August 1, 2007        www.LatinEPR.com        

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LATIN AMERICA - NEWS BRIEFS

MEDIA AND TECHNOLOGY

Costa Rican Tourism Applies for .travel Domain

Tourism products and providers from across Costa Rica are have been invited to apply through the Costa Rican Association of Professionals in Tourism (Acoprot) for a Travel Partnership Corporation-sponsored .travel domain name, according to Caribbean Newsdigital.  The Travel Partnership Corporation is a non-profit corporation that promotes the addition of this new top-level domain for the purpose of granting organized Internet access to the vast number of travel providers, purveyors, and associated entities throughout the world.  The accreditation process benefits both holder as well as Internet user, assuring each access to a consortium of bona fide tourism companies, operators, and official bureaus.  The domain .travel currently operates in 73 countries.  Within the Americas, however, Costa Rica is only the fourth nation to be included (Canada, Mexico, and the U.S are the other three).   According to Patricia Duar, executive director of Acoprot, the association hopes to register 3000 Costa Rican companies within three years.

TRAVEL

Mexico Tops Expedia’s Best 100 Hotels List

Cozumel Palace All Inclusive Resort in Cozumel, Mexico, has placed at the top of the latest ‘Insiders’ Select: the Ultimate List of the World’s Best Hotels and Resorts’ on the Expedia website.  The ranking is based on a mix of traveler opinion, expert input, and value.  The Cozumel resort is joined in the top 10 by two other Mexican properties.  A total of 21 Latin American and Caribbean hotels placed in the top 100.

Taca Airlines Adds Flights to Caribbean

This past month, Taca Airlines announced that popular demand prompted the addition of new flights from San Jose to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Costa Rica’s Central American neighbor, Guatemala.  Taca Airlines currently serves 35 cities, with main hubs in San Jose, San Salvador, and Lima.  It also provides the only connection between North America and Cuba, via Toronto.

Machu Picchu Declared Safe despite Increasing Traffic

UNESCO has removed the ancient Incan citadel of Machu Picchu from its list of endangered world heritage sites, following Peru’s promise to regulate the flow of tourism.  At the moment, 2000 tourists on average visit the site each day.  One proposal to manage this large number includes the division of the site into two separate sections, one offering the panoramic experience, the other encompassing its religious components.  Entrance fees to both sections would be sold separately, and at $40 a piece could provide 50% more revenue to the region.  Traffic management on the mountaintop is poised to become even more important, now that Machu Picchu has been selected as one of the new ‘Seven Wonders of the World’.  As a result, the number of daily visitors could reach 5000, an overwhelming prospect for the ancient structure.  Already, Peru’s Institute of Geology, Mining, and Metallurgy has surveyed the area and is proposing a conservation plan to cope with several existing granite fractures (ABCNews).

Colombian Tourism Growing Despite War Risks

(Reuters) - Colombia, long known as little more than the world's kidnapping capital and home to Latin America's longest-running guerrilla war, is attracting tourists at record numbers because of better security.  The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism said that in the first half of this year Colombian cities attracted more than 560,000 foreign visitors, up 17.6 percent from the same time in 2006.  Urban crime rates have plummeted and highways are safer under President Alvaro Uribe, who won re-election last year based on his U.S.-backed fight against drug-running Marxist rebels. Guerrillas still control wide swathes of countryside, but that is not stopping more and more tourists, mostly Americans, from visiting cities like Medellin, notorious in the 1980s for its cocaine cartel.

Copa and Aeromexico Enter Codeshare Agreement

A codeshare agreement between Copa Airlines and AeroMexico, went into effect August 1, 2007, enhancing connectivity throughout Mexico and the rest of Latin America, announced the Panamanian airline this past month.  Passengers traveling on these codeshare flights will receive a seamless travel experience, moving between the carriers with a single reservation, ticket and with luggage checked to their final destination. Also, passengers will be able to earn valuable miles, choosing between either of the airlines' frequent flyer programs.

