Brooklyn, NY – Does the key to a healthy Caribbean tourism industry lie in Brooklyn?
It may well be. And a visionary Caribbean businessman Allen Chastanet will examine the key role that can be played by Brooklyn residents who trace their roots to the islands of the Caribbean to the continued vigor of the region’s largest industry.
Fittingly, this important question will be addressed by Chastanet and other specialists gathered at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, an institution of higher learning very highly regarded for its academic attention to the Caribbean.
The college is teaming up with the humanitarian and development organization Counterpart International to bring the Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism (CMExPress) one-day series to its campus.
The day-long CMExPress will be held at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn on Friday, November 4, 2005, starting at 9am.
Chastanet, a former senior Air Jamaica executive, now owner and managing director of Coco Resorts in St. Lucia, will talk about the important role of the Caribbean Diaspora in tourism and sustainable development in the Caribbean, including the connection between Cricket World Cup 2007 and the region’s expatriate community.
A former Director of Tourism for his native St. Lucia, where he was credited with bringing the island to the fore of the Caribbean’s tourism industry, Chastanet is the Second Vice President of the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and currently serves as Chairman of CHA’s Advocacy Committee.
He is on the Board of Directors of the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Cricket World Cup 2007, and is a member of the International Advisory Council of Counterpart International, the Washington DC-based nonprofit development organisation, which has teamed with the Dubois-Bunche Center (DBC) for Public Policy of the Medgar Evers College, to stage this event.
CMExPress is a warm-up for Counterpart’s full-scale four-day meeting on multicultural marketing which is being staged in Nassau, Bahamas from December 8-12, 2005. Counterpart Caribbean Chairman, Dr. Basil Springer of Barbados, will lead Caribbean-American business and community leaders, media and students into an interactive dialogue after Chastanet’s intervention. Ex-CNN news anchor and author, Andria Hall, will conduct a training session for students, media and communications professionals after lunch to close the day’s proceedings.
There is no charge for the New York meeting, but space is limited. To RSVP and for additional information, contact Bevan Springer via e-mail, [email protected] or by phone at, 201-861-2056.
The Dubois-Bunche Center for Public Policy of the Medgar Evers College is playing a lead role in establishing stronger ties among the Caribbean Community in North America, and between North America and the Caribbean region.
CMEx sponsors and supporters include Almond Resorts, American Express, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Breezes Bahamas, Association of Caribbean Media Workers, Black Entertainment Television, Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, Caribbean Broadcasting Union, Caribbean Hotel Association, Coco Resorts, Dubois-Bunche Center (DBC) for Public Policy of the Medgar Evers College, ENG Caribbean Vision Center, Ruder Finn, and the United Nations Development Programme.
