Though being one of the smallest Caribbean islands, with barely 14,000 inhabitants, Anguilla develops a travel industry that takes full advantage of its breathtaking beaches and natural beauties, always with a view in mind toward high-end tourism. Mr. Hughes talked exclusively with Caribbean News Digital on the steps his island nation is now taking on the road to sustainable development, increasing ties with the Latin American markets and other interesting topics.

In his position at CTO, Mr. Abreu is in charge of strategic alliances with other tourism organizations and companies, the ties with travel agents or groups and associations of travel agencies, the support and relationship with CTO’s chapters in different states of USA and Latin America, the Caribbean attendance in main tourism shows in Canada and USA, and the promotion of events organized by CTO, including the Caribbean Week, to be held with a new edition coming in June in New York. This was one of the matters he dealt with during an exclusive interview for Caribbean News Digital, as well as the country’s relationship with Spanish-speaking countries.

After four decades practically unpopulated, Cancun-Riviera Maya tourism corridor presently counts on over 70.000 hotel rooms and welcomes some ten million tourists a year, while Cozumel’s cruiser port is ranked second worldwide. The Mesoamerican Reef stretches for over 700 Km in front of the coasts of Quintana Roo and all the way down to Honduras, it’s the second largest in the world and is a huge ecological reservoir. MARTI project tries to lead the hotel growth through environment-friendly ways, so the region maintains its main asset: natural wealthy.

As a leading company in the field of public relations for the travel, hotel, luxury and real estate sectors for over two decades, Cheryl Andrews Marketing Communications works with several destinations, brands and countless travel industry companies from the Caribbean, Florida and Central America, and the company is a major presence in all events planned by the Caribbean Tourism Organization and other regional fairs and tradeshows, including Pow Wow in the U.S.

With a longstanding career as a travel journalist, and a considerable part of her brilliant career devoted to covering the Caribbean region, the Senior Editor of Travel Weekly has many stories and opinions to share on the development of tourism in this region. This charismatic and upbeat woman speaks with the same passion displayed in her articles and stories

The tourism development model applied in the Caribbean for many years is now taking a sea change and the destinations that can understand this transformation will definitely lead the way. Those were the considerations made by Costas Christ during a keynote presentation within the framework of STC-12 in Bermuda, in which he pointed out the alternatives offered to the region by agri-tourism.