Southeast.

Those who think there is nothing new under the sun should visit Florida's southeast region, whose tropical and ethnic influences attract record numbers of tourists. As a result, new attractions and properties are being built and existing ones are undergoing extensive expansions and renovations.

On the hotel front, the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, an oceanfront luxury facility within walking distance of the Miami Beach Convention Center, is scheduled to open in the summer of 1998. The nearby historic Royal Palm Hotel is under negotiation for future renovation, while the Westin Resort Miami Beach (formerly the Doral Beach Resort) will undergo $11 million in renovations in 1997.

Near the Miami International Airport, the Embassy Suites is in final stages of a $5.5 million refurbishment to its suites, public areas, and banquet and meeting facilities. Likewise, the Newport Crowne Plaza Beachside Resort is almost finished with a $6 million enhancement of rooms and restaurants. In Coral Gables, the historic Biltmore Hotel and Golf Resort recently completed refurbishment to its guest rooms and a $200,000 poolside renovation.

Updates on tourist attractions include

* the Falls Shopping Center, redesigned into an open-air shopping extravaganza with streams, lagoons, and waterfalls;

* Lincoln Road, South Beach's trendy shopping and entertainment area, now entering the final phase of its $16 million improvement project;

* the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex, which recently completed a $15 million renovation project that included Chalet Village - a new club room specifically geared toward corporate hospitality; and

* Everglades National Park, which is scheduled to open a new, state-of-the-art visitor center in December for the park's 49th anniversary.

Fort Lauderdale is also bustling. By the year 2000, investments in new or renovated hotels in Broward County alone will exceed $67.5 million, including the following projects. The $45 million Marriott Vacation Club on Fort Lauderdale Beach is slated to open in July. Also scheduled for a 1997 opening is the Turtle Beach Resort on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Bonaventure Resort (which will change its name to the Registry Resort & Spa) is spending $9 million to upgrade its golf course as well as its guest rooms and lobby. The Hyatt Regency Pier 66 is renovating its Panorama Ballroom and designer suites.

The Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention Center is growing as well. The 150,000-square-foot expansion, which includes a 50,000-square-foot exhibit area, will be completed by 1999. Next door, a 450-room convention headquarters hotel will be built by the year 2000. Additionally, a new Signature Grand catering and meeting hall recently opened in Davie, with 40,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.

Like Miami, Fort Lauderdale also has plenty of new diversions under construction that are destined to be excellent venues for off-site and after-hours functions. A New World Aquarium is scheduled to open by 1999, and a National Hockey League arena for the Florida Panthers will be completed in 1998. A Florida Fun Train, which provides transportation to and from Orlando, is scheduled to begin operation in late 1997.

Just north in Palm Beach County, ground breaking for the Palm Beach County Convention Center will be held in late 1997, with completion of the 300,000-square-foot facility scheduled for New Year's Eve, 1999. The convention center will join the more than 200 hotels from Jupiter to Boca Raton that provide meeting facilities and accommodations within the county. The South Florida Entertainment Center & Exposition Center contributes an additional 85,000 square feet of full-service meeting space.

For unique off-site venues, planners can choose from meeting space at the Palm Beach Jai Alai; the Old School Cultural Arts Center, which is a 1925 gymnasium listed in the National Register of Historic Places; and the Duncan Theater, a 720-seat, state-of-the-art theater and 120-seat lecture room.

Highlights ...

* Miami will host the 1999 Super Bowl.

* Fort Lauderdale was voted the best big city (with more than 1 million population) in America to live in by Money Magazine in its July 1996 issue.

* South Beach was the first 20th century historic district to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.