The Caribbean island
of St. Barts introduced a 5 percent tourism or resort tax on
overnight stays last month. The tax will be tacked onto the daily
room rate in all hotels, villas and condominiums on the island.
Le Meridien Hotels &
Resorts will open a 200-room hotel in Barbados in 2010 as
part of a luxury waterfront development at the Pierhead in
Bridgetown. The property will offer meeting space (amount yet to be
announced) and a health/fitness center.
Kuoni Group, the large
Zurich, Switzerland-based travel conglomerate, has acquired
Conference & Touring GmbH, one of Germany’s largest destination
management companies with offices in Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt,
Hamburg and Munich. In a statement, Kuoni Group officials said the
move underlines the firm’s strategy to expand into destination
management for meetings, incentives, conferences and events, along
with shore excursions for cruise lines.
Turkey's value-added tax on hotel rooms dropped
from 18 to 8 percent as of last month.