Among the issues under review at the forthcoming Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) in St. Lucia is the call to Caribbean tourism authorities to have the faith to aggressively pursue travelers who place a premium on their spiritual heritage. The region´s destinations have a lot to offer spiritually-minded travelers, said a dozen media, tourism and youth delegates who debated the issue at the earlier CMEx in San Juan this year.

The upcoming session of the Mediterranean Travel Fair 2006 (MTF) is set for a great start. The event, which is the only dedicated travel exhibition for the Eastern Mediterranean, will open in Cairo as scheduled on September 5 through 7. Despite regional tensions in the Middle East, trade pre-registration has exceeded expectations and are currently over a hundred percent up on the same figure for the corresponding period last year. To date, MTF 2006 has attracted 35 new exhibiting companies, with a total exhibition area of 26,899 square feet.

Golf & Luxury Travel Reception, specifically created for luxury tourism suppliers to meet with high-end Russian consumers, and the Moscow Golf & Luxury Travel Receptions are the most exclusive tourism events in Russia. As the tourism exhibitions become larger it has become increasingly more difficult to target the high-end consumer and the Moscow Golf & Luxury Travel Receptions were inaugurated in 2003 to specifically cater for this affluent sector.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released international traffic data for May 2006 showing 7 percent growth in passenger demand and 5.1 percent growth for freight over the same period in 2005. Load factor for May achieved an average of 73.6 percent. “Strong economies are supporting strong demand growth for both freight and passenger traffic. This positive demand environment is helping the global airline industry to offset some of the sharp increase in jet fuel prices. And it is helping airlines boost revenues by an average of 10 percent over the past three years,” said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA´s Director General and CEO.

The 4th BIOTUR 2006 Meeting on Biodiversity and Tourism, to commemorate the first report on Cuban nature by Christopher Columbus, 514 years ago, will be held from October 26 to 28. The Organizing Committee reported that 30 specialists from national parks in Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Spain and Cuba, among them ecologists, historians and naturalists, have been interested in participating.

The agenda of the most recent meeting of the ITB Berlin Supervisory Board included a look back at the ITB Berlin 2006, an evaluation of exhibitor, trade visitor and visitor polls, an assessment of the impact of the new show dates, and future developments regarding the ITB Berlin. The Supervisory Board noted that the ITB Berlin had lived up to its expectations as a provider of economic stimulus, and that it had built on its standing as the world´s leading show.