CARIBBEAN: Media Conference Set for Barbados

For Immediate Release
 
Contact: Samira Cherrouk 202 296-9676
              scherrouk@counterpart.org
 
MEDIA CONFERENCE SET FOR BARBADOS
 
Photograph of Mr. Lelei LeLaulu Available at: 
http://www.mediaexchange.info/tmp/ll.asp
 
WASHINGTON, DC (July 31, 2003) – The Caribbean's and the world’s largest 
industry will come under intense scrutiny when regional Caribbean and 
international writers join industry specialists and high-level officials in 
Barbados, December 4th to 8th, 2003. The occasion is the fifth gathering of 
the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) which will focus 
on "Tourism and The Media: The Next Generation".
 
Lelei LeLaulu, president of Counterpart International, one of CMEx's partner 
organisations, said it was critical to the growth of an industry that 
contributes to the employment of one in every four people in the region that 
tourism was "the first – and not the last – resort for the best and brightest 
sons and daughters of the Caribbean".
 
CMEx, to be held at Almond Village resort in the north of Barbados, is a 
biannual gathering of leading journalists and editors from the Caribbean, 
Europe and North America in an environment which encourages the lively 
exchange of ideas between movers and shakers.  The interaction between media, 
business, governments and the hospitality industry continues to bring out 
cutting edge developments. 

CMEx is held in different Caribbean locations but the December meet has 
additional meaning this year: "We are pleased to come to Barbados, home of 
the 1994 UN Global Conference on Small Islands," said LeLaulu, who noted that 
CMEx V will serve as one of the preparatory steps for the 10th year review of 
the UN islands conference which will be held in Mauritius next year.

"The Barbados Program of Action, agreed at the summit of 1994, clearly 
defines the key role tourism must play in the sustainable development of 
small island states and this CMEx is an opportunity to see not only how far 
we have come – but also how far we have to go," said LeLaulu.
 
CMEx, a premier media conference of its kind, enhances flows of information 
to strengthen Caribbean tourism policy and increases understanding of the 
multi-sectoral value of sustainable tourism.
 
CMEx is produced by Counterpart International, its Barbados-based partner, 
Counterpart Caribbean, Caribbean Hotel Association, Caribbean Alliance for 
Sustainable Tourism, Air Jamaica, Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable 
Trust (Life Needs the Caribbean), EarthVoice and the Caribbean Broadcasting 
Union.
 
CMEx V is supported by Almond Beach Resorts, American Express, Bahamas 
Ministry of Tourism, Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association, Barbados Tourism 
Authority, Bay Gardens Hotel, Half Moon Montego Bay, Jamaica Pegasus, Ruder 
Finn, Sandals Resorts, and the United Nations Population Fund.
 
For further information, contact Samira Cherrouk at scherrouk@counterpart.org 
or Lorraine Ortiz at lortiz@caribbeanhotels.org .
 
ENDS