ECONOMY AND POLITICS

Remittances Slow down First Time in Eight Years

Stricter U.S. border controls and a housing slump are cooling the once red-hot growth in remittances migrant workers send to Latin America, reported Reuters this past month.  In recent years, cash transfers from Latin American migrants have begun to play a vital role in home economies and local currencies, so much that remittances equal 21% of the gross domestic product in Honduras, and almost as much in El Salvador and Guatemala.  In 2006, Mexico was the top recipient of funds with $23 billion, followed by Brazil with $7.4 billion and Colombia with $4.6 billion.  However, the waning housing market is affecting cash flows as Hispanic workers fill about two of every three new construction jobs in the U.S., according to the Pew Hispanic Center, and independent research organization.  In May, cash sent home by Mexicans abroad fell 5.5%, the first fall since 1999.  The effect could be similar throughout the region.  Gabriela Nunez, Honduras’ central bank president, told Reuters in an interview that Latin American countries must in response ‘increase…productive base, especially…exports”.  For remittances to be a meaningful part of the economy, recipients must open bank accounts, invest, and start small businesses.

More Growth for Latin America and the Caribbean

(AFP) -- The UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean this month predicted regional economies will grow 5% on average in 2007, followed by 4.6% growth in 2008.  If the 2008 forecast holds out, it would mark six years of sustained economic growth for Latin America, its longest expansion in 27 years, said the ECLAC report: "Economic Study of Latin America and the Caribbean 2006-2007."  South American nations, above all, were benefiting from world price increases of raw materials and expanding exports, while Central America and the Caribbean benefited to a lesser degree, the study said.  ECLAC Secretary General Jose Luis Machinea said Latin American economies "are going through a very favorable period featuring sustained growth, almost without exception, in every country in the region."  Fueling the regional boom is Brazil, the region's largest economy, forecast to grow 4.5% in 2007 and 2008 after a sluggish 3.7% in 2006 and 2.9% in 2005, said the study.  Other regional economies' expected growth in 2007, in decreasing order of magnitude, include Panama (8.5%), Argentina and Dominican Republic (7.5%), Peru (7.3%), Colombia and Venezuela (6.8%), Chile and Costa Rica (6%).  Slower growth for 2007 was predicted for Honduras (5.5%), Uruguay (5.2%), Guatemala (5%), Brazil (4.5%), El Salvador (4.5%), Nicaragua (4.3%), Bolivia (4.2%), Paraguay (4%, Ecuador and Haiti (3.5%).

Ethanol Might Not Have Enough Land

The director general of the Dominican Republic’s State Sugar Board (CEA), Enrique Martinez, has announced that there are not enough sugar cane fields available in the country to supply all the ethanol projects currently under study. To many, ethanol production seems a logical way of alleviating the energy woes of an island nation that already harvest large quantities of sugar cane, the crop from which ethanol derives.  But according to an El Caribe report, Martinez is quoted as saying that "there are a lot of people talking about ethanol, but they are totally lacking in knowledge as to the availability of land to produce it."  The Dominican Agro-Business Board (JAD), is standing firm on estimates that ethanol production will increase sugar cane acreage by 166,000 acres) within two years, without diminishing local sugar production. However, Martinez maintains that a private consortium was unlikely to obtain so much land for the production of ethanol, and saw only a handful of current projects as actually becoming ethanol plants, giving pause for consideration regarding this newly popular but land-dependent energy source.

Global Monitor Predicts Landslide Victory for Mrs. Kirchner

Cristina Kirchner, wife of Argentine President Nestor Kirchner and new presidential candidate, is headed for a landslide victory, according to the Angus Reid Global Monitor.  In a July poll conducted by CEOP, Mrs. Kirchner was chosen by 47% of Argentines to win the October elections.  Another poll this month showed that 61% of voters have a positive image of the first lady.  Mrs. Kirchner, 54, announced her candidacy this month in her home city of La Plata, and is running with the same left-leaning Peronist party as her husband.  Mr. Kirchner, in turn, has actively promoted her as his successor, even though he is eligible to run for a second term, and, according to many pundits, would likely have won another election.  An article in Guardian Unlimited says that comparisons are currently being made between the presidential couple and Bill and Hilary Clinton.  Like her American counterpart, Mrs. Kirchner has had an active law career and served in her country’s senate.  The Guardian also describes her as a woman who has successfully mixed glamour with radical, grass-root politics.  Add her popularity among the poor and middle class, and Mrs. Kirchner invites, according to the article, another comparison to a famous personage, Evita Peron.

