The TradeWinds Island Resorts -- the Island Grand Resort and the Sandpiper Suites -- located along the Gulf of Mexico on the island of St. Pete Beach, Fla., promoted Keith Overton to the position of president and chief operating officer.

On Friday, Honduran president Porfirio Lobo signed legislation declaring a 92,665 square mile shark sanctuary in the country’s waters. The measure solidifies the moratorium on commercial fishing for sharks that the nation announced last year with the island nation of Palau.

Cases of cholera are on the rise in Haiti and neighboring Dominican Republic, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) reported today, saying more than 18,000 new cases in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, have been recorded recently.

Jamaica tourism officials cut the ribbon Monday on an attraction in Montego Bay that was five years in the making. The Old Hospital Park on Montego Bay’s “Hip Strip” completed a $530,000 upgrade that includes several gazebos, bathrooms and an information desk, according to the Jamaica Observer.

The American Tourism Society (ATS) will have its Annual Fall 2011 Conference in the Czech Republic spa town of Luhacovice, Oct. 23 to 27. The conference will be followed by a product development tour to Moravia and Slovakia from Oct. 27 to 30.

The Puerto Vallarta tourism board said it is “sorry” that Princess Cruises decided to cancel the remaining calls to its port in 2011 and insisted the resort area is safe. The cancellation also had other industry executives wondering what was behind the decision to avoid Puerto Vallarta.