The Caribbean tourism industry’s marketing and business development unit has taken an important step towards re-launching its vacation website.

The Caribbean Tourism Development Company (CTDC) has signed an agreement with the Florida-based graphics company, Tambourine, to redesign and recreate the site.

Richard Skerritt, left, and, Josef Forstmayr, sign up to the new project

As part of the two-year contract, Tambourine will also manage the website on behalf of the CTDC, a jointly owned and operated private, for profit entity created in 2007 by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) and the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).

“This is a very important moment in the history of the CTDC, and a milestone for the CTO and CHTA, as it launches a new dimension in public/private sector cooperation in regional tourism,” said Richard Skerritt, the CTO chairman and co-chair of CTDC.

The redesigned website will be the vehicle through which the CTDC will market the Caribbean brand through licensing, merchandising, advertising, and the sale of vacations.

The new site will include among other features, an integrated booking platform that specifically caters to the Caribbean’s smaller hotels.

“The website will be the focal point that both draws awareness and generates bookings for potential vacationers from around the world and therefore will be the centre of our public-private sector cooperative regional marketing programme,” said Josef Forstmayr, CHTA president and CTDC co-chair.