The Crane Resort & Residences on the southeast coast of Barbados will unveil its Crane Village in mid-February.

Antigua’s Hermitage Bay named Rachel Charles-Brown as general manager. She joined Hermitage Bay in October 2007 as an assistant manager. Mrs. Charles-Brown was appointed island manager of Palm Island Resort and was instrumental in opening the resort before joining Hermitage Bay.

Koichiro Matsuura, director general of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO), started Monday an official visit to Cuba, Granma newspaper reports.

Bulgarians seem to have abandoned the idea of far, exotic destinations as the perfect place to spend the holiday season, preferring mostly local ski resorts and neighboring countries instead, Bulgarian-language media reported, citing statistics from tourist agencies. While many Bulgarians chose short getaways in FYROM, Greece and Turkey, the Black Sea resorts were flooded by tourists from Romania.

The closure of the Four Seasons Resort in Nevis is being seen as a blow to tourism in St Kitts and Nevis. Four Seasons Resort Nevis is currently closed until April 30, as a result of the impact of Hurricane Omar which hit the island last October.

From a major investment in the small hotels market to a new flight and expected records in cruise numbers, 2009 is shaping up to be a huge year for the island of Tobago. The Tobago House of Assembly has announced the allocation of $2.3 million to small boutique hotels as a means of bringing them up to three-star status.