Tourism Departments

(Dive Travel Business News - January 27, 2012) -- Fueled by the Arab Spring, changes in US policy and economic reforms, Cuba is enjoying one of the best tourist seasons ever.  Last year Cuba had it's best year ever with 2.7 million visitors but observers are predicting that this year should beat that number.  The political stability and lack of crime in tightly controlled Cuba are strong lures for visitors. Clean Cuban beaches are also an attraction.

This high season has also seen a resurgence in visitors from Europe. Cuba has attracted many Europeans who would have gone to North Africa but balked because of the "Arab Spring" uprisings, tourism officials say.

Cuban Americans have been flooding into Cuba since U.S. President Barack Obama lifted restrictions for them to travel to their homeland in 2009. But now the number of other American visitors is climbing after Obama changed regulations in 2011, making it easier for non-Cuban Americans to enter a country the US trade embargo made off-limits for the past 50 years. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News May 27, 2011) -- The most recent U.S. State Department alert, issued April 22, expanded the areas in Mexico that are experiencing drug-cartel-related violence and advised U.S. travelers to exercise caution in visiting some parts of Mexico. One of the more confusing things about the State Department’s warning was that it sometimes named cities, sometimes states,sometimes vaguely delineated portions of states, sometimes roads, routes or border areas: The result leaves many travelers with the impression that entire states posed a security risk for visitors. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - May 25, 2011) -- A joint project to develop tourism links between Cuba and Mexico could open the U.S. tour market to the Caribbean islands in the form of vacation packages that combine Mexico and Cuba.

The decision by Cuba and Mexico to work together to promote vacations that combine both countries was unveiled at Cuba’s recent 31st International Tourism Fair in Cuba (FITCUBA 2011). FITCUBA is Cuba’s annual international trade event, attracting travel agents and tour operators from 40 countries, including Western Europe and Canada – but not the U.S.

Cuba is the Caribbean’s third most popular destination, according to Cuba’s tourism ministry, and that’s without benefit of travel from the destination’s number one travel market – the U.S. The U.S. market accounts for more than half of the Caribbean’s annual vacation visitors.

At least one American proponent of opening U.S. travel to Cuba sees the joint promotion with Mexico as a foot in the door for American travelers. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - March 30, 2010) -- The Bahamas Diving Association and Bahamas Ministry of Tourism have gone live with a custom built dive travel booking engine created for the Bahamas by Segnant Technologies of Dallas, Texas.

The unique booking engine allows adventure-seeking travelers the ability to view and book dive packages with any of the 37 members of the Bahamas Diving Association. Aside from diving and snorkeling, hotel-inclusive dive packages are offered,  and in some cases, meals are available for booking on the engine. For travelers not sure where to go for a Bahamas vacation, the new booking engine features  "Search" and "Hot Deals" buttons helping travelers to research their next trip. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - September 9, 2010) -- Following the success of its initial virtual travel agent training event last year, a technology-savvy Tourism Fiji US regional office will repeat the online exercise again in October. Attracting travel agents from the U.S. and Canada and as far afield as Hong Kong and Europe last year, the national tourist office is looking to increase the number of agents trained online in 2009, a total of 754, to over 1,000 when it stages the two-day Virtual Trade Show event on Oct. 4 and 5. Agents interested in joining attending the online show, can register at events.unisfair.com/rt/virtualfijime~2010. read more »

(Dive Travel Business News - June 2, 2010) -- Snorkelers, scuba divers and underwater photographers can discover Key Largo's reefs, shipwrecks and large indigenous fish population during the inaugural Reef Fest set for Saturday through Thursday, June 5-10, 2010.  The dive-and-stay event kicks off the Florida Keys' prime summertime diving season.

The festival activities begin with a 6-8 p.m. get-together Saturday, June 5, at the History of Diving Museum, MM 83 bayside, featuring free appetizers and beverages. read more »

(DiveTravelBusinessNews.com - January 25, 2010) -- The Dominican Republic (DR) Ministry of Tourism is assuring visitors that all of its cities, tourism and resort areas are conducting normal business operations. All of the tourist areas, hotels, resorts, airports and seaports are open and receiving visitors. The DR experienced no damage from the quake or its aftershocks. Major tourism regions Punta Cana and La Romana on the East Coast, as well as Samaná and Puerto Plata along the North Coast are welcoming winter season tourists from all over the world.

The DR shares the eastern third of the Island of Hispaniola with Haiti. Punta Cana, the major global tourism destination in the DR, is located approximately 400 miles east of Haiti's capital, or a 10- to 12-hour drive, with numerous mountain ranges separating the two countries.

The DR Ministry of Tourism cites the current situation: read more »

(DiveTravelBusinessNews.com - January 6, 2010) -- After a 1-year hiatus, the Caribbean’s 11th Sustainable Tourism Conference is back on the calendar for the Caribbean Tourism Organization. The Sustainable Tourism Conference is slated for May 9 - 12 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Last year's conference was canceled due to the global economic crisis.

“The event in 2010 will continue with the focus on how member states can design and implement sustainable tourism policies and practices into their regional and international initiatives, with an emphasis on sustainable tourism issues of special interest to the host country,” said Hugh Riley the Interim Secretary General for the Caribbean Tourism Organization. read more »

(DiveTravelBusinessNews.com - January 19, 2010) -- The tourism outlook for 2010 in the Caribbean region anticipates an uphill struggle and continued challenges for hoteliers, operators and destinations as the economic effects of the global recession continue to erode demand.

The mood at the annual Caribbean Marketplace was sober and realistic. Yet, attendance figures, the third-largest in recent years, suggested that buyers and suppliers are hellbent on salvaging business lost in 2009 and bolstering what’s on the books thus far in 2010 and beyond with creative deals and incentives.

Alec Sanguinetti, director general and CEO of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, which hosted Marketplace, put it bluntly: "From the tourist industry point of view, we see no reason that 2010 will be any better than 2009." Read more of Gay Nagle Myers story here at Travel Weekly.

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