The Mayan Riviera needs to put on a good promotional and advertisement show because even though it’s one of the most sought-after travel destination of the Mexican Caribbean, this hot spot is still fledgling and should be putting a message across to the rest of the world. Its attendance to the Madrid International Tourism Fair (FITUR) in January -under the Mexican Caribbean trademark- sought to beef up the inflows of European travelers, especially of Spaniards.
Banking on codeshare agreements and flights of its own, Aeropostal Airlines keeps great connections going among the Caribbean, Central America and South America, with far-reaching plans in store to ratchet them up through luring multi-destination offers.
Q & A with Victor Manjarres, Iberian American Division Chief for Sandals & Beaches Resorts and Royal Plantation Boutiques in Jamaica
Sandals & Beaches Resorts boasts a far-reaching development plan for the Caribbean in 2007. In June 1, the company will open the Mediterranean Villa in Antigua & Barbuda and has just bought a hotel there that will be reflagged as the Beaches Antigua. Also underway there are three projects under the Royal Plantation brand, two of them in Jamaica and the third in Turks & Caicos. It has no plans to be the region’s largest hotel chains, but it is intended to be the finest in terms of luxury products for couples and family trippers.
Puerto Rico is nabbing some 30,000 Spanish tourists every year, a figure that backs up the existence of four weekly flights operated by Iberia and the magnificent support of tour operators. The recent interest of Spanish hotel chains to tap the Caribbean island’s market, coupled with a hands-on promotional and advertisement campaign to get cracking this year in Madrid, Bilbao and Barcelona, will certainly help increase the number of tourist arrivals from the Iberian Peninsula, Puerto Rico’s number-one outbound market in Europe.
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.




