Cuba. With the presence of the Minister of Tourism of Cuba, Juan Carlos García Granda and Luis Ricardo Martínez, president of COCAL, the 39th Congress of the Federation of Organizational Entities of Congresses of Latin America (COCAL) was officially inaugurated, which on this occasion will be held at the Meliá Internacional Hotel in Varadero, and has 19 countries and more than 300 participants.
Addressing those present, García Granda thanked the Board of Directors of COCAL and its president, Luis Ricardo Martínez, for having chosen Cuba for the development of its congress, while welcoming all participants.
“Cuba has been a member of COCAL since 1980, we are united by its main objective, which is education and professionalization for the realization of events, a priority market segment in the recovery and growth strategy in the region and Cuba. It is a segment that creates value and facilitates transformation, inclusion and professional development, “said the head of Tourism.
Cuba has participated in a sustained manner in the calls of COCAL, has twice held the presidency of the organization, and has hosted two of its congresses, in 1989 and 2000.
The participation of Cuba demonstrates the importance given to this market segment, the country has an extensive infrastructure in hotels and premises throughout the country, with the conditions and infrastructure for the development of tourism for meetings, events and congresses, in addition to having a highly qualified staff and a group of receptive travel agencies that guarantee all the logistics of any event.
Finally, he thanked all those who made possible the development of this event, especially the Meliá Internacional Hotel in Varadero, which for days has been preparing all the conditions to guarantee success.
For his part, Luis Ricardo Martínez, president of COCAL expressed his excitement for the start of this day, which had its first activity on Tuesday with a forum with young leaders, integrated young people who worked on how to promote a tourism project and who were advised by a team of successful professionals in each of their countries.
He explained that the meetings industry is very important for everyone, it represents an important income, with a way of impacting the economy four times more than the recreational tourist, constituting a very good bet for our countries and that entails a great responsibility, not only at the business level, but with the destinations, where not only does we talk about marketing but also about sustainability about the human part of our businesses and how We impact communities and the responsibility we have as professionals.
“We have a challenge, to share knowledge, to leave a legacy in this destination … to continue building a united Latin America, a single voice, a single force of COCAL, that represents the interests of the meetings industry,” he said.
He thanked the support provided by the tourism authorities of Cuba and by the officials who have directly contributed to make this meeting a success, while expressing his satisfaction to be representing an association that has 39 years of existence.
In the final moments, the ribbon that opened the 39th session of the COCAL 2023 Congress was cut.
As a recognition of Cuba’s role in its performance to promote this market segment, Luis Ricardo Martínez, president of COCAL, presented the Ministry of Tourism of Cuba with a gold Huaca representative of Panamanian culture.
Source: Periódico Digital Centroamericano y del Caribe
