ATLANTA, PRNewswire -- PKF Hospitality Research (PKF-HR), an affiliate of PKF Consulting, announced today that, according to its newly released 2009 edition of Caribbean Trends in the Hotel Industry, the average Caribbean hotel saw bottom-line profits decline 16.0 percent in 2008. The report concludes that the global economic recession was the primary driver of the double-digit profit decline. Given the poor market conditions observed this year, further profit deterioration is expected in 2009.

To combat the effects of the recession, many Caribbean hotels are implementing a variety of marketing strategies in an attempt to boost revenue. These include the offering of incentive packages, as well as pin-pointed advertising in specific target geographies. Concurrently, in an effort to offset the falling revenue, hotel management has struggled to control costs.

Not only has the economic recession impacted the operations of existing hotels, but it also has forced planned hotels to either delay or stop construction. Several proposed Caribbean hotels have not been able to obtain the financing they need in order to proceed with construction. In the past, many Caribbean mixed-use projects have relied on deposits received from the pre-sale of residential units to help finance the construction of the lodging component. "Deposits from residential buyers are no longer sufficient enough to cover the financing of hotels. This business model is no longer viable," Smith said.

In addition to proposed projects, the solvency of existing hotels also has been impacted. For example, the Four Seasons Great Exuma has been forced to close due to the economic downturn.

Current U.S. policy toward Cuba has failed.  - Secretary Clinton

President Barack Obama has arrived in the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago for the 34-nation Summit of the Americas, where he will face pressure to change U.S. policy toward communist Cuba.
Some Latin American leaders are demanding Mr. Obama lift the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he and his allies will vote against the final declaration of the summit to protest the embargo. Cuba was not invited to the summit.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday the Obama administration views current U.S. policy toward Cuba as having failed.
Clinton, who is joining the president at the summit, said the United States welcomed remarks from Cuban President Raul Castro, who said Havana is prepared to discuss any issue with Washington, including human rights, press freedoms and political prisoners. But the Cuban leader insisted the island be treated as an equal.
Clinton said the U.S. welcomes the overture and that Washington is taking a "very serious" look at it. Her comments came earlier in the Dominican Republic.
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said on the way to Trinidad and Tobago that the Obama administration is "struck" by Raul Castro's comments. Gibbs also said Cuban leaders can free political prisoners and stop "skimming money" off cash remittances sent to the island by Cuban Americans.
Meanwhile, the head of the Organization of American States says he will ask his group to re-admit Cuba at the next OAS General Assembly meeting this June in Honduras. Cuba was suspended from the OAS in 1962 after the organization said Cuba's Communist government was incompatible with the OAS charter.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said in a statement Friday that Cuba's full re-integration is a decision for Cuba and all OAS member states to make.
In the Mexican capital Thursday, President Obama said he does not expect relations between the U.S. and Cuba to "thaw overnight" following his decision to relax travel and money transfer restrictions for Cuban-Americans.
In a newspaper editorial Thursday, Mr. Obama said the summit offers the opportunity of "a new beginning" in the relationship between the U.S. and Latin America.
Mr. Obama is on his first trip to Latin America since becoming president. While in Mexico City, he met with President Felipe Calderon to discuss fighting the escalating drug war in Mexico that has killed more than 7,000 people since the beginning of last year -- violence that is spilling over into U.S. border communities.

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro is asking U.S. President Barack Obama some pointed questions about U.S. policies towards Cuba over the past 50 years.
In an article posted on a state-run Web site, Mr. Castro asks if Mr. Obama is aware of what he called "sinister" actions carried out by former U.S. presidents, including the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion. Mr. Castro also questions the fairness of the longstanding U.S. economic embargo against Cuba.
Mr. Obama has said he would be willing to speak with Cuba's leaders but that he would maintain the embargo as leverage to push for democratic change on the island.
In the Fidel Castro essay called "Contradictions between Obama's Politics and Ethics," the ailing former leader also points out problems he sees with Mr. Obama's own policies.
He asks how Mr. Obama's promise of U.S. energy independence will affect countries that depend on oil exports for money. He also targets the U.S. president's pledge to manufacture energy efficient cars and create nuclear power plants, asking whether such actions can be done without damaging the climate or violating ethics.
Mr. Castro made clear that it is not his intention to blame Mr. Obama for things done before he was born or when he was a child.
Last week, the former Cuban leader published an essay demanding that the U.S. president return Guantanamo Bay to the Cuban people.
Mr. Obama has ordered the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo closed within a year. But Fidel Castro and his brother, President Raul Castro, want the entire base closed and the land returned.
The 82-year-old Fidel Castro has not been seen in public since undergoing intestinal surgery in July 2006. Details of his health are considered a state secret.

Cuban President Raul Castro is in Russia on a week-long official visit aimed at boosting ties between the former Cold War allies.
Mr. Castro is expected to meet Thursday with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri Medvedev, at the Russian leader's country residence just outside Moscow.
Cuba and Russia are also expected to sign several cooperation agreements.
This is the first trip to Russia by a Cuban leader since 1986, when Mr. Castro's brother, Fidel Castro, traveled to Moscow. President Medvedev traveled to Cuba last November in a bid to bolster ties in Latin America.
The Russian leader said he believes Mr. Castro's visit will strengthen development of relations between their two countries.
Last year, Russia signed a $20 million trade agreement with Cuba to expand economic cooperation.
The Soviet Union was Cuba's main benefactor during the Cold War, but the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 battered Cuba's economy and strained relations between Havana and Moscow.

BBC NEWS

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has praised President Barack Obama for his "honesty" but says he has many questions to answer.

Related
English translation of Fidel Castro's column on the 'Cuba Debate' website

VOA News

Tropical Storm Gustav is nearing Jamaica, drenching the Caribbean island with torrential rains and buffeting the region with near hurricane strength winds. U.S. forecasters say Gustav could become a hurricane at any time, possibly before it passes over or near Jamaica Thursday and the Cayman Islands Friday night. A t last report, the storm had winds of 110 kilometers per hour, just nine kilometers short of the hurricane threshold.
Gustav was located about 65 kilometers east of Kingston, Jamaica and heading west. A hurricane warning is in effect for Jamaica and a hurricane watch is in effect for the Cayman Islands.