White House adds room to public tour

WASHINGTON

People taking public tours of the White House now will have to leave a little more room in their schedules.

The White House announced recently that a new room, the nearly 200-year-old Old Family Dining Room, has been added to the route.

And in what’s become a tradition, Michelle Obama went downstairs recently to surprise some of the first members of the public to lay eyes on the room, which had never been open for public viewing.

The room was recently renovated and will be a showcase for 20th century art and design, the White House said.

Geography quiz

Q. How close in distance are the United States and Russia? A. 4,100 miles; B. 2,800 miles C. 50 miles D. 2 miles.

A. D. 2 miles. The distance between Big Diomede island, held by Russia, and Little Diomede, held by the United States. They are in the Bering Strait, between mainland Alaska and Siberia.

Record number of tourists, spending

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico

A record 26.3 million people traveled to the Caribbean last year and spent an unprecedented amount of money in what is considered the world’s most tourism-dependent region, officials said recently.

It is the fifth consecutive year that the Caribbean has reported an increase in tourists following an economic crisis that forced resorts to shut down and caused a drop in visitors and spending.

Hugh Riley, the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s secretary general, said Caribbean tourism rose by 5.3 percent, while the worldwide tourism growth rate was 4.7 percent.

Officials attributed the increase in part to improvements at airports, the opening of new hotel chains and an increase in direct flights.

Haiti ad campaign

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti

Haiti is launching what officials say is its first TV advertising campaign aimed at encouraging Americans to vacation in the poor Caribbean country.

The country’s tourism ministry and a U.S. cable provider have developed TV spots and a Cablevision destination channel dubbed “Haiti: Experience It!” to woo Americans.

President Michel Martelly’s administration hopes foreign visitors can help revive the economy in the country of 10 million people.

Combined dispatrches