As experts forecast conservative growth within the meetings and conventions industry in 2004, the Puerto Rico Convention Bureau (PRCB) has released positive mid-year production results for fiscal year 2003/2004 (ending in June). These figures demonstrate strong group bookings and indicate that the Bureau is well on its way to meeting, and likely exceeding, its year-end goals in terms of total bookings and room nights.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO) in cooperation with the World Trade Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will hold an international symposium aimed at helping governments and travel companies alike keep a hands-on participation in the ongoing liberalization process of the leisure industry worldwide. The event is scheduled for the Madrid Conference Center.

At issue there -among other topics- will be the influence of liberalization on corporate initiatives, competition, sustainable development and ways to bring poverty levels down.

The Caribbean is the destination of choice among those who like traveling and having fun while working, said Meeting Professionals International (MPI) and American Express in a joint comparative annual report.

Planners of the Eighth Caribbean Tourist Marketplace are on a cloud nine of expectations and hopes as their main event –scheduled for April 19 through 21 in the Dominican Republic- closes in. The agenda includes an array of professionals meetings, personalized appointments, the presentation of new travel products, lectures and debates at the business center.

With the sponsorship of Havana’s Historian Office, the colonial-style Palacio O’Farrill Hotel organized the Irish-Cuban Cultural Week for a second year running on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day last March 17. The event included a number of activities that hyped the establishment as the traditional venue for this particular red-letter day.

Congress and convention tourism climbed a staggering 32.7 percent in Uruguay last year, according to a report disclosed by the Uruguayan Association of Congresses and Related Events.

All through last year, the country played host to 470 gatherings, including 179 international powwows that helped the nation reap an average $1,400.