The portion of Americans (57 percent) taking a summer vacation will rise this year, up three percentage points from last year, according to the research conducted by Allianz Global Assistance USA, the seller of travel insurance formerly known as Access America.

While the ongoing situation in Europe bears watching, economists and business leaders say Miami's international appeal should continue to aid its recovery. Economic groups from Latin America have outgrown their national boundaries and are expanding globally.

Aviation in the region, more so as it impacts intra-Caribbean travel, is in a complete mess. Thanks to a Caribbean Community (Caricom) that is in hapless disarray, and doesn’t seem to have a clue about how it should go about setting up the infrastructure for a properly coordinated travel system among its member states.

One million British travelers planning to fly to Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico this year face the risk of being turned away at the airport – at the insistence of the US Department of Homeland Security.

In the last six weeks, two cruise ships from the same company, Costa Cruises, have experienced very serious incidents which could have resulted in potentially disastrous damage to the marine environment in tourism-sensitive areas of the world.