About 84,701 Mexican tourists have visited Cuba last year, Alicia Perez, tourism counselor at the island's embassy here, said. Perez told Prensa Latina that Mexico is one of the countries that grow more in tourist issuing market to the Caribbean country, with 8.1 percent of growth.

After experiencing a significant spike in North American passenger traffic in the first half of last year, the friendly island of St. Maarten is pleased to announce its best year ever for Canadian tourism with an overall 14.5% increase in visitor arrivals from Canada during 2013 compared to 2012.

Caribbean tourism chiefs have been urged to cut travel taxes to the region to boost visitation numbers from the US. Key to this, he said, is a reduction in departure taxes in reciprocal arrangements with other countries, like the US.

The Association of Caribbean States and the United Nations World Tourism Organization signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in order to revitalize and improve collaboration and co-operation between the two organizations in the area of sustainable tourism.

Cuba’s tourism sector reported that revenues in 2013 increased to over $1.8 billion, a figure that exceeds that reported for 2012, following a modest growth in the number of visitors. The sector experienced some instability in tourist arrivals, particularly in the middle of the year.

TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, has announced the winners of its Travelers’ Choice Islands, with the top two world’s best being Ambergris Caye, Belize, and Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands.