At a time when world tourism has recorded a 1.2 percent decline in arrivals, year-end estimates showed Caribbean arrivals up by 7 percent in 2003, compared to 2002. This places tourist arrivals marginally above those achieved in 2000, which was the last “normal” year (prior to 9/11) for global travel). And, although winter tourist arrivals in 2003 remained below those for 2001, summer arrivals exceeded those for both 2001 and 2002. This performance was despite the impacts of the war in Iraq and SARS. Indeed, March 2003 was the only month in which arrivals were below those for the same month in 2002.

Tourists will benefit this year from strong price discounts as a result of the sector’s crisis still going on since late 2001, according to an economic report issued by the Dresdner Bank and put out before the upcoming opening of the International Tourism Marketplace in Berlin scheduled from March 12 through 16.

South American countries gathered at the Berlin International Tourism Fair (ITB) renewed their intention to turn the leisure industry into an effective tool to achieve economic development and social equality on the one hand, and regional integration on the other. “The benefits of tourism in our societies are more than evident,” said Peruvian Tourism Vice Minister Ramiro Salas.

Latin America as a whole, and more especially Mexico and the Caribbean, will reap great benefits from a reenergized world tourist sector that’s pitting a hefty euro against a weakened U.S. dollar, said Klaus Laepple, chairman of the Travel Agency & Tour Operator Association of Germany.

France, the country that receives the largest amount of tourists worldwide, came in instead for a slide in the number of visitors and revenues last year, especially caused by scores of American trippers who decided to remain aloof from the European nation.

Standing at 11,480 feet above sea level and enduring low temperatures, the human body usually suffers from respiratory problems, splitting headaches, dizziness and behavioral changes. Yet, as paradoxically as it may sound, more and more tourists are climbing up to that extreme scenery.