Delegates Welcomed To State Of Tourism Industry Conference
The Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) 2025, under the theme Reimagining Caribbean Tourism: Research, Relevance and the Road Ahead, is being held in Barbados from September 30 to October 3, at the Hilton Barbados Resort. Last evening, officials and delegates gathered for the official welcome reception.
This year’s Conference will examine the pivotal role tourism plays in sustaining regional economies, cultures, and communities. Discussions will focus on strategies to revitalise, innovate, and safeguard the sector, ensuring its continued growth and prosperity for generations to come.
Welcoming delegates at the reception, themed “From Bridgerton to Bridgetown”, were Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI) and Chairman of the CTO’s Board of Directors, Andrea Franklin, and Secretary General and CEO of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, Dona Regis-Prosper.
Ms. Franklin emphasised the importance of the event in fostering networking, creativity, and resilience within the regional tourism sector, while underscoring the role of research and collaboration in strengthening the Caribbean brand.
“To all of you, welcome to Barbados, welcome to SOTIC and over the next few days, we will engage in candid conversations, bold ideas, [and] we will share solutions to problems that we face as a region. We will hear the themes that are emerging as it relate to the trends in tourism. We will hear about the research, and this is a big theme of the conference this year, research, [and] how we use the research.
“And really it’s for us to network, to really think about how we position ourselves as a region, and remember, we are not here just as individual countries, we are here as one region, one Caribbean,” Ms. Franklin stated.
Echoing these sentiments, Ms. Regis-Prosper added that SOTIC 2025 will be rich with opportunities for knowledge sharing, collaboration, and celebration. She noted that the Conference is about “celebrating the beauty of the Caribbean, not only our landscape, but our people”.
Over the course of the event, delegates will participate in panel discussions on critical topics, including airlift, source market intelligence, sports tourism, and strategies for building resilience in a rapidly changing global environment.
Networking sessions will also be featured, alongside the Tourism Youth Congress, which will see students aged 14 to 17 from 16 countries and territories present research and innovative perspectives on the future of Caribbean tourism.
Author: Sheena Forde-Craigg