The Dominican government warned that plummeting tourist arrivals from the United States and Canada, coupled with outbreaks of infectious diseases in some areas, have already cost the Caribbean nation some $300 million so far this year. In early February, Dominican President Leonel Fernandez ordered the creation of a healthcare institution for tourists visiting the nation in an effort to stave off the outbreaks of infectious ailments that hit the east and north of the country.

A grand total of 260,000 visitors with $147 million in their pockets are expected to come to Cancun during the oncoming Holy Week festivities, pushing up hotel occupancy to 95 percent during that brief span of time, local hoteliers believe. As we speak, hotel occupancy is in the neighborhood of 85 percent, with as many as 49,000 tourists staying in 23,000 hotel rooms. However, tourism officials in Cancun are confident the week ending on March 27 could bring much higher rates.

Sol Meliá, the Spain-based hotel chain, wrapped up 2004 with gross gains of €60 million ($80 million), up a blistering 57.4 percent from the year before. The positive outcomes are largely owed to the good going of the company´s top markets. The group, whose business operations are mostly focused on Spain and the Caribbean, announced net profits for little more that €1 billion at the end of 2004.

Bruce Jones, a Florida entrepreneur, is ready to invest 40 million dollars to build a five star hotel on the bottom of the ocean in the Bahamas, in which anyone willing to dish out 1,500 dollars a night will have the chance to come face to face with sharks from the comfort of his/her undersea room. The projected Poseidon resort, located off the Bahamian island of Eleuthera at a depth of 15 meters (50 feet), will be connected to the mainland through two tunnels and an escalator, and pressure will be the same as at the surface.

Nicaraguan President Enrique Bolaños has just wrapped up a three-day visit to Paris on a mission to promote his country’s natural beauties and talk potential investors into pouring far more cash into the Central American nation. Out of France –Nicaragua’s fourth-largest tourism investor- Mr. Bolaños and his entourage are trying to bring advisory and technical assistance for an array of travel projects, chiefly in the fields of rural tourism and sustainable development, two areas in which the European country has great experience and expertise.

Faced with losses of up to US$847 million and total liabilities of US$890 million, Air Jamaica has said it will not rule out any option, including retrenchment, in a bid to reverse the financial downturn of the debt ridden airline. The company´s chairman Vin Lawrence said the airline is desperate to cut costs and reiterated that members of the management team have accepted salary cuts ranging between 18 and 30 percent.