The arrival of foreign tourists to the Jorge Chavez International Airport grew an unprecedented 23.7 percent in January this year, compared to that same month of 2004, Peruvian Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Alfredo Ferrero said.
Mr. Ferrero informed the arrival of 63,366 foreigners in January clearly outnumbered the 51,235 visitors from other countries that entered the nation in early 2004, up a whopping 40 percent if stacked up against January 2000, the year that marked the beginning of a solid recovery for Peru’s travel industry.
The China-Caribbean Economic and Trade Co-operation Forum held in Kingston, Jamaica, on Wednesday and Thursday is seen as a springboard to boost trade ties between the two sides.
The forum witnessed the signing of the Guiding Framework for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and the Caribbean and also identified issues that need to be addressed to increase trade and investment levels.
Brazilian authorities are weighing the possibility of turning VARIG Airline’s debt into shares with a view to bail it out and make it a state-run company before it’s sold under the gavel.
That feasibility was discussed in a meeting attended by Brazil’s Vice President and Defense Minister Jose Alencar, members of the Ruben Berta Foundation –the air company’s owner-, representatives of the Civil Aviation Department and officials from Unibanco, the firm that sketched out the overhaul plan for the airline.
Iberostar Hotels & Resorts’ expansion plan in 2005 includes the opening of 14 new establishments, bringing the tally to 92 facilities and 61,650 rooms in all.
The Spanish company plans on pouring as many as €102 million in the building of new hotels and over €28 million in refurbishment works in the course of the ongoing year.
Spain is now the second-largest investing nation in Latin America, amassing nearly half of all the money poured into the region by the European Union. Furthermore, the country is beefing up its long-term investment projects and is girding for more, Spanish Tourism and Commerce Secretary Pedro Mejia said this week.
Spanish hotels comprise 44 percent of all foreign accommodations in Latin America with more than 200 lodgings. According to Mr. Mejia, tourism will be one of Spain’s strategic and top-priority lines between 2005 and 2008.
France-based hotel company Accor closed 2004 with sales for €7.12 billion, up 4.3 percent from 2003. However, that growth could rise to 4.6 percent if the impact on hard currency exchange rates is downplayed, the company’s headquarters informed this week.
The French giant’s hotel division scooped up little more than €5 billion, up 3.8 percent from the previous year, while the service division garnered €507 million for a solid 9.4 increase.