BARBADOS: REGION’S PREMIER TOURISM CONFERENCE TO FOCUS ON GROWTH

A theme has been announced for the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)’s State of the Industry Conference (SOTIC) in Curaçao from 21-23 October. This year’s theme, Caribbean Tourism: Growth Through Innovation, reflects the need for Caribbean tourism to continuously introduce new ideas, methods and products in order to remain competitive, said the CTO secretary general, Hugh Riley.

“The tourism industry is such an incredibly globally competitive business that we need to constantly be looking for ways to innovate, to do things differently,” Mr. Riley said, adding that the theme encapsulates the thinking the Caribbean should adopt in order to find a better business model.

The secretary general said current trends that drive tourism, including mobile and social media, will be featured at the conference, which is being organization in collaboration with Curacao’s Ministry of Economic Development and the Curaçao Tourist Board.

“We are searching for creativity and innovativeness inside the Caribbean and outside the Caribbean; so we are looking for the best practices, the best ideas, from anywhere in the world which we can learn from, so we can capture those and adapt them to our own needs. Anyone who comes to this conference can expect to hear the best ideas and leave with something that will help to grow their business,” he assured.

The State of the Industry Conference will be preceded by CTO business meetings, including meetings of the board of directors and the Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism.