Gruppo Campari, the maker of aperitif, announced this week that it had bought controlling interest in Lascelles deMercado, maker of Appleton Jamaica Rums, from CL Financial Ltd. Campari takes over CL Financial’s 81.4% share and will buy the remaining shares by year end. The total deal is worth $414.8 million and is expected to lead to a profit from next year. This is Campari’s third biggest acquisition. In 2009, it...

Ernesto, the latest storm to form in the Atlantic, is reportedly heading towards Jamaica. It could hit between Sunday and Monday. Since news about Ernesto surfaced, we’ve had our eyes on the Olympics, Jamaica50 Independence celebrations, which kicked off at Jubilee Village on August 1, and weather reports on Ernesto. If it hits, as predicted, and no one can predict with certainty the path of any storm, it could make...

Following the recently concluded Caribbean Tourism Summit in Montego Bay, the Jamaican government announced that it had revised its proposed tax on the tourism sector. Under the tax plan announced on May 24th by Finance Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips, hotels would be charged an accommodation tax from US$2 to US$12, depending on the number of rooms they had, while starting August 1, arriving passengers would be charged US$20. The proposed...

FlyJamaica Airlines, a new Jamaican airline, is set to launch as soon as next month. According to a report in the local news on March 21st, the new airline’s principals are Guyanese but the majority owners are Jamaicans. FlyJamaica will operate between Kingston, Georgetown, the Guyanese capital, New York’s JFK and Toronto. The announcement of this new airline comes days after REDjet, the Caribbean’s first budget airline, signaled that it...

In the aftermath of September 11 (9/11), many people commented on the significance of the date 9/11. 911 is the number we call when we need help. The first flight that crashed into the Twin Towers was American Flight 11. Including the hijackers, that flight carried 92 passengers (9 + 2 = 11). Emails that floated around at the time, gave more details on the numbers, some were just too...