Annual statistics recently released by the International Congress and Conference Association (ICCA) placed Cuba as the fifth most sought-after destination in the western hemisphere by international organizations and associations to hold their meetings in the year 2001, only second-bested by the United States, Canada, Brazil and Mexico.As a matter of fact, Havana grabbed the fourth spot in the city category , trailing behind Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro and the Canadian pair of Montreal and Vancouver.
Delegates at the 12th Congress of the Pan American Hotel, Gourmet and Tourism Conference (CONPEHT) held in Havana, picked Maria de Lourdes Jarrin from Ecuador as its new chairwoman to replace Mexico’s Rafael Gutierrez.The new CONPEHT leadership is made up of co-chairmen Arturo Sierra for Mexico and the U.S., Guatemala’s Zobeida Kliss for Central America; Argentina’s Maria Vandam to represent South America, and Cuba’s Caridad Alcebo for the Caribbean region.
The feature presentation of a film entitled “We The Music,” directed by Cuban moviemaker Rogelio Paris, served for the grand opening of a Movie Club at Havana’s Meliá Cohiba Hotel, with flicks to be shown once a month at this tourist facility of the Cuban capital.A one-of-a-kind club in more than 350 resorts owned by Sol Meliá all around the globe, the Cohiba Movie Club is aiming at becoming a linkage between its guests and Cuba’s filmmaking industry with presentations spanning from the old classics to the latest projects.
San Jose._ Hundreds of representatives from all around the world will gather in Costa Rica this month during the Travel Mart Latin America, one of the continent’s major business events for the tourist sector.The nation’s minister of tourism Ruben Pacheco announced the event will stretch out from September 26 to 27 in San Jose as part of the celebrations for the International Tourism Day, this time around hosted by Costa Rica.
Havana._ Cuba climbed up to the fifth spot in the year 2001 among the main destinations in the Americas as far as the organization of international events is concerned, only second-bested by the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Mexico, the International Congress and Conference Association confirmed this week.Cuba shot to the fifth notch after holding 20 events of international associations in the course of last year. On the other hand, the same statistics revealed by the organization put the figure of attendants to those events in as many as 8,200 foreign delegates.
Havana._ Caught between the Caribbean deep blue sea and the Sierra Maestra mountain range in eastern Cuba, construction of a brand-new conference center will soon get underway to host the upcoming 3rd International Meeting on Nature Tourism (TURNAT-2003) scheduled to take place in October in Granma’s Marea del Portillo.