CaribPress: How did the idea to start Travelwire Global, Inc, a worldwide online travel and tour company, come about?

Oliver Huie: Having worked in the travel industry, I felt the personal touch was missing.  A desire to bring back the personal touch to travel, while providing quality services to travelers, led me to launch this online travel business.

CPress: Tell our readers about the experiences that you bring to Travelwire Global.

OH: Travel savvy – A passion to travel, coupled with a wealth of knowledge about the Caribbean infrastructure and the back-end of travel Information Technology (IT).  The experiences that I bring to the company includes over fifteen (15) years experiences working as an IT Engineer, as well as a few years as a travel agent.

CPress: Travelers are looking for deals.  There are other online travel companies providing deals as well.  What types of deals do Travelwire Global offer that sets the company apart in the industry?

OH: We are focusing on the Caribbean market, we are from there.  This is advantageous because we know the demographics of that market better than our competitors. We are bringing back the customer support and service aspects to the travel industry.  Our staff at Travelwire ensures that your travel experience is smooth by providing comprehensive customer service from the time the trip is booked.

CPress: In today’s tight economy, travelers are looking to cut costs and save money.  Savvy travelers are looking for a luxury vacation on a low budget.  Tell us about how a family can benefit from the “Make Your Own Deal” program?

OH: Travelers can get a lot for their money with the Make your Own deal program.  Our business resources on the ground are able to provide great deals for hotel rates.  We are from the Caribbean and we know the suppliers.

CPress: In light of the cruise ship wreck in Italy, your thoughts on how this devastating accident could impact the travel industry?

OH: According to some of the reviews, they are expecting an impact to first time cruise travelers.  At the same time, we have to market the safety of cruise.

The advice to travelers is that when you are going on a cruise, the first thing you should do when you board the ship is to attend the safety drill within the first day of the cruise. It is important that every cruise passenger attends this safety drill;

CPress: What travel spots are on your bucket list for the 2012 travel season?

OH: Cancun – Spring Break; Negril; Jamaica – Spring Break; Jamaica, Virgin Island – Carnival – April; Jamaica – Reggae Sumfest – July; Barbados – Crop Over festival – July; Jamaica 50 – August; Trinidad 50 – August;

CPress: What is Travelwire Global ‘Fab Five’ travel destinations and why?

OH: ‘FAB FIVE’ Destinations are the following:

1. Jamaica — have the beach in the Caribbean, in Negril you have 12 miles of white sand beach. The food, culture, people and the best adventure experience.

2. Dominican Republic — This Island is a hidden treasure, is lost somewhere under the blanket of green felt that coats its densely forested hills. It has some of the best rates in Hotels and attractions.

3. St. Lucia — St. Lucia is quickly gaining steam as the best destination in the Caribbean – and rightfully so. The island has the perfect mix of what one desires in a Caribbean getaway; a vibrant port city surrounded by tall, sweeping, rainforest covered mountains.

4. Barbados — Barbados clinches the number two spot for being a country that has truly established its own identity since breaking away from the British rule in 1966.

5. Mexico – Mexico is the most visited destination and receives over 3 million visitors each year. Its modern hotels, gorgeous Caribbean coastline and proximity to US makes it a destination anyone can enjoy.

CPress: As Jamaica move towards 50 years of nationhood, what are the most significant milestones thus far for the black, green and gold?

OH: Jamaica becoming an independent nation, our national heroes and the influence of reggae music globally are significant milestones.

CPress: In terms of the Jamaican diaspora, what plans are in the pipeline for Jamaica 50?

OH: I am excited to say that there are many special events planned within the diaspora in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Jamaica.  The events kick off in January.

Visit the Consul General of Jamaica web site for more details at: www.congenjamaica-ny.org

CPress: With the age of smartphones, tablets, other portable devices and social networking, what role will this play in the travel industry?

OH: Technology is changing how travelers book their flights.  Social media has played a major role in internet booking.  Everything is geared to twitter, facebook LinkedIn or a website.

CPress: Elaborate on the future for Travelwire Global.

OH: We foresee Travelwire to be a leader in the travel industry, while positioning our self as one of the top leaders in the travel industry by offering good prices, good packages and good customer support.  And build our customer base on word of mouth referrals by family and friends.

