MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Santiago will host world tourism summit

Santiago de Chile will be hosting the XLIII Meeting of the World Tourism Organization, OMT, for the Americas scheduled May 24/26 in the framework of the V Chilean Tourism Summit it was officially announced Monday by Tourism Office officials.

"All America will be represented except United States which does not belong to OMT, plus another thousand tourism operators from Chile", said Oscar Santelices Director of Chile's Tourism Office, Sernatur.

The main point of the coming meeting is a report on "Congress and Convention Markets in the Americas", which will be followed by a presentation of country experiences and a debate.

"Tourism linked to conventions and congresses is one of the most important for the Americas, particularly because of the money spent by participants and the impact overseas of each of the participants", underlined Mr. Santelices.

"Canada, Brazil, Spain and Mexico are the leading countries in hosting this kind of events and the inertia which tourism creates in other fields and activities of the economy", added Mr. Santelices.

Among officials present for the opening ceremony are Chile's Economy Minister Jorge Rodriguez; OMT Secretary General Francesco Frangialli and CAM president and Costa Rica Tourism Minister Rodrigo Castro.