When a new year begins, you always see lots of predictions about what lies ahead. Nobody really has a crystal ball of course, so many things people expect don't happen and other factors come out of nowhere to change the whole game. We can be fairly certain, however, that a few trends already in motion are going to continue to affect travel in Latin America in 2016.

A Strong U.S. Dollar and a Weak Canadian One
Smart Americans with ample money to spend will be traveling internationally this year, taking advantage of a great exchange rate around the world. Since the whole world is on sale though, Latin American destinations have to compete with Europe, Africa, and Asia for business. Unique and exclusive are going to win the marketing war more than value. Not for Canadians though, since they've seen their currency decline nearly 50% from its peak in 2009.

Fewer Brazilians Filling Hotels and Stores
For a while there everyone was courting the free-spending Brazilians, but their commodity-based economy has tanked and their currency is worth half what it was a few years ago. We may see them attracting more visitors to their country finally instead: Brazil is waiving their receiprocal visa fee for three months around the Olympics and the fact that they're working with the ATTA to bring tour operators and travel writers to the Pantanal area means they know they need to do more to compete with their neighbors in the region.

Mexico Will Have Another Record Year
It was a terrific year for tourism in Mexico and that momentum should continue through 2016. Los Cabos will be in the news a lot thanks to two new golf courses and a slew of new luxury hotels. With the peso flirting with record lows against the dollar, other resort areas should hit capacity level in the high season just getting underway. Don't wait until the last minute to book!

We took some time off over the holidays, but we're about 98% done in getting all our pages switched over to a mobile responsive layout. You should be able to read everything easily now on your phone if that's your thing.

We added a new hotel review for the Coffee Triangle region of Colombia. There haven't been many high-end places to stay there, so even though Hacienda Buenavista only has four rooms (with a fifth on the way), those rooms are tops in the region.

You've probably heard about luxury tented camps in Africa, but there's one in Mexico's wine country too. Check out our review of Cuatro Cuatros in Baja Norte.

Our latest tour story goes deep into the Amazon Jungle of Peru with Rainforest Expeditions, to check out more wildlife than you can see on a river cruise. See An Amazon Villa Vacation at Tambopata Rainforest.

We also replaced our old review of the best luxury all-inclusive hotel in Cancun: see the review and photos of Le Blanc Resort & Spa. Plus we freshened up our review of Viceroy Riviera Maya.

Watch our home page and in a day or two you'll see a review of the game-changing Indura Beach & Golf Resort in Honduras.

I was in Los Cabos right before Christmas and later this month we'll be posting a rundown on The Cape, a Thompson Hotel with a view of the Cabo San Lucas arch from every room. We'll also be updating our reviews of Las Ventanas and One&Only Palmilla and writing about the new Quivira golf course.

We'll have another hotel addition from Colombia soon, this time from Cali.

Soon we'll be posting a tour story on Nicaragua's top draws of Granada and San Juan del Sur and another from Honduras.

One of our correspondents will be in Playa del Carmen the next few days, checking out the second Thompson Hotel in Mexico and the Acanto condo hotel.

The best way to keep up with what's new each week is to check out the Luxury Latin America blog, where we cover travel tidbits from resort excursions to rum to new hotels. This week we put up our top-10 posts of the past year. You can also follow us by clicking on the buttons below for Facebook, G+, and Twitter. Hey kids, are you on Instagram? You can come join us here and see some nice pics from our travels.

Last, if you run a business having anything to do with luxury travel in Latin America, rates are quite reasonable to reach our well-traveled readers.

Gracias y hasta luego,
Timothy Scott, Editor