NYC prepares for annual Caribbean invasion  

New York is getting set for the annual invasion of Caribbean vibrancy, energy, cuisine, culture, spirit and spirits. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) New York office is busy putting the finishing touches to preparations for Caribbean Week in New York, a celebration of the sights, sounds and vacation attributes of the Caribbean.

May 2013 Issue 

Highlights:

Caribbean Week in New York

Caribbean Tourism Marketing Conference

Tourism styles & fashion

CWiNY goes social media

The Week begins on Saturday 1 June with a Gospel Celebration  from 6:00 P.M. to 9:00 P.M at the Bethesda Healing Centre, 167 East 98 Street, Brooklyn, and ends on Friday 7 June with the highly anticipated, spirit-filled Rum and Rhythm™, at Tribeca 360, 10 Desbrosses Street, New York. Along the way there will be some exciting, fascinating and thrilling events to satisfy varying interests – the youth, Diaspora, engaged couples, those seeking romance, marketers, and those who simply wish to enjoy a lovely Caribbean holiday. The Gospel Celebration will feature some of the Caribbean’s top gospel icons lifting spirits with joyful noises and inspirational messages through song, dance and other performances. Rum and Rhythm™, a benefit for the CTO Foundation, is Caribbean Week’s exciting signature event, dubbed The Ultimate Caribbean Cultural and Epicurean Experience. Rum and food lovers will sample top-shelf award-winning Caribbean rums, traditional Caribbean cuisine and rum-infused delicacies prepared by celebrity chefs from the Dutch, English, French and Spanish Caribbean.  

Other “can’t miss” events include the fascinating Students’ Colloquium – to be held on Tuesday 4 June  from 1:30 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. at the New Yorker hotel in Manhattan - at which Caribbean students studying at the tertiary level present sustainable tourism projects that are practical and can provide a sustainable source of income for Caribbean nationals; the Caribbean Diaspora Forum, developed in collaboration with the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Caribbean Media Marketplace, where CTO member governments and private sector exhibitors interact with leading journalists from trade and consumer press; the Media Awards Luncheon, where the organization honours journalists for their award winning features on the Caribbean; the Avalon Invest Caribbean Now Breakfast, the annual investment power forum on the

CTO at WTM Latin America

On The Road in France

Workshop in Tobago

CTO TV

Caribbean Week returns to Toronto from 26-28 June 2013 as the CTO takes the vibrancy of the Caribbean to Canada's largest city. We did it last October. Click on the photo below for highlights of Caribbean Week Toronto 2012

Caribbean; and the Caribbean Marketing Conference & Awards Luncheon  - organized by the CTO Allied members,  where the latest cutting edge marketing trends are presented and people who have made significant contributions to the region’s tourism development are recognised.

One event that’s sure to excite potential holidaymakers is the OneCaribbean Vacation Mart and Auction, a One Day Bonanza at which Caribbean vacations will be available at special prices.  Professional retail travel agents will close the sales in an environment that evokes the colours and energy of the Caribbean. This event will get a further lift by the presence of the Caribbean Week official spokesman, Tamara Tunie of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and As the World Turns fame. A Romance Pavilion is being organized as part of the One Day Bonanza to make it easy for engaged couples or those seeking romance in the warmth and hospitality of the Caribbean, to select or design their perfect Caribbean wedding or honeymoon. The celebrity wedding planner, Samantha Goldberg will at the Romance Pavilion, adding some star power to the event.

The OneCaribbean Vacation Mart & Romance Pavilion will be found at the New Yorker Hotel on Wednesday 5 June from 5:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. “We are very excited that we are now well on our way to making this Caribbean Week a very special reason to celebrate. The opportunities are endless and we are thankful to all who contribute to this exciting celebration of the Caribbean,” said Sylma Brown, the head of the CTO New York office. For a full listing of Caribbean Week in New York events and how you can participate, please visit www.caribbeanweekny.com.

