Top officials from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) today unveiled the on-line functionality and tools of the Doitcaribbean.com booking engine, with a special focus on the travel agent module and Interactive Trip Planner.At a press conference held today at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan, CTO officials, including Jean Holder, secretary general, Arley Sobers, director of research & information management, and Hugh Riley, director of marketing, the Americas, gathered with members of the international press, tourist office officials from CTO member countries, CTO Chapter Presidents and members of the CTO Board of Directors, to showcase the live launch of the booking engine and Interactive Trip Planner. 
The booking engine is powered by UK-based Escape2Travel, Ltd., a hotel and apartment accommodations booking system for travel agents, and was developed in partnership with DOT Media, the UK web designers, programmers and copywriters.  Peter Warren, president of DOT Media, and Ludo Marcelo, CEO of Morris Kevan International, the parent company of Escape2Travel, Ltd., assisted with the live demonstration and launch.
“Travel agents and small-size hotels in the Caribbean are set to realize tremendous benefits with the introduction of this on-line booking engine by the Caribbean Tourism Organization,” Mr. Sobers said.  “We are placing particular emphasis on small hotels in order to help bring them into the new technological environment that has pervaded the tourism marketplace.”
The booking engine offers higher commissions to travel agents and it gives tour operators and large businesses the ability to purchase a large inventory of rooms.  Close to 400 hotels have already signed up for the booking engine.
With the Interactive Trip Planner, CTO provides an instrument through which potential visitors to the Caribbean can access information on their areas of interest via the Internet. It includes personalized information on where to go, what to do and where to stay, along with essential facts on currency, visa requirements, etc.
The trip planner, generated by www.doitcaribbean.com
, also contains personalized listings for Caribbean specialist travel agents, along with contact details for hotels and other service providers, and comes in two forms: a full-sized version and a wallet-sized pocket version with useful information to take along on a Caribbean vacation.
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