With the recent incorporation of a new A340/300 and another one which would be included in November,Aerolineas Argentinas could resume its direct flights to Paris at the end of the year.

The General Manager of American Airlines in Uruguay informed that as from December and during the high season, the airline will have 5 direct flights per week from Miami.

LAN was selected as the best regional airline of South America in the recent World Airline Awards granted by SkyTrax. The 2007 awards are based on the survey that SkyTrax carries out among worldwide passengers. LAN also stood out as the regional company of South America with the best cabin crew.

The commercial director of Air Canada informed that the possibility of the airline including Rio de Janeiro in its flights to Brasil is being studied, as well as the use of an aircraft with larger capacity. Air Canada actually flies between Toronto and Sao Paulo daily with a Boeing 767-300.

LAB will shortly receive an initial down payment from the Swiss Transatlantic Corp. company to boost the renewal of operations. The airline will count upon a capital input of US$ 6.4 million.

As a consequence of last week´s seismic movement, the tourist infrastructure, except for the Paracas Libertador Hotel that was completely damaged, only suffered minor damage in general. The Mossone Hotel had to be closed for fifteen days, until its complete restoration. The Panamericana Sur highway has stretches with limited traffic, but it is not blocked.

Travel and Leisure informed the Minister of Tourism of Ecuador that for the second time, the magazine awarded the Galapagos Island´s recognition as one of the tourist destinations with the most ranking in the world. The selection was made by the magazine´s lectors in the framework of the competition that this magazine organizes for the awarding of the 2007 best awards. The islands were also chosen as the best in the region of Mexico, Central and South America.

A Canarian company will construct two five-star hotels in Bogota for which it signed a business contract with the NH chain, which, in this way, begins its expansion in this country. The construction of the first hotel will begin in January 2008 and will be situated in the area known as Parque de la 93 “one of the most exclusive areas of the Colombian capital, with embassies, restaurants and shopping centers”, according to information sources.

During the cruise season, which begins in October, Costa Rica expects to register a 74% traffic increase, for which improvements are being carried out in the ports to attend this amount of visitors. The Minister of Tourism explained that training of the tourist operators is underway to guarantee the tourists’ security, among other measures.

The regional sales director of Delta Air Lines for Central America, Panama and the Caribbean, announced that the airline will fly from San Pedro Sula to Shanghai, China’s biggest industrial and commercial metropolis, next year.

Mexico City will try to take away from Buenos Aires the title of “mecca” of gay tourism in Latin America. Last year, more than 160.000 tourists from the LGTB community visited the capital of Mexico, which represents 25% of the total of visitors. To achieve this aim, the secretariat of Tourism became a member of the International Gay-Lesbian Tourism Association (IGLTA).

In a recent trip to Chile, among other things, to revisit Santiago, Puerto Mont and Puerto Varas – where I hadn’t gone more than 12 years ago – and I traveled to Puerto Natales and Torres del Paine for the first time. I also visited hotels, not only to see those hotels recently remodeled, but especially to know some of the new businesses.

I was especially impressed by two new hotels: the flamboyant Melia Patagonia, in Puerto Varas, and the brand new Remota, in Puerto Natales. READ MORE