The Economic Development Bank this week marked the end of the first phase of the Vieques and Culebra Tourism and Commercial Development Loan Program, which has already approved $1 million in loans that have created 74 new jobs split between the two island municipalities.
New hotels, cruise-ship projects and tourist facilities are all on the drawing board for Haiti as it struggles to attract foreign investment and recover from the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that leveled Port-au-Prince and destroyed the island nation’s fragile economy nearly two years ago.
More than 1,000 delegates from the tourism sector — including executives from the 14 Caribbean cruise lines, travel agents, tour operators and suppliers industry — are currently in Puerto Rico to attend the 18th Annual Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association Convention and Tradeshow, being held at the Convention Center in Miramar.