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Stop!
Sex tourism
The
International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that sex tourism
accounts for 2 - 14 percent of the GDP of Indonesia, Malaysia,
Philippines and Thailand. According to the United Nations Children's
Fund (UNICEF), 1.8 million children, mainly girls, go into sex tourism
every year. The Chief of the UNICEF Child Protection Department for Thailand,
Amanda Bissex, stated: "We need to improve law enforcement and the
economic welfare of children, but we also need to address people's attitudes and
create an environment where there is zero tolerance for abuse of children,
whether in their home country or overseas".
Both
international agencies, particularly the ILO, should make public that a
way to stop sex tourism is to improve the unionization rate of hotels, for which
compliance with ILO Convention 87 (union freedom and union right
protection) is essential. This convention has not been ratified by Malaysia
and Thailand and it is poorly implemented in Indonesia and the
Philippines.
Chile
Awaiting for hotel
investments
Significant
funding in the hotel sector and the arrival of the Hilton hotel chain are
both expected to happen soon. After years of negotiations to access the national
market, finally this chain would be building a hotel near the Santiago Airport,
Arturo Merino Benitez. This transnational hotel chain also wants to expand in
Brazil and Argentina. In turn, Grupo Pestana, one of the
largest Portuguese chains of this sector, with hotel facilities in the US,
Brazil, Mozambique, Argentina and South Africa, is
also looking for hotel building sites.
The US
Radisson hotel chain will open a hotel in March 2010 at La Dehesa (Santiago).
And, both, the French Accor and the Spanish Barceló have announced
future investments. Also, the local group Saieh is planning to build 6 to
10 new hotels in Santiago and other regions in the coming three years.
Brazil
Capturing hotel
investments in Latin America
This year,
between January and September, 145 new hotel projects have been developed in
Central and South America, which means 21,750 new hotel rooms. More
than half of these projects have been captured by Brazil, with almost
4,000 under construction now and 6,000, projected.
Mexico
Two new hotel
projects in Mexico
Next year, the
well-known Latin American Tower of the Mexican capital city will turn 20, out of
its 44 floors, into a hotel. This is a five-million-Euro investment,
approximately.
Also
InterContinental has announced the opening of Holiday Inn Express Expo
Guadalajara, their 24th project in the country. This hotel will be located
in one of the major business areas of the city and its cost is worth 8 million
Euros.
Peru
Tourism,
officially declared of national interest
The new
General Tourism Law has declared tourism an industry of national interest
establishing the sector as a national state policy. Peruvian Minister of Foreign
Trade and Tourism, Martín Pérez stated "with this Law a new stage for
tourism is beginning today, a new stage reflecting economic growth, economic
stability, democratic stability, and allowing us to stand as a nation with a
long term vision".
This law has
set the roles and responsibilities of regional and local governments, and the
role of the national government in tourism issues; it includes provisions
related to tourist protection and sets a framework for tourism to become a key
for decentralization and social inclusion. Minister Pérez emphasized that with
this Law, by including security as a focal point, will allow public and private
institutions, through the Tourist Protection Network, to have a chance and
opportunity to effectively defend tourists and their personal items.
Effective.
This law has 49
sections and 9 final provisions, and includes some principles for the hotel
industry, such as social and cultural inclusion for vulnerable and marginalized
social groups and disabled persons; fair trade aimed at an equitable
distribution of economic benefits in favor of the local population of tourism
destinations, and identity. However, there is no reference to workers of this
industry and their rights, particularly their rights related to union freedom.
China and Cuba
Looking at the US
The
Hemingway Hotel is a Chinese-Cuban project to be built this year,
apparently focusing on the US market. The Chinese state-owned Suntine
International-Economic Trading Company and the Cuban hotel group
Cubanacán are partners in the project to build a 600-room luxury hotel. The
future target seems to be the US market, not the Chinese one.
Remodeling is
already in progress at the marina of the port located in Havana, with the
expectation that yachts coming from the US will soon arrive at the island,
located only 145 kilometers away from Cayo Hueso, Florida. The Chinese
company Suntine, with a 49 percent share, is contributing with USD 150
million to the Hemingway Hotel project, while the contribution of
Cubanacán, owner of 51 percent, is the land and other resources. Suntine
and Cubanacán are already partners in a 700-room luxury hotel in the
business district of Shanghai Pudong, which is managed by the Spanish
hotel chain Sol Meliá.
Apart from
this, Qatar (an Emirate in the Persian Gulf) and Cuba signed in
May an agreement for the construction of a USD 75 million luxury hotel in
Cayo Largo, south of Matanzas in the Western part of the island.
