Wyndham Hotels and Resorts appointed Roger Swadish general manager of the 559-room Wyndham Nassau Resort & Crystal Palace Casino. Mr. Swadish is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the recently renovated resort.

In 2010, Pécs will be the first Hungarian city to become European Capital of Culture, together with the German city of Essen and the Turkish metropolis Istanbul. The motto “The City Without Borders” recalls that Pécs has over 30 partner towns in southern Transdanubia as well as in the international cultural region to which Trieste, Maribor, Tuzla, Novi Sad and others belong, and which it plans to include in its program for 2010.

Gari & Wasabi opened on Palm Beach Road between Linda’s Pancake House and Bingo Restaurant next to the Valero Station on Wednesday night. Although just a soft opening with friends and family, the owners and guests enjoyed the evening in a unique Aruban ambience of the latest contribution to Aruba’s culinary scene.

Recently, Aruba was host to a group of travel agents from the company Munditur from Colombia. The official Aruba operators used the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the destination. This was made possible with the help and coordination of Aires airlines.

In his bid for a Board seat, ASTA member and National Board candidate Alan Fiermonte claims the association is failing its members by financially under-performing. Announcing his candidacy Friday, Fiermonte cites his thorough analysis of ASTA’s publicly available IRS Form 990s (not-for-profit tax returns), going back to 2002.

The U.S. Travel Association praised Reps. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) for introducing the “Travel Promotion Act of 2009,” legislation that could create thousands of new jobs and boost economic growth nationwide by attracting millions of new international travelers to the United States.