Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretary General Edwin Carrington says a regional tourism brand is critical to lessening the impacts of the global economic downturn on the region’s tourism sector. Speaking recently at his annual end of year briefing, Carrington said that the global economic downturn could have serious negative impacts on the industry. “We need all the more urgently to prepare a brand that will offset the diminution of the tourism sector,” he said.

British holidaymakers to the United Arab Emirates have been told not to have sex outside marriage or kiss in public in strong government warnings over how to behave in Muslim countries. The advice, which goes further than the traditional admonition for women to dress modestly, follows allegations of drunken sex romps. The British Foreign Office is worried that increasing numbers of tourists will get into trouble abroad as they travel to less traditional holiday destinations and fall foul of local laws and customs.

Sol Melia has reached an agreement with Italia Turismo to manage a five star hotel in Sciacca, Sicily from 2011 under the Melia brand, incorporating all of the services and features of the Spanish hotel brand.

Antigua and Barbuda is seeking a $30 million loan from the Caribbean Development Bank to weather the global financial crisis.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert C. Lieber, and NYC & Company CEO George Fertitta announced that New York City attracted an estimated 47 million visitors and $30 billion in total spending in 2008, both record highs. The latest tourism numbers surpass the 46 million visitors and $28.9 billion New York City attracted in 2007.

This seaside stretch, a half-hour’s drive east of the airport in San Juan, is not placid in midday. Construction equipment rumbles through the beachfront while workers sweat out installing the marble floors and granite countertops in developer Donald Trump’s latest Caribbean venture. The 700-villa Trump International Golf Club and Residences is among several golf resorts on this Caribbean island that are either under construction or being upscaled. Some have famous course designers like Robert Trent Jones, and many are attached to luxury resorts with well-known hotel brand names like St. Regis and Mandarin Oriental.