The impact of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and measures that need to be taken throughout the travel and tourism industry to ensure a speedy recovery will be discussed by industry leaders during the closing session of the 11th Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Las Vegas on Thursday, May 19.

The Caribbean will host a couple of hotel, timeshare, and tourism conferences in the next month. On May 31, the Shared Ownership Investment Conference will be held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Center in Barbados.

Hundreds of professionals from the private and public sectors of the seven countries of Central America—Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama—and Colombia gathered last week in San Pedro Sula, Honduras for the first FCCA Central America Cruise Conference.

For the first time ever South America will be hosting the cruise industry major event, the Seatrade Cruise Convention organized by the Seatrade Group and Abremar, the Brazilian Association of maritime cruises. The event is scheduled for May 30 and 31 in Sao Paulo.

Costa Rica, known worldwide for its leadership in ecological preservation, sustainable development and eco-friendly tourism, will lead the world once again as it hosts the 2011 Medical Travel International Business Summit May 2-4, 2011 in San Jose and Guanacaste provinces.

Interval International, a prominent worldwide provider of vacation services and an operating business of Interval Leisure Group, will host a Shared Ownership Investment Conference May 31 through June 1 at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre in Bridgetown, Barbados. Interval created the conference in 1998 to educate prospective entrants, lenders, and government officials about resort development opportunities around the globe.