
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.

Lan Argentina and the Patagonian Santa Cruz government agreed to three more weekly flights to Rio Gallegos for a six month trial period beginning November first. The announcement was made by Governor Daniel Peralta and Pablo Querol head of Lan Argentina Institutional Relations.
Gibraltar pays tribute to one of its main industries, tourism with a set of stamps dedicated to cruise vessels. The last of the series of the Gibraltar Cruise Ships set of stamps is comprised of 4 stamps, Miniature Sheet and a Special Folder.

Last Tuesday Ushuaia, in Argentine Tierra del Fuego, declared the 2008/09 cruise season officially inaugurated with the arrival of Chilean flagged Mare Australis, reports the local press.

Punta Arenas is Chile's city with the lowest percentage of victimized homes and where prosecution is best evaluated according to a poll from Paz Ciudadana-Adimark, a non government organization which monitors violence and crime in Chilean society.

A Boeing 737 passenger jet has crashed near the Russian city of Perm in the central Ural mountains killing all 88 people on board, Russian news agencies reported.