Orbitz and Travelocity Name Cancun As Top International Summer Destination

Though the busy summer travel season has yet to begin, leading online travel companies Orbitz and Travelocity have already named Cancun as a top international destination for summer travel.

For the second consecutive year, Orbitz announces Cancun as one of this summer's top travel destinations. The 2007 Orbitz Insider Index, which reviews future air bookings on Orbitz.com, lists Cancun as the number one international destination for summer travel, outranking Rome, Venice and Madrid, among others.

Like Orbitz, Travelocity places Cancun top on its list. In a data analysis to determine where Americans are taking their Memorial Day vacations, Travelocity found Cancun to be the most popular international beach destination for this upcoming Memorial Day weekend, over Los Cabos, the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic, among other beach destinations.

"We are pleased once again to see Cancun ranked so high on Orbitz's list and to see the destination topping Travelocity's charts," said Arturo Escaip Manzur, chief executive of the Cancun Convention and Visitors Bureau. "We believe these reports are clear indicators that Cancun will only continue to strengthen in popularity among summer travelers."

There's a lot happening in Cancun this summer. Topping the list are details of upscale renovations, new additions and expansions, family-friendly beach events, film festivals and athletic competitions:

New And Remodeled Hotels Are Ready For Summer

As Cancun continues its ongoing efforts to further strengthen its positioning as the Mayan Gold Coast, the Cancun Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) announces eight new and recently reopened hotels that are ready for the upcoming summer season: Avalon Grand Cancun, Cancun Palace Resort, Elan Resort and Spa, Great Parnassus Resort & Spa, Hyatt Regency Cancun, ME by Melia, the ROYAL in Cancun and Sun Palace Resort. For travelers, this translates to an additional 2,632 new and upscale hotel rooms, bringing the grand total of rooms in Cancun to over 28,000.

New International Airport Terminal

The second-largest in Mexico, the Cancun International Airport has now completed a new third terminal in order to better serve its millions of international visitors. This US$100 million investment will double the capacity of international passengers, providing over 136,000 square feet of newly available space, 84 check-in counters, a platform equipped with 11 gates, and state-of-the-art security equipment featuring the first CT scanning system in Mexico. For more information, visit www.asur.com.mx.

Cancun Beach Party

Family-friendly and full of excitement, this year will mark the second annual Cancun Beach Party--a three-day long festival that brings together visitors of all ages and interest from around the world. Guests will join together on eight miles of Cancun's world-renowned coast from August 10 through 12, 2007. Activities will include a sand sculpture contest, fireworks extravaganza, a kite festival, art exhibits, a sailing regatta, a food festival, aquatic demonstrations and beach parties throughout the entire Hotel Zone. For more information, please visit www.arpcancun.com.

Cancun International Film Festival

Emerging filmmaking talents from Mexico and Latin America will be featured in this November's inaugural Cancun International Film Festival, "the Film Festival for the Americas." For five days, the festival will pay tribute to discovering and developing Latin America's aspiring screenwriters, filmmakers and actors, including a program of showcases, tributes, awards, forums, and panel discussions.

The event is open in Cancun to a worldwide audience of cinema fans, film professionals and journalists from November 14 through 18, 2007. For more information visit www.cancuninternationalfilmfestival.com.

Ironman Comes To Cancun

One hundred of the world's top athletes will compete in Cancun this year in what has been deemed by the Ironman organization as "the most beautiful half-marathon in the world." The Ironman Cancun 70.3 is a preliminary event for the final World Championship and will feature a triathlon map that includes laps around the Cancun-blue Mexican Caribbean waters, a bike path along the route of the Ancient Mayans, and a running course along the city's main Kukulcan Boulevard.

Event supporters can cheer for contestants as they compete on Sunday, September 23, starting from the Ironman host hotel, the Fiesta Americana Condesa Cancun. For more information visit www.ironmancancun.com.

For more information about Cancun, visit www.cancun.info