BRIDGETOWN, Barbados – A number of multiple award winning journalists will be among dozens of leading media who will descend on St. Martin this month for the inaugural State of the Industry conference organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO).
“The Friendly Island” will host about 50 top journalists from some of the best known trade, as well as consumer media in Europe, North America and the Caribbean during the 14-17 September conference, the Caribbean’s leading tourism information and networking event.
These writers and producers from broadcast, print and online media will provide extensive coverage of the event, as well as the destination. Collectively, they reach several million people and can be influential in driving visitors to the Caribbean.
“We’re delighted that the conference is attracting this level of attention from the media. That keeps us on our toes because the journalists won’t simply be there to report the news; they’ll probe the issues. That stimulates everyone to focus clearly on the challenges and the solutions,” said Hugh Riley, the CTO secretary general.
The State of the Industry Conference – organized in collaboration with the St. Martin Tourist Office – brings together tourism interests from the public and private sectors to tackle a number of critical issues including overcoming the hurdles to intra-regional travel, how to use limited resources to the greatest advantage, how to influence the affluent travellers, and being truly competitive. One of the sessions, “Communication Means Business” will be pay particular attention to the value of clear, accurate dissemination of information around the world, using a vast array of media channels.
The inaugural State of the Industry Conference – which has as its theme: How to Win in a Competitive Environment – is the CTO’s industry convocation of Caribbean tourism practitioners and strategic partners. It builds on the success of the Leadership Strategy Conference held in Barbados last year, and satisfies a need felt among the membership, including travel agent partners, for such a gathering, annually.
The general conference sessions will be preceded by a series of meetings on 14 & 15 September involving ministers, commissioners and directors of tourism, as well as private sector tourism partners. The conference headquarters hotel is Le Domaine on French St. Martin.
