Some 150 travel and tourism wholesalers from 16 countries will huddle in Costa Rica´s EXPOTUR with a view to do business with impresarios from that Central American nation.
EXPOTUR is Latin America´s largest travel mart that gathers wholesalers interested in selling the Central American region as a travel destination. The event also pursues the opening of new markets and product diversification.
The Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, in association with BET Event Productions, has announced that the Islands´ Second Annual Music and Cultural Festival is scheduled for July 25-August 1, 2005 on the island of Providenciales.
Confirmed artists scheduled to perform include reggae dancehall pop star Shaggy, chart-topping RandB vocalist Ashanti, funky soul singer Jeffrey Osborne, legendary “cool” voice of reggae Gregory Isaacs, number one Haitian dance band Tabou Combo, gospel/disco queen Candi Staton, contemporary gospel crooner BeBe Winans, as well as some of the Turks and Caicos´ top local artists.
The President of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), Berthia Parle, has warned that the regional tourism industry could collapse if investments were geared primarily towards hotel rooms without the requisite investment in human capital.
Ms Parle told the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHIC) and PROFIT Partnership meeting held in Bridgetown, Barbados, this week, that while investment in the human resource capacity of the Caribbean is not normally considered, it is the glue that holds it all together.
The director of finance and resource management of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Luther Miller, has called for greater investment within the tourism sector to meet the growing demands of visitors to the region.
Addressing the 9th Annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHIC), Mr Miller recalled that a record 21.8 million tourists came to the Caribbean last year and the projections are that this figure would continue to grow in coming years.
Addressing the 9th Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHIC) and Profit Partnership meeting, Barbados Tourism Minister Noel Lynch called for the implementation of government and private sector policies and initiatives to make regional tourism more attractive to potential investors.
The Minister told some 400 delegates attending the three-day conference, held from Monday to Wednesday in Bridgetown, that this reality could not be achieved simply by lowering imposts on the industry, but through the implementation of a range of policy options.
Mexico, one of the world’s richest countries as far as natural beauties are concerned, is getting all set to show off its ecotourism potentials at the upcoming Seventh ExpoAventura, an event scheduled for June 3 to 5 at Mexico City’s World Trade Center.
According to Wendy Hesketh, president of the Mexico Association of Ecotourism and Adventure Tourism (AMTAVE), the ecological segment is catching on rapidly right now and demand for this kind of travel is soaring.