The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary, a landmark Golden Jubilee, in 2012 and has commissioned HCP/Aboard Publishing, Custom Publishing Division of The Miami Herald Media Company to write and print a commemorative book about the history of the Caribbean hospitality and tourism industry titled From Pirates to Hoteliers, which will be released during the business sessions at the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC), taking place in San Juan, Puerto Rico in April 2012.

        “We chose HCP/Aboard after several months of an exhaustive search for a company with the right resources to help write, print and assist with the funding of this important historic project,” said Josef Forstmayr, president of CHTA. “As part of our celebrations CHTA is commissioning HCP to print a glossy, 200+ page coffee-table quality book to record the events of the past 50 years in the Caribbean hospitality and tourism industry,” Forstmayr added.

        The book will be created in a hardcover coffee table format and will depict the vivid and illustrious history of the Caribbean hotel and tourism industry, its impact on all aspects of life in the region and its place in the world as an association at the forefront of tourism leadership.

        Historic images chronicling key events in Caribbean history will accompany stories dating from the earliest visitors to the region - from the colonial era to the famous “pirates of the Caribbean” - to the first tourists to the region, the rise of tourism after the Cuban revolution, and the formation of the CHTA.

        Beautifully written with an introduction by the CHTA President, From Pirates to Hoteliers brings to life some of the most significant events, places, people, programs, and traditions that are all part of the Caribbean experience. It is a celebration of an industry that has played a key role in the development of the region and will continue to do so far into the future.

        David Jessop, Executive Director of the Caribbean Council for Europe, and a renowned author, will write several chapters for the book setting some of the historic sequences in perspective.