Some of Jamaica’s major tourism players yesterday called on the Government to allocate more money to advertise and promote the country in order to correct a 2.1 percent slide in stopover visitor arrivals since the start of the year which, they project, will worsen in the summer and fall if nothing is done.

European travel company giants TUI and First Choice, which agreed to merge in March, said they would sell their Irish assets so that the proposed merger wins the approval of the European Commission.

Royal Caribbean Cruises’ first quarter profit took a 93 percent dive over the same period of last year, which it blamed mostly on the extreme seasonality of recently acquired Pullmantur Cruises and continued Caribbean weakness.

Hilton Hotels Corporation has announced agreement to sell up to 10 hotels to a fund managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate for approximately 566 million euros (or approximately $770 million).

TAM and TAP Portugal, a Star Alliance member, are executing today a Memorandum of Agreement establishing a comprehensive alliance that comprises several areas, taking advantage of the synergies arising from their respective networks, products and services in the routes connecting Brazil and Portugal.

LAN’s new $150 airfare policy has increased passenger traffic between Punta Arenas and Santiago in the last five months by 30,000, of which almost half had never boarded an airplane according to company officials.