If you have ever dreamed of getting away from it all, Picasso Tours, a division of Picasso Travel, has made it possible with its 2006 independent and escorted Mediterranean vacations. Vacations along both sides of this magnificent body of water help melt away stress. Picasso´s vacations fit everyone´s taste and budget whether it´s a four-day or three-night stay in historic and beautiful Dubrovnik for as little as $129, a nine day/eight night Madrid and Andalusia train tour from $699 or an escorted 13 day/12 night grand tour of Turkey beginning at $1269.

Thomas Cook is to axe 325 jobs in a move it hopes will save £20 million per year. It follows the creation of a new Holidays division and restructure of its sales department.

Amancio Ortega, chairman of INDITEX, ordered the appointment of a new representative at the NH Hotels´ Board of Managers. Mr. Ortega´s group is the top shareholder of the Spanish hotel chain with 10.3 percent of all stakes. The new representative will be Julio Cesar Diaz-Freijo Cerecedo, who is now replacing Alfredo Fernandez Duran, who stepped down as soon as he learned about Mr. Cerecedo´s appointment on February 22.

Cuba´s Tourism Ministry is planning to put a much bigger cultural spin on its hospitality industry by further relying on the offerings made by the island nation´s Cuba Convention Bureau (BCC is the Spanish acronym). Cuban culture vice minister Ruben del Valle, and BBC president Conrado Martinez Corona have laid out a new strategy aimed at making the country´s heritage a bigger player in the travel industry. The official announcement will be made during the next edition of the Caribbean Festival scheduled from July 3 to 9 in Santiago de Cuba.

Venezuela has banned US airlines Continental and Delta from flying into Caracas from next week, in a move that will allow President Hugo Chavez to distance his country from the US literally as well as politically. American Airlines, the third and most frequent U.S. carrier serving Venezuela, will see its service severely restricted from March 1, when the ban comes into effect, the National Aviation Institute (INAC) said.

UNESCO´s drector-general Koichiro Matsuura and Peruvian foreign minister Oscar Maurtua de Romaña signed last week an agreement that paves the way for the foundation of the Latin American Center for the Protection of Nonmaterial Cultural Heritage. The center will be headquartered in Cusco, Peru, and stands for the first organization of its kind ever founded under the leadership of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.