Island-Sity

"If you've looked at seven days in Anguilla or St. Barts, you know they're not hurting for customers." But many resort areas in the warm and balmy region, including those in Mexico and Jamaica, have been overbuilt, he said.

"There's traffic that will be generated to those locales -- at the right price," Lewis said. A good travel agent should steer you in the right direction. Jamaica has beautiful beaches, a rich African-Caribbean heritage and dozens of vacation resort properties and hotels.

But Michele Olivier, a senior vice president with Sunset Resorts in Jamaica, said the island is rebounding from several setbacks, including cuts in flights by government-owned Air Jamaica. "And we are not a drive-by destination," she said. But other airlines, including budget carriers such as JetBlue and AirTran, have stepped in this year to fill the void, she said.

And resort properties on Jamaica are offering many deals and packages to lure all kinds of travelers, including honeymooners, adventure travelers and families. "We've just tried to get very creative with what we offer," she said.

Olivier said improvements in infrastructure such as airports and roads in Jamaica have been "tremendous" during the past five years. And despite some highly publicized but isolated criminal activities on the island, "We're getting the word out that it's actually very safe. "The Caribbean has gone through hurricanes, SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), 9/11, but we've always bounced back," she said. "People want a warm place to visit, not too far from home. . . .

"Jamaica is a well-established, mature destination. There are no language issues, no currency issues. "I've worked all over the Caribbean," Olivier said. "I came down after my graduate degree and never left." Mexico Warm, close by and surprisingly affordable -- what's not to like about our neighbor to the south? How about H1N1 (swine flu) and drug violence?