Between September 19th and 23rd, 2022, Cuenca hosted several activities as part of the “V International Event Planners Summit”. Cuenca was chosen as the venue for this Summit with the specific purpose of positioning Cuenca as a wedding destination, thus boosting Romance Tourism and reactivating the social events sector.
Event Planners was created in 2016 in Lima, Peru, with the purpose of training event planners, and for the past 4 years has been holding International Summits to convene the community of event planners in Latin America. Upon its arrival in Ecuador, Event Planners chose Cuenca as the host city for their fifth summit, in which several companies from Cuenca, Ecuador, and Peru took part as suppliers. The City Hall of Cuenca and its Municipal Tourism Foundation joined forces to widely promote this event, because of the great impulse would mean to reactivate tourism in the city.
The summit was introduced on Monday, September 19 with a press conference held at the “Turismo for Cuenca” Municipal Foundation, where its Director, María Angélica León, stated that “our city is an optimal destination for weddings and social events and we would be delighted to host the International Event Planners Summit as a permanent event in the city, given that we have all the necessary infrastructure for it”.
The day before the inauguration, classes on trends in table decoration and flower and balloon arrangements were given in the auditorium of Escuela Central by professionals Andrea Fernandez, from Costa Rica, and Angelo Boggio, from Peru.
The “V Event Planners International Summit, Ecuador 2022” was inaugurated on September 21st. The ceremony was in charge of the mayor of the city, Pedro Palacios Ullauri, who valued the fact that events like this take place in Cuenca. For her part, Rosa Cusirramos, Director of Event Planners Latin America, said that “the city has responded very well to the arrival of the brand and its approach to the events sector and associated areas, and once the brand is established in the country, a lot of training courses on the organization of tourism events will be necessary.” The first edition of Event Planners Magazine Latin America, a publication that includes articles, tips, and suppliers for event planners, was also presented on this occasion. The inauguration was attended by Rodolfo Hugo Castro, Consul of Peru in the city of Cuenca, who highlighted the trajectory of the Event Planners brand in Peru and the importance of its expansion into a country like Ecuador.
A total of 15 speakers from Peru, Costa Rica, and Ecuador gave presentations regarding the events sector and its relationship with areas such as gastronomy and hospitality, with an emphasis on wedding planning. These conferences took place on September 21st and 22nd at the Sucre Theater.
On the evening of September 21st, an international fashion show was held in the courtyard of the Court of Justice, where renowned Peruvian and Ecuadorian models paraded bridal and evening gowns from the collection “Flores del Alba,” by the renowned Peruvian designer José Zafra. During the intermission, casual outfits created by the Loja designer Ángeles Rojas were also presented. This great night ended with the presentation of the “Heroica” collection and its bridal and evening dresses of haute couture, by the designer Francisco Venegas, from Cuenca. On the catwalk also paraded Leyla Espinoza, Miss Ecuador 2020.
The closing event took place on the evening of September 22nd, and Event Planners Peru awarded María Angélica León and Daniela Armijos for their contribution to the development and reactivation of events and tourism in general in the city of Cuenca. The ceremony ended with a great Cuenca night that included typical dances, a town band, and the burning of a castle to bid farewell to the attendees.
On September 23rd, scouting of wedding and event venues was carried out by a group of Wedding Planners from different cities in Ecuador and Peru, who attended the Summit with the objective of assessing Cuenca as a wedding destination.
In the end, the representative of Event Planners in Ecuador, Daniela Armijos, stated that “The Summit was attended by 300 people from different parts of the country and Peru, who attended the various activities, many of which were broadcast via streaming throughout Latin America. The main objective here was to promote the historic center of Cuenca as a destination for weddings, which is why all the Summit’s events took place in that location. A total of 55 brands of suppliers related to the event and tourism industries – from Guayaquil, Loja, Cuenca, and Lima – joined as sponsors of this international event.”
This project started out in the city of Lima with only four founding members: Rosa Cusirramos, from Lima, Peru; Daniela Trelles, from Loja, Ecuador; Andrea Fernández, from Costa Rica, and Daniela Armijos, from Cuenca.
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