The ICCCM 2005 will take place in Tavira, Algarve. Algarve is an overpowering scent of sea and beach enhanced by many other beauties and colourful notes. It is the mountain and its ethereal tones, the almond-trees and their delicate white blooms, the green pinewoods along the coast, the brownish cliffs oddly chiselled by the waves. Ever ingenious, Nature kindly made of this region a beautifully harmonious symphony of colors and shapes.

The Tavira Commune covers an area of 611 Km2. It is the third largest in the Algarve. It is made up of nine communities and has a resident population of about 25.000 inhabitants. Tavira lies about twenty minutes from the Faro airport and about the same distance from the Spanish border (Ayamonte).

The patrimony is rich and comprises monuments from all periods: roman, Islamic, Phoenician, medieval and modern. Tavira (cover figure) is known for its churches, for its fine architecture with emphasis to the truss roofs, and for the facades along the Gilão River, towards the sea.

Excellent hotels and restaurants also serve this land of islands and of long, golden beaches. Besides possessing unmatched conditions for sports activities, Tavira has some of the most beautiful beaches in Europe, located right in the Ria Formosa Natural Park.

History has left us an extremely rich patrimonial legacy that includes gastronomy, products from the land, from the sea and handicraft. The tourist who seeks out Tavira is looking for tranquillity, beauty, architectonic quality and environmental preservation. For more information about Tavira, please visit Tourism Region of Algarve, Tavira Town Hall and Regional Directorate of Culture.

Tavira is also bordered by the Ria Formosa, which is a permanently changing lagoon formed both by solid matter brought in by the sea and also the deposited by the streams flowing down from the hills. The lagoon, in an advanced degree of infilling, is cut off from the sea by a real "lido" that extends over more than 55 kilometres along the shoreline, and is divided by natural and artificial entrances that induce the emergence of barrier islands.

The Natural Park of Ria Formosa is a protected zone which extends from Ancão to Manta Rota occupying a surface from 18400 ha out of 60 km from coast.

Ria Formosa is in a privileged zone capable of granting abundant and diversified fauna of vertebrates, and it assumes a relevant position especially to the avifauna. Being the winter quarter for a considerable number of aquatic birds from northern and central Europe, Ria Formosa also acquires great significance in the European context.

In addition to its ornithological importance, Ria constitutes a place of shelter and feeding for various watery species. Mammals, reptiles - as the chameleon - and insects are also invaluable elements of the natural inheritance of the Park. Shellfish farming, particularly of bivalve molluscs grown in nurseries in the tidal flats, is an important economic activity, alongside the harvesting of clams, razor clams and other bivalve species

The venue place will be the “Hotel Vila Galé Tavira”. Strategically located near the amazing “Ria Formosa”, it is one of the most sought-after places for business meetings, relaxing holidays or just as a point of departure to other localities in Algarve.