Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association’s premier tourism marketing event, Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2014, has opened its doors in Jamaica.

More than 1,200 delegates from more than 26 countries in North America, South America and Europe are expected to attend the event, which will serve as a platform to showcase the some of the main latest developments and offerings throughout the Caribbean travel sector.

Caribbean Travel Marketplace, the largest and most important business-to-business marketing event for the region’s hospitality
industry, will be held from January 12th-14th at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

It is expected to draw on the success of last year’s event, which saw an increase in pre-scheduled business meetings between buyer and supplier companies with 12,476 appointments scheduled in advance which is 226 more appointments than the 2013 edition of the event. 

Another positive highlight from Caribbean Travel Marketplace 2013 was the increase in international buyer interest with 22 countries represented, an increase of four more countries over 2013.

In November, The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association appointed hospitality industry leader Jeff Vasser to the position of director general of the organization.

Vasser joined the CHTA after serving since 2002 as the President of the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority.

While there he oversaw the day-to-day operation of the authority’s management/administration, convention sales, marketing, media relations, and tourism divisions, as well as its approximately 60 employees, the 14,000-seat Boardwalk Hall and the 500,000-square-foot Atlantic City Convention Centre.

Vasser is responsible for helping to manage and grow CHTA’s role as the voice of the Caribbean hospitality industry for the development of the region in the highly competitive environment of international tourism.

He replaced Alec Sanguinetti who retired at the end of January after 19 years with the organisation, nine of which were as director general.

Founded in 1962, CHTA represents the entire spectrum of the hospitality industry’s private sector including 33 National Hotel Associations across the Caribbean region, over 600 individual hotel members with approximately 91,000 rooms, and more than 300 supplier companies represented as Allied members.

CHTA’s mission is to facilitate the full potential of the Caribbean hotel and tourism industry by serving members’ needs and building partnerships in a socially responsible and sustainable manner.

CHTA’s hotel member companies are comprised of properties of all sizes - from small boutique properties to mega resorts with international notoriety - each appealing to different market bases.

CHTA-member hotels employ approximately 100,000 employees that are based in the Caribbean as well as a worldwide network of sales and marketing personnel throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, United Kingdom and Europe.