Under a slogan reading Latin America as an Event Destination - Assessment and Perspectives, the 21st Latin American Congress of the Confederation of Latin American Congress and Related Event Organizers (COCAL) will unfold from March 1 to 4 at the Sheraton Lima Hotel & Casino in Peru.

Targeting companies and institutions linked to the organization of events, state-run entities, airlines, hotels and conference centers, this gathering serves as a peerless opportunity for VIP professionals in the business to exchange views and experiences on the matter.

The Cuba destination ranks among the top five spots for Copa Airlines Conventions, a division of the Panamanian air carrier founded in 2002 to transport attendants to meetings, conventions and other events in the Americas, said Aida Abreu, an executive with Copa Airlines in Havana.

Mrs. Abreu explained that this year her company will act as an official carrier in sixteen different events to be held in Cuba, even though they’re working right now to add more meetings to the list.

More than 450 exhibitors from as many as 30 nations have confirmed their attendance to the 23rd Travel Marketplace of the National Travel Agencies Association of Colombia (ANATO is the acronym in Spanish), said Omar Riveros, head of mass media and public relations for the event’s organizing committee.

Heads of state and government attending the upcoming Fourth Summit of the Association of Caribbean States –scheduled for Feb. 13 and 14 in Panama City- will place regional security high on their working agenda, ACS secretary-general Norman Girvan said.

For the first time ever since its foundation, the 25 leaders of the ACS will tackle security in the region. In the three previous gatherings, tourism and natural disasters were the main topics of discussion.

Cuba’s eastern province of Holguin has everything any territory is required to host international conferences, said Conrado Martinez Corona, chief of the island nation’s Convention Bureau.

During the recently concluded Eighth Holguin Tradeshow, the Cuban high-ranking official praised infrastructure and facilities in this province that has rapidly become Cuba’s third-biggest travel destination.

Mr. Corona also extolled the superb possibilities that the huge 944-room Playa Pesquero Hotel –the largest in all the West Indies- has to offer for this kind of tourist activity.

The Central American Convention (CAC), representing the region’s tourist private sector, will make its public debut at the 2004 FITUR by holding a joint press conference in Madrid with the Central American Tourism Association (CATA).

Central American heads of state are convinced the region’s seven nations are seen as a solid unit in the travel industry worldwide. Based on that common strategy, these countries agreed to found the Central American Tourism Association (CATA) on December 2002.