Brazil´s Rio de Janeiro ushered in the coming of the New Year with a huge bash attended by some 650,000 visitors. The traditional neighborhood of Copacabana was once again home to the Revéillon, a music festival that stages colorful shows every year in its nineteen beaches.
One of the most striking moments came with the spectacular 15-minute firework display launched from eight rafts anchored some 350 yards off the bay. The fireworks seemed to dance to the beat of Brazilian music that was being played simultaneously from different spots along the 2.5-mile-long Copacabana beach area.
Jamaica will host the annual Caribbean Marketplace, a tourism trade show that has billing as the premier forum for bringing business to the region.
The Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) and the Caribbean Hotel Association are partnering on its staging, with Half Moon in Montego Bay as the selected venue for the January 9 to 11 event. Jamaica last hosted Marketplace in 1985.
This year’s Beijing International Travel and Tourism Market (BITTM) is scheduled to take place at the NAEC, the fourth largest exhibition center in Beijing, from April 20-23, 2005.
Being that the BITTM is China’s only outbound tourism exhibition; every exhibitor is guaranteed to meet Chinese outbound tour operators and travel agents eager to bring thousands of Chinese travelers to their countries and properties.
After cracking the much-cherished two-million-tourist plateau this year, Cuba hopes to lure far more travelers in 2005 through conventions and events.
During a press meeting at the Triton Hotel in Havana, Conrado Martinez Corona, president of the Cuba Convention Bureau, laid out the list of major events scheduled for the oncoming year. Complete information on lodging options and travel organizational details can be found on the bureau’s new website at www.cubameeting.co.cu.
Jazzmen from fourteen countries, including the host nation, gathered in Havana last week for the 21st Plaza 2004 International Jazz Festival under the auspices of world-class Cuban pianist Chucho Valdes.
The annual event brought together the likes of Wagner Tiso from Brazil and France´s Michel Legarnd, who joined maestro Chucho Valdes in a piano concert that featured the coloratura-like voices of Mayra and Caridad Valdes, and the mellower vocals of Beatriz Marquez.
The Eighth International Ortiz-Lachatañere Workshop on African Identity in the Caribbean will come around in Havana from April 5 to 9 next year with the attendance of boldface names from literature, linguistics, philosophy, religion, music and dancing.
The event is reportedly aimed at debating the scientific going of social sciences in the fields that both Fernando Ortiz and Romulo Lachatañere devoted most of their lives to.