With an outstanding representation from Trinidad & Tobago and a marked emphasis on congress, convention and incentive tourism –alongside the promotion of other expanding categories such as cultural, sport and ecological tourism- the Seventh Caribbean Tourism Marketplace came to a close in the Dominican Republic.
From May 21 to 23 at the Jaragua Hotel in the Dominican capital, the seventh edition of the BTC panned out to be a multidisciplinary conference brimming with revolutionary ideas that helped shape creative patterns in an effort to shore up this industry.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism are preparing to welcome over 1,000 delegates to the 26th Annual Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-26) and Ministerial business meetings, taking place Oct. 13-18, 2003 at the Marriott Frenchman’s Reef in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.
Challenges facing Caribbean human resource professionals and creative strategies to address these challenges will be among the subjects of discussion at the fourth Annual Caribbean Tourism Educators’ Forum, which will take place in Grenada from July 7-9, 2003.
Delegates attending the three-day intensive workshop will also explore recent developments in tourism education and training and how these will influence the delivery of tourism/hospitality programmes being offered throughout the region.
Cuba’s potentials as a destination for scuba diving enthusiasts and its projects to tap into this modality together with other Caribbean nations were displayed at the 2003 Diving Expo, a weeklong event that took place in Varadero with a turnout of divers, tour operators and experts from nearly a dozen countries.
The gathering included theoretical sessions in which outstanding personalities dictated a number of lectures. One of the top attendants was Mauricio Hadler, a scuba diving expert who touched on the development of the diving industry.
Costa Rica’s 19th EXPOTUR tourism fair that recently rolled down the curtain in San Jose, yielded sales way over $100 million and a white-heat promotional effort to portray Central America as a tourist destination.
EXPOTUR chairman Manuel Carranza pointed out those sale outcomes came as a result of a poll taken by a majority of Costa Rican purchasers, plus others from Nicaragua, Panama and other regional countries.
The 18th Inter American Tourism Congress will get cracking from June 18 to 20 under the sponsorship of the Organization of American States (OAS), said Ester Brol, a spokesperson for the Guatemalan Tourism Institute (INGUAT).
Planners expect a huge turnout with delegations headed by hemispheric tourism ministers and OAS representatives to each and every of the region’s 34 nations belonging to that organization. The private sector and European representatives are also supposed to attend the conclave.