Islands Picture

Made world famous by the so-called “flower children” of the hippie generation, the approximately seven-kilometre stretch of powdery white sand and crystal clear waters, authorities say, accounts for just over 25 percent of the island’s tourism earnings.

But the industry that placed Negril on the map, and on which the town depends, has been destroying the fragile marine ecosystem it needs to survive.
Now, Jamaican authorities are turning their attention to Negril, where decades of unplanned development is destroying the local ecosystem and eroding the famous beach.

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the agency responsible for the management and protection of the island’s 1,022 kilometres of coastline, has begun the replanting of sea grass beds and mangrove forests in Negril as well as Montego Bay and Portland Bight. The agency said these areas have faced severe negative impacts from the large-scale removal of coastal vegetation.

The replanting is one of several activities in an “integrated” multi-sector, multi-donor effort to halt the decline of the ecosystems that are crucial to the preservation of Negril’s prized beaches, project manager Mary Gooden said.

Partially funded by a 4.13 million-euro grant from the European Union, the project is expected to provide alternative livelihoods for those whose activities negatively impact the environment and to
enhance the resilience of Negril and other vulnerable coastal areas to the impacts of natural hazards.

Gooden, who works with the Planning Institute of Jamaica, which coordinates climate change mitigation actions on the island, noted that the restoration of Negril’s marine wetlands is expected to boost the ability of the ecosystem to protect of one of Jamaica’s most valuable coastal areas from impacts of severe weather. Healthy wetlands dissipate wave actions and minimise their impacts on the shoreline.

The world famous white sand beaches “have been experiencing severe and irreversible shoreline and retreat” for more than four decades, a 2010 report from the Risk and Vulnerability Assessment Methodology Development Project (RIVAMP) warned.

The problems have been exacerbated by inland activities that continue to impact the reefs: unsustainable fishing practices, and the removal of mangroves to increase the number of hotel rooms and to provide material for charcoal and fish pot production.

Jamaica’s State of the Environment (SOE) report 2010 stated that between 2007 and 2010, 2,560 hotel rooms were added, with Montego Bay and Negril accounting for most of the new development at 29 percent and 12.8 percent, respectively.

In 2010, tourism was estimated at 20 percent of Jamaica’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), just over 50 percent of the island’s foreign exchange earnings and a quarter of all jobs. Some say that Negril’s ecosystem may actually account for much as 40 percent of GDP.

In recent decades, Negril has recorded some of the highest rates of coastal erosion in the Caribbean. Studies by the University of the West Indies (UWI) and Smith Warner International for the Negril Coral Reef Protection Society indicate that Negril’s coastline eroded at an average rate of between .5 and one metre a year between 1968 and 2006.

Commerce and Economic Development Secretary Jose Perez-Riera says the Celebrity Silhouette ship that docked on the island for the first time Saturday can accommodate 2,850 passengers.

Perez-Riera said the U.S. Caribbean territory had seen a drop in cruise ship arrivals in the previous four years.

About 535,000 cruise ship passengers visited Puerto Rico from January to April of this year, a nearly 1 percent drop compared to the same period last year.

-AP

It has increased the maximum age limit of certain categories of imported used motor vehicles from three to five years and from four to six years for light motor vehicles.

The extended age limit, which takes effect December 1, 2011, will affect motor cars, sports utility vehicles, pick-ups and cargo vans.

The policy shift was announced yesterday by Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Dr Christopher Tufton, who explained that the industry had declined significantly, hitting an all time low in 2009.

“The used car industry was hard hit by the global recession, increased demand from other markets for 3 year-old cars as well as unfavourable movements of the Japanese currency. This resulted in a decline of over 57 per cent between 2008 and 2009,” he stated.

Dr. Tufton pointed out that while the duty reduction implemented to stimulate the industry at the beginning of the financial year resulted in an estimated 14 per cent increase in the importation of all vehicles for the period April to September, 2011, relative to the corresponding period in 2010, sales in the used car sector has since tapered due to cost considerations.

He emphasised that the policy modification is being implemented, “to make motor vehicle more affordable to lower income groups who cannot afford to purchase new cars as well as to boost activity in the used car sector.”

