Travel industry veteran Reyson Pimentel was recently named the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) regional vice president for the Central Caribbean. Mr. Pimentel, who is also Caribbean Director of Sales & Marketing for Hotetur and BlueBay Hotels & Resorts, recently attended the Annual Caribbean Tourism Summit in Washington, D.C.

Major international airlines Air France, Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Martinair, and SAS Cargo Group A/S have agreed to each plead guilty and pay criminal fines totaling $504 million for participating in a multi-year conspiracy to fix prices for air cargo rates, the Department of Justice has announced.

Montserrat has just announced that Carib Aviation Limited has begun operating new daily air service from Antigua starting July 1, 2008. LIAT, Carib Aviation Limited’s code share partner, will operate a minimum of three return flights between Antigua and Montserrat.

The Palm Beach County Convention & Visitors Bureau announced that, effective May 27, Steve Crist was appointed vice president of group and convention sales for the PBC CVB.

Nearly 50 million Americans have a physical disability, and about 10 million depend on wheelchairs or other mobility devices. But when it comes to providing quality service to this important segment, the hospitality industry sometimes falls flat.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization named Arley Sobers interim secretary general and CEO, replacing Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, who stepped down today to become minister of tourism and aviation for the Bahamas. Sobers was CTO’s director of research and information management. CTO’s executive committee will immediately begin the search for a permanent secretary general, said CTO Chairman Allan Chastanet. Vanderpool-Wallace had served as head of CTO since 2005. He also served as co-CEO of the Caribbean Tourism Development Co., which was created in 2007 as the business and marketing unit owned equally by CTO and the Caribbean Hotel Association.