CARIBBEAN: Short Deadline for CMEx Fellowships

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Lorraine J. Ortiz-Valcárcel 787 725-9139
lortiz@caribbeanhotels.org 

Samira Cherrouk 202 296-9676
scherrouk@counterpart.org 

SHORT DEADLINE FOR CMEx FELLOWSHIPS

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (February 11, 2003) - Caribbean and international 
journalists are rushing to meet a very special deadline - applications for 
the widely sought-after fellowships for CMEx IV, the fourth Caribbean Media 
Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMEx) close next week.

Young journalists vie for the fellowships which enable them to mix with some 
of the world's leading writers and editors. The competition this year is 
extra fierce as journalists from Spanish-speaking Caribbean and Latin 
American nations will be attending CMEx in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, 
from May 15 -19, 2003. Fellowships include air, hotel accommodation, most 
meals and conference registration.

Tourism industry leaders will join the journalists for lively and often 
iconoclastic discourses on the Caribbean's leading industry. In Punta Cana, 
CMEx will look seriously at "Maximizing the Economic Impact of Tourism."

Lorraine Ortiz, Communications Director of the Caribbean Hotel Association - 
one of CMEx's co-producers - urged the media to act swiftly to be a part of 
this innovative meeting which enlists media specialists in the design of 
sustainable tourism policies. A major goal of CMEx is to enhance information 
flows to strengthen awareness of the importance of sustainable tourism within 
the national economies and communities of the region.

CMEx has developed into the region's premier conference on sustainable 
tourism education for local, regional and international journalists and 
editors. The conference is co-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.

"We have to clear a number of journalists from the stand-by lists of previous 
conferences, so we are encouraging interested participants to submit their 
forms before next Monday's deadline," said Ortiz. Fellowship application 
forms are available at <<http://www.caribbeanmediaexchange.com/>> , click on 
'Registration Forms'.

Forms can be completed and sent to:
Lorraine J. Ortiz-Valcárcel
Communications Director
Caribbean Hotel Association
1000 Ponce de León Ave., 5th Floor
San Juan, PR 00907
T + 1 787 725 9139, ext. 244
F + 1 787 725 9108
E: lortiz@caribbeanhotels.org

Application deadline is Monday, February 17, 2003.

ENDS