WILLEMSTAD, Curacao – The Barbados-based Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) says it is resuming several activities and events this year, as the tourism sector across the Caribbean registers strong post-COVID-19 pandemic results.
The region’s tourism industry had been severely affected by the pandemic that forced the closure of borders and the introduction of stringent entry requirements and the 25-member CTO said following a business meeting here last week that it “resuming several hallmark activities and events this year to help strengthen the region’s position as the world’s leading warm-weather destination”
According to the CTO chairman, Kenneth Bryan, the meeting attended by regional tourism ministers, commissioners and directors of tourism and their representatives, agreed to the resumption of “Caribbean Week in New York” in June, the State of the Industry Conference (SOTIC) in the Turks and Caicos Islands in September and a conference focused on sustainable tourism development.
Bryan, who is also the Minister of Tourism and Transport for the Cayman Islands, said that the CTO will have a delegation in attendance at this week’s Global Tourism Resilience Conference in Jamaica, and will celebrate Jamaica Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett’s achievements in encouraging the United Nations to recognize February 17 as Global Tourism Resilience Day.
Bryan said that CTO’s marketing committee will meet soon to finalize details for the upcoming calendar of events.
. “We have some ambitious goals for the CTO over the next two years and I am confident that with a united effort we can strengthen the bread-and-butter tourism industry and improve the quality of life for our residents in this wonderful part of the world we call home,” he said, adding “we just recently welcomed the U.S. Virgin Islands back on board, and my goal is to get more and more members since we are stronger together as a team”.
