Last year, Hong Kong residents made over 2 million personal trips to destinations outside Guangdong, and spent there a total of HK$9 billion or HK$3380 per person per trip. They represent, respectively, 5 percent by number and 27.5 percent by expenditure of all personal trips to mainland China by Hong Kong residents.

The Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) announced the relaunch of the Puerto Rico Travel Expert (PRTE) Program. This program, aimed at U.S.-based travel agents, seeks to increase travel professionals’ proficiency in Puerto Rico’s tourism offerings. The program consists of two phases.

The Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC) and the Puerto Rico Port Authority expect close to 20,000 visitors in the coming months, with a spending power of up to $15 million. The figures were revealed at a press conference hosted by the two government entities recently in San Juan.

Australia’s controversial "Where the bloody hell are ya?" tourism campaign has largely been unsuccessful and now the Aussie marketers are trying a different tack to attract international visitors.

India –along with France, Brazil and Iran- has foiled an attempt to rank tourist destinations across the world. Allowing the Montreal-based World Centre of Excellence for Destinations (CED) to certify and grade tourist destinations was a key agenda of the two-day meeting of the executive council of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Madrid last week.

The Montserrat Tourist Board has announced that flights on Windward Island Airways (Winair), between Montserrat and Antigua, can now be booked on Winair’s website for travel after November 30, 2008.