Caribbean Set To Make A Splash

The Caribbean Week in Toronto will have a new twist in 2014 after the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)’s accepted an invitation from representatives of national tourist offices in Canada to host a Caribbean Week event in Ottawa. As a result, Ottawa will host the CTO Travel Agents Educational Program on Mon., June 23 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 p.m. at the Chimo Hotel, 1199 Joseph Cyr Street, Ottawa.

Sylma Brown, who heads the CTO’s New York office, the organizers of Caribbean Week Toronto, said: “Having held similar workshops for hundreds of travel agents in the greater Toronto area over the past several years, the CTO and the NTOs felt this was a good time to extend knowledge of the Caribbean product to an even wider pool of agents to facilitate sales of travel to the region.”

Brown added: “The CTO leads sustainable tourism on behalf of our members for the benefit of our Caribbean people. Reaching out to agents in the Ottawa area is one more means of living up to this responsibility.”

This 2014 workshop is entitled, “Watersports: A Solution to Keeping Your Head Above Water” and it will provide travel agents with an opportunity to become familiar with the many water based activities in the Caribbean. They will explore how these options can enhance their clients’ holiday experience; and how the travel trade can increase commissions and benefit from this multi-billion dollar industry.

The workshop will be facilitated by Anne Brobyn, the founder and president of Hibiscus International, a tourism sales and marketing company dedicated to finding innovative and creative ways to promote niche tourism in global destinations.

Brobyn observed: “Watersports continues to be a very important, untapped and lucrative niche within the Caribbean tourism product. This multi-billion dollar industry represents a unique opportunity for travel agents who sell the Caribbean to increase their profits. A region with one million square miles of water, the Caribbean is the ideal playground for water-sports. Destinations are continuing to develop and upgrade their product with new activities to appeal to the maximum number of visitors.”

Caribbean Week in Toronto – which takes place June 23 to June 27 — will cater to the diverse needs of participating entities and destinations through a combination of events targeting the media, trade, businesses, consumers and the Caribbean Diaspora.

Caribbean Week Toronto participants include: AMR Resorts, Antigua & Barbuda, The Atrebor Group, the Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Grand Bahama Port Authority, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Sandals Resorts, St. Kitts & Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Turks & Caicos Islands and the United States Virgin Islands.

For more, go to http://www.caribbeanweekcanada.com or contact the CTO’s New York office at 212-635-9530.