The Belizean Tourism Board is making plans and preparations for the Belize Exposition, Tradeshow and Expedition (BETEX) –scheduled from September 14 to 18, this year- in order to give travel agents, tour operators and tourist wholesalers a chance to take a closer look at the travel potentials this Caribbean nation has to offer.

Sponsored by the nation’s Tourism Department, Mexico City (Federal District) will host the first Mexican Caribbean Tourist Caravan with a primary view to bring national tourists to that region where the country’s premier beach destinations are located.

The tourist caravan (it’ll come to an end Saturday) counts on the participation of representatives from some thirty travel companies from the state of Quintana Roo who will gather with roughly 500 travel agents from Queretaro, Toluca, Pachuca, Puebla and Cuernavaca.

Latin America is gaining as a destination for conventions and meetings as a result of a strengthening Euro and skittishness over terrorism and. In recent months, some US meeting organizers have been passing up Asia, Europe and the USA for Latin cities like Santiago, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, the USA Today quoted travel industry executives as saying.

The Puerto Rico Convention Bureau (PRCB) has just issued a positive report on the business, convention and incentive travel industry on the island, a modality that’s boasting ever-growing demand for reservations in the course of the ongoing fiscal year and that has good chances of going most estimates one better by the end of June.

The gorgeous coasts of St. Maarten will provide the perfect backdrop for another edition of the Maarten Heineken Regattas, scheduled from March 5 to 7 under the traditional sponsorship of the St. Maarten Yacht Club.

After taking an initial slow burn in 1980 with just a dozen boats on the starting line, the regattas have grown at a breakneck pace into one of the most professional events of its kind in the entire Caribbean region. Last year, for instance, there were 230 contestants from 31 countries.

The Havana Club Week, scheduled from March 8 through 12 at the National Hotel –Cuba’s flagship lodging- and the Cohiba Hotel, will this time around feature the International Cocktail Contest in the free and classic categories.

Julian Darbon and Miguel Diaz will go to bat for the Havana Club trademark, while Pedro Medina and Enrique Rivera will compete for Cuba’s Barmen Association, together with Ihosvany Machado, winner of the Fourth H.B. Grand Prix and Pan American champ in 2003 in Uruguay as new technical coach for Havana Club.