Every year, the Caribbean takes on the World at World Travel Market in London, with CTO playing a major role. To see how we did last November, click on the photo below 

The CTO's commuications specialist,

Industry heavyweights set to address tourism marketing conference at Caribbean Week

Some of the most influential travel industry experts will address this year’s tourism marketing conference organized by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Allied Members as part of Caribbean Week in New York. Their expertise range from aviation network planning and destination marketing, to online marketing and medical

tourism. One of the main presenters is Mark Raggio, a senior executive at the route development consulting firm, ASM. Raggio, whose responsibilities include performing quantitative analysis for airport clients, will speak on the topic, The Impact of Consolidation and How it Affects the Caribbean. His areas of expertise include route development and modelling, as well as airline intelligence.  Another key presenter is Steven Paganelli, the head of destination marketing sales in the Americas for Trip Advisor. He will deal with how destinations can mobilize their private sector to produce favourable Trip Advisor reviews, while Sree Sreenivasan, the chief digital officer at Columbia University and a social-media blogger for CNET News, will talk about the implications of social networks. Delegates attending the marketing conference will also hear from Daniel Edward Craig, the founder of Reknown. Reknown develops strategy, content, training programmes and guidelines to help hoteliers and travel marketers understand and adopt the

Johnson JohnRose, conducted a workshop recently for secretaries and assistant secretaries of the Tobago House of Assembly. Here feedback from some of the participants.

 Quick Links:Latest Tourism Statistics

latest trends, tools and best practices in online marketing, social media and reputation management. Craig, a former hotel general manager and marketing executive turned author and consultant, will speak on reputation management in the digital age. Rounding up the impressive panel of presenters will be  Linden Schaffer, a certified wellness expert and the founder of Pravassa, a wellness company based in New York City. She will give attendees an in-depth look at medical and wellness tourism opportunities and will help them set a direction for the future of this specialty market.

 “I am excited to have the opportunity to speak at such a prestigious event and share my passion for wellness and travel,” said Schaffer. “I am going to speak to various trends in the industry that I’ve uncovered, both in my own business and through market research I’ve conducted throughout the year.”

The Caribbean Tourism Marketing Conference takes place from 9:30 A.M. to 12:30 P.M. on Friday 7 June at the New Yorker Hotel.  Now in its 19th year, the conference, which is hosted by the CTO Allied members in collaboration with the Association of Travel Marketing Executives (ATME), will be attended by ministers, commissioners and directors of tourism, as well as senior tourism industry representatives from the private sector.

Styles and fashionTourism becomes fashionable at Caribbean Week in New York as the Face of Fashion, a fashion modelling and fashion design management company, in collaboration with

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The Caribbean Tourism Organization's exists to increase significantly the inclusion of the Caribbean region in the set of destinations being considered by travellers. CTO's envisions the global recognition of the Caribbean as a growing set of places and experiences that people feel compelled to enjoy in their lifetime.

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the CTO, presents Caribbean Fashion Tourism 2013 at the historical New Yorker Hotel in the heart of the New York’s fashion district.

Caribbean Fashion Tourism 2013 will provide the platform for talented Caribbean models and fashion designers, as well as mainstreams brands, to take advantage of the opportunity to showcase their talent, as well as what they have to offer as a brand and for business.

Participating Caribbean fashion designers and brands include Rykardi De Jude Pneuaner from Barbados; Derricia Williamson-Adelle 13 Swimwear from The Bahamas; of Geedaj Jones Designs (Glenda Jones) from Dominica; Carol Fraser – Miracle Hands from Guyana; Haitian fashion designer, Prajje Jean-Baptiste; Gillian Francis-Minka from Jamaica; Queen Esther (Esther Joseph) Kuumba Designs from St. Lucia;  Kimya Glasgow from St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Duncun Simone from Trinidad & Tobago. The mainstream brands are Katty Xiomara and Gunas Handbags.