President of the Jamaica Used Car Dealers Association Lynvalle Hamilton has welcomed the decision.

He said consumers should begin to experience the cost benefits from early next year.

Island Travel & Tours Ltd., along with its partner, Sky King Inc. will offer weekly charter service beginning March 21.

This year, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport received approval from U.S. Customs and Border Protection to handle passenger charter air service to and from Cuba. The Cuban government recently approved Island Travel &Tours to offer the service from BWI Marshall.

A private sandwich shop has opened in a town previously served only by a grim state-run cafeteria. A woman sells trinkets from a small spot of shade. A weathered farmer in dusty jeans has rigged up an ancient ice cream machine and is selling cones for 8 cents a pop.

Out of sight of Cuba’s dollar-spending tourists, in areas where money from overseas relatives trickles in only sporadically, dusty towns like this one slowly are being revitalized by a series of private enterprise initiatives ushered in by President Raul Castro.

Visits to more than a dozen towns in the central provinces of Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus found private businesses popping up on every main street, places hard hit by the decline of Cuba’s sugar industry and the general economic malaise that has settled over the country after more than half a century of Socialist rule.

Even in one-street hamlets like Yaguaramas, small businesses are buzzing while many residents, and most canines and livestock, lounge sleepily in the broiling midday sun.

The government says about 338,000 Cubans across the island now have licenses to operate private businesses, including more than 4,500 in Cienfuegos and 14,000 in Sancti Spiritus. While the number has not changed significantly since April, it is still more than three times the government’s goal for the year. The businesses are the result of Castro’s plan to inject a measure of capitalism into Cuba’s flatlining Marxist economy.

The new businesses are exceedingly modest. The income generated is nowhere near enough to transform Cuba’s perennially weak economy. But on the level of individual lives, or the hopes of a small town, residents say the reforms have been a boon.

“It’s a way of having something that is all yours,” said Alain Suarez, who along with his family has opened a professional looking “guarapera,” or sugarcane juice stand, in Santa Isabel de Las Lajas, about 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the central city of Cienfuegos up a bumpy byway lined by tall fields of sugar cane.

The bright-faced 23-year-old points to a small pizza stand across the street from his establishment, and another that sells sandwiches. “All these businesses that have opened up recently have given the town new life.”

While he speaks to a reporter, a dozen schoolchildren come over to buy drinks, and a huge press that Suarez’s father concocted with an old American electric motor whirrs from a back room, sending sugarcane juice running down a metal trough and through a little window into a bucket near the front counter. The children pay 4 cents each for a cup, and go off happy.

As Suarez’s little juice stand shows, free enterprise starts off small in a place where most residents make salaries of about $20 a month and where all private businesses, from humble grocery stores to electronics shops to giant factories, were taken over by the socialist state in the late 1960s.

The town was the birthplace of legendary singer Benny More (pronounced mor-AY), who immortalized it in the 1955 song “Lajas, Mi Rincon Querido” (“Lajas, My Beloved Place”). But it has experienced trying days since then, including the dismantling of one of its giant sugar refineries in 2002 and the temporary closure of another since then. Cuba, once famed for its lucrative sugar trade, has seen production plummet, with 2010′s harvest the worst in 105 years.

Other than a brief festival each year to honor More, Lajas rarely gets any tourists, and residents say few receive remittances from relatives in South Florida or elsewhere. And while Castro’s plan to lay off half a million state workers has stalled, Cuba has shed 127,000 government jobs, further thinning the ranks of people with money to spend.

But Cuba’s countryside benefits from a quirk of the country’s economic system. Because big, inefficient state-controlled farms have trouble meeting the country’s demand for food, it may be the only place in the hemisphere where small-scale private farmers are near the top of the income pile.

“Here, everything is reversed,” Omar Everleny Perez, the lead economist at Havana University’s Center for Cuban Economic Studies, told The Associated Press in the first interview that any Cuban government or university economist has given a foreign news organization since the reforms were announced in October 2009.

Perez said Cuban farmers survived the lean years of the 1990s that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union better than city dwellers because they were able to sell the food they grew at relatively high prices to those desperate for nourishment.

