Summoned by the National Tourism Fund, the Mexican Tourism Investment Marketplace (BMIT is the acronym in Spanish) will come to Mexico City on Sept. 8 and 9 with a view to promote the travel destination as a safe and reliable place for investors. In the same breath, Mexico City will be hyped as an alternative for both local and foreign developers in an effort to spur up the corporate sector through new strategies and publicity campaigns.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) and the European Travel Commission (ETC) have joined hands with Hungary’s National Tourism Office to sponsor an international seminar on marketing assessment methodologies scheduled to take place in Budapest next Sept. 23 and 24. The seminar offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get word of the WTO-ETC joint research study entitled Assessment of Marketing Actions in National Tourism Organizations, the first detailed guideline and tool to size up the volume and efficiency of the countries’ actions in the field of tourism.

The Fourth Mexican Tourism Investment Marketplace will take place in Mexico City’s Camino Real Hotel on September 8 and 9 this year, sponsored by the National Tourism Promotion Fund (FONATUR). The event’s schedule includes a blue-ribbon panel on the challenges for the hotel industry, and lectures to weigh alternatives to financing, investment opportunities and travel in the Aztec nation.

Sponsored by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the Universal Cultural Forum of Barcelona 2004 wrapped up a debate entitled Tourism, Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development. Planned by the Institute of Responsible Tourism, the debate featured the participation of the World Tourism Organization, an entity that played a major role in the organization of the event and the selection of paper works.

There are countless rationales that make Rio de Janeiro a well-known city worldwide, and perhaps the carnival is the biggest of all those reasons. Now Rio’s famous carnivals could be running all year round according to a plan that local authorities still have in the offing. The Samba City, a 93,000-square-meter compound housing the workshops of some fourteen samba schools, will open in September. Those same schools will also hold parades and shows in addition to offering visitors a closer look at the preparations of the world’s best-known street celebration.

The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) agreed to hold the 2005 Caribbean Marketplace in Jamaica’s Half Moon Montego Bay Resort from January 5 to 11 next year. This is the first time since 1985 that Jamaica will play host to the region’s major business gathering. “The designation of the host country is generating great expectations among purchasers and suppliers from the industry that were anticipating their return to Jamaica after nearly twenty years,” said Alec Sanguinetti, director-general and CEO of the Caribbean Hotel Association.