Following a considerable effort conducted in past years by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and the Caribbean Council in London, the European Union agreed to fork over $8 million to foster the development of the Caribbean’s tourist industry.

Spain-based NH Hotels –Europe’s third largest chain for business travelers- rounded up 85.6 million euros in gross benefits all through 2002 for a 4.9 percent increase compared to the year before. In the same breath, the volume of operations rose to 930.1 million euros, 22 percent more than in 2001, group officials explained in a press release sent to Spanish business authorities.

The year 2002 closed with a walloping 27 million euros (approximately the same amount in U.S. dollars) worth of earnings thanks in part to a surplus money out of six hotels the company sold last year.

The Nicaraguan Tourism Institute (INTUR) has reportedly earmarked $45 million for the country’s leisure industry this year, according to Desiderio Campos, head of the institute’s Investment Division, who added that the largest chunk of that money ($41 million in all) will be allotted by Marriot Hotels, a company that plans to build a 250-room resort in the country.

In Mr. Campos’ opinion, this is one of the booster rockets for the national economy. The sector has poured $144 million into 180 projects scattered in 13 departments (provinces) all across the nation.

Investment, tourism and oil are already feeling the painful impact of a possible U.S. war in Iraq, said Enrique Iglesias, president of the Inter-American Development Bank (BID) in the closing ceremony of the BID Regional Governors Meeting held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Leaders of the Caribbean Basin wrapped up Saturday a two-day meeting to step up efforts for the reactivation of the region’s economy in the face of troubled times. Five of the fourteen member states of CARICOM (Caribbean Community) have slumped in the last couple of years with no GDP growth at all.

Commercial airlines could lose more than 9 billion euros in 2003 in case of a war against Iraq, a situation that would deep-six the anticipated balanced gains for the year, the first such recovery after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the International Air Transportation Association (IATA) reported today.

If the U.S. goes to war in Iraq for a few months, the aviation sector worldwide could let go of a ballpark 3.7 billion euros.