“hands-on” workshop on designing on-line instructional material is part of an attractive programme planned for this year’s Tourism Educators’ Forum organised by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) through the Caribbean Tourism Human Resource Council (CTHRC).
This year’s event, themed The E-Learning Professional - Exploring the Key Competencies needed to Successfully Use Technology to Develop People, will focus attention on the use of technology in learning.

“There is an overwhelming demand among the region’s tourism and hospitality educators for information sharing on e-learning,” said Yvonne Armour-Shillingford, coordinator of the CTHRC. “There is also great competition from external universities and institutions offering programmes to people within the Caribbean region and we feel that the people of the Caribbean should be benefiting from Caribbean-based and Caribbean developed programmes.”

Topics to be covered during the May 26 to 28 forum at the Divi Little Bay Beach Resort in St. Maarten, include Exploring the Online Travel and Tourism Sector; Using New Technologies to Enhance Learning at the Tertiary Level with Special Focus on Tourism; Using the World Wide Web in Training and Consulting Services and Technology - Tools and Devices.

The general sessions will be preceded by a panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing Caribbean tourism. The panel will consist of leading public and private sector tourism officials.

At the opening ceremony, which takes place at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, May 26, high-level government and tourism officials will deliver addresses.

The Tourism Educators’ Forum 2004 targets educators involved in the delivery of tourism/hospitality programmes and persons involved in the development of tourism and hospitality programmes and policies at the post-secondary level. Tourism human resources professionals, consultants and trainers, as well as managers interested in learning more about human resource management practices also form part of the target audience. Close to 75 participants from the Dutch, English, French and Spanish-speaking member countries of CTO will benefit from the forum.
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