Latin America and Caribbean economies will put on the worst shrinking numbers of the last twenty years with a 1.1 percent overall plunge, according to a World Bank report issued yesterday in Washington.

The financial crisis in Argentina –the worst of all time in the country- and its ripple effects on neighboring nations like Uruguay and Paraguay, put growth on hold and pushed foreign investment down in the region for a fifth year in a row.

The Ecuadorian leisure industry is hoping to wrap up 2002 with a 6 percent increase compared to the year before, according to the nation’s Minister of Tourism Rocio Vazquez, who underscored her country’s assortment of tourist offers ranging from jungles and beaches to mountains and the Galapagos Islands.

United Airlines is planning to embark on a low-budget strategy aimed at luring big-time passengers and working its way out of bankruptcy, according to a memo issued to the staff by the company’s Vice President for Strategy, Doug Hacker.

The communiqué points out that United intends to develop a low-cost air service among its competitors. On the one hand, the carrier will try to court international-route travelers through a collaboration effort with its partners in Star Alliance, the airline merger.

The bankruptcy of U.S. air carrier United Airlines could unleash some dire straits for Lufthansa, its German partner at Star Alliance, contrary to what the latter’s front office has been saying, a spokesman for the Cockpit Pilot Trade Union, Georg Fongern told German newspaper Die Welt.

United Airlines, the second-largest air carrier in the U.S., filed today for Chapter 11 of the country’s Bankruptcy Act, a process that will keep the company operational while it tries to overhaul its finances.

Spanair president Gonzalo Pascual said that would the current situation go on, his company could start marking down prices to the level of low-budget carriers, though keeping up high quality and good service since their own reshuffling matches up with what these airlines have to offer. Mr. Pascual’s remarks were heard in the 2nd Congress of the Travel Agency Management Leaders (CAAVE) that took place in Lanzarote.

The bankruptcy of U.S. company United Airlines and the tribulations of other major carriers are revealing an industry overhaul only workers and passengers will be bound to pay for, experts warn.

“Airlines can’t stick to money-losing fares,” said Julio Sorribas, general manager of ANA Travel Agency that does a considerable chunk of its business operations with passengers that fly between the U.S. and Latin America.