CTO Creates New 'Master Class' Format for CTC-28; New Secretary General to Keynote & Set the Tone

Program to focus on the business of tourism and ownership of the Caribbean brand; Conference set for

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. October 14, 2008

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, August 15, 2005. The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) has made some radical changes to the format of the annual Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-28) by replacing most of the normal plenary sessions and workshops with a series of "MasterClass" educational seminars taught by travel and tourism industry experts which will result in Certificates of Achievement for delegates attending the courses.

"CTO has planned a programme designed to appeal to a broader audience than has been done in the past," said Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, secretary general of CTO, who will deliver the keynote address and set the tone for the conference.

With the introduction of MasterClasses, delegates will get to advance their skills in a number of critical areas. "Through these MasterClasses, delegates can leave the conference with a good sense that they are beginning to master an area that's very important to tourism development," Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace stated.

The MasterClasses will cover crisis communications, technology, transportation and events management. The sessions are designed in such a manner that delegates can register for one or more MasterClasses or for the entire conference which includes all MasterClass sessions along with plenary sessions, luncheons and social functions.

"Today the Caribbean is the best known, un-owned brand and the region must find ways to leverage its advantages for the benefit of all its people," Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace contended.

He will suggest ways the Caribbean tourism sector can lead in this respect when he addresses the opening session at CTC-28, which will be held at the Marriott Frenchman's Reef & Morning Star Beach Resort in St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, from Oct. 21-26.

Through his presentation entitled, The Business of Tourism: View from the Top, Mr. Vanderpool-Wallace will introduce a fresh new style, vision and business focus to the conference with recommendations on how collectively, the Caribbean can own and profit from the brand.

"I intend to give people a sense of where we see Caribbean tourism going over the long term and how we intend to get there," the secretary general said.

"We will declare where we are going. We will be talking about our business plan for the entire tourism sector from the CTO perspective to make sure that everybody has a clear understanding of what it is, and when we publish it they can go back and refer to it and see how we are performing in terms of what we said we were going to do," he added.

"I think also we will begin to attract a number of our colleagues from the private sector who will come and see how they can become one with the public sector in terms of moving Caribbean tourism forward together," he said.

A series of business meetings, including meetings of the executive committee, ministers and commissioners of tourism and the board of directors will immediately precede the conference.

Updates and information can be found on www.onecaribbean.org.