Following an agreement to increase the hotel room count from 150 to 348 in the controversial Plaza Hotel conversion, Joseph Spinnato, president of the Hotel Association of New York, assured that there is no shortage of hotel rooms in the city and thus no crisis caused by conversions.
However, he warned in a letter addressed to the City Council that the city would hurt the growth of its hotel business by interfering with owners´ rights to make business decisions.
Holiday Inn and La Joya de Mismaloya hotels in Puerto Vallarta has just grabbed the H Award bestowed by Mexico´s Tourism and Healthcare departments in recognition for the proper handling of foodstuffs and beverages.
The award underlines adequate hygienic handling of meals offered to guests that travel from other parts of the Aztec nation and overseas to spend their vacations in Puerto Vallarta.
Thirteen lodging facilities in Puerto Plata, the Dominican Republic that had gone belly up during the administration of former President Hipolito Mejia are now sporting sellout occupancy rates with hordes of sunbathers from Europe, the U.S. and Canada trickling in, Puerto Plata´s Tourism Director Radhames Guzman Balbuena said this week.
Mr. Balbuena noted the shutdown of the hotels cost 3,000 fulltime jobs and stalled private investment in the region. La Explanada, Los Almendros, Sir Frances Drake and Larimar were among the establishments that had filed for bankruptcy.
The Chilean hotel industry has accrued dramatically in recent months, soaring as much as 40 percent as a result of the opening to new outbound markets and the South American nation´s credentials as a solid ground for investment.
According to Teresa Solis, manager of the Gala de Viña del Mar Hotel, this increment is owed in part to an increasingly larger demand for hotel rooms on the part of foreign impresarios willing to hold their working meetings in that country.
Spain-based hotel chain RIU cut down on its shares in TUI Co. from 9.9 to 5.1 percent as Deutsche Bank, Germany´s largest private bank, put out a roll of bonds at a fixed price of $26.30 each, a move that sent TUI´s stocks spiraling down.
The Spanish group had presented itself as a strategic shareholder with long-run plans in mind. Its arrival was welcome news for the German tour operator that was at the time eager to put an end to long months of speculations about the coming of RIU.
Cuba´s high-peak travel season is faring pretty well, especially with such stunning numbers as 64,956 foreign tourists staying everyday on the island nation, sources from the Tourism Ministry told Caribbean News Digital.
Varadero, Cuba´s premier sun-and-sand destination, has peaked 26,293 tourists in a single day, a new record high. Other destinations with major benchmarks are Holguin, Jardines del Rey and Cayo Largo del Sur.