SOCIAL AND CULTURAL

Latin America Features in 7 Wonders of the World

After approximately 100 million votes, people from every country around the world have voted three Latin American sites among the new ‘Seven Wonders of the World’.  Sponsored by the New 7 Wonders Foundation, the online contest tallied votes for 21 candidates and on July 7, 2007, announced the following new list (in no particular order): Christ Redeemer, Brazil; Chichen Itza, Mexico; Macchu Picchu, Peru; the Great Wall, China; Petra, Jordan; the Colosseum, Italy; and the Taj Mahal, India.  Popular nominees such as Stonehenge, the Eiffel tower, and the Statute of Liberty, narrowly missed out, while Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza, being the only surviving example of an ancient world wonder, retain their status.  Now the foundation is taking nominations for the ‘New Seven Wonders of the Natural World’ contest at www.natural7wonders.com, the winners of which be announced on August 8, 2008.  In the past, the list of commonly accepted natural wonders has included the Paricutin Volcano in Mexico and Rio de Janeiro’s harbor, as well as the Grand Canyon, Mt. Everest, Victoria Falls, the Great Barrier Reef, and the Northern Lights.

Mexico Plans Latin America’s Tallest Skyscraper

The Mexican government has announced a $600 million project to build Latin America’s tallest building by 2010, according to a recent Reuters report.  Meant to commemorate the bicentennial of the country’s fight for independence from Spain, the project will appropriately be named the ‘Bicentennial Tower’ and be owned by a consortium of Spanish investors. It will join Latin America’s currently tallest building, the Torre Mayor, also in Mexico City.  Interestingly, the area does not generally lend itself to skyscrapers on account of the frequent earthquakes and the instability of the dried out lakebed on which the city is founded.  Glass-encased, the new tower will be roughly the same height as the Eiffel Tower and add 85 floors of office space.

Latin American Influence Felt in Unlikely Places

Earlier this past month, Istanbul celebrated the fourth annual Caribbean and Latin American Festival, the only event of its kind in Turkey.  The week-long festival, which highlights culture from 33 nations, is organized by the Turkish, Caribbean and Latin American Association, the Besiktas Municipality, and the Cervantes Insitute of Spain.  A Latin American Book Fair was part of the elaborate celebrations, as well as a two-day street festival, film screenings, a photography competition, and numerous music and dance performances.  2007 was also proclaimed the Year of Latin America by the Turkish government.  Half way around the world, the region was being honored in Jakarta with the announcement of Indonesia’s first ever Latin and Caribbean Film Festival. 

Peruvian Pisco Honored by National Holiday

July 22 marked the fourteenth annual “Pisco Day’ in Peru, a celebration reserved for the fourth Sunday in July and designed to defend the spirit’s domestic origin.  The distilled alcohol is such a point of contention between Peru and Chile that the dispute has even reached the World Organization of Intellectual Property, reports Mercopress.  Pisco means ‘little bird’ in quechua and takes its name from the Peruvian port city where the drink was shipped to Spain during colonial times.  However, pisco is also widely produced in Chile, and moreover successfully marketed around the world, a point which has spurred Peru’s wish to establish a trademark.  For Pisco day, the city of Lima organizes a cultural program that includes a food fair as well as traditional dance and music performances.

Correa on Mission to Preserve Ecuador’s Environment

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s latest attempt to preserve his country’s environment include a proposal to get wealthy nations to pay Ecuador $350 million a year in exchange for leaving an estimated 1 billion barrels of oil under ground in the pristine Yasuni rainforest, according to a recent report by Reuters. Correa’s idea echoes the new ‘carbon offsetting’ trend, in which first-world residents make donations to compensate for damage their consumption causes to the environment.  The proposal has its detractors who don’t trust in enough political stability for it to succeed over a long period of time.  If successful, however, the plan would not only provide important revenue for a poor nation, but also help preserve the Yasuni rainforest and its indigenous tribes by minimizing the adverse effects of pollution from industry and migration to the area.  Correa has made himself unpopular among American oil interests for supporting the $6 billion lawsuit filed by indigenous groups who accuse Chevron of polluting the Amazon.  Correa has already taken issue with a new impending threat, the scheduled iron dump off the Galapagos Islands by US firm Planktos.  The concept behind the dump is that iron dust particles would spur phytoplankton growth which in turn would eliminate carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.  However, the project on this large scale could have dangerous outcomes for marine life and is raising huge concerns in Ecuador as well as the international scientific community.  The one controversial move by Correa till now has been his recent decree to remove the ban on shark fin sales, which environmental groups argue could wipe out the already endangered Galapagos shark.