Advertised simply as The 2003 Summit, this event stands for one of the top tourist tradeshows devoted to the sale and marketing of travel products in the Americas. Scheduled from Sept. 10 to 12 in Miami and its beaches, most of the fair will take place at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

The organizing committee of the World Tourism Exhibition (WTE) to be held in Mexico City from Sept. 24 to 27 this year, said four Asian nations –Thailand, The Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia- will join hands in a teamwork strategy in the global competition for Asia.

Aruba will once again hold the Second Annual Music Festival in October featuring the presentation of Rock ´n´ Roll Hall-of-Fame bands Crosby Stills and Nash and Chicago. CSN will be onstage on October 10 while Chicago will strike up the night after.

Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic, will receive more than 30,000 tourists during the 14th Pan American Games scheduled for August 1 to 17, said Jose Joaquin Puello, chairman of the Organizing Committee.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) through the Caribbean Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC) is developing common guidelines on quality standards for use by regional tertiary institutions that offer tourism/hospitality programmes at the associate degree level.

The Quality Assurance System and Articulation Guidelines are components of the Caribbean Tourism Learning System (CTLS) developed by CTO/CTHRC and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States Education Reform Unit (OERU).

Caribbean countries will give tourism cooperation a big leg up during a two-day meeting scheduled for July 17 to 18 in Barbados.

Jean Holder, secretary-general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), underscored the important role both private and public sectors should play in clinching the leisure industry´s development and providing leadership to the prosperity process within that sector.