The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and American Express announce the launch of a Meetings & Incentives Seminar…
The Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and American Express announce the launch of a Meetings & Incentives Seminar to give its membership in the Caribbean hospitality industry the knowledge and tools to garner a greater share of the lucrative meetings and incentives markets. According to the Meetings & Conventions 2002 Meetings Market Report, total spending on meetings and conventions in 2001 was $100 billion, explained Emmanuel Schreibmaier, vice-president of sales and marketing for the Americas of Sol Melia Hotels and chairman of the CHA Meetings & Incentives Subcommittee. Incentive travel clearly presents a prime growth opportunity for the region. The one-day program of presentations and workshops will be held for the first time on Wednesday, August 11, 2004, at the Amaryllis Beach Resort in Barbados. A second session will be presented on Friday, August 13th, at the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort & Casino in Sint Maarten. The program will be led by Bob Vitagliano, Certified Incentive Travel Executive and former Vice President and CEO of the Society of Incentive Travel Executives.
Areas of discussion will include an overview of the meetings and incentive market; the elements of a successful meeting and incentive destination; expectations of the incentive traveler; and the products that sell. In addition, participants will learn how to create proposals and presentations that sell to incentive travel buyers. The seminar concludes with a two-hour practical workshop to allow participants to identify and assess the strengths and weaknesses of their Caribbean destinations and products, viewed from an incentive viewpoint.
The seminar is part of the Caribbean Hotel Association meetings and incentives program that also includes Caribbean Meetings & Events, the first publication on the Caribbean meetings market, produced by CHA`s publishing arm Gold Book Publishing. The annual oversized, glossy `coffee table` publication is mailed on a complimentary basis to a database of 18,000 meetings and incentive planners, as well as intra-Caribbean meeting planners and qualified planners worldwide who join the program. The magazine includes a directory with 700 listings of Caribbean hotels with any meeting facility in 36 destinations. In the tradition of Gold Book Publishing, listings do not carry a cost, to ensure the information is exhaustive, not limited to those who pay.
Vitagliano began his career in the incentive industry on the buyer`s side with the conglomerate, SCM Corporation. He later moved to the supplier side of the incentive travel industry. Vitagliano has been associated with destination management companies in New York and California and was the Western Regional Manager for Dittman Incentive Marketing, a full-service incentive marketing company. He served as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the Society of Incentive & Travel Executives (SITE) from 1993 through 1999 conducting business in 63 cities in 30 countries. He has now established his own consulting and training company, V Associates, headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, and is a partner in fourCE.org. In 1987, he earned the designation Certified Incentive Travel Executive (CITE) demonstrating his depth of experience and broad range of knowledge of the incentive travel industry. In 1999, Vitagliano received the EIBTM/IT&ME Intercontinental Fellowship Award for the incentive industry.
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