Not every city is a tourist destination, but those that safeguard their environmental heritage and promote community well-being have the potential to turn their history and culture into meaningful experiences for both residents and visitors. Historic city centres are a living expression of this process, embodying the identity and evolution of a place over time.

In this inspiring and wildly entertaining episode of the Growth Ready Podcast, host Steve Mellor welcomes John Fareed for a conversation that travels from a small town in North Georgia to the global stage.

Hotels are complex assets that blend real estate with business value. For property tax purposes, only the real estate is taxable – yet all too often, assessors inadvertently include the hotel’s intangible business assets in the assessed value. Brand value, management contracts, franchise affiliations, and customer relationships can inflate taxable value if not properly removed. On the majority of occasions, upscale, select-service, and extended-stay hotels – particularly those transacted in portfolios – are assessed at values that fail to extract these intangibles.

The debut of ALIS CALA 2025 marked a significant milestone for the hospitality industry in the Caribbean and Latin America. Merging the former CHRIS and HOLA conferences, this unified platform brought together more than 100 hospitality leaders, investors, and developers in Coral Gables, Florida to chart the future of travel and investment across the region.

Global leisure travel patterns are undergoing a notable realignment as economic and political headwinds emanating from the United States redirect international tourists toward more accessible and stable destinations. The Caribbean, in particular, has emerged as a prime beneficiary of this shift. Factors such as U.S. trade tariffs, policy uncertainty, and geopolitical tensions have dampened the appeal of U.S. travel for many overseas visitors, resulting in a “travel diversion” effect in which sun-seeking travelers opt for Caribbean getaways over U.S. holidays. At the same time, the Caribbean region’s robust tourism recovery and relative political stability have positioned its islands as attractive havens for both vacationers and investors.