Montego Bay, Jamaica – China spent seven billion dollars on investments in the Caribbean and Latin America for 2009.  The majority of these dollars went to countries that have developed diplomatic ties with China while severing those with Taiwan, says Chief Operating Officer Dr. Adam Wu of China Business Network.

Emerald Archer, pretty in a pink bikini top and carrying a foot-long plastic glass filled with a flamingo-colored cocktail, strolls the wide white sands of Playa Chac-Mool with three friends from Toledo, Ohio. The quartet has a message for those back home who are, in Archer’s words, “burning up the phone” with messages of concern about their being in Mexico.

The number of British visitors to Orlando fell in 2010 for a third consecutive year, a puzzling decline in travel from what was once Central Florida’s biggest international market. Experts offer various reasons for the continuing losses, though it’s difficult to say for sure why it’s happening.

Imagine boarding a deluxe ferry boat at Port Everglades or the Port of Tampa one evening, settling into a cabin or a reclining chair and sailing into Havana harbor as the sun rises the next morning, all for $150 to $300 roundtrip.

Increased investment in sustainable tourism can boost the sector’s contribution to economic growth, development and particularly job creation, while at the same time addressing major environmental challenges, according to the just released United Nations Green Economy Report.

The U.S. meetings industry directly supports 1.7 million jobs, a $106 billion contribution to GDP, $263 billion in spending, and $60 billion in labor revenue, $14.3 billion in federal tax revenue and $11.3 billion in state and local tax revenue, according to a new study from the Convention Industry Council, The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U.S. Economy.