“There are bank accounts worth 4 or 5 million Cuban pesos ($160,000 to $200,000) in the hands of farmers,” he said. Perez said 13 percent of Cubans hold 90 percent of the money in all of the island’s private bank accounts. “It is very concentrated, and much of it belongs to the farmers,” he said.

Perez has been unusually outspoken in his criticism of the reforms so far, arguing in opinion pieces published by the Roman Catholic Church and elsewhere that much more needs to be done to pull educated Cuban professionals into the private sector, allow bank credits to would-be entrepreneurs and establish a wholesale market to supply the new businesses.

But he said the changes are actually going better in the countryside.

He pointed to a program started in 2008 that has turned over more than 1.3 million hectares (3.2 million acres) of fallow government land to small-time farmers. While it has been beset by complaints of inefficiency, the program has put cash in the pockets of many rural families and some of it has gone into patronizing or funding new private businesses.

Salvador Parra Maya, a 46-year-old musician in Rodas, a town of about 12,000 in Cienfuegos province, said his family had invested $1,000 in a waist-high refrigerator, countertop and oven for a take-out sandwich shop set up in the front room of its small apartment. Up the block on the main street, a woman sold sticky peanut treats, and a barber had expanded his kiosk with a license to sell bootleg DVDs. It may not be Fifth Avenue, but for Rodas it’s the closest thing.

“The town has improved,” Maya said. “There’s more to buy, the quality of life is better. People are satisfied.”

In Cienfuegos itself, a relative metropolis of about 170,000 along the southern Majagua peninsula, the economic reforms have created a boom in private restaurants, or “paladares,” said Santiago Gonzalez, an engineer who opened a rock’n’ roll-themed eatery called “El Lobo” (The Wolf) in the center of the city.

The restaurant features posters of once-banned 1970s rock groups and a painting of KISS frontman Paul Stanley, with whom Gonzalez shares an eerie resemblance. Despite the somewhat shabby interior, he says his place is always full, with a mix of tourists and Cubans, and that he can clear up to 3,000 pesos ($140) a month after taxes, about seven times what he earned as an engineer.

Gonzalez said the number of paladares in the city had soared from just two before the reforms to between 40 and 50 today.

“From last year to this, you can just see the city changing,” Gonzalez said. “It is a city that is prospering.”

Perez said most of the reforms until now have been designed to alleviate the economic hardship of citizens, and they have been adopted first because they don’t cost the state anything. But he cautioned that the pace of change must pick up significantly to pull Cuba out of its economic malaise.

In addition to bank credits and a wholesale market, Perez has been advocating the creation of mid-sized cooperative companies that can do business directly with the state _ making boots for workers, or preparing lunches, or selling transportation services _ something that Cuban leaders have promised but not yet implemented.

On Thursday, Cuba announced the legalization of a real estate market, something the government had been promising for more than a year.

“We are only at the beginning of the process,” he said. “The law allowing private enterprise … is not sufficient to boost the economy. Selling sandwiches isn’t going to make the economy grow.”

But in Lajas and other towns, the reforms have been enough to change people’s attitudes, and keep many young people from going away.

“Fewer people are leaving town because they are finding something to do here,” said Arelis Contreras, the mother of two young adults who says she used to worry that her children would leave rather than make a go of it in a town that offered them little work.

“Now, they won’t have to go to Havana or Santiago in search of something better,” she smiled. “Because they will have it right here.”

General Secretary of Antigua & Barbuda Workers Union (ABWU) David Massiah said the matter was referred to the prime minister and the tourism minister Tuesday, hours after AA notified the union of its decision.

“It was more than a big disrespect to the union and the workers in particular because the workers were not aware, and all of a sudden you have people who have worked here 25 years and more with the company and to hear that they don’t have a job as of the 1st of November is more than traumatic in some ways,” he said.

The company, Massiah explained, has not yet indicated how many workers will be sent home.

Union representatives met with AA employees later in the day to notify them of the situation and decide on their next court of action.

Minister of Tourism John Maginley indicated that government has limited options.

“I don’t know what steps we can take at this time,” he stated.

“I understand that they have already outsourced a number of Caribbean destinations. Apparently, this is part of their cost-cutting exercise.”

