Argentina’s Association of Travel Operators and Tourism is one year old and celebrated this first anniversary with a luncheon at the Sheraton Libertador Hotel. Providers, tourist authorities and the press attended the celebration. The association’s chairman, Juan Carlos Chervatin (intake picture), announced the creation of several commissions to deal with different world regions and cruise liners.

Julio David Diaz Chay, guild leader at the Commerce Chamber Office in the Guatemalan municipality of Panajachel (Department of Solola) blasted the country’s Tourism Institute (INGUAT) and state officials for neglecting the tourist sector in this region, a situation that generates insecurity among visitors. According to Mr. Diaz, local law enforcement agencies do not provide tourists with adequate protection and this carelessness has caused problems along the different routes leading to the Atitlan Lake. A case in point is the recent murder of an Austrian female citizen and multiple attacks against tourists reported in the region.

Thanks to the successful completion of its certification process, Ecuador’s Department of Civil Aviation gave the green light to LanEcuador –a LanChile’s affiliate- to commence operations. Its flights, scheduled to begin soon, will link the local cities of Quito and Guayaquil with Miami, New York, Madrid, Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. The company will also join the OneWorld Alliance.

US Airways will lay off more than 2,500 employees in the coming three months and will slash benefits to its workers in an effort to minimize costs. Before the ill-fated September 11, 2001, US Airways had a payroll of over 49,000 employees. Today, after massive layoffs the company has been forced to make, only 35,000 workers still hold down their jobs.

Amadeus, the reservation and booking dealer, announced it would jack up air fares by 1.5 to 3 percent in 2003, way over this year’s prices, though the firm warns the new fares will assume a 45 percent fall compared to next year’s projected estimates.

Amadeus says the fare raise mirrors an increase in data processing costs, “taking into account that the company’s distribution network is the largest of its kind and the one offering the best international availability to airlines.”

Le femmes, especially female entrepreneurs that make up half of all business travel execs in the U.S., are very demanding and increasingly bigger, let alone the fact that they are willing to shell out more for their safety, healthy food and comfort, a situation that’s yielding larger benefits for hotel chains.

U.S. hotels have always been forced to focus their attention and promotion on male consumers, yet they have begun to implement some changes in security, appearance and luxury in order to meet the demands of an ever-growing female clientele.