Our industry celebrates diversity – but demands consistent quality.
Our industry celebrates diversity – but demands consistent quality.
Our industry celebrates diversity – but demands consistent quality.
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INTERNATIONAL<br />
Cuba Libre <strong>–</strong> the original<br />
In November 2009 MICE planners from 16 countries travelled to Cuba for the 15th MITM Americas.<br />
It was not a premiere for Cuba.<br />
That Cuba acted as the<br />
show’s sponsor again after<br />
2004 demonstrates the important<br />
role that the MICE <strong>industry</strong><br />
plays for the Cuba Convention<br />
Bureau (www.cubameeting.travel).<br />
Each year<br />
more than 300 international<br />
events are arranged in Cuba.<br />
Security in the country, its<br />
easy accessibility and the<br />
pleasant Caribbean climate<br />
(apart from the hurricane season)<br />
make Cuba a popular destination<br />
for travellers from all<br />
over the world. For MICE planners,<br />
Havana will certainly be<br />
the pivotal player for events.<br />
Having slumbered for far too<br />
long like Sleeping Beauty in<br />
the aftermath of the Revolution,<br />
parts of the historic centre<br />
have been kissed awake<br />
again with the aid of Cuba’s<br />
Havana City Historian Eusebio<br />
Leal Spengler. Now magnifi-<br />
cent, elaborately restored<br />
buildings rub shoulders with<br />
five-star lodges like the NH<br />
Parque Central (www.hotelnhparquecentral.com)<br />
and<br />
small boutique hotels. But<br />
wherever you turn, there are<br />
still historical buildings that<br />
look as if they might collapse<br />
at any moment. Reconstruction<br />
and decay are ever-present<br />
neighbours. The upside<br />
is that the cityscape remains<br />
original and unspoilt by Western<br />
glamour. There are other<br />
hotels located outside Old Havana,<br />
among them Cuba’s<br />
largest, the 462-room Hotel<br />
Meliá Cohiba. It features everything<br />
that is to be expected<br />
of a five-star property, including<br />
conference facilities for up<br />
to 1,000 people, a business<br />
centre, Wi-Fi connectivity<br />
(don’t expect that as par for<br />
the course in Cuba!), an outdoor<br />
pool and several restau-<br />
Omara Portuondo <strong>–</strong> a legend of the Buena Vista Social Club.<br />
15th MITM Latin America in Havana, Cuba<br />
rants (http://de.solmelia.com/<br />
hotels/kuba).<br />
Exotic Caribbean flair is best<br />
enjoyed on a visit to the worldfamous<br />
Club Tropicana. Glitzy<br />
costumes and breathtaking<br />
choreographies rekindle the<br />
earlier glamour that drew the<br />
likes of Frank Sinatra and Josephine<br />
Baker to the island.<br />
Lodging and meetings with a<br />
historical ambiance are available<br />
at the five-star Hotel Nacional<br />
de Cuba. Restored with<br />
painstaking attention to detail,<br />
it is decorated with many remains<br />
of past days, such as a<br />
bunker dating from the 1962<br />
Cuban missile crisis. Celebrities<br />
like Ava Gardner and Winston<br />
Churchill, as well as Italian<br />
Mafiosi, stayed at the Hotel<br />
Nacional. With 426 rooms,<br />
including 25 suites and eight<br />
historical meeting rooms, the<br />
hotel makes an outstanding<br />
event venue.<br />
A large number of DMCs in<br />
Havana (e.g. Havanatur, Havana<br />
Connaisseur) <strong>–</strong> all state-organised<br />
and controlled <strong>–</strong> will<br />
help MICE planners organise<br />
exceptional functions, such as<br />
a dinner event with a Cuban<br />
dance show on one of the<br />
many historic plazas. And<br />
when the guests are chauffeured<br />
there in original oldtimers<br />
dating back to the<br />
1950s and 60s, the evening<br />
becomes unforgettable.<br />
Visitors wishing to follow the<br />
progress of the most famous<br />
tobacco in the world from leaf<br />
to rolled cigar should be sure<br />
to visit a tobacco factory outside<br />
Havana, near Viñales for<br />
instance. Afterwards they will<br />
appreciate a hand-made Cohiba<br />
all the more.<br />
Meeting planners from 16<br />
countries gathered for the fifteenth<br />
time at MTIM Americas(www.mitmamericas.com).<br />
The fair is organised<br />
by G.S.A.R. Marketing, Madrid.<br />
Ramón Alvarez, G.S.A.R.<br />
managing director, was more<br />
than satisfied with the outcome<br />
of the show, with altogether<br />
2,620 individual meetings<br />
between meeting planners<br />
and exhibitors from Latin<br />
America and the Caribbean<br />
contri<strong>but</strong>ing to its success.<br />
The cityscape<br />
remains unspolit<br />
49% of exhibitors rated the<br />
business leads during the<br />
show “good” and 50% even<br />
awarded a “very good”. Terry<br />
Vanterpool-Fox, Marketing Executive<br />
Barbados Tourism Authority,<br />
took part for the first<br />
time as representative for Barbados.<br />
“The <strong>quality</strong> of the<br />
meeting planners was excellent,”<br />
Vanterpool-Fox said.<br />
“There was enormous enthusiasm<br />
for Barbados!” She can<br />
only recommend the fair and<br />
insists that she will return this<br />
year. The ROI for Cuba is estimated<br />
at around EUR 13 million<br />
in subsequent years. The<br />
next MITM Americas takes<br />
place October 6-8, 2010. CF<br />
1/2010 93
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