Barbados Hotelier Has High Hopes for Caribbean Travel Marketplace
Patricia Affonso-Dass
BARBADOS – Former president of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism and Association (CHTA) Patricia Affonso-Dass believes the 41st annual Caribbean Travel Marketplace, to be held in Barbados May 9-11, can be a defining moment for the travel trade body.
The Barbados-based hotelier, who runs Ocean Hotels Group on the island said, “Caribbean Travel Marketplace has special significance this year because “it represents and showcases our region’s and association’s ability to transform, change and reinvent to meet the ever-changing needs, demands and realities of this dynamic industry.”
For only the second time in its history, the event will be hosted in the Eastern Caribbean.
Affonso-Dass noted that the new format of the event provides the opportunity for hoteliers and tourism stakeholders not only to connect with hospitality buyers and suppliers across the region, but also to “highlight the link with artisans, manufacturing, agriculture and the smaller but critically important players that make up the fabric of Caribbean tourism.”
Patricia Affonso-Dass
Affonso-Dass, who served as CHTA president from 2018 to 2020, stated that the 33 Caribbean destinations comprising the association reflect different cultures, languages, cuisines and a phenomenal collection of experiences.
“Caribbean Travel Marketplace allows us to bring this all together and showcase the region to our partners and the world in a way that is very difficult to do individually,” said Affonso-Dass, who was born in Dominica, raised in Guyana, and now lives in Barbados.
“Each of our members is unique, special and compelling, but all together this region represents tremendous value and importance not just to our individual economies, but also to the revenues of the partners who sell the Caribbean – both land-based and cruise,” remarked the respected hotelier, as she invited the world to come and do business at Marketplace 41 in Barbados.
Marketplace will be preceded by the second annual Caribbean Travel Forum and will be held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
