On February 28, 2012, the new www.CaribbeanTravel.com regional website will be launched and officially goes live at a press conference in New York. This website was created as the result of a partnership between the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) and Caribbean Tourism Association (CTO). These Regional Public Sector and Private sector organizations have joined together to form a commercial entity called the Caribbean Tourism Development Company or CTDC with the following objectives:
- To promote and protect of the Caribbean brand;
- To promote and protect the interests of the owners;
- To create synergies which might not otherwise go to the partners;
- To generate revenues for the benefit of the Caribbean people.
According to Emil Lee, President of the SHTA and First Vice President of the CHTA, "The CTDC website www.caribbeantravel.com is an excellent example of what can be achieved through structured public private sector partnership. The CTDC is the Caribbean equivalent to the long anticipated and ever elusive St Maarten Tourism Authority or STA. The www.caribbeantravel.com program achieves multiple goals. It allows the region to collectively cooperate and combine resources to brand the Caribbean. Additionally, like the www.vacationstmaarten.com initiative, it puts upward pressure on the net rates for hotels by generating sales leads and forwarding them directly to the hotels for them to convert into reservations without paying commissions. All hotels should be participating in both projects. There is no cost to participate. The additional exposure provides leads at higher net rates thereby improving profitability for the hotels and ultimately benefits the whole island."
People interested in previewing the website can view it at www.caribbeantravelpreview.com All SHTA members that are also CHTA member hotels are entitled to list their property on www.caribbeantravel.com at no charge – and only member hotels will be displayed at this time, allowing a click through to the hotel's own website further enhancing the value to SHTA/CHTA member hotels.
If you are interested in participating, contact Natasha at the SHTA at 542-0108 or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..