The lush Caribbean island of Dominica will be home to the National "Neg Mawon" Hike next August 1, introducing both visiting and local hikers alike to the Waitukubuli National Trail and showcasing the island´s distinctive and unspoiled natural beauty. This exciting event will attract avid hikers from across Dominica and all corners of the globe. It´ll kick off at 7:00am at the Bois Cotelette trail next to the estate of the same name, passing through the Palmiste and Tete Morne villages.

Turks & Caicos will play host this summer to the second annual Music and Cultural Festival scheduled for July 25 to August 1 on the island of Providenciales which will attract all consumers, particularly African Americans. The Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, in association with BET Event Productions, have secured reggae dancehall pop star Shaggy, chart-topping R and B vocalist Ashanti and funky soul singer Jeffrey Osborne.

The Beijing International Trade & Exhibition Center wore its best bib and tucker for the latest edition of the International Hotel China Expo that was successfully held from May 31 to June 2 in the Asian country. The annual expo, one of the largest events in the hotel industry in China, gathered representatives from nearly two dozen countries, with about 200 companies participating in the tradeshow.

An international business-to-business tourism event first held two years ago is to be repeated later this year. The Showcase Wales will be nearly twice the size of the 2003 event with 350 UK and international buyers. The Wales Tourist Board event in Cardiff gives tourism businesses across Wales the chance to sell themselves to buyers from the UK, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Australasia.

The first International Conference on Tourism Communications (TOURCOM) for Africa will be held in the Nigerian capital Abuja. The event is organized by the World Tourism Organization in cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and will be held at the Abuja International Conference Centre, Abuja, Nigeria on July 28 and 29. The principal objective of the event is to bring together tourism decision-makers, tourism communicators from public and private sectors and media representatives to look at how improved communications can help pave the way for a brighter future for tourism in Africa.

Australia has been chosen to host the World Youth & Student Travel Conference (WYSTC 2006). The conference, which is to be held in Melbourne from October 7 to 13, 2006 and will bring together some 400 organizations from 80 countries worldwide, is the premier international annual event for the youth and student travel industry. The conference is a joint effort of the Federation of International Youth Travel Organizations and the International Student Travel Confederation. The two organizations pioneered the youth and student travel movement over 50 years ago and continue to work together to build and support the special identity of youth and student travel.