The Dominican Republic is gearing up for the upcoming Dominican Jazz Festival –scheduled from October 20 to 23- an event that will turn the beachside towns of Puerto Plata, Sosua, and Cabarete into lively entertainment venues. Each day will feature a line-up of recognized musicians from countries such as the U.S., Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

First Choice Holidays PLC, recently confirmed as sponsors of the Responsible Tourism Awards, is to sponsor what is regarded as one of the most popular themed days at the upcoming four-day World Travel Market (WTM 2005) in London. Commenting on the sponsorship Dermot Blastland, PLC Director and Managing Director of the Mainstream Holidays Sector said First Choice Holidays PLC is fully committed to sustainable development and is pro-actively working towards this goal.

EIBTM is proud to announce the overall 2005 Worldwide Technology Watch (WWTW) competition winner. The winner, who has highlighted the most innovative technology development for 2005, is Cast Software. Cast Software developed an easy to use software solution to enable meeting and event professionals to create winning proposals. The advanced room diagramming software product, called ‘Vivien – The Virtual Event Designer´, was originally an Emmy-award winning product developed for theatrical events. The software has been re-written for the meetings and events industry to provide near photo-realistic 3D depictions of meeting rooms, special events and exhibit booths.

Orestes Pajon (Hotel Caribbean) and Wilbert Lopez (Hotel Senador en Cayo Coco) will represent Cuba in the Fancy Cocktail and Fair categories at the 31st Bartenders´ World Championships to be held October 19-24 at the Finland Hall in Helsinki. Pajon and Li are the first Cuban representatives at the IBA Worlds following their countryman Sergio Serrano´s winning cocktail Adam & Eve at the 2003 World Championships in Seville, the first title Cuba has grabbed in the history of the event.

The economic contribution, entrepreneurial strength and the colorful culture of the Caribbean people, will be highlighted at the second annual Caribbean Business Exposition and Symposium, to be held at the Central Connecticut State University (CCSU) in the United States on Thursday, October 6. Jamaican Lowell Hawthorne, President and Chief Executive Officer of Golden Krust Corporation, will deliver the keynote address at the event, which will be held under the theme: ´The Caribbean - Not Just Sea and Sand.´

The World Tourism Organization is piecing together a major conference on the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) at the Iguazu Falls from October 3 to 6 in what promises to be a breaking point in “understanding tourism and designing strategies”. The conference is jointly organized and hosted by WTO and the Governments of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay.