Kees Van Maaswaal has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer by Golden Tulip, effective January 1, 2007. Mr. Van Maaswaal is currently Managing Director of Accor Hotels for the Netherlands. In his future position Kees Van Maaswaal will be overseeing the four regional divisions of Golden Tulip Hotels, Inns & Resorts in Europe, the Middle East & Africa, Asia and the Americas.

One of Grenada´s all exclusive resorts recently achieved the Green Globe Benchmarked Certificate under a new certification program recognizing resorts that show a commitment to operate at high environmental standard. Achieving this distinction was Spice Island Beach Resort, the first property in Grenada to be Green Globe Certified in 2004. The certification expired during the time the resort was closed because of the devastation from Hurricane Ivan.

The Coalition for the Defense of Protected Area is blasting the Dominican Minister of Tourism for his allegedly leading participant in a tourism project that breaks the law. The Coalition points to the case of Vistamare in Samana, that is already under construction without having presented the required environmental impact study, and for which an unprecedented exception by Presidential decree was obtained for the company to make use of the 196 feet of seafront.

Aruba´s water & electricity plant , WEB Aruba N.V. signed a contract to buy an innovative U.S. GE-IONICS water plant. The contract entails the purchase of a desalination plant to produce potable water. The project replaces and expands the production of water at a total cost of 31 million Aruban florins.

Travel agency consortia Spainexperience and Worldspan have signed a three-year agreement giving Spainexperience and its member travel agencies throughout Spain access to the Worldspan global distribution system (GDS). In addition to subscribing to the Worldspan GDS for travel planning and procurement, the group will also take advantage of Worldspan e-Pricing(R), the travel industry´s most advanced technology for shopping and booking low fares among the world´s airlines.

British Airways and Google are teaming up to make holiday preparation even easier, by launching a new interactive service through the airline´s website, ba.com. To celebrate its “World Offers” fare sale with more than 3 million seats available, the airline will feature Google Earth satellite technology on ba.com, allowing travelers to zoom in on their destination of choice as they take advantage of the excellent discounts available on flights and hotels.