The Jamaican government announced a 3 percent economic growth from April to June this year as a result of a revved-up farming industry and an outstanding increase in tourism and bauxite mining.

In a report read before the Jamaican Parliament, minister of information Burchell Whitman pointed out aluminum production jumped to 639,900 tons between May and June this year for a strong 9.1 percent, while bauxite output shot up to 692,700 tons for a much heftier 23.6 percent compared to the same period of time in 2002.

The Honduran government and the World Bank signed a loan agreement for $123 million aimed at implementing a development program in the Copan Valley (western Honduras) and fostering a strategy on ecological tourism.

The project seeks the implementation and promotion of tourism based on archeological heritage in order to bring economic prosperity to that area.

The loan is broken down in funds for personnel training and technical assistance on the one hand, and the promotion of local mom-and-pop businesses like small restaurants and inns on the other.

Frank Carreño, vice president of Cuba-based Horizontes Group, said that hotel chain has so far this year amassed over $5.5 million worth of revenues for a 5 percent increase compared to the same period of time of 2002, a spike that stems mostly from cost and operation cuttings.

Authorities from both the Inter American Development Bank (BID) and the Argentina province of Salta signed a letter of intention for a $34.1 million loan aimed at shoring up an integrated development program for the tourist sector.

According to BID sources, the loan “will contribute to the province’s output development by making tourism its economic booster, by improving the social infrastructure and revamping the financial system all in the same breath.”

Gross earnings for Carnival Corp., the world’s leading cruise company, took a nosedive in the second quarter of 2003. The Miami-based firm netted gross earnings for $127.8 million, $65 million less than in the same period of time the year before.

However, revenues jumped from $990 million in 2002 to $1.03 billion this time around, a figure that represents a 26 percent increase compared to the previous year. Those figures only comprise part of the quarterly gains raked in by P&O Princess Cruises, the British company Carnival bought off in April.

Hotels in the Dominican Republic are using up some $166 million worth of national crops and have plans in the offing to double that figure as a result of an agreement signed between the Board of Dominican Farming Producers and the country’s National Hotels and Restaurants Association in an effort to increase the quality of products offered to the leisure industry.

The Dominican Republic welcomes as many as 3 million tourists a year who churn out $3 billion worth of revenues.