Hilton Worldwide announces two general manager appointments in Costa Rica. Rui Domingues has been appointed general manager of the 202-room Hilton Papagayo Costa Rica Resort & Spa, as well as the 169-room Hilton Garden Inn Liberia Airport, holding responsibility for the management of both hotels.

Ryanair announced it would open its 40th and 1st Central European base at Kaunas, Lithuania’s second largest city, in May with 2 based aircraft and 18 routes (9 new). Ryanair’s new base will deliver up to 1 million passengers yearly and sustain 1,000 jobs at Kaunas with over 120 weekly flights as Ryanair invests over 100 million euros at Kaunas Airport.

St. Lucia is receiving international assistance in fighting crime from the governments of Taiwan and Britain, according to a report from the St. Lucian Ministry of Home Affairs and National Security.

The Latin America Construction Pipeline declined for a seventh consecutive quarter in Q4 2009 to 453 projects/74,946 rooms, reaching a new low for the current development cycle. Total projects have declined 34 percent from the Q1 2008 peak, with rooms down 42 percent. The Caribbean and South America saw the largest drop-offs from the peak.

The primary purpose of almost 40 percent of visitors who flew to the Island last year was business or visiting friends and family, statistics released this week show.

Hyatt Regency Aruba Resort & Casino is proud to announce it is officially the first “Green Globe Certified” High Rise resort on Palm Beach. The Authentic Island Chic resort on 12 beachfront acres on the northwest coast of Aruba received the prestigious Silver Status under the Green Globe Earthcheck Certification program, the premier international certification alliance for sustainable travel and tourism.