When the London office of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) closed its doors on Friday (Jan. 31), it was the last international office to do so, outlasting both New York and Toronto by about a month – though the plan to shutter all three was announced last fall.

It also marked the end of an era as the CTO continues a restructuring that it says will “more adequately serve the needs of our all members,” but which critics have called a “contraction” in the organization’s size and scope.

And while CTO chairman Dominic Fedee says the organization will emerge from the process with a “big bang” – particularly by virtue of extravagant plans for a Caribbean Week in New York later this year – the Saint Lucia tourism minister wouldn’t commit to any Canadian activities, noting that the Caribbean Week would be rotated to other cities solely based upon their “strategic importance” to the CTO.

And while that may or may not include Toronto or Montreal, Fedee did assure Travel Industry Today at the recent Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA) Caribbean Travel Marketplace (CTM) in Nassau, Bahamas, that “we haven’t given up on any market.”

In the past, the CTO’s activities in Canada have generally been sporadic and in the past few years (until the end of 2019), representation was limited to one person serving the entire country. So, when the CTO made its announcement in October that it would be closing overseas offices, the bombshell was that it would include New York and London, not Toronto.

When Fedee delivered the restructuring news, he said, “Over the past two decades, there has been much discussion surrounding the promotion and development of tourism in the Caribbean (and) there has been widespread acceptance that much improvement is needed to elevate tourism development in the region.

“Some of the most discussed aspirations range from marketing the Caribbean as a single brand, more in-depth research, and a greater uniformed approach to policy formulation and product development. Consequently, we are of the firm view that in order to play a stronger role in the new era of tourism development, we have to reinvent and reposition the organization as a pillar upon which tourism advancement can rest.”

The exercise would also allow the CTO to streamline operations and finances, he said, admitting the process would “lead to some displacement in the organization.”

At CTM, Fedee reiterated the CTO’s plans to become “more business-like and effective” as a kind of government-commercial hybrid organization with its own profit centres.

He added, “We have to get back to the day when the CTO was a repository for marketing and research.”

The CTO’s metamorphosis is a process that CHTA chairman and director general Frank Comito endorses, noting it is a process that his organization has already gone through. “They’re in transition and redefining themselves… and it’s necessary. I think it’s moving in a good direction, personally,” he said.

Meanwhile, the president of CHTA (which sits on the board of directors of CTO), Patricia Affonso-Dass, says, “It’s wonderful to have the opportunity to build things from scratch.”

To that Fedee adds, “It’s crucial that we have an effective body (to represent the Caribbean). It’s a new era at the CTO!”

The Caribbean Tourism Organization is the region’s tourism development agency, with 24 Dutch, English, Spanish and French country members and a myriad of private sector allied members. Its vision is to “position the Caribbean as the most desirable, year-round, warm weather destination.”