Travel Agent Magazine, which is distributed to over one million travel agents in North America, has crowned Ralph Taylor
, the leading Barbados hotelier and chairman of the Caribbean Hotel Association`s Charitable Trust (CHACT), “the Caribbean`s Person of Year.”
The magazine designated Taylor as the top personality for Caribbean destinations in 2002 in the publications annual reflection on the people who made major contributions to the industry and to travel agents the previous year.
“I am grateful,” said Taylor, speaking from Almond Resorts
in Barbados where he is chairman and managing director of two all-inclusive properties. “The past year has been extremely challenging for Caribbean tourism, but we`ve been able to rally the troops in both the public and private sectors to position the Caribbean favorably in a changing travel and tourism environment.”
Taylor, who also is chairman of the Barbados National Tourism Marketing Committee and deputy chair of the Barbados Tourism Authority, thanked the publication for recognising his crucial role in resurrecting the new regional marketing program, (dubbed “Life Needs the Caribbean”). “It`s been a long process yet we`ve only just begun to seriously compete with other regions of the world,” he said, speaking of the multi-million dollar television schedule that is currently on rotation in several United States markets, backed by the user-friendly booking engine

.

Deeply committed to the mission of marketing and educating Caribbean nationals about the importance of tourism, Taylor, who only recently stepped down as president of the Caribbean Hotel Association, believes that this will be another tough year for the region, but that with dedication and commitment the Caribbean`s tourism industry will see sure signs of recovery.
CHACT is a public/private sector conglomeration of major hotel chains, airlines and credit card companies which have joined forces with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, CARICOM and non-CARICOM nations to market and promote the Caribbean as a single destination.
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