In announcing his cabinet, new Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding named Edmond Bartlett as the new minister of tourism, along with 17 other new ministers to the cabinet.

With arrival numbers showing that Hawaii’s visitor industry boom years have ended, there were plenty of challenges to discuss at the annual Hawaii Tourism Conference as marketers unveiled their newest strategies and identified growth opportunities from Europe, Asia, Oceania, Japan and North America.

The German capital Berlin is the latest destination in Lufthansa’s growing network from London City Airport. From January 14, 2008, Lufthansa will operate twice daily non-stop flights to Berlin-Tegel (thrice daily from the start of the summer timetable), offering the fastest connection between the two city centers and increasing the total number of weekly Lufthansa flights out of the Docklands airport from 66 to 78 weekly.

The Grenada Board of Tourism recently announced the appointment of Dr. Clarice Modeste-Curwen to the position of minister of tourism, civil aviation, culture and the performing arts.

A major advance was made on August 23 within the Aviation industry with the official signing of an International Sister Airports Agreement between the V.C. Bird International Airport and the Miami International Airport.

Marriott and Renaissance Caribbean & Mexico Resorts has just introduced the Virtual Trip Kit, a new online tool that travel agents and meeting planners can use for research, sales and packaging their clients’ final booking.