The second edition of 2004 Expobuceo will take place in late June and early July in the Cuban province of Matanzas, with most of the activities unfolding in its main scuba diving sites of Varadero and the Zapata Marshlands.

With a view to scour Cuba’s surroundings and share underwater experiences, scores of professional divers, representatives of Cuban nautical companies, members of diving schools from around the world, travel agents and media organizations will huddle there.

Havana will retake Cuba’s International Travel Convention next year, the island nation’s Tourism Minister Manuel Marrero informed in a press conference. The 2005 Convention will focus on the promotion of travel destinations in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba, the advertisement of circuits, tours and excursions, and the highlighting of the French market.

The possibilities of bigger trade ties between Brazil and Cuba, and chances of enhancing exchanges in the travel industry were touched upon by officials from both countries during the opening of a new bilateral entrepreneurial meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

The holding of fairs, congresses and expositions in Buenos Aires took a 100 percent leap all through 2003 thanks to the recovery of the nation’s economy, a resourceful cost-cutting policy and better infrastructure. These improvements have laid the foundations for an upbeat 30 percent increase from 2003, local tourism authorities estimated.

The Sixth Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development, that came to a successful close last weekend at the Havana Libre-Tryp Hotel, helped bring home the need to preserve the environment alongside the promotion of the leisure industry.

Under a slogan reading “Keeping the Right Balance: An Encounter between the Land and the Sea,” some 200 delegates –including tourism ministers and experts from the region- huddled from April 27 through 30 in Havana with the presence of Gabor Vereczi, chief of the Sustainable Tourism Development Program of the World Tourism Organization (WTO).

Following a bonanza that stretched out for nearly a month and a half with thousands of tourists flocking to Cancun and other sightseeing spots in the state –where they spent some $130 million- the local hotel sector is now hoping against hope that conventions could take up that occupancy slack of coming weeks.

After logging occupancy rates of up to 100 percent in hotels, the tourist meltdown that started last week with the beginning of the school year is now making a dent in the hotel industry.