St. Maarten tourism officials are working with the St. Martin Tourist Office to re-establish a joint marketing committee to promote the dual-country island, said May-Ling Chun, director of tourism for St. Maarten. In an interview, Chun said the Dutch and French sides of the island previously worked together to promote the island, “so it is possible.”

Although increases in visitor arrivals to the Caribbean have been posted region-wide (23.1 million stayovers last year) and the luxury market remains a reliable source of business, per visitor expenditures are down and booking windows are shorter as a result of the lingering effects of the global economic downtown, panelists said during the Caribbean State of the Industry Conference last week.

Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications (CAMC), located in Coral Gables, Florida, today announced it has renewed the contract with its longest standing client, the Tourism Development Company Limited (TDC) for Trinidad and Tobago.

Spain’s extensive network of protected natural areas supersedes that of any other European country and is in third position worldwide, behind only the United States and the Russian Federation. The country’s well-preserved biodiversity and wildlife protected areas include 14 national parks, 135 natural parks, 10 marine reserves as well as 38 nature reserves.

The Mexico Tourism Board is launching a $25 million campaign designed to overcome Americans’ perception that the country is an unsafe vacation destination. Rodolfo Lopez Negrete, COO of the Mexico Tourism Board, said international visitation to Mexico is on the rise from every country except the U.S., its “mother market,” where it has fallen 6.5 percent.

The initiative according to Grenada's Tourism Minister Hon Peter David will enable nationals and residents of eight Southern Caribbean tourist destinations -Colombia, Venezuela, Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao and Trinidad and Tobago- to purchase one ticket ad travel to all eight destinations.