Over 1,600 people expected to attend the Miami Tourism Fair

Advertised simply as The 2003 Summit, this event stands for one of the top tourist tradeshows devoted to the sale and marketing of travel products in the Americas. Scheduled from Sept. 10 to 12 in Miami and its beaches, most of the fair will take place at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

The Summit recently joined the Reed Travel Exhibitions, organizer of some of the world’s most outstanding fairs and holder of a staggering tally of 13 major events in this industry. Reed will provide specialized databases, backup services and marketing, as well as an international infrastructure that includes offices in both North and South America.

Event planners are expecting a turnout of over 1,600 delegates, a number that makes it one of the biggest powwows for tourism professionals in the Western Hemisphere. There’ll be some 500 purchasers, 400 providing companies and roughly a hundred members of the international press.

Moreover, the coming of Latin American committee directors from “Visit USA”, representatives from all major airlines in the region and travel agents is also anticipated.

The gathering will have representations from 25 countries and the largest delegations will come from the U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

Back in 2001, the country nicked 15.4 million visits from Latin America and the Caribbean that generated $27.9 billion worth of revenues and as many as 284,000 jobs in the United States. According to polls and research studies conducted last year, growth forecasts for the leisure industry and most market trends point out that the two-day Summit 2003 could churn out as many as $1.7 billion worth of commercial deals.

The Summit is a well-defined tourist market in which providers and purchasers meet in appointments previously arranged. Attendants can register those appointments electronically or in the flesh at the onset of every session.

The number of providers and purchasers is monitored on a regular basis in order to allow all participants to cut successful deals at the end of the day. Figures are determined by purchasers. Only those appointments requested by them are electronically confirmed before the beginning of the conference.

Attendants are broken down in providers, purchasers and mass media organizations. Other categories include GSA (General Sales Agents), all major Latin American airlines and press exhibitors.

Providers are part of organizations from all around the Americas specialized in the promotion or sale of products and services used by Latin American purchasers to piece together tourist packages and travel programs.

For their part, invited purchasers are major execs from the region’s top companies, including wholesalers, tour operators, megabuck travel agentd and U.S. receptive operators.