By Alexander Britell

NASSAU — Saint Lucia is the new chair of the Caribbean Tourism Organization.

The island’s Minister of Tourism, Dominic Fedee, was voted in as the new chair of the regional tourism organization during this week’s State of the Industry Conference at the Atlantis Paradise Island resort in The Bahamas.

 “We have an opportunity to advance the strength of our collective purpose,” said the new chairman. “We have to spare no effort to use our collaboration at the CTO level to help to advance the wider integration movement and the CTO can be seen in the same ilk as West Indies cricket and the University of the West Indies as success stories to unite the Caribbean further.”

Fedee has named Tiffany Howard, the acting chief executive officer of the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority, as chairman of the CTO board of directors, since the CTO constitution mandates that the board chairman and the chairman of the Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism must come from the same member country.

“The Caribbean is one of the strongest and one of the most iconic and aspirational travel brands in the world but also it is the most underutilized and the opportunity exists for us to ensure that we utilize the strength of the brand for the collective good of the destinations of the Caribbean,” he said.

In addition to the election of the chairman, vice chairs were elected to serve on the executive committee of the board of directors to represent various sub-groups – Curacao, representing the Dutch Caribbean; Haiti representing the French Caribbean; Bahamas and Jamaica, representing the independent Caribbean Community countries and the Cayman Islands representing the British overseas territories.

This committee will be filled out with representatives from the private sector.