Feria del libro. Una amplia delegación de escritores, poetas, ensayistas, intelectuales y artistas representaron a México en la Feria Internacional del Libro en Bogotá, Colombia. Entre los autores participantes estuvieron José Emilio Pacheco, Sergio Pitol, Enrique Krauze, Sabina Berman, Adolfo Castañón, Hugo Gutiérrez Vega, Eduardo Lizaldi, Ignacio Padilla y Jorge Volpi.

On October 10, as many as 2,000 runners will inaugurate a second runway at Cancun International. Runners for a runway, get it? The private corporation operating the airport reports that 67 million dollars were invested in constructing this second runway, which should give Cancun the best airport in all of Latin America. This will be the only airport in Mexico at which two planes will be able to land – or take off – simultaneously.

Best known for its Fiesta Americana properties, Posadas de México has just opened its tenth Hotel One (the name of that brand sounds better in Spanish than in English), and has plans for a dozen more of these no-frills budget establishments.
But the biggest expansion will be abroad, according to what Posadas CEO Gaston Azcarraga told the newspaper Reforma. The company will be investing 140 million in the construction of 14 properties in the United States and South America. Specific locations were not specified. Posadas now operates 112 hotels, 95 of which are in Mexico.

Quintana Roo, which includes Cancun, Cozumel and the Maya Riviera, has 76,305 hotel rooms, more than any other state, according to figures published by the National Tourism Confederation, a private organization. Jalisco (Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta, etc.) follows with 55,096 rooms, although its has 1,432 hotels, compared to only 807 hotels in Quintana Roo, where, obviously, the hotels are bigger.

Mexico’s only English-language daily and the local publication most read by foreign tourists, The News, has a new owner. The Mac Editorial Group, which publishes newspapers in state capitals near Mexico City as well as magazines and owns a radio station, announced the purchase on Monday. Staffers, many of whom lost their jobs in the transition, learned about the change when they showed up for work on Friday. The News no longer will be published on weekends.

The Mexico City government has contracted with Ace Seguros to provide health insurance to all foreigners checking in at Mexico City hotels. Idea is to reassure any visitors worried about coming down with flu while in the capital. According to statements made by city tourism office, visitors also have made available emergency surgery at no cost, dental care, have hotel bills paid if they are unable to leave when planned, and even be indemnified for any loss of luggage. Should death occur, the local government will cover the cost of shipping the remains home.

Hostels, which are called hostals in the Spanish language, have come to Mexico. Thus far, 15 have opened in ten cities around the countries, according to Eduardo Vargas, director of the Mexican chapter of Hostelling International, an organization with 4,000 affiliated in 80 countries. In Mexico, a night at a hostal might cost 15 dollars, sometimes less.

• On Wednesday, May 27, “Enchantment of the Seas” arrived at Cozumel with more than 2,446 passengers on board and was received by a special committee organized by Minister of Tourism, Rodolfo Elizondo; Governor Felix Gonzalez Canton; Mayor Juan Carlos Gonzalez and the CEO of the Mexico Tourism Board, Oscar Fitch.

· Calderon emphasized that “Vive Mexico” unites world renowned celebrities and personalities from the business, cultural, sports, and entertainment world with the objective to reactivate national and international tourism. · Minister of Tourism, Rodolfo Elizondo, highlighted the importance of tourism for the economic development of the country.

What was to have been a 170-room Ritz Carlton hotel by the Angel of Independence monument on Reforma Boulevard now is destined to become an ordinary office building. The project, which would have been almost across the street from an almost-ready St. Regis, also would have included 180 luxury apartments styled Grand Residences. The current economic slump is blamed for the decision. Several other projects along the boulevard also are said to be encountering economic woes. By Jimm Budd