Tourism and its impact on all aspects of island economies should top the agenda of the forthcoming Small Island Developing States meeting in Mauritius this August, says the head of a leading development organization.

The world’s aviation industry has beginning to bounce back following the fallout of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. As a matter of fact, air traffic has been steadily on the rise during the first four months of the ongoing year, said Giovani Bisignani, director-general of the IATA.

The Mayan culture, harking back over 2,000 years BC, is well alive. Descendants and dregs of its glory days can be found like treasures in a region sprawling from Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras all the way to southeastern Mexico. The entire area is covered by projects aimed at developing sustainable tourism.

Latin America and the Caribbean need to shell out some $70 million annually in infrastructure over the next five years to boost up economic growth and competitiveness, a study conducted by the World Bank (WB) points out.

A recent study conducted by the World Bank (WB) reveals that Latin America and the Caribbean combine for one the regions where social inequalities hit the hardest. The banking institution is calling on political, social and economic institutions in the area to cope with this situation through the implementation of sweeping reforms.

The bombings of the Madrid commuter trains last March 11 have barely made a dent in Spain´s travel industry, said Reinhard Klein of the European Commission.