Costa Cruises said the Costa Mediterranea would not sail in the Caribbean during the 2008-2009 season, but Italian cruise line did not reveal where the ship will be redeployed to.

Apple Vacations honored Aruba with the 2007 Crystal Apple Awards for Best Destination 2007. The Crystal Apple Award is given to the “best of the best” in five categories and Aruba was proud to win the “Best Destination” honor based on over 300,000 Apple vacationer surveys.

Mary Donohue, national sales manager for Radisson Aruba Resort & Casino from 2001 to 2005, has returned to the sales team as director of group sales.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced a global standard that paves the way for global mobile phone check-in using two-dimensional (2D) bar codes.

This past winter’s unusually cold weather in Chile’s central valley had at least one benefit -the mountains were covered in snow, attracting some 600,000 skiers and snowboarders. This figure accounts for an 11 percent increase compared to the previous season when 522,000 visitors hit the slopes.

It was a gory sight in a hotel room in Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, where a Chinese tourist had earlier made a distress call to the reception counter. A hotel staff member who rushed to the third-floor room when the line went dead found the guest sprawled on a blood-soaked bed, with slash wounds on her chest and neck.