Air France is now ready to raise airfares for mid-range and long-haul flights in an effort to offset additional spending the company has incurred in the face of galloping fuel prices. France´s flagship air carrier issued a press release to inform a 3 percent surcharge in plane tickets for long-haul flights and 2 percent for mid-range trips. The price raise affects flights departing from France.

The Caribbean travel industry is ready to cash in on the sweet aftertaste left by the meeting on Professional Roles and Opportunities for Investment in Tourism (PROFIT 2004) that recently came to a close in Jamaica’s Montego Bay. With this view in mind and bent on fostering foreign investment in the Caribbean leisure industry, the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) signed an agreement with the United Kingdom’s Federation of Tour Operators (FTO), with the French Agency for International Development of Enterprises (UBIFRANCE), and the Spanish Foreign Trade Institute (ICEX).

Mexican President Vicente Fox announced the creation of a $2.6 million fund aimed at rescuing Cancun‘s beaches from the claws of longstanding deterioration and neglectfulness. The money, that will be complemented with funds from the Department of Environmental Protection, local authorities and businesspeople, will be mostly used to move three million cubic meters of sand from Isla Mujeres to Punta Cancun and Punta Nizuc.

Cuba’s Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero suggested foreign travelers coming to Cuba from November 8 onward to avoid the use of U.S. dollars and bring in other hard currencies. In a press conference held in Havana yesterday, Mr. Marrero recommended would-be foreign trekkers to bring euros, Canadian dollars, British pounds or Swiss francs rather than U.S. dollars in order to make their stays cheaper and easier.

Canada’s Desjardin International Development (DID) has just inked an agreement with the National Tourism Development Fund of Mexico (FONATUR) to assess the feasibility of setting up a financial institution that could support the advance of tourism in Baja California. DID –an affiliate of Quebec’s Desjardins Cooperative Movement Fund- will weigh the possibility of creating a financial institution aimed at bankrolling mom-and-pop businesses and local producers in the Mar de Cortes Tourism Project of Mexico’s Baja California.

Copa Airlines, the Panamanian carrier, announced the purchase of ten 90-seat E-Jets airplanes for $300 million from Brazilian company Embraer. The first two jetliners will get to Panama by the end of 2005, while the remaining eight planes will start trickling in from late 2005 through 2008.