The planned retrenchment comes as AA prepares to introduce on November 17, four weekly direct flights from John F Kennedy International Airport in New York to Antigua under a revenue guarantee arrangement with the government.

Minister Maginley said that deal has not been affected.

“Nothing will happen anytime in the near future,” he disclosed basing his argument on recent discussions with AA.

“These big corporations, when they file for bankruptcy, there’s a long procedure and we don’t expect it to affect the flights into Antigua,” the minister added.

AA has not made an official statement on the matter.

He is quoted in the Jamaica Observer as stating that REDjet hopes to receive approval from the Jamaica government in 2012.

“We had our difficulty before because of the divestment of Air Jamaica,” Burns noted.

“Air Jamaica is no longer around and so we believe those barriers have been taken down and we should be approved, hopefully sometime next year, and we can start operations out of Jamaica. That should bring somewhere in the region of six to seven hundred jobs to Jamaica.”

Air Jamaica was sold to the Trinidad and Tobago-based Caribbean Airlines in May, leaving the Jamaica government with a 16 percent stake.

The CEO said the proposed airline will trade as REDjet, though it will be majority-owned by Jamaicans.

“All our cabin crew, pilots, all our engineers, flight dispatch officers, all our ground handling services, all those services will be provided from Jamaica, by Jamaicans. Our plan will be to build our fleet here, specifically in Jamaica, from five to 10 aircraft. That will be built on a solid business foundation and we will grow as the demand is there for our service,” he added.

The Barbados-based low-cost carrier will begin serving six destinations in late November.

Phase II of the Expo line will begin construction of rails between Culver City and Santa Monica, a distance of nearly 7 miles that will have seven stations.

The line will end at 4th Street and Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica, where city officials marked the occasion with a groundbreaking ceremony.

“The demand for this service is very high and, as a result, we expect that the Expo Line will be one of the most heavily used light rail lines in the nation,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor and Expo Board Chair Zev Yaroslavsky.

Train testing was already under way on the first phase that spans an 81/2-mile ride from downtown Los Angeles to Culver City. Most of that stage was scheduled to open this year, with a final section to begin operations in 2012.

The $1.5-billion second stage was expected to open in 2015, barring complications.

The new line is also expected to link the West Los Angeles with existing Metro Rail lines. Once complete, it’ll be the first time that rail will connect downtown and Santa Monica since 1961, when the Pacific Electric Railway, with its trolleys known as Red Cars, was retired from service.

The project is funded through voter-approved Measure R sales tax revenue, and state and local funds.

According to the 11p.m. AST advisory from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), Tropical Storm Maria is moving toward the west at 23 miles per hour.

The centre of Tropical Storm Maria is located near latitude 13.4 north longitude 46.2 west or 1070 miles east-southeast of the Leeward Islands. Based on its current speed Maria would pass over the Leeward Islands late Friday night.

According to the latest NHC advisory maximum sustained winds are near 50 MPH with higher gusts and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 85 miles.

The 11 p.m. AST National Hurricane Centre report indicated that little change in strength is expected during the next 48 hours.

Estimated minimal central pressure is 1002 MB.

An air force reconnaissance plane is scheduled to reach Maria late Thursday the NHC said.

Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index sank 1 percent to 9,015.54 in morning trading. South Korea’s Kospi slipped 0.2 percent to 1,877.26, while mainland China’s Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.3 percent to 2,600.51. Benchmarks in Taiwan and Malaysia were also lower.

But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.7 percent to 20,361.77, and Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.8 percent to 4,282.50. Shares in New Zealand and Singapore also rose.

Stocks around the world lost their steam Tuesday after muted German growth figures reinforced fears over the global economy.

Wall Street closed lower after a volatile day. The Dow dropped 0.7 percent to 11,405.93 _ the first time in seven trading days that the Dow rose or fell by less than 100 points. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1 percent to 1,192.76. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.2 percent to 2,523.45.

U.S. economic reports Tuesday were mixed. Housing remains weak, but factory output rose last month at its fastest pace since an earthquake in Japan disrupted global manufacturing in March.

Europe’s economy and debt troubles have been among global investors’ main concerns over the last year and a half. Some European countries have borrowed so much that they may need help repaying debt.

