Cancun has recently completed a successful, island-wide revitalization program following the effects of Wilma. Cancun reopened its doors with an official ribbon cutting ceremony at the GOGO Managers Conference, which awarded both the top 70 performing producers of the tour operator, a worldwide leader in wholesale leisure travel, as well as the island´s revitalization efforts this year.

In its first-ever report on the Caribbean hotel industry, PKF Hospitality Research finds that Caribbean hotels continue to be profitable for owners and operators due to increasing rates of travel to the region spurred by a strong U.S. economy. In 2005, Caribbean hotels averaged $111,414 per available room (PAR) and $25,541 PAR in profits. The net result was a 22.9 percent profit margin.

World airline scheduled passenger traffic is expected to show robust growth over the next three years following a strong rebound in 2004 and continued resilience in 2005, according to the latest medium-term forecasts from the United Nations aviation agency. At the same time the UN tourism agency reported preliminary results for the first four months of 2006 showing 10 million more international tourist arrivals worldwide than in than in the same period last year, for a total 236 million, or a 4.5 percent growth rate.

Because recent surveys show the U.S. is suffering from an image problem overseas, the travel industry will need do more to help promote a positive view of the country, tourism leaders told attendees at the annual Travel & Tourism Conference here. The industry must “accentuate and amplify those qualities about America that are still admired around the world,” said Keith Reinhard, chairman emeritus of DDB Worldwide, a New York-based advertising firm, and president of Business for Diplomatic Action. “This is where the industry can really help.”

It´s an exercise in wishful thinking, but many U.S. airlines that lost money in the first quarter of 2006 would have made a profit if jet fuel prices had stayed at the same level as in the first quarter of 2005. The problem for U.S. airline executives is that someone keeps raising the bar.

Can´t afford a vacation in Paris, where the dollar is worth just 78 cents against the euro? Or London, where the pound is so strong a dollar buys barely half of what it would in the United States? For those wanting a cheaper, closer foreign destination, Montreal and Toronto have always been attractive alternatives. But even Canada is no longer the bargain it used to be for Americans.