The Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) and IMEX America have entered into a new Industry Partnership agreement that will see the two organizations collaborating on a range of marketing and educational initiatives, including the co-location of an important PCMA educational event alongside IMEX America when its launches in October 2011.

Tophotelprojects.com: More than 1M new guest rooms under construction

Global Hotel Boom. Over 1,515 luxury hotels and 2,150 first-class hotels with an inventory of more than 1 million guest rooms are under construction worldwide. According to leading hotel data source tophotelprojects.com, investments in new upscale hotels total up to EUR 140 billion (nearly USD 200 bn).

Formosa has a long history with the Regent brand and plans to grow Regent with new luxury concept in key global markets

Carlson, a privately-held, global hospitality and travel company, and publicly-held The Rezidor Hotel Group AB today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement with Formosa International Hotels Corporation (FIHC) under which FIHC will acquire the Regent luxury hotel business.

The Platinum 5-star Garden Hotel, Guangzhou (a member of Lingnan Group) has been honored with the “Best Business Hotel in Guangzhou” award at the TTG China Travel Awards. This marks the sixth consecutive year that The Garden Hotel has garnered the prestigious TTG travel award.

The annual TTG China Travel Awards is an influential travel trade event that honors the best in China’s travel industry.

Highlighting the importance of tourism in today’s global and national agendas is still an ongoing challenge. UNWTO welcomes that tourism’s proven contribution to economic growth, job creation and sustainable development is gaining increasing political recognition. In this regard, recent developments in the European Union (EU) acknowledging tourism’s significance to Europe’s socio-economic growth were welcomed by UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, speaking at the European Tourism Stakeholders Conference (Madrid, Spain).

by Reinhard Hohler

During this year’s fourth installment of IT&CM (Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings) China at the ShanghaiMart Expo in Shanghai on April 7-9, 2010, business opportunities abounded with buyers and sellers coming from across China, Asia and the rest of the world. More than 2,000 delegates were attending business appointment sessions, trade seminars, as well as social events.