On Tuesday, the European Union reported that economic growth in the 17 countries that use the euro slowed to 0.2 percent between April and June from 0.8 percent the previous quarter. Germany’s growth fell to 0.1 percent from 1.3 percent.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Paris to discuss the crisis but failed to calm worries about Europe’s debt problems.

The euro weakened to $1.4377 from $1.4397 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 76.68 yen from 76.78 Japanese yen.

JTB honored at Travelage West’s 2011 Awards

But there are still ways to take a great vacation without sacrificing your wallet. Consider traveling where everyone else does not at this time of year, like a ski resort or an island just outside the hurricane belt.

Here are seven tips for booking off-season vacations in high-style locations.

_HEAD TO THE HILLS. Ski resorts remain popular destinations off-season; vacationers can ride ski lifts into the mountains for hiking, mountain biking and many other summer activities. But you will spend much less for lodging than during the winter.

“You can get a really great discount, I would say somewhere between 20 to 40 percent,” by booking off-season, says Anne Banas, executive editor of smartertravel.com.

_THINK ABCs. A vacation to much of the Caribbean during hurricane season _ which runs from June through November _ can be unpredictable or worse. But some Caribbean islands lie outside the hurricane belt, and prices there drop for the summer too.

Though not bargain-basement cheap, a trip to the so-called ABC islands _ Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao _ is more affordable in summer than winter, and you will be outside the danger zone.

_BOOK A PACKAGE. Even if you have no intention of traveling with a group or staying in a mainstream hotel, a good way to beat skyrocketing airfares may be with a package deal, says Budget Travel’s Nina Willdorf. You might be able to get a hotel room or car rental included in the same total price as a ticket would cost alone.

That is because travel companies locked in airfares long ago, so they can afford to offer them for less.

“One of the big secrets finding deals this summer is going to be about booking a package,” Willdorf says. “I’ve heard of some people booking a package and not even using all of the nights of the hotel just because the value of the trip is so good.”

_TRY THE GULF. Yes, that Gulf. The Gulf of Mexico. A year after the oil spill, Gulf Coasters want people to come back, and they are ready to deal.

“It’s beautiful, and hotel rates are still lower than they have been,” says Jason Clampet, senior online editor of Frommers.com. He estimates that staying in many Gulf of Mexico resorts now costs roughly what it did in 2004.

_STAY CLOSE. Clampet also suggests considering local trips.

“Thinking regionally is often a solution for savings,” he says.

For example, rail trips across the U.S. Northeast, along the Pacific Coast or up the Hudson Valley look increasingly affordable as gas prices surge. Clampet recommends trawling the web for Amtrak discount codes that can save you 15 to 60 percent.

_GO TO TOWN. Banas says a trip to a major metropolis like New York, Boston or Chicago can be had at a discount in the summer.

“You want to think of alternatives to what everyone else wants to do,” says Banas.

Particularly in August, city dwellers flee in droves, and top hotels _ especially those that cater to business travelers _ often are in need of customers, Banas said. Also consider renting a place from one of those vacationing residents through a website like airbnb.com, which connects travelers with people renting out their apartments for a few days or weeks at a time.

_BE FLEXIBLE. Above all, if you stay flexible about every aspect of your trip, you will save the most.

For deals, Clampet recommends “flash” travel sites, which take the approach of members-only clothing and accessories sellers like Rue La La or Gilt and offer travel at steep discounts for brief periods. Options include Trip Advisor’s sniqueaway.com, VoyagePrive.com and jetsetter.com.

Because these sites are new, they’re very competitive, Clampet says.

“It’s a good time to take advantage of their need to deliver good deals,” he says.

Illustration of Europeon Limits Money to Spend for Xmas

This Christmas, Europeans are hunkering down to an uncertain future, as a debt crisis that erupted last year in Greece flares anew in Ireland, and has quickly threatened to engulf Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

A whole way of life appears to be at stake as Europe’s cherished social welfare nets begin to unravel _ and the very survival of the common currency is thrown into doubt.

The new age of austerity is forcing jittery Europeans to tighten belts they’ve grown accustomed to loosening during the festive holiday season. But there’s been as much Santa as Scrooge as families find ingenious ways to stay in the spirit of giving.

Here’s how struggling Europeans are coping.

