Former Grenada Minister of Tourism, Brenda Hood is among six stalwarts of Caribbean tourism to be honored by the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) allied membership at the Travel Industry Awards Dinner during Caribbean Week New York (#CWNY2019) next month.
Hood is the chairman of the Grenada Tourism Authority, and has served at various stages during her career on the CTO’s human resources technical committee, and the boards of the then Caribbean Disaster Emergency Response Agency (now the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency) and the Inter-Parliamentary Forum of the Americas.
CTO said on Monday that Hood, along with Colin James, chief executive officer of the Antigua & Barbuda Tourism Authority, will receive the Allied Award for outstanding contributions to the region’s development.
The Allied Award was established in 2005 to recognize individuals within the CTO family – government, airline, cruise line, allied and affiliate members and CTO staff – who have done an extraordinary job of contributing, in a tangible way, to the sustainable development of the region.
Director of Tourism of the Cayman Islands, Rosa Harris, along with Laura Davidson, president and founder of Laura Davidson Public Relations, will be celebrated with the Jerry Award for the passion with which they serve the region, CTO said.
Established in 1997 in memory of the late Jerry Magit who represented the allied members on the CTO’s board of directors, CTO said the Jerry Award recognizes people who demonstrate a passion for the region and have dedicated time, energy, financial, and other personal and professional resources to its development.
Meanwhile, Noel Mignott, president and chief executive officer of The PM Group, and Vincentian Annette Stowe, internet and conference administrator at CTO-USA, Inc., will receive the Special Recognition Award, CTO said.
“This award honors high-performance individuals whose contributions, particularly in the last year, have truly made a difference among the region or Caribbean community and/or industry,” CTO said. “It is not limited to service directly in the travel arena but for service in any ancillary industry that supports tourism and brings continuous positive recognition to the region.”
In addition to the CTO allied membership awards, CTO will announce the winners of the travel media awards and will present its Lifetime Achievement Award, its Distinguished Caribbean Citizen Award and its Award of Excellence, among others, while Jamaica will present the Marcella Martinez and the Marcia Vickery-Wallace awards.
The Travel Industry Awards Dinner will take place on Thursday, June 6 from 7 – 10 pm at the Wyndham New Yorker, 481 8th Ave., Manhattan.
CTO said Caribbean Week New York is the largest regional tourism activity in the New York area.
“Artistes, performers, celebrity chefs, the Diaspora, investors and other strategic partners join government officials and the media for a week of festivities designed to raise awareness of the Caribbean’s diverse tourism industry and provide opportunities for member destinations to promote their individual products and services, participate in meetings, seminars and other business development activities to further enhance the Caribbean brand, and provide updates and critical support to travel agents and the media who influence key travel demographics,” CTO said.
