US Virgin Islands Hotel & Tourism Association

Caribbean Travel MarketplaceCaribbean Travel Marketplace, the region’s largest and most important marketing event, scheduled Jan. 21-23, 2016 at the Atlantis, Paradise Island in The Bahamas is growing and reaching broader markets than ever before.

CHTA has heard your requests for greater engagement and is expanding its outreach to include new tour operators, in niche and emerging markets. Marketplace will also offer revenue boosting educational sessions designed to offer hoteliers yield management strategies, supplemental revenue options and techniques to increase bookings. The sessions will begin on Jan. 21, 2016 prior to the official opening ceremony. Appointment requests are now open. For complete event details and to register, click here.

In addition, CHTA announced in Nov. that President Emil Lee tendered his resignation as CHTA President so he could assume the post as Minister of Labor, Health and Social Affairs for Saint Maarten. In accordance with CHTA’s Articles of Incorporation, effective immediately, CHTA’s First Vice President Karolin Troubetzkoy assumed the post as Acting President.

Troubetzkoy was unanimously appointed as President Elect at CHTA’s June 2015 Annual General Meeting, and as such was scheduled to begin her two-year term as president starting June 2016. With Lee’s resignation, Troubetzkoy has agreed to assume the acting post now and the board will be invited to formally appoint her as president at its meeting in Nassau, Bahamas Jan. 21, 2016.

As Lee focuses his commitment to service in another direction, please join us in thanking him for his leadership and commitment to CHTA. He leaves office after serving for over ten years as a member of the board of directors, including two years as first vice president and 17 months as president. During his term as president, CHTA has undergone organizational changes and restructuring, broadened membership engagement, strengthened public and private sector ties, and repositioned itself to play an even greater role in facilitating tourism’s role as a socio-economic driver for the region.

Commenting on his departure, Lee stated, “It is with a heavy heart that I leave my CHTA post as president; however, I am proud of the advancements the organization has made during my tenure and am confident that Karolin Troubetzkoy will perpetuate this momentum going forward in the creation of a new CHTA engaged with the membership.”

During the transition period, Lee will be available in an unofficial/non-voting capacity. Past President Richard Doumeng will continue in his capacity as chairman of the board of directors.