ANTIGUA & BARBUDA TOURISM AUTHORITY

Some of the Caribbean tourism industry’s top decision makers will share their perspectives on investment opportunities in the region at the 16th Annual Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC), which gets underway in Puerto Rico in earnest today with an official opening ceremony.

Four members of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)’s Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism – the highest decision making body of the region’s tourism development agency – will help set the stage for discussion on challenges facing the sector, as well as the potential for development.

The CTO chairman, Hon Ricky Skerritt, who is also the minister of tourism and international transport for St. Kitts and Nevis, will be part of a panel discussing the Caribbean on the world tourism stage. The presenters, including a corporate finance expert and a tourism researcher, will seek to provide tools and vital data to help frame the discussion during the conference. They will also identify opportunities for tourism development in the Caribbean.

The 90-minute session dubbed, Setting the Scene: Challenges, Potential and Opportunities – The Caribbean on the World Tourism Stage, will be followed almost immediately by a session on public and private sector partnerships. This session will feature Hon. Karine Roy-Camille, the president of the Martinique Tourism Authority; Hon. John Maginley, Antigua & Barbuda’s minister of tourism and civil aviation; and Hon.  Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, the minister of tourism and civil aviation of The Bahamas. They will share their vision of investment opportunities in the region and the policies that are required to encourage expansion.
          
Both sessions will take place on Wednesday April 25 and are among the highlights of the 24- to 26 April conference, which is being held organized by the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) and the CTO.