Upon arriving in the post as the new Minister of Tourism, Francisco Javier Garcia said he’s “not going to work over the ashes of others, and instead on the basis of their effort” and that he’s obliged to surpass his predecessor Felix Jimenez’s work even in only by half a point.

Wyndham Hotel Group today signed a non-exclusive agreement with Green Hospitality Management Co. LTD of Tokyo to open nine hotels in Japan during the next five years under the Ramada and Days Inn lodging brands.

PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR), an affiliate of PKF Consulting, today announced that it has released its 2008 edition of Caribbean Trends in the Hotel Industry. The report finds that the Caribbean hotel industry faces some strong challenges going forward.

PhoCusWright and the Ypartnership released the results of the “NEXTgen Traveler” survey of 2,559 adults the two entities conducted. Respondents were “active users” of the latest computer, entertainment or consumer technology, and took at least one overnight trip requiring the use of commercial accommodations during the previous 12 months.

The launch of the world’s first Destination Loyalty Card was announced last week by the Jamaican Tourism Authority.

As many as 1.7 million tourists visited Israel since the beginning of 2008 (January – July), an increase of 41 percent over the same period last year, when one million tourists visited the country.