Officials from the Ministry of Tourism attend annual Caribbean Travel Marketplace (CHTA)

#TurksandCaicos, May 10, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos Islands Delegation attends Caribbean Travel Marketplace taking place Bridgetown, Barbados this week, 9 to 11 May 2023.

Caribbean Travel Marketplace affords tourism suppliers the opportunity to meet face-to-face with wholesalers from around the world selling Caribbean vacation travel over the course of two days of business meetings.

Caribbean Travel Marketplace is the largest tourism marketing event and is held annually throughout the region.

Under the theme “Predicting Travelers’ Impact”, the event commenced with ‘Caribbean Travel Forum’, where the keynote address “Tourism the key driver of generational wealth for Caribbean Nationals”, was delivered by Honorable Miss Mia Mottley, Prime Minister, Barbados.

Therein, the Honorable Prime Minister charged the private sector and the hotel industry to work in partnership with the public sector. She noted that in this post COVID-19 era, it is imperative that all work more closely together to be “shapers and not just takers” pertaining to the development of the tourism sector in the region.

Of the event, the Honorable. Minister Josephine Connolly reaffirmed the sentiments raised by Prime Minister Mottley during her remarks and went on to say: “COVID-19 has taught us all that success can be achieved by working together in partnership. The transition from the Tourist Board to the DMMO (Experience Turks and Caicos) will strengthen partnership and forge new partnership, both locally, regionally and globally as we continue to work to ensure that the tourism industry in the TCI is sustainable but most importantly that our people can reap and enjoy the benefit of the economic development of these islands as a result of the Tourism Industry.”

The forum also provided updates on the Caribbean as a region, its performance on a whole, along with other engaging panel discussion.

The Turks and Caicos Delegation includes from the Ministry of Tourism, Hon Josephine Connolly, Minister of Tourism; Permanent Secretary, Wesley Clerveaux; and Courtney Robinson, TCI Tourist Board; along with Stacy Cox, CEO, TCHTA; and Karen Whitt, VP Marketing, The Hartling Group.