Caribbean’s Tourism Industry Gears Up For Its Top Sales And Marketing Event Of The Year

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico | The Bahamas is ready to welcome the members of the Caribbean hotel and tourism industry for Caribbean Marketplace 2008, to be held January 13-15, 2008, at Atlantis Paradise Island. The event is the most important annual sales and marketing opportunity in the region for Caribbean tourism. The 2008 edition of Caribbean Marketplace is presented by the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA), with the support of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation and the Bahamas Hotel Association.

The venue is generating much anticipation among buyers who look forward to visiting the new world-class conference center at Atlantis Paradise Island. 2008 marks the seventh edition of Caribbean Marketplace hosted by the Bahamas.

Preliminary figures show just over 300 buyers registered to date, surpassing registration figures for the same period the previous year. These buyers are wholesalers, incentive buyers, meeting planners, group buyers and dive shop owners from around the world, who have been invited to attend Caribbean Marketplace based on their proven capability or potential to sell the Caribbean as a destination. The event 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.

Continuing the upward trend, almost 800 private and public sector tourism representatives from 36 Caribbean destinations – from Anguilla to the United States Virgin Islands – have registered. They will spend two days of pre-scheduled business appointments, discussing existing contracts, developing packages, and contracting for future business with the international buyers.

Beyond networking, Caribbean Marketplace is above all business-making. One of the primary reasons that Caribbean Marketplace is successful and productive for its participants, year after year, is the active participation of the international buyers in the Matchmaker© appointment scheduling process which matches Buyer and Supplier requests.

About the Caribbean Hotel Association
The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) – - aims to be a regional forum that will advance the Caribbean hotel and tourism industry. The members of CHA represent the entire spectrum of hospitality industry’s private sector, from 835 member hotels representing some 127,000 hotel rooms in 36 national hotel associations to allied members – airlines, tour operators, travel agents, trade and consumer press, hotel and restaurant suppliers, among many others - which account for 520 members. CHA is headquartered in Miami, Florida.