Notes From 2023 Caribbean Travel Marketplace in Barbados

The 41st edition of Caribbean Travel Marketplace kicked off this week in Barbados, a truly historical event since this is the first time Barbados has been given the opportunity to host.

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) is holding the event only six months after last year’s Caribbean Travel Marketplace, which was a huge success hosted by Puerto Rico. This year’s event took place at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.

The event featured the second year of the Caribbean Travel Forum, which was started last year to focus on the economics of tourism in the Caribbean, with discussions on topics that include sustainability, intra-Caribbean travel, the growing air demand and connectivity concerns.

The Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley, gave the keynote address while Nicola Madden-Greig, President of the CHTA, delivered her State of the Region and Industry address. Madden-Greig said there were “currently more than 770 delegates registered, representing 50 countries,” with attendees including buyers, media and potential investors from all over the world.

Tourism officials from Barbados spoke about their mission to continuously evolve its tourism product, with the Minister of Tourism and International Transport, Ian Gooding-Edghill, sharing that the island nation has been in discussion with Latin American and Middle Eastern countries. The countries targeted were categorized as “strategic markets” due to their vast potential to grow the future number of visitors to Barbados.