Twelth edition of CMEX to take place in Puerto Rico
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| Published on Tuesday, January 13, 2009 |
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By María Miranda Sierra
Caribbean Net News Puerto Rico Correspondent
Email: miranda@caribbeannetnews.com
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico: The 12th edition of CMex, the Caribbean Media Exchange, will take place in Puerto Rico from May 15 through May 19, and will bring together leading health, environmental and cultural experts from destinations in the Caribbean and the Americas to discuss strategies that will enrich local culture and the protection of the environment through sustainable tourism, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company announced recently.
The theme of this year’s conference will be “Embracing the Diaspora, Linking Communities.”
According to the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, “The information presented at CMex will provide the tools for destinations to embrace sustainable tourism practices that will improve the health, natural resources and culture of these places. Well-planned tourism initiatives can stimulate economic and cultural growth without compromising a destination’s natural and cultural resources.”
Counterpart International, the organization behind CMex, aims to educate the public, and the media, about the most pressing issues facing sustainable tourism. According to the president and executive director of the organization, Lelei LeLaulu, “Puerto Rico stands out in the Caribbean for the advances it has made in enriching its culture and protecting the environment while fomenting tourism to their island. Our goal, at this edition of CMex, is to see how the rest of the Caribbean can emulate this model.”
The next edition of CMex is sponsored by Almond Resorts, the Association of Caribbean Media Workers, the Barbara Pyle Foundation, Bay Gardens Resorts, Black Entertainment Television (BET-J), Caribbean Broadcasting Unit, Coco Resorts, Counterpart Caribbean, Rudder Finn and SpeakEasy MEDIA and the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.
Meanwhile, the Puerto Rico Tourism Company also recently announced plans for the construction of a Mandarin Oriental resort in the Palmas del Mar development in the town of Humacao. The resort is scheduled to open in 2011 after a $300 million investment; the property is also the eighth five-star hotel to begin development on the island in the past four years.
The Mandarin Oriental Palmas del Mar Resort & Spa will feature 186 rooms and will generate 1,280 jobs during its construction, resulting in 500 jobs once it begins operation. The development of the Mandarin Oriental Palmas del Mar Resort & Spa brings the total of new hotel rooms on the island to 6,164, surpassing the goal of 5,000 new hotel rooms set by the governor at the start of his administration. In spite of the current economic outlook in many parts of the world, specifically the US, the development of these properties is part of an aggressive effort to sustain the recent growth in travel to the island.
The Hong Kong-based Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group is considered one of the leading luxury hotel brands in the world and has properties in some of the most exciting destinations around the globe.
Other five-star properties that have begun construction in Puerto Rico are the Condado Vanderbilt in San Juan; the Regent Punta Candelero in Humacao; Bahía Beach, St. Regis in Río Grande; JW Marriott and W Martineau Bay in Vieques; the Fairmont at Cerromar and; the Ritz Carlton in Dorado. | | | | Reads : 619 | | | |
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