Caribbean Fashion Tourism 2013 takes place on Tuesday 4 June from 6:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. A portion of the proceeds will go to the CTO Foundation, a charity that provides scholarships and grants to deserving Caribbean nationals to pursue studies in tourism and hospitality.

Caribbean Week message reaches millions thru social media

The CTO New York office has launched an aggressive social media programme to spread the Caribbean Week in New York message to tens of millions of people. The CTO has launched official channels on Twitter (https://twitter.com/CaribbeanWeekNY), Facebook (www.facebook.com/caribbeanweekny), Pinterest (http://pinterest.com/caribbeanweekny), Instagram (http://instagram.com/caribbeanweekny), Foursquare (https://foursquare.com/caribbeanweekny) and Google Communities (https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103264607288184411307) to to further promote Caribbean Week events. This social media initiative is meant to help engage closely with all key audiences online to expand and improve the relationships with travellers, influencers, bloggers, the media and partners.

“Through paid advertising we are reaching three million people in the tri-state area; over 25 million generally through additional tweets, etc. and hundreds of millions worldwide,” said Sylma Brown, the head of CTO’s New York office.

CTO helps expose the Caribbean at

WTM Latin AmericaThe CTO ensured that the Caribbean had an impressive presence at the inaugural WTM Latin America held at Transamerica Expo Centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil from 23-26 April, 2013. The CTO office in New York, in its efforts to continue to provide opportunities for its members to promote their tourism product to the trade and consumers in emerging markets, organized a Caribbean section at the fair. Belize, Bermuda, St. Martin & the Turks & Caicos Islands exhibited in the CTO stand, while Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica and St. Lucia added to the atmosphere with their own stands.  

WTM Latin America was a three day business to business trade show strategically staged in the financial capital of Brazil. The programme included travel trade events and a targeted “Hosted-Buyers” programme to deliver high quality buyers who are decision makers for leisure, meetings,

events and incentives. The event ended on a high with exhibitors, visitors and buyers all toasting its success, with an impressive volume of business deals anticipated. A massive 1,200 exhibitors – 20 per cent more than anticipated – took part in the three-day tourism trade fair.

On the road in FranceThe Caribbean Tourism Organisation has been bringing its public and private sector members face to face with important partners in Franc. The CTO U office hosted Caribbean workshops in Bordeaux, Paris and Nice, last month.  The CTO was joined by destination, hotel and airline members and

these events allowed these members to interact and network with key travel agents, tour operators and press from the French market.

The workshops were attended by over 160 key travel professionals, and the CTO’s members were able to build new relationships and source new contacts within

this market.

AM Resorts, Air France, Bahamas, British Airways, Corsair, Cotton House – Mustique, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, Sandals Resorts, Sirenis Hotels and XL Airways joined in this exercise as exhibitors.

During the evening events, delegates were able to meet and network with all of the exhibitors and were also given the opportunity to win some great

prizes, including holidays to the Caribbean, donated by the exhibitors.

Communicate like a pro, TobagoThe CTO continues to help enhance its members’ communications capacity, while at the same time providing additional services to its member countries. The region’s tourism development agency conducted a two-day communications workshop in Tobago at the invitation of the chief secretary.

Facilitated by the CTO’s communications specialist, Johnson JohnRose, the inter-active workshop covered a series of important areas, including the preparation and delivery of messages and media interviews.

Participants included the chief secretary, secretaries and assistant secretaries in the Tobago House of Assembly. They all gave excellent reviews (view feedback on CTO TV in panel on the right).

To ensure you continue to receive CTO News, please add our address to your safe sender list. Please do not reply to this email. The Caribbean Tourism Organization values our relationship with our members and partners and their privacy. Please send any comments, suggestions or complaints or let us know if you wish to no longer receive this publication to jjohnrose@caribtourism.com. Unsubscribe me from this list

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