Latin America is on the move.

Travel is on the upswing throughout the Americas this year. Major airlines, travel companies and hotels report an increase in the region's leisure and business traffic, spurred by rebounding economies in most Latin American nations.

While major metropolitan destinations like Sao Paulo, Mexico City and Miami continue to attract a steady flow of business travelers, much of the growth in the region's air travel is occurring in the leisure market. New investments in hotels and tourism attractions, expanded air service, successful "frequent flyer" promotions and a wide array of resort destinations are contributing to this growth.

For example, an ambitious project was recently announced to illuminate Sacsayhuaman, the Inca fortress just outside Cuzco, Peru. In addition, a new five-gate international boarding area will soon be completed at Cuzco's airport. In Ecuador, the colonial town of Cuenca has become the latest world destination to be named a World Cultural Heritage site by UNESCO, the United Nations organization. Mexico -- whose many attractions include the Mayan ruins in Yucatan, the historic port of Veracruz and the resorts of Los Cabos island -- recently hosted a national trade conference on ecotourism and adventure tourism in Mexico City's World Trade Center.

On Costa Rica's scenic Pacific Coast in Guanacaste, new "environmentally friendly" resorts are under way that showcase the region's rugged natural beauty. Other ecotourist firms give visitors a close-up look at the region's rain forests.

In fact, almost every region of Latin America and the Caribbean has its own attractions that draw vacation travelers -- in keeping with a global upsurge in leisure air traffic.

"Leisure travel has become the dominant component of the world air travel market for some time," said Pierre J. Jeanniot, director general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) in an address to the global organization in June. "Governments and aviation infrastructure providers must recognize the fact that demand for aviation products and services will continue to double every 10-14 years. That's what people -- airline consumers -- seem to want. Passenger air travel can be simplified and streamlined, using emerging technologies to compress current multiple procedures into a single 'one-stop' process."

IATA statistics show there were 1.6 billion air passenger journeys in 1999, up 3.8% from 1998. However, the average scheduled airline traveler is paying 70% less in real terms than he or she was paying 20 years ago, according to IATA.

"International aviation is the prime engine of travel and tourism, which presently contributes more than US$3,500 billion to the world economy, or nearly 12% of the total," says Jeanniot. By 2010, the number of passenger journeys by air could exceed 2.3 billion each year.

Both North and South America are expected to share in that growth, thanks to greater awareness of the importance of tourism and governmental support of travel-related industries in the future.

FORTUNE HOUSE HOTEL

Business and leisure visitors to Miami enjoy the luxurious amenities, personal services and convenient location of Fortune House in the Brickell Avenue financial district. "Our slogan is luxury condos at hotel rates -- the same services of a hotel with twice the comfort,"' says Carolyn Espasas, director of sales.

Fortune House Hotel has modern, fully furnished one- and two-bedroom apartments with all the comforts of home, including living room with sofabed, cable television, VCR, minibar and CD/stereo equipment. They open onto balconies with panoramic bay views. Units feature large closets, individual washers and dryers and fully equipped kitchens.

Guests at Fortune House Hotel can enjoy many amenities, including a banking center and ATM, gourmet deli, sundries store and newsstand, health club and pool. Fortune House also offers multilingual personalized concierge services, grocery deliveries, room service, in-room fax machines and meeting facilities.

Located just 15 minutes from Miami International Airport, Fortune House is within walking distance of downtown Miami and its offices and restaurants. The nightlife and shops of Miami Beach, Coconut Grove and Bayside, as well as the beaches, golf and tennis facilities of Key Biscayne, are just a few minutes away. After staying at Fortune House, many guests say they will never be happy with a regular hotel room again. Rates are available from one-night to over a month's stay. For more information, visit www.fortunehousehotel.com or call 1-888-279-1228.

DELTA AIR LINES

Delta Air Lines is rapidly expanding its service to Latin America and the Caribbean, providing convenient Atlanta connections with domestic and European destinations. "In the past three years, we have added flights to more destinations in Latin America," says Jorge Fernandez, director-Latin America. Delta will add service to Bogota, Colombia, and Santiago, Chile, later this year.

From Delta's Atlanta Worldport, passengers can connect to 163 U.S. destinations and 18 destinations in Europe, while taking advantage of the airline's new International In-Transit Lounge. "From Atlanta, we are two hours away from 80 percent of the U.S., making it the ideal hub for connections for domestic flights," says Fernandez.

This fall, Delta plans to begin daily non-stop services from Atlanta to Leon and Los Cabos, Mexico, with additional seasonal service to Cancun, as well as San Jose, Costa Rica. "We believe that Mexico and Central America have a lot to offer the business and leisure traveler," Fernandez says. "The economies are on an upswing and tourism is growing throughout the region." Delta will also expand its Caribbean service from Atlanta, New York, Cincinnati and Phoenix.

Building on its successful U.S.-Mexico service and the SkyTeam alliance with Aeromexico, Delta will introduce Delta Connection regional jet service later this year with Comair and ASA from Dallas/Ft. Worth, and with ASA from Atlanta. Through its code-share agreement with Aeromexico, Delta now serves 27 cities in Mexico from Atlanta, the most by any U.S. carrier. For more information, visit www.delta-air.com.

LATINPASS

One of most successful promotions in airline history was staged recently by LatinPass, the Latin American frequent flyer program for member airlines ACES, Aeropostal, Avianca, Copa Airlines, Grupo TACA (Aviateca, Lacsa, Nica, Taca, and Taca Peru), and SAETA.

"Never, in our wildest dreams, did we expect such an overwhelming success," says LatinPass Program Director Guy R. Booth in Miami. "When we offered prizes of one million and 500,000 free bonus miles for flying our participating airlines, staying in partner hotels and driving partner car rental companies vehicles, we anticipated that perhaps a hundred people would take on the challenge. We now anticipate that 400 to 500 people will have earned the million bonus miles, and hundreds more the half-million bonus."

But the best news, Booth adds, is the vastly increased recognition earned by the airline members, as reflected in the many positive comments from travelers who visited the region.