Sushi Itto
Growing in South
America
The Japanese
food chain Sushi Itto will open 16 new branches in Mexico and
Central America. According to the director of the Mexican company,
Paolo Pagnozzi, opening new branches is a part of Sushi Itto
expansion plan which will be developing up to 2014 and includes 250 new
restaurants. At present, there are 112 points of sale in Mexico, Spain,
United States, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama,
Honduras, Nicaragua and St. Maarten.
Mexican
newspaper El Financiero has reported that the chain has approximately five
million customers and will grow 5 to 6 percent with its new restaurants. Job
creation at Sushi Itto is expected to account for 550 new direct jobs.
There are also discussions with investors for the opening of restaurants in
Germany, the Middle East, Peru, Brazil and Colombia.
Mexico
NH Hoteles and
Hesperia
NH Hoteles
and Hesperia have just reached an agreement for a future merger of their
hotel management business, aiming at the creation of the "largest Spanish urban
hotel group". In a joint press release, both companies emphasized that this
operation will mean "important synergies" in income and expenditure. In this
sense, NH Hoteles will obtain "more competitive capacities" taking into
account that it will manage 51 hotels that belong to or are run by Hesperia
at present, reaching a total of 400 hotels.
In turn,
according to the statements of Francisco Medina, Company Director for
Mexico and the Caribbean, in 2011 the NH Hoteles chain will
resume its investment plans in Mexico, when it expects the country
economy to be in a better shape. In Mexico, at present there are 16
facilities of NH Hoteles in the main cities and tourist destinations of
the country.
Holiday Inn
Opening in the
Dominican Republic
The chain
InterContinental (IHG) has just announced the beginning of operations
of its first Holiday Inn hotel in the Dominican Republic,
Holiday Inn Santo Domingo. This new hotel will be the first one in the
Caribbean with the new quality standards and services of this trade mark and
the second property of IHG in the country. The new hotel has 141 rooms
and it is located in one of the major business areas of the city.
Latin America
Tourism industry
to recover in 2010 from the impact of influenza A and the crisis
The economic
crisis and the impact of influenza A have submerged the Latin American tourism
industry in a strong crisis. However, a report of Euromonitor International
forecasts that the situation will change next year, when recovery will start.
The report also underlines that the economic crisis, together with the impact of
influenza A, provoked in June, for example, a 53-percent-decline in the arrival
of tourists in Mexico
Also Chile,
and particularly Argentina, witnessed a 50-percent-drop in Brazilian
skiers during the Southern hemisphere's winter which has just finished, due to
the Brazilian government warning on the risks of traveling to these two
countries, severely affected by influenza A.
Chile
Hotel prices in
Santiago among the highest of Latin America
The price of a
hotel night in a double suite ranges from USD 130 to USD 630 (breakfast
included) in a five-star hotel worldwide, according to information compiled by
UBS Bank in 73 cities, where Tokyo is the highest and Mexico
City, the lowest. In the case of Santiago, the cost at a similar
hotel is USD 290, the same price as Rio but higher than other Latin
American cities like Sao Paulo (280), Bogota (250), Caracas
(250), Lima (220), Buenos Aires (200) and Mexico City
(130).
In turn, the
price of eating at a "good" restaurant (including appetizer, main dish and
desert, but beverage excluded) in Latin American cities is higher in
Caracas, USD 59 and Buenos Aires, USD 34; while the cost in
Santiago is USD 32 and, in Mexico City, it is worth USD 29.
Marriott
Landing in
Colombia
The Bogotá
Marriott Hotel
is the first one of this US hotel group in Colombia. It is operated by
Real Hotels & Resorts, a subsidiary of the Poma Group of El
Salvador, on the basis of a franchise agreement. The building is located
near the industrial area of the city with offices of many of the main companies
and next to an office tower.
Apart from the
Bogota Marriott Hotel, both companies are partners in the development of
a second hotel in Colombia, the JW Marriott Hotel Bogota, to be opened in
2010. Also, Real Hotels & Resorts has a franchise on other Marriott
hotels in the Caribbean and Latin America, including Marriot
Hotels of Puebla, México, and the recently opened
Guanascate JW Marriott Resort & Spa, in Costa Rica.
Riu
85 million Euro
investment in its first urban hotel
So far, the
Spanish chain Riu, has been in the vacation segment, but it has now
decided to go into the urban hotel field and create a new line called Riu
Plaza.
The first hotel
of this division, in which it will invest USD 125 million (85 million Euros), is
a five-star hotel located in the city of Panama, which will go into
operation in November next year.
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