It is now ten days in the countdown to the region’s first Tourism Sector investment and business Partnership Meeting scheduled for the Ritz Carlton Rose Hall hotel…
It is now ten days in the countdown to the region’s first Tourism Sector investment and business Partnership Meeting scheduled for the Ritz Carlton Rose Hall hotel on the beautiful north coast of Jamaica. Organizers PRO€INVEST, a European Union Agency in partnership with the Caribbean Hotel Association (CHA) and the collaboration of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), which are managing the event, confirmed that all is set for the staging of a successful event. Over 250 project sponsors, investors and business partners from Europe and the Caribbean, investment promotion agencies from 14 Caribbean Countries, and stakeholders associated with tourism, cricket world cup and the reconstruction efforts in the Region will be in attendance.
The PROFIT event, which is also sanctioned by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA), will be opened by Prime Minister of Jamaica, Rt. Hon P.J Patterson. German ambassador the Hon. Christian Hausmann leads a corps of dignitaries who will be in attendance, such as Athanassios Theodorakis – Acting Director General for Development, EU/PRO€INVEST-CDE; Hon. Dr. Paul Robertson, Minister of Development, Jamaica; Patricia Francis, President, Jamaica Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO); Hon. Obie Wilchcombe, Chairman, CTO; Hon. Minister Noel Lynch, Minister of Tourism, Ministry of Tourism & International Transport, Barbados; Hon. Wykeham McNeil, Minister of State, Jamaica; Gustavo Montealegre, VP Development Caribbean Barcelo Hotels & Resorts; Dieter Semmelroth, TUI AG; and Chris Deering, Managing Director of Cricket World Cup 2007.
Organizers point out that the aim of the Partnership Meeting is to promote investments and other business partnerships between Caribbean projects and European and Third Country investors and partners. “The timing of the meeting could not be more critical, given that the Region is facing three major imperatives: first, the need for tourism capacity expansion to support tourism growth over the next decade; second, the pressing infrastructure and stadia outlays that must be made to host Cricket World Cup 2007; and, more recently, the rebuilding needs caused by recent hurricane damage in the Region.”
The program of events includes interactive workshops, keynote speakers on relevant subject matters, one-to-one business meetings and networking sessions providing the perfect opportunity to make valuable business contacts and to meet with representatives from Development and Financial institutions as well as Ministers from the region. Over 100 projects Over 100 quality Caribbean projects have been selected to participate in the PROFIT Partnership meeting, covering hotel development, hospitality services, airline/Airport operations, IT services, tour operations, training, infrastructure and marketing services. Each project will be able to access €50,000 in technical assistance to assist with preliminaries.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
