Uruguay will upgrade the Port of Montevideo facilities to enhance the port's efficiency and reduce maritime and river transportation costs with support from a 40 million US dollars loan from the Inter-American Development Bank.
Global tourism is already feeling the effects of the financial crisis, slowing down over the northern summer this year, the United Nations tourism agency reports, warning that the industry could suffer a sharper downturn in the months ahead.
Magallanes Region in the extreme south of Chile has some of the least populated towns and villages of the country according to the latest census.
South Georgia following on from last year's record will once again experience an increase in the number of cruise ship visits to the Island.
Brazil's TAM announced this week its entry into the Star Alliance, the largest global alliance in commercial aviation, currently made up of 21 of the world's largest airlines and three regional companies that jointly operate more than 18,100 flights daily.
The cruise ship business this coming 2008/2009 season is expected to contribute roughly 45 million US dollars to Chile's economy, according to the Southern Cone Ports Corporation.
Puerto Williams in Chilean Tierra del Fuego will have its airstrip expanded and facilities improved to allow commercial flights thus helping to increase opportunities for the regional tourism industry.
Flyglobespan, the Scottish low-cost airline which has a contract for the Falkland Islands Brize Norton air bridge, has clinched deals to lease up to four of its aircraft to LAN Chilean Airways over the winter months, according to a report from the Sunday Times.
The Chilean cruise vessel Antarctic Dream is expected back in Punta Arenas next October 12 after having completed her first northern hemisphere summer season sailing in the Arctic.
Chile's Free Competition tribunal ruled that legislation allowing the reimbursement of VAT (value added tax) only to foreign cruise companies was discriminatory for the domestic cruise industry.