BRIDGETOWN—A panel comprising Caribbean leaders and captains of industry has been assembled for next week’s Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO)’s State of the Industry Conference (SOTIC) where they 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 CTO chairman Richard 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 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,” 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 Hayes on October 22.
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. It will be held at the World Trade Centre in Willemstad.