Turks and Caicos, March 28, 2017 – Providenciales – The Turks and Caicos Tourist Board, in collaboration with the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), today launched its Caribbean Primary School Tourism Writing Competition for 2017 in celebration of CTO’s ‘Year of Adventure in the Caribbean’ campaign.
The writing competition commences March 28th – May 1st, 2017 for children within two age groups – 8-10 years and 10-12 years. The competition seeks to encourage both formal and creative writing submissions related to strengthening tourism development in the region. The formal writing stream may only include works that count as either essays or prose, while the creative writing stream may only include works that count as poems or short stories. Participants are only eligible to submit an entry for one category.
A local judging panel will review all submissions and determine the four winning entries, two per age group, which will be forwarded to CTO for the regional finals. Winners will be determined based on the following criteria: knowledge of tourism, originality of ideas, expression of self, organization of thoughts, and grammar. The writing topics given by CTO focus on sustainable tourism or adventure within the participants’ home country.
Through ‘The Year of Adventure in the Caribbean’ campaign, CTO and its member countries and hotels will highlight the Caribbean as the leading choice for a vacation filled with adventure. The campaign will celebrate everything from adrenaline-pumping active pursuits, to local culture, and casually sampling experiences unique to a specific CTO destination.
“Adventure comes in different degrees for travelers. For some, it is zip lining high above a valley or speeding around a motor racing circuit. For others, an adventure is simply exploring local communities to learn their language and customs, and teasing the senses with new cultural and culinary experiences,” said Hugh Riley, Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of CTO.
At today’s competition launch, Blythe Clare, Training Manager for the Tourist Board, also presented representatives from the Department of Education and the Principals from the Government and Private Primary schools with copies of CTO’s tourism magazine, ‘Making Waves’. The magazine, created for children between the ages of 8-11, aims to educate young Caribbean minds about the diversity of the tourism sector and its importance to the region. The magazine covers a host of tourism topics, environmental issues and jobs available in the industry through colorful, factual and fun-filled presentations.
In addition to the ideas and competitions provided by CTO, each member country will develop their own plan of action for promoting adventure in their individual destinations. The theme is inclusive of a wide range of partners, activities, age ranges and tastes.
The 2017 Caribbean Year of Adventure will also be promoted through social media and traditional media channels and will create opportunities for travelers and vacation planners to share their experiences and ideas of an adventure-filled Caribbean vacation throughout 2017.
#TCITouristBoard
#primaryschoolwritingcompetition
