Tourism Officials Hail Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2014

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Jamaica Information Service

Release Date

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

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Former President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Sir Royston Hopkin, has hailed the just concluded Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2014, as a "huge success" and a "win/win" for all participants.

Hopkin, the managing director of the Spice Island Beach Resort in Grenada, said that ever since the inception of the event many years ago, he has been present at all, as it is the most important item on the calendar of any hotelier.

"It’s a forum where you bring all your leading tour operators together with all the Caribbean hoteliers. What you can achieve in a two-day period here, it would take an awful lot of resources to go all around the world to meet people you deal with and who sell your product. It gives us a chance to interface with those suppliers who we are working with … it works very well," he said.

The premier regional tourism trade show, organized by the CHTA, was held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall, St James from January 12 to 14.

It is the largest and most important business-to-business marketing event for the region’s hospitality industry.

Hopkin added that he believes in the activity and that he has benefited from it over the years. "I support it fully and believe that it’s a win/win for everybody," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation and Culture in Grenada, Alexandra Otway-Noel, who headed a large team at the trade show, said the entire event was "very productive" and that tourism in their country would benefit tremendously from what the members had grasped.

"As we close the Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2014 here in Jamaica, I think that I can safely say that we have had a very productive time here. Grenada’s tourism is on the rise, our numbers are up and we are very proud of that, as we continue to grow," she said.

The Minister is calling on all stakeholders across the Caribbean to ensure that unity is promoted and that travel in the countries of the region be made easier and more accessible to all.

"The Caribbean is one of the strongest regions for tourism in the world … what we need to do, and the CHTA and the CTO are helping us, is to bring unity to the region. We have to unite and ensure that we all sell our region which is so beautiful. Shows and events like these will bring us more together and empower us to achieve that necessary unity," Minister Otway-Noel said.

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