The recently concluded Colombian Tourist Tradeshow (ANATO 2005), organized by the country’s Association of Travel & Tourism Agencies, couldn’t be any better, said Luis Guillermo Plata, chairman of PROEXPORT. The senior official explained this 24th edition served as a threshold to the International Tourism Round scheduled to take place in the second half of the year. Attendants inked over fifty contracts and agreements, especially between international buyers invited by PROEXPORT and some forty Colombian tour operators and travel agents.

Tour operators from roughly two dozen countries will gather in the Peruvian cities of Iquitos and Lima for the oncoming edition of the Peru Travel Mart (PTM), scheduled to get cracking from April 27 to May 1. The PTM is the South American nation’s premier travel show that serves as a marketing showcase for new homemade products and services, as well as for the promotion of Peru’s travel destinations along the coast, in the jungle and up in the mountains.

Those cashew lovers can come to Belize, May 7-9, when the beautiful English-speaking Caribbean country celebrates this plentiful crop with an array of colorful festivities and delicious samplings. From cookies, cakes and fudge to the more exotic tastes of cashew jellies, syrups and even wine, Belize´s Cashew Festival features an assortment of delectable dishes in celebration of the cashew nut. In addition, visitors can watch demonstrations of the harvesting techniques and the preparation process of the cashew nut as well as learn first-hand how to make these local treats.

This ninth edition of Cubadisco, the island nation´s top music festival, will come around in May with a view to highlight the presence of women in music and to honor Japan as the guest country. Organizers told Caribbean News Digital they have planned a schedule that pays tribute to Cuba´s female musicians and their contribution to their homeland´s arts.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has unveiled a comprehensive and impressive program for its Seventh Annual Caribbean Conference on Sustainable Tourism Development (STC-7) which will take place April 26 through 29, 2005, at the Hilton Tobago Golf & Spa Resort in Scarborough, Tobago. The program includes general sessions at which participants will discuss pertinent sustainable tourism issues relating to the conference theme, Keeping the Right Balance - Sustainable Tourism Through Diversity; highly interactive and stimulating workshops to complement the general sessions; and exciting study tours through which participants will explore the diversity of Tobago.

Mexican suppliers, and U.S. agents and operators, are gearing up for the Mexico Tourism Tianguis 2005 tourism trade fair, to be held in Acapulco April 10 to 13. According to Mexico´s tourism board, a study of last year´s Tianguis found that 45% of international buyers´ annual sales, along with and 32% of Mexican supplier sales, were a product of negotiations at the annual trade fair, which attracted 1,500 Mexican suppliers and 994 international buyers in 2004.