Articles tagged “latin america”

Digital payments have grown rapidly in Latin America, where a large percentage of residents have actually never had a bank account. But the systems need to be coordinated for visitors to really cash in on it.

At the beginning of the pandemic, it was clear there would be plenty of mergers and acquisition targets. Despegar found at least a couple in Viajanet and Stays.

Extended family and friends’ groups, delayed weddings and graduation trips are contributing to a revival in group travel in destinations like Argentina, Colombia, Perú, Paraguay and Bolivia. The residual effect is that travel agents are in demand again, and back into bricks-and-mortar offices to help travelers plan more book these trips asap.

Never a dull day in Latin American airline circles. Two of the region's largest, Avianca and Gol, plan to merge and create a pan-South American aviation group along with budget competitors Sky Airline and Viva Air.

The world's largest hotel franchisor has its eye on Latin America. Wyndham has named Gustavo Viescas to a top role, where he'll lead the company's plans to double its hotels regionally by 2027.

Travel executives expect the hotels to help improve visibility for the LGBTQ+ community during a period when the government is considering a family code that, if approved, would legalize civil unions among same sex couples in Cuba.

Travel agencies are busy deploying plans to help Latin American fans pay for flights and lodging for the FIFA World Cup in light of steep exchange rates. Those rabid fútbol fans are topping the global demand lists for tickets.

Omicron flareups are one thing, but the travel bans for U.S. citizens put in place under President Trump and remaining thereunder Joe Biden, for the most part, are not doing Cuba's tourism industry any favors.

Investor appetite, rather than remote employees themselves, will be the driving force that determines where work gets done in the future — including shopping malls.

The Omicron variant wasn't stirring up as much anxiety as you'd expect among the tourism officials at this week's 25° Feria Internacional de Turismo de America Latina in Buenos Aires. Much of the talk was on the challenges of disparate border policies as destinations stay hopeful with their summer season arriving soon.