The economic situation in the United States and Canada is improving and with it has come a renewed increase in foreign trips in 2014. At the same time the weaker-performing economies of Brazil and Argentina have led to slower growth in tourism in South America.

As 2015 begins with a rapid increase in the amount of visitors to the island, Cuba demonstrated its development in the tourism industry at important fairs in Europe with challenges to the growing number of vacationers to the Caribbean destination.

Aruba on Thursday celebrated being named a National Geographic World Legacy Award Winner in the category of "Destination Leadership" for its efforts to become the world's first country to become fully independent of fossil fuels.

Antigua and Barbuda is looking to strengthen its tourism performance in the Canadian market. The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority recently sent a delegation led by new Mare Walker, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for the North American market, to ramp up sales efforts in Canada.

On the heels of record tourist arrivals for the month of January, acting prime minister, Richard Sealy, wants to see more visitors coming to Barbados from Continental Europe. He made this known on Friday when the Netherlands ambassador to Barbados, Jeroen de Graaf, paid him a courtesy call.

The Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau has announced global visitor numbers to Cancun increased by 7.5 percent in 2014. There were a total of 4,013,002 tourist arrivals at Cancun International Airport last year compared with 3,728,247 in 2013.