get a much tighter grip of the sizzling Cuban market where it owns two dozen properties right now. The establishment’s General Manager told Caribbean News Digital he wants the Paradisus Princesa del Mar to be Sol Melia’s finest resort on the Caribbean island nation.

by Maria Caridad Gonzalez The Madrid International Tourism Fair (FITUR) has turned out to be a major tradeshow for Panama’s private sector companies given the number of deals they cut with similar partners in both the Spanish and European markets. This is what the Marketing and Communications Manager for the IPAT had to say to Caribbean News Digital.

In recent weeks, Aruba was home to the largest tourism marketing event held every year in the region: the Caribbean Marketplace. In addition to the recognition for having been picked to host this major gathering, the Island Where Happiness Lives took advantage of this opportunity to unveil a far-reaching plan of hotel refurbishment and bit flips in terms of tourist infrastructure. These efforts will surely lead this hot Caribbean destination to revamp its image and lure a larger amount of visitors in coming months.

The Dominican Republic’s travel industry put great numbers on the board in 2006 and now continues to be one of the Caribbean’s top destinations. The country reeled in nearly 4 million visitors last year, up a whopping 8.4 percent from 2005. This time around, the island nation hopes to get similar results or even go them one better based on an all-out diversification process in the local hotel sector.