February 1, 2008 www.LatinEPR.com
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LATIN AMERICA - NEWS BRIEFS
Media and technology
Wikilengua Advises 400 Million Spanish Speakers
This past month cyberspace officially welcomed Wikilengua.com, a revolutionary new Wikipedia-style tool designed to help the world’s nearly 400 million Spanish speakers consult on the proper use of their language. Wikilengua.com is the brainchild of Fundeu BBVA (The Emergency Spanish Language Foundation) and has been functioning on a test basis since August of 2007. Designed to advise on the correct usage of Spanish, the website is an interactive reference tool, similar to Wikipedia.com, that also allows individuals to add information. The idea is to integrate and give credence to the language’s wide regional variations. Contributors will have to be registered, however, and Fundeu BBVA plans to enlist the Spanish Royal Academy as well as some 20 academic institutions across Spain, Latin America, the US, and the Philippines, as supervisors.
TRAVEL
Mexico Becoming Major World Tourism Player
Mexico is set to become the world’s second fastest-growing destination by 2013, according to a recent article released by EyeForTravel.com, a global online publisher focusing on distribution, marketing and technology developments in the travel and tourism industries. Mexico currently claims some 15% of the world tourism market and has solid domestic tourism consumption. International arrivals have also consistently exceeded 2 million each year since 1993, and tourism earnings have doubled since 1990. The article explains Mexico’s growth can only continue upwards as condo investors and highly competitive hospitality companies target key commercial markets (popular beach destinations, business centers, etc.), bolstering a widening luxury tourism niche. Among other factors considered essential to Mexico’s development are the country’s advantageous geographic proximity to large feeder markets and the government’s currently strong support of the tourism industry.
“Green” Tourism Business on the Rise in LatAm
The number of certified “green” tourism businesses in Latin America rose 25% this past year, from 136 in 2006 to 167 by end of 2007, according to the second edition of the Rainforest Alliance’s SmartGuide to Sustainable Travel in the Americas. A certified “green” business is one that has met the prescribed environmental and social standards of one of the five certification programs within the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas, such as Green Deal and Green Globe. Certification helps consumers distinguish between truly “green” products, and those businesses that use such labels for profit. Of course, genuine efforts to meet certification standards can only help boost a business’s success. According to a 2003 study sponsored by National Geographic Traveler, 54 million American travelers claim to choose travel companies that make efforts to protect the environment of the destination. Even some tour operators, travel agencies and travel Web sites are starting to give preference to certified businesses, states the report. As of October 2007, Costa Rica was the regional leader in certified businesses with 68, followed by neighbor Guatemala with 39, and the Caribbean countries as a whole with 36. Within South America, the country with the most certified businesses was Ecuador (10). For its part, the United States had 38.
Argentine Hotels Show South American Tourism is Here to Stay
“Tourism in South America is here to Stay” is a recent article, published by HospitalityNet.Org, that singles out Argentina’s hospitality industry as proof that the success of the region’s tourism looks set to endure. According to the article, Argentina is the region’s hospitality leader with an almost 80% occupancy rate and room prices that average $300-$350 for luxury hotels. The country emerged from its economic crisis several years ago with strong consumer prices as well as a renewed emphasis on its cultural and natural resources, now both these factors are helping to drive investment, particularly in condo hotels and mixed-use projects. The important distinction of these new projects, so the article highlights, is that builders are focusing as much on quality as on expedience and volume. One may partly attribute this emphasis on the clientele, Argentina rising ever more in international visibility and already figuring as the top destination for Canadian travelers, according to the Guias Ulysses. Ultimately, it is the quality of projects which helps protect destinations and services from the ebb and flow of economic cycles. In this regard, Argentina’s hospitality industry may indeed be looking at a bright future.
Central American Tourism up 7.68% in 2007
Tourism arrivals to Central America totaled 7,571,310 for 2007, signaling a 7.68% increase over the previous year and exceeding the WTO’s projected growth for the Americas as a whole by almost four percent, reported Travel Update. The numbers are preliminary figures recently released by the Tourism Ministries of the seven countries within the region. Costa Rica, once again, proved the leader with a visitor increase of 11.8%, but equally impressive is Guatemala, which saw an 8.35% increase in arrivals and an 18.5% increase in tourism income in 2007. The report credits much of this positive upswing to European airlines, which this past year added many more flights between Central America and major Spanish, British, French, and Italian cities.
Economy and Politics
LatAm Economy Muy Caliente!
