In preparation for the Caribbean Tourism Congress scheduled for October 2008, the Ministry of Tourism, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education in Nevis, launched the local Tourism Youth Congress at a Cocktail Reception held at the Oualie Beach Hotel on Saturday, April 19.

The second “Cayman Islands Fly In,” set for June 6-10, follows a successful Fly In event in late February, which saw private aircraft from all over the U.S. journey en masse by private plane to Grand Cayman.

Following the success of EIBTM 2007, a record number of exhibitors have rebooked their stands for this year’s event in Barcelona at the Fira Gran Via from 2nd-4th December 2008.

Film Life, Inc. announced the 2008 dates of the 4th Annual Turks & Caicos International Film Festival (TCIFF). The festival will be held Oct. 15, through Oct. 19 on Providenciales.

Aruba announced the final lineup for the Eighth Annual Soul Beach Music Festival, with Erykah Badu, Sinbad, Wyclef Jean and Sean Kingston (among others) performing. The festivities kick off this Memorial Day weekend, May 21-26.

The Caribbean region must adopt aggressive local and regional environmental policies in order to protect itself from the potential impact of climate change on coastal tourism, an international expert on sustainable development and climate change has warned. However, decision makers must first get a grasp of the region’s vulnerabilities and ability to adapt in order to develop appropriate policies, Dr. Murray Simpson, senior research associate for Oxford University Center for the Environment, has suggested.