Another Hollywood production is coming to Puerto Rico.

The new John Travolta-led film, Speed Kills, will be filming on the island, according to Governor Ricardo Rossello.

Speed Kills is the story of Don Aronow, a designer, runner and manufacturer of high-speed cigarette boats that who had an immeasurable influence on nautical design.

“The Puerto Rican film industry, its human talent, its technicians, production staff and all its members have demonstrated their commitment, professionalism and dedication in recent years,” Rossello said. “Thanks to them, film production has unquestionably become one of the main engines with the most potential for economic development in Puerto Rico. As a result of all this effort, today I am pleased to announce the start of production on Speed Kills Island, starring Oscar nominee John Travolta.”

The film, directed by John Luessenhop, will have a budget of around $22 million and will create 633 direct jobs on the island with a Puerto Rican co-production.

“We want highly-trained Puerto Rican entrepreneurs to collaborate with this multi-million dollar production. We are confident that the development and success of these will create the confidence to reinvest in the film industry itself,” the governor said. “In addition, being part of the United States undoubtedly positions us to have the confidence of Hollywood and international productions.”

Puerto Rico has become the Caribbean’s largest film and television production hubs in recent years, attracting production from TV series like NBC’s Crossbones and Homeland and films like the Ben Affleck-led Runner Runner.

“We have taken affirmative steps to make Puerto Rico an investment destination for the film industry. With the Destination Marketing Organization (DMO), Enterprise Puerto Rico, an interactive asset map, and an incentive code that promotes productivity, value added is created for these incentives to have a return on investment For the People of Puerto Rico and generate good jobs in a sustainable way,” said Manuel Laboy, Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce..

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Tourism arrivals are showing steady growth in Belize for the first quarter of 2017 after a very strong 2016, according to the latest numbers from the country’s tourist board.

The overnight tourism sector continued on a positive trajectory in 2017, with increases in each of the first three months of the year, leading to an overall 2.7 percent at the end of March 2017.

The month of March is traditionally the height of the island’s tourism season.

In March of 2016, there was a record number of tourist arrivals totaling over 43,000 visitors.

However, this record was surpassed in March 2017, with over 44,400 tourist visitors, making it the highest number of tourist arrivals ever recorded in a single month.

An overall increase of 8.7 percent in cruise passenger arrivals was recorded for the first three months of 2017.

With an increase of 24.2 percent and 22.7 percent in January and February 2017 respectively, along with a short decline of 13.1 percent in March 2017, the total number of cruise ship passengers registered in the first quarter of 2017 surpassed that of 2016.

— Dana Niland, CJ Contributor

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Canadian travel giant Sunwing is adding more flights from Canada to the Caribbean this summer.

The carrier will be offering service to three Caribbean destinations from Vancouver via Toronto.

From May 17 to Sept. 3, Vancouver travelers can reach Punta Cana, Montego Bay and St. Maarten.

From June 1 through Sept. 1, connections to Punta Cana will be available on Thursdays and Sundays, while Montego Bay can be reached weekly on Saturdays from June 3 through Sept. 3.

Those heading to St. Maarten can fly Wednesdays between May 17 and Aug. 31.

Sunwing is the largest vertically integrated travel company in North America.

— Caribbean Journal Staff

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International Airlines Group’s new low-cost carrier is off to a strong start.

The new airline, LEVEL, has already reported more than 100,000 tickets sold since launching on March 17, the company said.

The low-cost brand has kicked off operations with low fares on flights from Barcelona to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Buenos Aires and the Caribbean destination of Punta Cana, with more than 60 percent of customers booking on mobile devices.

The company also announced that customers traveling to Punta Cana could now book everything-included holidays including flights, hotels and car hire through the airline.

“Selling more than 100,000 tickets in such a short period with a new brand is incredible,” said IAG chief executive, Willie Walsh. “The response has been fantastic in all markets. We´re enabling many people to fly longhaul for the first time and stimulating demand by providing them with more choice.”

Walsh said the plan was to have more aircraft beginning in the summer of 2018, with more destinations from Barcelona and an expansion of operations to other European cities.

The first LEVEL flight to Punta Cana will take off June 10.

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There’s no better way to appreciate the Caribbean than by actually getting out onto it. So if you’re sailing to the islands by boat (or planning to charter a craft when you get there), you’ll need to know where you can park your boat  – and that’s often at a marina hotel. Fortunately, we’ve rounded up a bounty of resorts where you can do just that. Here is a broad look at the Caribbean’s marina hotel offering — although they’re of course equally enjoyable if you simply want a great place to stay that’s right on the water.

Staniel Cay Yacht Club When you’re in the Bahamas’ Exuma Cays it’s all about getting out on the water. And we can’t think of a better launch pad than this homey clutch of water’s edge bungalows, which have direct access to an 18-slip marina. If there’s a marina hotel Mecca in the Caribbean, it’s this, a pilgrimage destination for boaters everywhere.

The post The Top Marina Hotels in the Caribbean appeared first on Caribbean Journal.

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