A 17-year-old student from St. Kitts and Nevis, Nisharma Rattan-Mack emerged as winner of this yearå‘s Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Youth Congress held at the 26th annual Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-26) in St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands (USVI). Luke DeFreitas, 16, of Barbados placed second and Jade Ingham, 17, of Bermuda was third.

They were among thirteen high school students between the ages of 14 and 17 who represented their respective countries as “Junior Ministers of Tourism” at the annual Youth Congress which is sponsored by Travel + Leisure magazine.

The students were challenged to discuss and suggest ways to satisfy the needs of mature travellers in terms of product offerings and experiences. They also debated and made recommendations on the new skills and competencies that tourism professionals need to possess to successfully manage today’s public and private sector tourism entities.

These “Junior Ministers of Tourism” will be incorporated into tourism events and activities in their respective countries over a one year period, and will act as young ambassadors and spokespersons for tourism.

“The Tourism Youth Congress was one of the highlights of CTC-26. The students acted out their roles of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism admirably and dealt sensitively and in depth with the topics,” said Jean Holder, CTO’s secretary general.

“They made it clear that there is a need to have Caribbean youth interested in tourism from an early age. CTO is helping in that regard by staging the Tourism Youth Congress,” he added.
The 3rd Annual CTO/Travel + Leisure Youth Congress, which simulated a (CTO) board of directors meeting, was chaired by last year’s winner, Zahra Muhammad of Bermuda.

Ms. Rattan-Mack received US$500.00 in cash and secured US$1,000.00 for her school, the Washington Archibald High School; Mr. Defreitas won US$300.00 and Ms. Ingham, US$200.00. Each student also received a laptop computer from Naismith International Basketball Foundation.

American Express Publishing is the leading publisher of luxury lifestyle magazines. Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, Departures, T&L Golf, and Travel + Leisure Family magazines are part of the American Express Publishing Corporation, a subsidiary of the American Express Company and managed by Time, Inc. under the terms of an agreement signed in March 1993. The company also publishes SkyGuide and a variety of cooking, travel, wine, time management, and financial books and products, plus a custom publishing group.

Related stories on Caribbean Weekly:
(06/10/03) CTO To Launch B2B, as well as other Online Initiatives at CTC
(28/10/03) Pam C. Richards announces CTC-26 as a success
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