The U.S. State Department this week proposed developing a wallet-sized passport card that would allow American citizens to travel to Canada, Mexico, Bermuda and parts of the Caribbean. The card is designed to speed the travel of the millions of Americans who go to Canada and Mexico by land as well as those who visit some Caribbean nations from cruise ships.

Air Jamaica-s front office announced last week it will stop paying base commissions on air-only bookings as of January 1, 2007 The Jamaican air company is currently paying a 5 percent base commission on all air-only reservations. This process will officially come to a close on January 1.

Royal Island, a 440-acre uninhabited isle near Harbor Island and Eleuthera in the Bahamas, will be the site of the first Jack Nicklaus Golf Club, according to Cypress Equities, the Dallas-based development affiliate of the Staubach Co. The site will include an 80-room boutique resort, a spa, several restaurants, a private residential community and a 300-slip marina. The 18-hole golf course will be the centerpiece of the project.

Grenada’s 32-room Blue Horizons Garden Resort grabbed the Green Globe Benchmark Certificate under the new Green Globe Certification program for environmental standards. The resort now can proceed to the next step, which is obtaining the certification itself. Blue Horizons first obtained the Green Globe Benchmark distinction in 2004 but it expired when the property was closed as a result of Hurricane Ivan.

Ewart Brown, Bermuda’s minister of transport and tourism, has resigned from his post to run for premier, the highest office in the country, according to a source close to the Ministry of Tourism. Brown, a physician, also held the title of deputy premier. According to The Royal Gazette, the Bermuda newspaper, he is vying to take over leadership of the ruling Progressive Labor Party and is challenging the current premier and party head, Alex Scott. The election is slated for October 27. Mr. Brown was appointed tourism minister in 2004.

Equestrian tours using historic haciendas and working ranches as lodgings are now available in Western Mexico. The tours are in the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage site of Tequila and its surroundings. Historic Hacienda Inns of Western Mexico is now offering a series of horseback excursions opening up a whole new way of seeing the back roads of Jalisco and Zacatecas.