The Water Club Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico, gripped the prestigious 2002 Hippest Hotel Design Award granted by U.S. magazine Lodging Hospitality. The contest celebrated ten years of service and recognition to the world’s most spectacular major hotels that vied for the coveted prize in a dead-heat competition.

Joan Carles Casanovas, 35, was appointed new operations manager for the Hesperia hotel chain. Mr. Casanovas was serving as deputy manager in the Operations Department. With over 16 years of experience under his belt in the tourist sector, Joan Carles Casanovas has worked for both independent resorts and such world-class hotel chains as Hilton International and Sol Meliá. Before joining Grupo Hesperia, he was coupling his tenure as operations manager for the Alimara Hotel in Barcelona with a teaching stint at the CETT University School of Hotel and Tourism, where he was also head of the Hotel Department.

For a couple of months beginning Nov. 15 through Jan. 15, Delta Airlines will enforce baggage limits on passengers flying from the U.S. to certain Latin America cities like Guadalajara, Guatemala City, Mexico City, Panama City, San Jose and San Salvador.Sources from the air carrier said passengers flying those routes will have limitations on how much weight and baggage they could carry with them.

Latin America’s professional golf circuit Tour de Las Americas and Copa Airlines –the region’s premiere air carrier- have just announced in Panama the continuation of their partnership for the 2002-2003 season.“Once again, Copa Airlines is a sponsor of Tour de Las Americas. For our company, this stands for a magnificent opportunity to put our services and flight network through the continent at the beck and call of Latin American golfers,” said Felipe Fabregas, sales manager for Copa Airlines in Panama.

China is interested in sponsoring investments and bettering commercial relations, even before the "normalization" of official relations on a bilateral level takes place, the Chinese ambassador in Colombia, and roving ambassador in the Caribbean, Ju Yijie, told Hoy newspaper.Tourism would be first in line to be promoted, Ju said and reminded that just last year China sent 14 million tourists to Europe, Asia and North America.

Spanish Airports and Air Navigation (AENA) will shell out 129 million euros to buttress security in Spain’s airports in 2003, compared to just 14 million euros earmarked this year for that same effort. The announcement was made by Alejandro Aldanondo, head of AENA Planning Department, in the course of the 2nd Congress of Aviation Industry organized in Madrid by the Spanish Airlines Association (AECA).