Tuesday, March 19, 2024
The 42nd edition of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA)’s Caribbean Travel Marketplace is set to be hosted at the Montego Bay Convention Center from May 20-23, 2024. This year’s event introduces fresh features and is organized into three specialized tracks, ensuring an enhanced and captivating experience for participants.
At a recent press conference titled “Caribbean Fireworks” in Kingston, CHTA President Nicola Madden-Greig announced the event’s elevation with three unique focuses: The Business of Tourism, encapsulated in the Caribbean Travel Forum; the Marketing of Tourism through the CHTA Caribbean Travel Marketplace; and the Community of Tourism, highlighted by the inaugural Responsible Tourism Day.
The event will commence with the Caribbean Travel Forum on May 20, delving into “Visioning a New Tourism Landscape for the Caribbean.” This segment will celebrate industry excellence with an awards luncheon, recognizing the Caribbean Hotelier of the Year, along with presentations of the Destination Resilience awards and the President’s Award for Excellence in Caribbean Tourism.
The Responsible Tourism Day, aligning with Jamaica’s Labour Day on May 23, will spotlight efforts towards climate change mitigation, sustainable development, and the enhancement of agricultural connections, underscoring the importance of responsibly managing tourism communities.
Madden-Greig highlighted the introduction of a dedicated Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions (MICE) itinerary for the first time, with 20 meeting planners attending the inaugural Caribbean MICE Exchange. She emphasized the significant potential of the MICE market, which generated over US$900 billion globally in 2023 and is expected to double by 2032. “It is time for the Caribbean to focus on getting a bigger slice of that very significant pie,” she asserted.
The occasion will also host 50 media professionals from around the region and the globe, with a select group embarking on the inaugural multi-destination media tour across the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. This venture aims to highlight the vibrant cultural diversity of these countries and advocate for combined travel experiences within the Caribbean.
Madden-Greig has announced that the Marketplace is anticipating the participation of 150 purchasing entities, drawing keen interest from Asia, Europe, and Latin America. So far, 86 purchasing entities have signed up, which is over twice the amount at the same point in time compared to last year. Notably, 14 newcomer companies from nations such as Estonia, Italy, the Netherlands, Peru, Poland, the UK, and the USA have made their registration.
President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) Robin Russell opined that Marketplace presents excellent opportunities and access for hoteliers and tourism suppliers. “You are able to interact with the very top of the food chain in every aspect of the business, from tour operators to travel agents … everybody who wants to do business comes to Marketplace,” he said. He added that for small enterprises, “It is probably the only opportunity you’re going to get unless you’re spending big money to interact with these persons.”
“(Caribbean Travel Marketplace) is not an event in the context of a single activity, but it’s an opportunity, a great opportunity for us as a Caribbean people, not just to showcase the strength and power of our assets, but also to provide leadership with innovation,” said Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism Edmund Bartlett, who thanked CHTA for selecting Jamaica to host this important gathering of tourism stakeholders.
Reflecting on the Caribbean’s performance in 2023, Madden-Greig noted a three percent growth over 2019, according to data from ForwardKeys. She stressed the importance of continuing to drive growth, especially with over 59,000 new hotel rooms planned or in progress across the region, according to STR. “We cannot rest on our laurels as the potential for even more impressive growth is possible (and) events such as CHTA Marketplace must continue to deliver for our region,” she said.
The event is set to attract nearly 1,000 attendees, with about 150 supplying firms from across the Caribbean ready to engage. To date, entities from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Saint-Martin, Sint Maarten, Trinidad and Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have confirmed their participation.
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Sunday, April 28, 2024
