CTC-28 in St. Thomas

The 28th Annual Caribbean Tourism Conference (CTC-28) took place from October 20th – 26th, 2005, in St. Thomas, USVI.

This year the topic for the “My Caribbean Essay Contest” sponsored by Conde Nast Traveller was “If you were given the responsibility of preserving your island’s environment and maintaining its beauty, how would you do that, and how would you involve the whole community from children to adults”. {{more}} St. Vincent and the Grenadines was represented by Vakeesha John, a pupil at the Layou Government School. The competition was won by St. Eustatius. Vakeesha was chaperoned by Ms. Shonnette Johnson of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

The 5th Travel and Leisure Youth Congress also took place. Seventeen countries including St. Vincent and the Grenadines participated. This country was represented by Ms. Jo-ann Marshall, winner of the 2004 Lions Public Speaking Competition. Ms. Marshall placed 2nd runner-up in the Youth Congress, with 1st runner-up going to St. Maarten while Barbados took first place. Ms. Marina Lampkin, the Tourism Education Officer was Chaperone to our Youth Congress delegate Marshall was coached by members of staff here in the Ministry as well as staff members from other Ministries and NGO’s.