The Latin American economy is “muy caliente”! Such is the exuberant assertion of the 10th Installment of the Ongoing Series Highlighting the Global Investing Outlook for 2008, recently published by Money Morning. According to the report, Latin America is the world’s next emerging market, in addition to China and India. Overall, the region has grown continually over the past five years, the 2007 GDP advancing at an average pace of 5.6% throughout the year. Poverty declined 35% in 2007, according to the United Nations Economic Commission Latin America and the Caribbean, and unemployment fell by 8% within that same period. The region is also benefiting from the varied spectrum of its political and economic landscape. Recent government leaders come from diverse political backgrounds and each major economy has different catalysts that range from oil to soft commodities. At the driving seat of all this growth, asserts the report, is Brazil, which is experiencing solid GDP growth, low inflation rates, global demand of its export products, and consequently an ever-expanding middle class which is in turn helping to boost the regional economy at large. The only obstacle in Brazil’s economy may be its close ties to trading partner US, which is already seeing signs of a downturn. Rather than focusing on the currency market, however, the report suggests investors in Latin America look into the region’s various in-demand commodities instead.
Guatemala Elections
In January Guatemala ushered in not only a new year but a new era in government as President-elect Alvaro Colom was sworn into office. Colom is Guatemala’s first left-leaning president in more than 50 years and drew support from rural areas and the country’s poor. The latter represents 51% of the population, according to the National Institute of Statistics, but non-government groups estimate this segment to be more like 80%. Indigenous peoples, about half of the country, make up a disproportionately large part of those impoverished. Take into account Guatemala’s 23 separate ethno-linguistic communities and it seems the task of unifying the country is a daunting one – but one Colom has vowed to tackle. In his inaugural speech, as reported by IPS, Colom pledged to “overcome intolerance, inequality, discrimination, and lack of solidarity.”
Uruguayans Most Satisfied with Government
Uruguayans are the most satisfied with their government of any Latin American nation, according to a recent poll conducted by the Latinobarometro. In contrast to the regional average approval rating of 37%, Uruguay’s government enjoys one of 66%. Chileans are the most satisfied with their own economic situation, while Venezuelans are the most happy with their country’s wealth distribution and have the strongest confidence in public policies. More than 75% of Costa Ricans are satisfied with their country’s education. Another trend the poll highlighted was a growing disillusionment with the market economy, not necessarily advocating socialism but greater government protection and better distribution of wealth. Currently, Paraguayans and Peruvians display the most dissatisfaction with the state of their countries.
Colombia Hostages
After five years in captivity, former Colombian vice presidential candidate Clara Rojas and ex-congresswoman Consuelo Gonzalez were released this past month by FARC rebels, raising hopes that negotiations to free the hundreds more still lingering in secret camps will continue to produce results. Many around the world may be familiar with the Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC), the Marxist guerilla group which has been active in the country since the 1960s. The group’s involvement in the drug trade has been widely documented and was a factor in its separation from the Communist Party in the 1980s. In recent decades, FARC has presented Colombia with political controversies over security issues and humanitarian abuses, among others. The group routinely recruits among underage children and is responsible for most of the kidnapping cases in the country. Although there is no certainty that hostage-taking will cease to be a means of negotiation with the guerilla rebels, the international community welcomed the release of Rojas and Gonzalez as a sign that perhaps there is an avenue for more to be released. Over the next few months all eyes will be on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who is considering applying military pressure to rebel camps in the hope of freeing abductees. It is still unclear what effect, if any, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has had on the recent events. Until December, Chavez was involved in mediation talks with the rebels, but fell out with Uribe in December.
General Interest
AeroMexico Sponsors South American Soccer Minnows
In a smart public relations move, Mexican airline AeroMexico has offered its support to a Peruvian soccer team in time for the upcoming regional club competition Copa Libertadores 2008, according to a Travel Update report. Coronel Bolognesi F.C. is currently the Peruvian club champion and is set to play four friendlies in Mexico City this season. AeroMexico will be the Peruvian team’s official airline for these games, thus helping to promote the airline’s daily flights to Lima at the same time as lending a hand to one of the competition’s smaller teams. Nevertheless, the airline’s magnanimous decision to help a South American rival might still leave some Mexican fans scratching their heads.
Costa Rican Coffee Defies Gravity
This past month Costa Rica found itself once more in the news, this time not for its tourism success or its green efforts, but for something quite unearthly: the Costa Rican Institute of Technology announced its aim to design a coffee maker to be used…in outer space. Published by CostaRicaHolidays.co.uk, the report of the Institute’s intent explains that the technology behind brewing a cup of java in space will not only benefit groggy astronauts and the stream of space tourists who may soon launch into the skies, but serve more academic purposes, among them the development of medicines in space. The project is being undertaken with Ad Astra Rocket, led by former Costa Rica NASA astronaut Franklin Chang.
Stolen Paintings Returned in Brazil
