Varig had to back out of its decision to leave its employees in Argentina. Thus, it resumes its operations to Buenos Aires which were canceled on August 9th. The new agreement with the employees includes the incorporation of around 51 former workers of VARIG (the old company) to VRG. These employees will have two years of work stability guaranteed.

On October 22nd, Aerolineas Argentinas will resume its flights to Asuncion with two daily flights, after its withdrawal in 2001 due to economic problems. They are also negotiating the return of American Airlines that withdrew from Paraguay in February 2006, claiming low profitability from the connection with Asuncion. They airline pointed out that the reason for its return was the increase of the demand in air traffic in the Asuncion-Buenos Aires route. The demand on this route has increased in about 10%, as far as the year goes.

On September 28, TAM will begin to operate a daily flight to Caracas, departing from the Tom Jobim International Airport of Rio de Janeiro, with stopovers in San Paulo and Manaus, arriving at the “Simon Bolivar” Maiquetia terminal in Caracas.

Considered as one of the four priority markets for international tourism -together with thermal springs, snow and vineyard tourism-, sport fishing is an emerging market which has been growing exponentially. Two years ago this activity brought in US$ 7.5 million; now, the projection for 2007 doubles that amount with US$ 15 million. Currently, only Aisen has 72 sport fishing operators.

As from December 8th, Avianca will increase its daily frequencies on the Lima-Bogota-Lima route, thus offering two daily, direct flights with no stopovers. The new flight frequency for the route will be served in a Boeing B-767 aircraft with a capacity for 213 passengers.

The Panama Institute of Tourism (IPAT) informed that KLM will open a new non-stop direct route between Europe and Panama at the beginning of October. The airline will have flights with three weekly frequencies. Nordstrom informed that the tourism authorities will diversify their outbound tourism markets, so they will invest 30% of the advertising budget in Europe this year.

The government wants the country to become a tourist destination for senior citizens and is searching for investments for the development of this sector. In this regard, it plans to create an incentive law specifically aimed at this sector.

At the end of 2007 the income in the tourist sector will reach US$ 13 000 million.

Cap Cana, the touristic and real estate complex, announced the signing of a joint venture agreement with The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, an American hotel chain, to develop a luxury-hotel project named “The Ritz-Carlton, Cap Cana”. The establishment will have 220 rooms and a wide range of luxury activities: a luxurious spa, a private beach club and five restaurants.

The Spanish hotel industry companies manage around 60,000 rooms, 45% of the total of the region, and plan to construct or purchase another 10 000 ones.

The leisure industry of Puerto Rico develops diverse activities to promote the sport tourism, in a strategy aimed at exploiting the island’s potential. With this purpose in mind, US$ 3 million will be destined to more than 24 sporting events.

Peru is, without a doubt, one of the most important destinations in the World. Today, with Machupicchu among the New 7 Wonders of the World, the flow of visitors tends to grow not only in number but in quality as well. Since the entrance of Orient-Express, the standard of the hotel and services offer has exceeded, being recognized, in many cases, among some of the best worldwide.
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