Cuba Holds Seminar on Travel Press, New Technologies

With a hands-on exchange of ideas and views on digital journalism in the new millennium, the International Seminar on Travel Press and New Technologies: Trends and Challenges, opened Monday with a turnout of 40 professionals from seven countries.

The Travel Press Circle of Cuba´s League of Journalists (UPEC is the acronym in Spanish), the Jose Marti International Journalism Institute and the Latin American Travel Press Confederation (CLAPTUR) joined hands to sponsor the event that´s scheduled to come to a close Friday.

In his opening remarks, UPEC Chairman Tubal Paez underscored the importance of that meeting as an opportunity to exchange views, experiences and strategies on such updated a topic.

The gathering is unfolding just hours before Labor Day celebrations Saturday and the opening of Cuba´s International Tourism Convention in Varadero, scheduled from May 3 through 6.

Attendants from the United States, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Uruguay and the host nation started their morning working session with an interactive analysis of a lecture about online journalism dictated by Milena Recio.

The agenda for following sessions include such lectures as "Cuba and the Caribbean: A Model of Sustainable Tourism," "Communication Language on the Media," "Tourism Impact on the Economies of Regional Countries, and "Training and Specialization of the Cuban Press." Participants will also hold a workshop on Cuban online mass media covering the island nation´s travel industry.

With the attendance of CLAPTUR Secretary-general Luis Pimentel from Panama, this institution will cash in on its presence in Havana to hold its annual meeting. CLAPTUR gathers roughly a dozen countries from the region.