With an outstanding representation from Trinidad & Tobago and a marked emphasis on congress, convention and incentive tourism –alongside the promotion of other expanding categories such as cultural, sport and ecological tourism- the Seventh Caribbean Tourism Marketplace came to a close in the Dominican Republic.

From May 21 to 23 at the Jaragua Hotel in the Dominican capital, the seventh edition of the BTC panned out to be a multidisciplinary conference brimming with revolutionary ideas that helped shape creative patterns in an effort to shore up this industry.

The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Tourism are preparing to welcome over 1,000 delegates to the 26th Annual Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-26) and Ministerial business meetings, taking place Oct. 13-18, 2003 at the Marriott Frenchman’s Reef in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

Challenges facing Caribbean human resource professionals and creative strategies to address these challenges will be among the subjects of discussion at the fourth Annual Caribbean Tourism Educators’ Forum, which will take place in Grenada from July 7-9, 2003.

Delegates attending the three-day intensive workshop will also explore recent developments in tourism education and training and how these will influence the delivery of tourism/hospitality programmes being offered throughout the region.

Some 300 delegates from almost two dozen nations –including professors, researchers, artists, intellectuals and directors of cultural institutions- attended the Third International Congress on Culture and Development scheduled for this week in Havana.

The scientific agenda embraced ten basic issues put together in discussion forums and other modalities to guarantee in-depth analyses and exchanges on the different matters.

Ecuador’s tourism minister Ivonne Baki said her country will play host to the 2004 Miss Universe beauty contest, a piece of news broken to her by Donald Trump, the pageant’s organizer. Ms. Baki, who headed the Ecuadorian delegation to the event recently held in Panama, made clear her government is to sign a contract with planners, as well as defray $5 million for the organization of the gorgeous gathering.

The 2003 edition of the Caribbean Week could go down in history as one of the most significant events of its kind in recent years since it turned out to be a drive for a change in the CTO’s grassroots. The Meeting of Caribbean Ministers was one of the most saber-rattling gatherings ever held that even coined the expression “the tail cannot rule the head,” referring to the fact that regional Ministers should not serve the organization, but rather be all the way around.