The first act by the newly formed Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC) Board of Directors was to sign an agreement with World Publications, LLC to declare Caribbean Travel & Life magazine as the official consumer publication of the Caribbean.
The CTDC was launched as a jointly owned company by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) to develop marketing programs which will further support the promotion of the Caribbean region.
CTDC evolved out of the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation signed by CHA and CTO in October 2005.  The new entity is jointly owned and operated by CTO and CHA and each organization has a 50% share in the company.

The naming of Caribbean Travel & Life as the official consumer publication of the Caribbean is integral to meeting the goals of the new company which include:

1.    Promotion and protection of the Caribbean brand

2.    Promotion and protection of the interests of the owners

3.    Creation of synergies which might not otherwise go to the partners

4.    To generate revenues for the benefit of the Caribbean people

“One of the reasons we have chosen Caribbean Travel & Life as our partner is that they embrace ‘life’ as much as the sun, sea and sand in the experience that is the Caribbean, and life in our destinations is very much a part of our brand,” said Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization.
This reinforces the Caribbean theme “Life Needs the Caribbean” which was created by a combined public and private sector team consisting of both CHA and CTO members and has been used in the cooperative regional marketing and advertising campaign.
“Caribbean Travel & Life was chosen because of its longstanding and exclusive commitment to the Caribbean, but only after considering several other possibilities,” said Alec Sanguinetti, director general and CEO of the Caribbean Hotel Association.  “The alliance in no way suggests that our members in the public and private sector should support other publications any less . . .in fact we will continue to encourage them to do so,” he added.
As part of this agreement Caribbean Travel & Life will feature an overview of each of the Caribbean destinations in a 20-plus-page directory that will appear in all nine scheduled newsstand editions as well as sending the directory to subscribers once a year, reaching more than 600,000 readers.
In addition, the magazine will provide 100,000 copies of the directory to the CTDC to be used to promote the Caribbean at consumer travel shows throughout the year.
“We are very excited about this alliance with the Caribbean and are looking forward to providing our editorial expertise to further promote the region that we have all come to cherish here at Caribbean Travel & Life,” said Sue Gilman, publisher.
“The agreement explicitly states that CTDC will have no editorial control over the publication, but we will ensure that every CHA and CTO member destination is represented in every issue with the new directory,” Gilman added.
Caribbean Travel & Life will also promote the Caribbean brand by including advertising in each publication as well as cooperative promotions throughout the year.  The publication will also work with the Caribbean Tourism Development Company on other editorial projects as needed to support the region with its editorial department.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome of this alliance as Caribbean Travel & Life has been a strong supporter of the region and our hotels for many years and this new relationship will allow us all to benefit from a higher level of awareness,” said Peter Odle, president of CHA and owner of Mango Bay Hotel, Barbados.
The CTDC and Caribbean Travel & Life will work together to promote subscriptions to the magazine both in print and online and throughout the year, both companies will work towards expansion of this relationship as appropriate.

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