One of the region’s most senior tourism professionals with over 40 years experience developing and promoting Caribbean tourism, is to receive the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)‘s most prestigious award.The CTO will honour Professor Carlos Diago with its Lifetime Achievement Award at the 32nd Annual Governments of the Caribbean State Ball on Friday, June 3, 2005 at the Waldorf=Astoria in New York City.

“Carlos Diago is a pioneer in Caribbean tourism and has dedicated his life to developing programmes to promote the attractive features of the region and to assist in the educational development of people involved in the industry,” said Pamela C. Richards, commissioner of tourism for the U.S. Virgin Islands and chairman of CTO.

“He is truly deserving of this esteemed award and we are delighted to honour him for his untiring and impressive achievements in tourism,” added Ms. Richards.

Carlos Diago was one of the founders of the Caribbean Tourism Research and Development Centre (CTRC), established in 1974 with a broad mandate for tourism education and training, tourism planning and research, as well as statistics; and to provide credible data that would inform the Caribbean tourism industry’s marketing effort.

He was also chairman of the board for CTRC and president of the Caribbean Tourism Association (CTA). The two bodies merged in 1989 to form CTO.
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