Laguna Phuket’s 21st annual release continue supporting sea turtle conservation programmes. 60 juvenile sea turtles were released into the sunset waters of the Andaman Sea to begin their lifetime ocean odysseys at Laguna Phuket’s 21st annual sea turtle release, at Outrigger Laguna Phuket Beach Resort’s beachfront.
More than 400 donors and spectators were all-smiles as they watched the young sea turtles made their momentous journey on Bangtao Beach.

After more than a decade operating hotels in the Middle East, leading Asian hospitality group Dusit International further solidifies its presence in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) by entering into a joint venture hotel management agreement with a local partner in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.Dusit International and regional hoteliers Dyar Hotels and Resorts recently held a signing ceremony to formally establish a joint venture hospitality management company.

CANADIAN INITIATIVE WRAPS UP SECOND SEASON CRUISING CASTRO’S CUBA
Cuba Cruise’s M/V Louis Cristal called in Havana’s Sierra Maestra Terminal last week, wrapping up the final sailing of the Canadian company’s 2015/2016 season. The trailblazing initiative charmed international travellers with the unsurpassed wonder and beauty of the Caribbean’s most talked about island. No longer the forbidden fruit for many Americans, Cuba agreed to normalize relations with the United States early this year, signaling an unprecedented shift in U.S. travel to Cuba.

New York City is booming – more and more tourists visiting from China:
Tourism in the Big Apple is booming. As expected by tourism experts the number of overnight stays of visitors from China will increase from currently 109 million to 175 million during the next five years. New York is the expected hot spot. About 54 Million tourists visit Manhattan every year. With around 350 hotels (appr. 82,000 rooms) the number of hotels is at a very high rate. In fact 46 further top hotels are in construction as TOPHOTELPROJECTS, the leading information provider for hotel chains and hotel construction projects reports.

Hong Kong outbound in 2014 to major destinations continued rising in 2014, and outlook remains positive! Hong Kong travel agents’ outbound business during last Lunar New Year Holiday grew 44%, while that during Easter projected to grow 10%! For example, highly popular among Hong Kong travelers are tours to Europe during Easter despite prices, on average, rose 38%! In 2013, Hong Kong spent US$21 billion on international tourism, which was around 20% that of all mainland China, and ranked world’s 15th largest source market.

Health and wellbeing, diversity and sustainability feature in the new Inspiration Hub at IMEX in Frankfurt. A new dedicated Health and Wellbeing track and seminars in English and German on sustainability and diversity are among the features of the restyled education programme at IMEX in Frankfurt from 19 to 21 May. Follow the link at the end of the article to apply as Hosted Buyer.