This event was attended by a delegation from Venezuela, made up of the People’s Power Minister of Tourism, Alejandro Fleming, executive director of the National Tourism Institute, David Rivas, representatives from state operator Venetur, and several private companies from that country.

Under the brand “Uruguay Natural”, the South American country promotes a diverse travel product that includes sun and beach, MICE, rural tourism or thermals. Our interviewee also points out the cultural diversity and rich cuisine among the destination’s positive elements, which looks with growing interest at such markets as Russia.

Baltic Travel Group is one of the leading tour operators in the Baltic States. They operate inbound tourism to the Baltic states and corporate outbound travel. It was created in 2000 and currently has 57 employees. They have offices in Tallin, Riga and Vilnus. We had the chance to interview Vlad Koriagin, CEO of the company.

Victoria Campos is the new Director of Sales and Marketing of Mahekal Beach Resort. Having grown up in Mexico City and lived in the United States and Brazil, she brings an international approach and view to her new position. Campos has 25 years in the industry.

Excelencias Group had the pleasure to talk with Maya Lomidze, president of the biggest Association of Tour Operators of Russia (ATOR), about the work of the group she leads, the interests of Russian travelers and the most attractive areas for the tourists of that nation. Lomidze spoke as well about Russia’s domestic tourism, its peculiarities and hurdles, the increase in the flow of Russian tourists towards the Caribbean and South American, and the presence of the country in tourism fairs.

During the recent Caribbean Travel Marketplace, CND had the opportunity to talk with Mr. Mario Gonzalez, Puerto Rico’s tourism minister and member of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board. He told us about the priorities of that group and the main working guidelines for the sector in his country, including the goal of becoming a hub country for the region in the airline industry.