GREECE’S BRAVE BROWSERS _ Beyond pay-cuts, price hikes and rising unemployment, Christmas shoppers in Athens face an additional challenge this year: Getting to the store.

Daily public transport strikes and demonstrations blocking streets have made it harder to hunt for downtown bargains. In extreme cases, shops even provide a haven from rioters.

At one violent rally against austerity measures this month, shoppers hurried into a department store on Athens’ main Syntagma Square to escape clashes and tear gas clouds, suddenly stepping into an eerie refuge of calm in which Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” played in the background.

Strikes and protests are killing off hope of a late surge in sales, with some owners forced to sell off stock in pre-Christmas sales.

“If you have no money in your pocket things are difficult,” said downtown gift-shop owner Michalis Papayiannidis, adding business is probably the worst since he opened the store selling toys, plates and fabrics from Africa and Asia 16 years ago.

Garbage strikes, leaving huge piles of trash on street corners, have only made things worse, he complained.

The National Confederation of Greek Commerce says the crisis had shuttered one in seven retail stores in Athens’ main shopping areas by early August. It expects a 20 percent drop in Christmas sales this year from 2009, already one of the worst on record.

“During the Christmas holidays we had a week of protests and transport strikes and people couldn’t get to the city … So that’s Christmas gone!” Papayiannidis said.

ITALY’S FROZEN FEASTS _ For Italians, holiday bounty unfolds at the table on Christmas Eve.

Family and friends sit around a festive dining room table groaning under the weight of several courses _ from homemade broth with dumplings to fettuccine with costly truffle toppings to pricey fresh fish or lobster, all washed down with countless bottles of sparkling wine.

But for the cash conscious, there’s something fishy about this year’s preparations _ especially if you open their freezers.

Fishmonger Loris Trotta said customers are buying fish in advance, then freezing it as protection against the surge in prices that inevitably strikes the week before Christmas.

In a culture where “bella figura” _ making a good impression _ is paramount in everyday life, the euro-pinching is a drastic departure from custom.

Trotta, shivering on an unusually cold day in a neighborhood Rome market near the Tiber, said standard Christmas choices like turbot, sea bass and scampi are being substituted for less expensive cod.

“It makes the same good impression because it’s a big fish,” Trotta assured customers.

For some, culinary tradition is non-negotiable. But they’re making cuts elsewhere.

Rita Montagna, a homemaker, said her family will still have the big Christmas meal with all the trimmings, but added: “We had to give up other things like presents, being careful to spend less, which is not all that bad since children these days have everything.”

IRELAND’S BARGAIN BLING _ In Ireland, droves of Christmas shoppers are resorting to selling the family silver _ or an ex-girlfriend’s earrings _ to drum up the cash for stocking stuffers or a Christmas turkey.

The nation has been at the epicenter of the latest flare-up in Europe’s debt crisis. Unemployment has tripled to 13.5 percent and average incomes have slumped 15 percent since 2008.

Dublin has experienced a pre-Christmas explosion in makeshift jewelry shops that are buying at meltdown prices.

“I need to find a shop that buys silver. I don’t have any more gold on me,” said Jarlaith O’Connor, 26, an unemployed Dublin electrician standing outside a shop emblazoned with “WE BUY GOLD” in screaming red letters.

“I’ve no money for Christmas presents. If I can’t sell this, all the missus is getting is a card,” said O’Connor, holding a silver chain and Glasgow Celtic soccer pendant. He’d received it as a gift two years ago and figured he could get 30 ($40) for it.

He’s already sold jewelry containing gold _ whose price has soared amid global economic turmoil _ for 90 ($120).

Peader Casey had just sold a gold chain he’d received as a 21st birthday present last summer from his sister. He got 39 ($50) for it, barely a tenth of what he thought his sister had paid for it.

“It wasn’t the best price, but I need the money. It’s hard times, man,” said Casey, who works as a supermarket warehouse worker.

Casey grew up during the Celtic Tiger boom, when incomes rose strongly, jobs were for the taking, and teens didn’t think twice about “pouring money down the drain.”

“Now, if you see a copper coin on the pavement, you’ll go out of your way to pick it up,” he said. “I wouldn’t even be bothered if somebody saw me do it.”

