Latin American Boom

Latin America is gaining as a destination for conventions and meetings, the result of a strengthening euro and skittishness over terrorism and SARS.

In recent months, some U.S. meeting organizers have been passing up Asia, Europe and the USA for Latin cities like Santiago, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, travel industry executives say. And hotel chains like Starwood, Hilton, InterContinental and Sofitel say they're filling more of their meeting rooms across Latin America with U.S. travelers this year.

"It's gradually moving up," says Alvaro Diago, InterContinental Hotels' Latin area president.

The InterContinental in Buenos Aires, for example, is expecting a 60% jump in meetings business for this quarter vs. a year ago. The company's Latin American hotel group overall is planning for an increase of more than 15% in its meetings business within three years, Diago says. The growth is partly from U.S. companies.

A surging regional economy boosts demand for meeting facilities, too. The 11 largest Latin-American economies are expected to grow an average of 3.8% this year, vs. 1.1% last year, says Ricardo Amorim of IDEAglobal, a New York research firm. This will be the biggest growth spurt since 2000.



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