The sparkling Conference Center of Mexico´s Puebla will be the venue of the upcoming Second International Workshop of the Meeting Industry Standardization and the First International Workshop of Fairgrounds Managers. Caribbean News Digital has learned that a group of outstanding experts from the region and elsewhere are willing to convene and lay out new guidelines and standards for the development of incentives, congress and events.

Tour operators from the Dominican Republic and elsewhere under the sun have been working together at the ongoing Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange (DATE 2005), whose sixth edition kicked off last Wednesday in Santo Domingo in an effort to buttress the Caribbean nation´s travel offers. The meeting is intended to boost up business opportunities and lay out a world-class Dominican travel product. Organized by the National Hotel & Restaurant Association (ASONAHORES) and the Tourism Promotion Council (CPT), this annual event is by far the country´s largest travel show.

Mexican Tourism Secretary Rodolfo Elizondo recognized the importance of the Acapulco Travel Marketplace, whose 30th edition will get cracking next week. However, he called for in-depth overhaul about the event´s format for future editions and toyed with the idea of turning the tradeshow into a huge Latin American fair. “I´m not going to debate whether the Acapulco marketplace is useful or not. The Tianguis has completed its cycle in one of Mexico´s major travel stages. What I wonder is whether we should cling to the same format or just shift to a new national and international reality, to a dog-eat-dog competition with far bigger markets,” Mr. Elizondo noted.

The Colombian government is requesting the help of the Cairns Group –made up of 17 crop-exporting nations- in an effort to clinch the home of the World Tourism Organization Assembly in 2007. The Cairns Group, huddled in Cartagena de Indias during the 17th Ministerial Summit, received a letter from Colombia´s Trade, Industry and Tourism Minister, Jorge Botero, that made the request official.

The Acapulco Tourism Tianguis (Marketplace) 2005 –the country´s largest tourism trade fair- is expected to host its largest and most successful fair ever this year, on its 30th anniversary. From April 10 to 13, this international fair, taking place in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, will host 1,100 buyers and 19,000 appointments in the 425 business suites on site at the show using a high-tech online appointment system.

The public and private sectors of the Dominican Republic have chipped in some 20 million pesos for the Caribbean nation´s major travel and tourism event, the Dominican Annual Tourism Exchange (DATE 2005), scheduled to unfold from April 6 to 8. Funds contributed for DATE 2005 have been funneled into operational costs, such as transportation of international news media representatives whose plane tickets, hotel accommodations and other programmed activities will be paid for. Other funds have been used to produce the Dominican Night and the nightly opening ceremony.