Bridget Rooney, 59, decided not to sell the jewelry she’d collected from her daughters _ some from her late husband who died of stomach cancer four years ago.

“For the prices they’re offering, you’d really have to be desperate,” she said. “I can still put a ham on the table at Christmas, because I’m friendly with the butcher. I might be eating that ham through the middle of January, but I’ll not go hungry.”

SPANISH TOY HUNTERS _ Christmas cheer is scarce in Spain as the nation struggles with unemployment of nearly 20 percent and grim growth prospects.

Shoppers line up every day outside discount toy shops selling knockoffs at 10 ($13) each. Many bring along their kids because they can’t afford baby sitters.

Mercedes Barreda, an unemployed secretary, came with her underemployed electrician husband and their 4-year-old daughter Dolores.

“Some of the toys here are half the price of similar ones we’ve seen,” Barreda said. “Dolores wants to open them already, but we’ll see if we can calm her down a bit so she forgets about them until Christmas.”

Marina Ortega and Remedios Falcon drove in from Madrid’s outskirts to line up outside the store selling everything from Crayola crayons to remote-controlled cars. Business is way down at the hair salon they run, and they had to find a way to cut back on Christmas spending.

“Between us we’ve got nine kids to buy for and with the crisis this place is like a godsend,” Ortega said. “We’ll be able to make Christmas look special despite not having much money.”

PORTUGAL’S HELPING HANDOUT _ Portugal, one of Europe’s poorest nations even in good times, has been one of the hardest hit by the continent’s debt crisis. So Isabel Jonet, head of Portugal’s network of charity food banks, was stunned by the response last month to her organization’s Christmas aid appeal.

The campaign, in which supermarket shoppers were asked to fill bags of food for charity, was a spectacular success, with donations up 30 percent from the previous year.

“I was overwhelmed by people’s generosity,” Jonet said. “It was just tremendously moving.”

Portugal is one of the frailest members of the 16-nation euro zone, and analysts predict it will be next to ask for a bailout.

During the past decade of feeble economic growth, Portugal ran up huge public and private debts. Its budget deficit last year reached 9.6 percent _ the fourth highest in the eurozone.

Unemployment has risen to 11 percent, and many long-term jobless no longer qualify for benefits. It can be hard to make ends meet even with a job. Several hundred thousand people earn the minimum monthly wage of 475 ($625).

Jonet believes the crisis has brought out the best in the Portuguese.

“When times are hard,” she said, “the Portuguese people pull together.”

Picture of Jamaican Resort

A very satisfied Minister of Tourism, the Hon. Edmund Bartlett says the growth for the period under review is an indication of the collective hard work of tourism stakeholders to build a world class tourism product, and the sustained marketing efforts of the Jamaica Tourist Board in the international markets.

Minister Bartlett says “Jamaica’s tourism is among the best in the world, which is why we continue to see a growing number of visitors coming to our shores despite the still difficult global economic climate.”

For the months of July, August and September figures from the Jamaica Tourist Board show that 642,182 visitors (both stop over and cruise arrivals) came to Jamaica, compared with 596,438 for the same three-month period in 2009. This represents an increase of 7.7 percent, the largest growth in visitor arrivals for any one period since the start of the year. The country earned US$1.418 billion from stop over and cruise arrivals from January to August, a 2.2 percent increase over the same period last year.

To build on the positive growth trend Minister Bartlett says more effort will be placed on growing arrivals out of Argentina, Brazil and Columbia as part of a broader emphasis on targeting emerging markets to further grow tourist arrivals. As a result, he says the JTB will be rolling out a marketing and promotion blitz for the South American region. The overall projection for tourist arrivals for the year is 4-5 percent.

In the meantime the Tourism Minister highlighted that Jamaica’s airlift capacity for the upcoming Winter Tourist Season remains at adequate levels with some 671,002 seats available for the United States and 227, 479 seats for Canada – Jamaica’s main markets.

For further information contact:

Kingsley Roberts (Director, Corporate Communications, Ministry of Tourism)

64 Knutsford Boulevard, Kingston 5.

Tel: 920-4926-30, ext: 5942; Cell: 322-9871; Fax: 920-4944