Members of the Caribbean hotel and tourism industry are flocking to San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the Caribbean Marketplace, which kicks off Sunday, January 15.The show runs until Tuesday, January 17th, at the newly-built Puerto Rico Convention Centre.

Already many of the hotels in San Juan are booked up with buyers and sellers for the show.

The event is presented by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and American Express, with the support of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company.

Some 900 private and public sector tourism representatives from 36 Caribbean destinations - from Anguilla to the United States Virgin Islands - will spend two days of pre-scheduled business appointments, discussing existing contracts, developing packages, and contracting for future business with buyers from around the world.

“We are expecting a very positive Winter season for the region, with an
overall growth of about 5% in tourist arrivals by air to the Caribbean,” said on the subject Alec Sanguinetti, director general and CEO of CHA.

Thirteen Caribbean delegations are headed by their respective national heads of tourism, who attend the event to strengthen ties and make new contacts with the international buyer marketplace. Their active involvement also signals an increased collaboration between the private and the public tourism sectors - and an improved understanding of the role of tourism in the regional economies and the wellbeing of
the Caribbean people.

“CHA and CTO will continue to work closer together in order
to improve the promotion and marketing of the Caribbean region to its various markets,” added Sanguinetti.

To date, the ministers of the following Caribbean nations have confirmed their attendance, as guests of Ms. Terestella González-Denton, Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company:  Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turks & Caicos.

The Caribbean Marketplace 2006 Pre-Event Report shows just over 400 buyers registered - they are wholesalers, incentive buyers, meeting planners, group buyers and dive shop owners. These international buyers from around the world are invited to attend Caribbean Marketplace based on their proven capability or potential to sell the Caribbean as a destination.

Caribbean Marketplace gives them a one-stop venue to meet face-to-face with a range of suppliers from across the region, representing the Caribbean’s intimate inns, guesthouses and villas, business,
meetings and incentive products, time-sharing, all-inclusive and hotel chains from the whole Caribbean region.

At three days to the event, the three top markets with the largest buyer delegations are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada.
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