News from ICCA Americas

icca.webportalasp.com by Wessel Satter

We sincerely hope that the current problems in Venezuela will cease rapidly so that it will be back to business as usual. It is frustrating to know that there is so little we can do to help them.

Together with the Metropolitan Corporation of Tourism (who have applied for ICCA membership) and ICCA member Ecuadorian Tours, ICCA Americas organised a very successful Marketing & Events Organisation Seminar in Quito, Ecuador. It attracted 35 participants from the whole country.

I also visited Panama again to tighten bonds with the Panama Convention and Visitors Bureau, a professional example for the Central American region. We have discussed a possible strategy to approach the neighbouring countries, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala for future international involvement and hopefully ICCA membership.

ICCA Americas will be attending COCAL at the end of March in Curitiba, Brazil. COCAL is the best occasion in Latin America to inform the professionals gathered about the international business opportunities. The Latin American Chapter will have its first biennial meeting linked in with the event.

Finally Luis Roberto Rodriguez and myself are organising a very interesting forum on Standardization and Norms on Meeting Facilities which will take place on 31 May 2003 at the Real Intercontinental Hotel, San Jose, Costa Rica. It is aimed at meeting site managers (fair, congress and convention centers, hotels with meeting rooms), professional fair and convention planners, architects and engineers, Constructors, consultants and all other interested parties. If you are interested, please contact me for a copy of the programme, email: amerICCA@adinet.com.uy