Striving to assist young people upgrade their tourism skills, the Caribbean Hotel Foundation (CHF), the region´s largest scholarship program for the tourism industry, fulfilled the promise made last year by its leadership to intensify fundraising efforts aggressively. Indeed, the CHF has managed to double the amount of funds raised compared to the previous year, to approximately US$140,000, mostly thanks to newly created corporate scholarships, the organization asserted.

The Cuban travel destination of Jardines del Rey, off the northern shore of the Ciego de Avila province, is registering 28 weekly flights, a majority of them from such top outbound markets as Canada, U.K., Germany, Italy and Argentina. So far this year, flights to and from the Jardines del Rey International Airport have remained on a steady basis. That’s welcome news for Cuban tourism authorities that keep licking their chops in hope of far better results at the end of the ongoing year.

A wave of so-called spring breakers washed to the shores of Cancun this week, with 12,000 of these American students arriving Sunday on jam-packed commercial flights. Officials of the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies (AMAV is the Spanish acronym) rebuffed rumors that street vendors at the beach are hawking drugs among these youngsters. These U.S. college students are flocking down to Cancun at a time when hotel occupancy is around 87 percent, slightly below the 91.3 percent ratio posted last year. Spring breakers are expected to fork over some $64 million in establishments scattered across the state of Quintana Roo.

The Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (Asur) is planning to spend some $50 million to build a new runway for the Cancun International Airport, sources close to the deal told Caribbean News Digital. In addition to the runway, the same group will funnel cash to revamp the terminal´s infrastructure.

Despite scoring sale benefits of 5 to 8 percent in 2004, travel agencies in Mexico saw their overall gains plummet by as much as 50 percent because air commissions barely peaked 1 percent, explained Jorge Hernandez, president of the Mexican Association of Travel Agencies (AMAV for its Spanish name).

Luana Wheatley was named to the new post of director of marketing for the U.S. Virgin Islands Hotel & Tourism Association. For the past nine years, Wheatley managed the destination´s public relations and promotional efforts, coordinated crises communications, special event planning and media updates.