Oca Hotels has just appointed Arturo Rodriguez as the company’s new expansion manager. With vast experience in the travel industry, Mr. Rodriguez had served as general manager of VIACA Travels and completed stints for a number of Spanish companies, such as Marsans and Halcon Travels. With this new addition, Oca Hotels steps up plans for further growth and expansion.

Authorities in Uruguay and Chile inked an agreement in Santiago that provides further opening of air routes between the two capitals, the first pact ever signed by two South American nations, Uruguayan Tourism Minister Pedro Bordaberry informed.

As many as fifteen Latin American governments have balked at their commitments to stave off sexual crimes against minors, according to Bruce Harry, regional representative of ECPAT, a world organization.

A wide-ranging promotional blitz is expected to help put the Mexican island of Cozumel on the travel map of several Canadian and U.S. cities with the launch of a new magazine –Cozumel Mexican Caribbean Island.

Cesar Trejo Vazquez, director of TVC Productions –the company in charge of getting the project done- remembered that the magazine first hit the newsstands four years ago under the title The Best in Cozumel, People and Places. Its fourth issue will have 200,000 annual copies.

The Cuban beach resort of Varadero, in Matanzas province, 134 kilometers east of Havana, is benefiting from a new option to promote its attractions for the leisure industry: a CD-ROM recently launched by Génesis Multimedia and the National News Agency (AIN).

The CD-ROM consists of 236 photos and a 14-minute video clip showing aerial and ground views of Cuba´s main beach resort. It also includes an interactive map that will allow users to choose places of interest and receive information on them in Spanish and English.

Costa Rican authorities are going to put more law enforcement officers on the streets to assist both local and foreign sunbathers, and to help boost the promotion of the nation’s travel industry. The real news is that those cops will get extensive training in tourism matters.

Costa Rica’s Vice Minister of Public Security, Ana Helena, was quoted as saying in the local press today that new graduates from the National Police Academy (NPA) will “help turn Costa Rica into a safer destination for travelers.”