Excelencias Group, a decade of cultural and tourism promotion in Cuba and the Caribbean

Under the sweltering summer sun back in June 1997, in the course of Santiago de Cuba’s traditional Fire Celebration, the first issue of the Excelencias magazine saw the light of day and became one of the first foreign publications to paint a different picture of the Caribbean and especially of Cuba, at the time a fledgling travel destination. The Excelencias Group’s goal was and still is to highlight the region’s cultural, artistic and landscaping values, as well as the warmth of the local people and their efforts to make tourism advance.

The Excelencias magazine was a project born out of the initiative and experience of a man with over 20 years under his belt in the realm of publishing. Its President and founder, Jose Carlos de Santiago –who has also served stints for some of the most outstanding multinational companies in the world of publishing and communications- managed to piece together a staff that has gone the extra mile and has set the tone for a new kind of journalism, giving this magazine a brand-new design, concept and one-and-only approach of what the Caribbean is actually all about.

In the face of growing success, the Excelencias Group branched out into the languages of the Caribbean’s major outbound markets and it’s currently putting out issues in German, Italian, French, Portuguese and Dutch.

The support of tourism in both the Caribbean and Cuba, the follow-up of new market trends, attendance in the world’s top travel fairs and tradeshows, the integration of such international organizations as the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), or UNESCO, paved the way for Excelencias to take the lead among travel and tourism publications in the market.

Excelencias magazine gave birth to other publishing products, like Diplomaticas, Excelencias de la Formacion, Viajes por Excelencias magazines, or the special issues focusing on the Dominican Republic, Central America and Cuba.

The Excelencias Group’s effort to portray a different image of both the Caribbean and Cuba has been rewarded by a multitude of awards and recognitions granted by international organizations, including the prize to the BEST FEATURE ARTICLE ON THE CARIBBEAN PUBLISHED BY AN EUROPEAN NEWS ORGANIZATION, that the Caribbean Tourism Organization presented for the first time to a tourism-related publication in New York City.

Today, the Excelencias Group runs representation offices in Spain, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Netherlands, Canada, the United States, Mexico, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Brazil, Argentina, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Cuba.

The group’s publications are posted on the Internet and it keeps the Caribeinsider.com portal running –the most complete and comprehensive of its kind on the Caribbean region, featuring information and picture galleries on the region’s many travel destinations.

Likewise, the company issues other newsletters, like the tourism-oriented Caribbean News Digital newsletter (http://www.caribbeannewsdigital.com/) and Trends & Markets, aimed at targeting the financial and economic markets. These publications are emailed in four languages to over 300,000 travel industry professionals from 166 countries, all of them contained in the company’s vast database.

It would be way too hard to speak of a decade of Excelencias without mentioning Cuba and its people. The island nation has had a place of honor within its publications, with thousands of articles and dozens of thousands of photographs, let alone scores of intellectuals and artists who have enhanced the prestige of its pages.

Committed to Cuba, its culture and its people, Excelencias has also played a hands-on role in an array of social campaigns, including the mounting of galleries for Cuban fine artists, vial education campaigns, efforts in the prevention of HIV-AIDS, the printing of Jose Marti’s Complete Works and “The Golden Age,” campaigns for the freedom of the Five Cuban Heroes, or the protection of world heritage in cooperation with UNESCO.

For the celebration of Excelencias’ tenth anniversary, an all-embracing assortment of activities has been planned, including:

- A number of contests on photography, journalism, design, fine arts and children’s drawing in cooperation with UNESCO’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.
- The Excelencias’ 10th Anniversary Exposition, featuring 10 major Cuban fine artists and 10 talented youngsters whose artworks have decorated the pages of Excelencias magazine.
- A grand concert of Buena Fe on May 11 and 12.
- The launch of the book entitled “Sustainable Development” in cooperation with UNESCO within the framework of the International Environment Convention in Cuba’s Havana.
- Observance of the Cultural Diversity Day on May 21, dedicated by the UNESCO’s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean to the tenth anniversary of the Excelencias magazine in recognition to its effort in fostering tourism from a cultural standpoint.
- A fashion design show
- A cultural gala for the company’s tenth anniversary.

Activities to mark the Excelencias Group’s tenth anniversary kicked off with the presentation of the 2006 Excellencies Tourism Awards, created to single out the work and endeavor of Latin American and Caribbean tourism ministries and offices in both the promotion and development of travel and tourism in their own countries.

This time up, the Excellencies Tourism Awards went to:

- The Central America Tourism Agency (CATA), presented to Mrs. Angela San Miguel and to Mr. Carlos Ricardo Benavides, Pro Tempore Minister of the Central American Tourism Council.
- The Dominican Republic Tourism Office in Spain and Portugal, presented to Mrs. Office chief Aida Pezoti.
- The Mexico Tourism Promotion Council, presented to director-general Mr. Francisco Lopez Mena.
- The Dominican Republic Tourism Office in Germany and Europe, presented to office chief Mrs. Petra Cruz.
- Mr. Andres Gil, General Manager of “Made in Spain” Publicity Company, for putting together the best promotional campaign of a Caribbean country in Europe.
- The Mexico Tourism Promotion Council for Europe, presented to Office Chief Ximena Caraza.
- Honorary Mentions to Mr. Artemio Santos Santos, former chief of the Cancun Visitors and Conventions Bureau; Mr. Francisco Alor Quezada, mayor of Benito Juarez; the Tourism Department, the National Tourism Development Fund (FONATUR) and the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE).

Moreover, the upcoming International Tourism Fair in Havana will provide the setting for handing out the 2006 Excellencies Tourism Award to Cuba’s Tourism Ministry in recognition to its effort in the promotion of the island as a travel destination.

Today, the project that one day came into being out of a people’s dancing, warmth and fire has already churned out a dozen million issues and Excelencias is turning a decade of existence amid a process of expansion and strengthening, committed to its readers, customers and, above all, the peoples of Cuba, the Caribbean and Latin America in their bid to promote tourism, culture and regional integration.