Minister Of Tourism Josephine Connolly Presents At CTO’s Destination Media Briefings

Josephine Connolly, the Turks and Caicos Islands’ Minister of Tourism, recently attended the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO’s) Business Meetings and Caribbean Tourism Youth Congress at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Grand Cayman – the first major in-person events for the CTO since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Josephine Connolly, the Turks and Caicos Islands’ Minister of Tourism, recently attended the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO’s) Business Meetings and Caribbean Tourism Youth Congress at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Grand Cayman – the first major in-person events for the CTO since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On the first day of the CTO’s Business Meetings, CTO member countries presented updates on their respective tourism industries at the Destination Media Briefings. The tourism updates provided by the Turks and Caicos Islands were deemed extremely impressive. These included updates on TCI’s successful rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, infrastructural investments, property developments, awards and accolades, as well as media coverage.
Preliminary data indicates that the TCI’s stayover tourist arrivals for Quarter 1 of 2022 are 98.5% of the same period in 2019, which was one of the most impressive quarters to date. Infrastructural investments include a new terminal for the hub to the Turks and Caicos Islands – the Providenciales International Airport – which should begin development in February 2023, and the South Caicos Airport Terminal, which is set to be completed in June 2023.
It also includes an injection of $25 million into the Grand Turk Cruise Industry through an agreement with Carnival Corporation & PLC, which will see a dock extension to accommodate larger cruise ships, improvements to the reception facilities, acquisition of property to be converted into a vendors’ market, the construction of a floating dock for water sports operators, and $1 million in grants to eligible business owners.
The Turks and Caicos Islands also boasted recently earned accolades – “World’s Hottest Travel Destination for Fall 2022”, as well as “Caribbean’s Leading Beach Destination” and “Caribbean’s Most Romantic Destination” from the World Travel Awards.
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And through a strategic partnership between the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board and international public relations firm, J. Wade Public Relations, the Turks and Caicos Islands have achieved unprecedented results in media coverage. From January 2022 to August 2022, this partnership has obtained 96 placements and 2.03 billion total gross impressions with a total media value of $202.6 million. In an 8-month span, TCI Tourist Board and J. Wade have already exceeded their public relations results for all of 2021. And these results will continue to increase as more press trips have already been secured with the likes of Harper’s Bazaar, Beverly Hills Lifestyle, and Forbes, amongst many others.
“The Destination Media Briefings were an incredible learning experience, which facilitated conversations between global thought leaders in tourism and fellow Caribbean countries to discuss what tactics have worked for our respective countries in an effort to inspire each other and elevate the Caribbean region even further as a tourism destination”, said Hon. Connolly. “I am leaving the Cayman Islands extremely excited about the future of tourism in the Caribbean as a whole and especially in our beautiful by nature, Turks and Caicos Islands”, she added.
The Turks and Caicos Islands’ delegation was comprised of Minister of Tourism, Hon. Josephine Connolly, Permanent Secretary, Cherylann Jones, Director of Tourism (Acting), Mary Lightbourne, as well as Executive Assistant, Leandrea Missick.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), which is headquartered in Barbados, is the Caribbean’s tourism development agency with membership comprising of Dutch-, English-, French- and Spanish- Caribbean countries and territories, as well as a myriad of private sector allied members. The CTO’s vision is to position the Caribbean as the most desirable, year-round, warm weather destination, and its purpose is Leading Sustainable Tourism - One Sea, One Voice, One Caribbean. To its members, the CTO provides specialized support and technical assistance in sustainable tourism development, marketing, communications, advocacy, human resource development, event planning & execution and research & information technology.
Source: The Turks and caicos Sun