
Brazilian tourism officials say that the country has stepped up efforts to lure more foreign tourists as Brazil gears up to host 2014 World Cup. Tourist board Embratur said September had seen a major publicity push worldwide, including promotions at the just-ended Japan Association of Travel Agents (JATA) showcase in Tokyo, as well as across North America and Russia.

The “Gaucho Rivero” bill which bans the access of British flagged (red ensign) or convenience flagged vessels which call in the Falkland Islands remains fully in force for Ushuaia, said Marcelo Echazú, head of the Tierra del Fuego Tourism Institute, Infuetur, on announcing this year’s cruise season.

The Falkland Islands Tourist Board has released statistics from last season and Managing Director Tony Mason explained that the seasonality of tourism in the Falkland Islands is quite significant, with 65.5% (nearly two-thirds) of all arrivals visiting in the first and last three months of the year (Jan-Mar and Oct- Dec) in 2012.

Uruguay is expecting over 230 cruise calls this coming 2013/14 season and is in the process to install a network of cameras for crime control in downtown Montevideo, announced the Ministry of Tourism director Benjamin Liberoff.

A Chinese luxury cruise ship impounded in South Korea for days due to a legal dispute has been released and returned to China, an official said Tuesday.

Schedules for the coming tourist season show a significant increase in the number of ships (11%) and visitors planning to visit South Georgia, and a consequent expected increase in tourist numbers (20%), according to the latest South Georgia Newsletter July release.

Engineers in Italy have succeeded in setting the cruise ship Costa Concordia upright, 20 months after it ran aground off the island of Giglio. They said that the unprecedented salvage effort ”reached degree zero (vertical), which was our target”.

An estimated 58.000 visitors have been confirmed for this coming 2013/14 cruise season at the extreme south Chile cities of Punta Arenas and Puerto Natales, although the overall number is slightly less than the 62.000 of this last season according to Epaustral, the Austral Port Corporation.

Colombia’s government has refused registration as a trademark of the full name “Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria” the country most notorious narcotics criminal. According to local news in Bogotá the application was filed by Maria Isabel Santos Cabalerro, Juana Manuela Marroquín Santos and Juan Sebastian Marroquín Santos, Escobar’s widow and children respectively who changed their names after settling in Argentina in the late 1990.

Tourism New Zealand will open a new office in Sao Paulo, Brazil to serve as the base of its new Latin American activity. The announcement was made by Prime Minister John Key and the Minister of Tourism, at the Latin American Business Council lunch this week.