Varig has just announced the appointment of Robert Macedo as the airline’s new president and CEO, the fourth man at the helm in less than a year. Mr. Macedo, who worked for Varig for over twenty years until his retirement in late 2002 as marketing director, will replace outing president Manuel Guedes who stepped down last April 16 after bickering with the Ruben Berta Foundation, owner of the air carrier’s 87 percent of shares. Mr. Guedes, who led the company’s front office for only five months, had sat in for Amim Lore who also served a short-lived tenure following Ozires Silva’s resignation.

Latin American travel agencies agreed to hurl an aggressive promotional blitz of their services in an effort to thwart slashed commission fees paid by airlines that threaten to make thousands of companies in the sector go belly up.

Tourist enterprises decided to map out campaigns in the news media that highlight the advantages of their services. Many of these companies risk to vanish following a cutback in commission fees paid by airlines over the sale of plane tickets.

Spanish tourism authorities hope to welcome a record-breaking 53 million visitors this year good enough for a 2.2 percent increase compared to 2002.

A report issued by Excelencia Turistica (EXCELTUR), an institution clustering major companies from all sectors linked to the leisure industry, broke the good news but warned earnings won’t fare as positively as the number of visitors.

“The diversification of Cuba’s tourist industry as far as offers, destinations, market segments and tour operators are concerned is a top priority for us,” said Cuban tourism minister Ibrahim Ferradaz. The island nation welcomed 800,000 sunbathers in the first third of the year for a 19 percent increase compared to the same period of time in 2002.

“The Quality Award granted to the Holguin destination by the Cuba Tourism Convention belongs to everybody,” said Neuris Barzaga, a delegate of the Tourism Minister to that territory on the eastern side of the island nation.

Different Spanish media organizations have learned, according to the Balaguer Morera & Associates Law Firm, that the Julia Group has filed a payment deferral lawsuit against three Barcelona-based trusteeships that now amass 38.3 million euros in current liabilities. The fact that the group is now pressing charges of overdue debts is closely linked to a demand meltdown in the tourist sector.