By LCN Wire
Guyana hosted the region's tourism conference this month. The Caribbean Tourism Organization used the meeting to elect its officers for the next two years.
Eight offices were in front of it. Seven were filled. Guyana took none of them.
Who now runs the Caribbean Tourism Organization?
Antigua and Barbuda, at both the ministerial and the board level.
Charles "Max" Fernandez, Antigua and Barbuda's Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Transportation and Investment, leads the Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism, succeeding Ian Gooding-Edghill, Barbados's Minister of Tourism and International Transport, after his two-year term. Colin James, chief executive of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, takes the Board chair from Andrea Franklin of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc.
The pairing is not unusual. Barbados held both offices through the term that has just ended.
Fernandez carries civil aviation and transportation alongside tourism, which is the side of the business the organisation itself does not control. Routes between its own members are set commercially: Sunrise Airways opened nonstop Antigua to Barbados flights in August, and Aeroméxico's new Caribbean routes reach Jamaica and The Bahamas while Guyanese still need a Mexican visa.
What else was decided at the meeting?
Five subregional vice-chairmanships, and one seat left empty.
The Board elected the United States Virgin Islands to represent the United States territories, the British Virgin Islands for the British overseas territories, and Saint-Martin for the French-speaking territories. St Kitts and Nevis and The Bahamas were elected to represent CARICOM countries. The representative for the Dutch-speaking territories was deferred to the next meeting.
Those six subregional vice chairs and the Board chairman form the Executive Committee of the Board. Five of the six vice-chair seats now have an occupant.
The two CARICOM seats went to countries with live tourism exposure of their own. The Bahamas holds three of Carnival's seven exclusive Caribbean destinations, and St Kitts and Nevis is both the market Demerara Distillers has backed with thirteen times that unit's annual revenue and the seller of a passport whose a third annual citizenship summit, as US demand for Caribbean passports reaches record levels.
Is Guyana a member of the organisation?
Yes, and its entry is on the organisation's own government members list.
The list records Guyana under the Hon. Susan Rodrigues, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, at the Ministry of Tourism, 229 South Road, Lacytown, with Kamrul Baksh, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, as the second named contact. Rodrigues told a Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association panel on 13 October that oil and gas will not deliver prosperity alone, and that she is baffled more private investment is not going to Lethem.
So the country that hosted the meeting is a full government member of the body that met there, and was not elected to any of the offices filled.
Does hosting usually come with an office?
No. The two run on different tracks.
A chairmanship lasts two years and spans two conferences, one of which is typically held in the chair's own country. Barbados chaired from September 2024 and hosted the 2025 conference; the 2026 conference came to Georgetown while Barbados still held the chair. Turks and Caicos hosted in 2023 while the Cayman Islands held the chairmanship, in the same Grace Bay market where a Maltese hotel group has since bought in.
Guyana is therefore the second host in four years to stage the conference without holding the chairmanship, and the first to do so in a year when the offices were up.
Where does the conference go next?
The conference goes to Antigua and Barbuda, from 4 to 8 October 2027.
The organisation announced the host on 11 October 2026, the final day of the Georgetown conference. Dona Regis-Prosper, its secretary-general and chief executive, thanked the government of Guyana for hosting this year and said each conference "gives us an important opportunity to examine the issues affecting our industry, share knowledge and strengthen the partnerships that will help Caribbean tourism remain competitive, sustainable and inclusive". The theme, programme, registration and accommodation are to be announced in the coming months.
What did Guyana use the conference for?
Investment, rather than position.
Guyana's President used the Georgetown platform to tell investors to build the rooms, while Jamaica's tourism minister used it to press a Caribbean visitor levy for a regional resilience fund. The conference also met against very uneven numbers: the Dominican Republic took more visitors in September than Cuba took in seven months, and Cuba arrived having lost two thirds of its visitors and three hotel chains.
United States entry is the variable none of them controls, and it does not fall evenly on the officers just elected. Antigua and Barbuda pays a US$20,000 visa bond at a 1.30 per cent overstay rate, and St Kitts and Nevis does not, though both sell citizenship. Washington restricted Antigua and Dominica in December, and the United States travel industry itself expects the bond to reach every country that needs a visa.
Guyana, which took no office, carries its own version of the same problem: an open economy and a closed door. None of it is the organisation's to settle.
The incoming chairmanship inherits the organisation's Reimagine Plan, which covers advocacy, market competitiveness, tourism intelligence, sustainable and regenerative tourism, and people development, with added work on workforce development, local supplier links, infrastructure, logistics and technology.
The entities
- Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) is the region's tourism development body, headquartered in Barbados.
- Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism is the ministerial organ whose chairmanship Antigua and Barbuda now holds.
- Board of Directors is the second organ, whose chairman and six subregional vice chairs form its Executive Committee.
- Charles "Max" Fernandez is Antigua and Barbuda's Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Transportation and Investment, and the incoming chairman.
- Ian Gooding-Edghill is Barbados's Minister of Tourism and International Transport, the outgoing chairman.
- Colin James is chief executive of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority and the incoming Board chairman.
- Andrea Franklin is chief executive of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. and the outgoing Board chairman.
- Dona Regis-Prosper is the organisation's secretary-general and chief executive.
- Susan Rodrigues is Guyana's Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, and the first contact on Guyana's entry in the members list.
- Kamrul Baksh is Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, the second contact on that entry.
- State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) is the organisation's flagship annual conference, held in Georgetown in 2026 and going to Antigua and Barbuda in 2027.
- Reimagine Plan is the organisation's current strategy.
What the title card shows
Every data point on the article's title card, in text.
- Eight offices. The chairmanship, the Board chair and six subregional vice-chairmanships. Source: La Caribeña News, counted from the published slate.
- Seven filled. The Dutch-speaking vice-chairmanship was deferred. Source: TravelDailyNews.
- None to Guyana. The host of the meeting took no office. Source: the published slate.
- Two to Antigua and Barbuda. The chairmanship and the Board chair. Source: TravelDailyNews.
- Two CARICOM seats. To St Kitts and Nevis and The Bahamas. Source: TravelDailyNews.
- 4 to 8 October 2027. The dates of the next conference, in Antigua and Barbuda. Source: Caribbean Tourism Organization.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Guyana a member of the Caribbean Tourism Organization?
Yes. Guyana appears on the organisation's own government members list, under the Hon. Susan Rodrigues, Minister of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, with Kamrul Baksh, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority, as the second named contact.
Who was elected to lead the Caribbean Tourism Organization in Georgetown?
Charles "Max" Fernandez of Antigua and Barbuda as chairman of the Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism, and Colin James of the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority as chairman of the Board of Directors. They succeed Ian Gooding-Edghill and Andrea Franklin, both of Barbados.
Which countries hold the vice-chairmanships?
The United States Virgin Islands for the United States territories, the British Virgin Islands for the British overseas territories, Saint-Martin for the French-speaking territories, and St Kitts and Nevis and The Bahamas for CARICOM. The Dutch-speaking seat was deferred to the next meeting.
Where is the 2027 conference?
In Antigua and Barbuda, from 4 to 8 October 2027. The theme, programme, registration and accommodation are to be announced in the coming months.