Regional banking officials have been warned that any recession in the United States economy early next year will severely hurt the Caribbean tourism sector and hinder governments’ access to loans on the global financial market.

Red Lion Hotels Corp. reported its third quarter profits jumped almost 400 percent based on strong occupancy and room rates.

Ryanair denounced agents as the travel industry’s “greatest deadwood” and “costliest parasites” as it chided European low-cost rival carrier easyJet for signing deals with Amadeus and Galileo.

InterContinental Hotels Group reported a 61 percent drop in third quarter profits as costs rose and the company bought 2.4 million shares of stock. Net income for the three months ended September 30 fell from $341 million last year to $131 million this year.

Ambassadors International reported a 66 percent increase in revenue for the third quarter ended September 30 to $95.6 million, up from $57.6 million for the same period last year.

The U.S. lodging industry recorded its best year ever in 2006, posting pretax profits of $26.6 billion, up from $22.6 billion in 2005, based on the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) Lodging Industry Profile (LIP), a statistical analysis of the lodging industry for yearend 2006.