The Caribbean Marketplace 2006 has come to a close and the message was heard loud and clear: industry players are upbeat about 2006, looking forward to the Cricket World Cup in 2007 and have enough airlift and rooms to meet this year´s demand. Back-to-back meetings by industry buyers and sellers was the main activity of the event in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The aim was to meet the expectations of consumers and satisfy the globe´s love affair with the Caribbean.

Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and other cruise lines may see a 4.5 percent rise in passengers this year, an industry trade group estimates. That would be the smallest growth rate in passengers in five years. The Cruise Lines International Association said Wednesday it expects about 11.7 million people to travel aboard its members´ lines. An estimated 11.2 million people went on cruises in 2005.

Are Caribbean news editors doing enough to develop young reporters in the region? Or is their inattention turning off much needed talent? The media is used to scrutinizing others, but the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) will turn the tables and subject the inner workings of journalism to self examination.

Before the sun rises on the hotels of New Orleans, doctors in scrubs pile into elevators, shoulder-to-shoulder with construction workers wielding their sledgehammers. The doors open and they´re off to work. Soon, children are tearing through the hallways, pushing their toy trucks or playing tag as they get underfoot. A woman shuffles through the lobby wearing hair curlers and velvet bedroom slippers. A man lugs two bulging garbage bags up to his room; they contain all he has left.

Travel from the United States to many popular Mexican tourist destinations will become easier thanks to a new aviation agreement signed by the United States and Mexico, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta. “This agreement means tourists in the U.S. and Mexico will have more flights to choose from when planning their next vacation,” said Secretary Mineta. “Travelers in markets covered by this new agreement will enjoy better service as well as the benefits of greater competition.”

Sri Lanka´s tourism industry –a vital contributor to the nation´s economic wellbeing- has rebounded strongly following the devastating effects of the December 2004 tsunami. In the first nine months of the year, official figures indicate that visitor arrivals have reached 405,585 –an eight percent increase over the same period last year.