This news article is a production distributed through Caribbean News Service. It is made freely available to your media and we encourage publishing and redistribution, giving credit to Caribbean News Service (CNS).
WILLEMSTAD, Curaçao, Oct 22 2015, CNS – The annual State of the Industry Conference (SOTIC) of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) opening Wednesday night with a challenge to Tourism Stakeholders to be innovative in order to remain competitive.
Addressing the opening, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Tourism Richard Sealy said the CTO has recognised that Caribbean tourism must continue to introduce new ideas, methods and products in order to remain globally competitive.
“The global tourism environment is indeed extremely competitive and we cannot remain stagnant in our thinking or in the way we do business,” Sealy, who is also Barbados’ Tourism Minister, said.
“This is why we have put together a programme with some exciting and experienced presenters who dare to be different and challenge us to be innovative in order to grow.”
The presenters Sealy spoke of include a panel comprising Caribbean leaders and captains of industry who will discuss the vision for tourism.
Premier Dr. Rufus Ewing of the Turks and Caicos Islands and the head of government of the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius Clyde Van Putten will be joined by Sealy, Sandals chairman Gordon “Butch” Stewart, JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes, LIAT CEO David Evans, CTO secretary General Hugh Riley, CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) David Scowsill and the president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Emil Lee in the first-of-its-kind panel at the region’s premier tourism gathering.
The discussion will be moderated by Anita Mendiratta, an author, special advisor to the secretary general of the United Nations tourism agency, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and lead consultant of CNN International’s Tourism, Advertising, Solutions & Knowledge group.
“We have a responsibility as the CTO to insert innovation and to do something different at each of our conferences; so this is one of the additions to the State of the Industry Conference,” Mr. Riley said of the session.
“It is an opportunity for captains of industry and the leaders of our member countries to get together and talk about the importance of tourism to the economies of our Caribbean countries but also to look at all of the other assets that we have and to look at the notion of collaboration and sharing best practices,” he explained.
The session, Our Leaders Say, will follow the keynote address by Mr. Hayes on Thursday 22 October.
The CTO State of the Industry Conference is the pre-eminent tourism gathering in the region. It brings together tourism decision-makers, including ministers, commissioners and directors of tourism, hotel and airline executives, travel agents, students, the media and persons directly and indirectly involved in tourism.
This year’s conference, which has as its theme, Caribbean Tourism: Growth Through Innovation, is organised in collaboration with Curaçao’s Ministry of Economic Development and the Curaçao Tourism Board, with support from the UNWTO and the WTTC.
One of the highlights of the conference is will be the Tourism Youth Congress which is scheduled for Friday 23 October.
“Caribbean youth between the ages of 14 and 17 will display the most extra-ordinary skill, knowledge and intelligence as they engage each other on a number of serious tourism issues and present suggestions for our tourism programmes,” Sealy said.
