Focusing on timely topics in the travel
industry, the Caribbean Tourism Organization will hold a MasterClass at CTC-29 to discuss travel distribution and
ways to increase a company’s productivity in a highly competitive marketplace"While the Internet has become a powerful resource for consumers of each
distribution channel, understanding the benefits that each of the different modes of
booking has to offer is important,” said Hugh Riley, CTO’s director of marketing for
the Americas.  “It is imperative that we remember our primary goal is to serve the
clients’ needs first.”

Titled “The Changing Channels of Travel Distribution,” this MasterClass will focus
on methods to capture the interest of the consumer from the perspective of a travel
agent, tour operator/wholesaler, and destinations and hotel companies. It will
discuss the ways in which specific booking channels have reinvented themselves as
well as how they have succeeded in an environment where consumers are highly
Internet savvy. 

Travel agents are now being paid fees by their clients for their irreplaceable
consultation.  Moving beyond their traditional role as “middleman of the
distribution cycle,” tour operators and wholesalers are keeping pace with their
global competition by acting as both a vacation packager and a retailer, working to
benefit the consumer.  Hotel companies and destinations have created their own
booking web sites to compete with the 24/7 booking power of the Internet. 

The following speakers will be a part of this MasterClass:

  á      Joel Chusid, Chairman of the Association of Travel Marketing
Executives, (ATME) who will be the panel’s moderator.
  á      Laura Veglia, Regional Director for the Caribbean, Expedia
  á      Jamie McNair, President, Sabre, Canada
  á      Douglas Kostwoski, President, Travel People, Miami
  á      Michael Hering, President & CEO, SkyAuction.com and Magical Holidays

The MasterClass will run during CTC-29 on Tuesday, Oct. 24 from 11:15 am - 1:15 pm.

CTC-29 is taking place Oct. 22-25, 2006 at the Westin and Sheraton Grand Bahama
Island Our Lucaya Resort on Grand Bahama Island, in The Bahamas.  CTC-29 will
provide the opportunity for delegates to participate in the evolution and
development of the “new Caribbean brand”, and will also demonstrate how tourism
marketers can benefit from brand association in ways which, up until now never
seemed possible.
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