Central East: Home to NASCAR's great race and space attractions. (Florida).

Florida's Central East coast is where NASA meets nature, and nobody leaves disappointed. The popular destination of Daytona Beach is home to 13,000 rooms, and more than 350,000 square feet of meeting space. And the area is growing faster than the cars that zip around its famous speedway.

Daytona Beach has invested more than $200 million in its oceanside revitalization effort known as Ocean Walk Village, which will open in phases through spring 2004. Topping off recent developments, the Adam's Mark Daytona Beach Resort completed its two-year, $53 million expansion, adding a 310-room tower to boost the hotel's room inventory to 746. And a new 18,000-square-foot ballroom brings total available meeting space to more than 60,000 square feet.

Also a partner in the Ocean Walk project, the Ocean Center Convention and Entertainment Complex has plans to more than double its exhibition space to 250,000 square feet. Just steps from the water, the center is currently equipped to handle groups and events of all types with 18 separate meeting rooms, banquet seating for 2,000, and general-assembly seating for 10,000.

Additions to Daytona Beach's resort area include Adventure Landing, a water park and entertainment center with event and meeting space for groups up to 5,000. This, combined with nearby hotel expansions and other area enhancements, gives meeting planners more possibilities and participants a delightful place to play.

For more unusual and innovative meeting spaces in downtown Daytona, consider the Palms Gallery, with its eclectic mix of artists' studios and 14,000 square feet of available meeting space, or SMT Downtown's theater complex, available to groups of 40 to 1,100 for theme parties, productions, and memorable receptions. Daytona USA, the ultimate attraction of motor sports, also serves as a unique banquet, reception, and meeting facility that can host up to 1,000 for receptions.

Activities are really taking flight on Florida's Space Coast, which extends from Cocoa Beach through Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville. With 8,300 guest rooms, the area's latest hotel enhancements include 84 new suites at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral, and a $1 million room refurbishment at the Best Western Space Shuttle Inn.

Along this impressive stretch of coastline, unspoiled nature preserves coexist with cutting-edge attractions. The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex recently completed a 6,000-square-foot conference facility that adds adventure to any function. But the space shuttle isn't the only thing in the area that is out of this world: From bald eagles and manatees to alligators and egrets, the region is home to more endangered and rare species of animals than anywhere else in the United States.