July 14, 2021 (BRIDGETOWN, Barbados) — The Allied Members of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) have partnered with leading global business travel outlet Skift to host their first joint webinar, ‘The Trends Driving Travel’s Big Rebound: Implications for the Caribbean’ on Thursday, July 22 at 11 a.m. EST, featuring Skift CEO and Founder Rafat Ali, global tourism reporter Lebawit “Lily” Girma, and host William “Billy” Griffith, Chairman of CTO Allied Members Board.
“The Caribbean is a vital and historic region in global tourism. As travel resumes worldwide, this is the perfect time to kick off an exciting partnership between the CTO and Skift,” said Griffith. “Examining global trends through a regional lens is key to aligning business goals moving forward for tourism professionals throughout the Caribbean.”
Consisting of industry stakeholders in the Caribbean region, the Allied Members of the CTO are the non-government members of the organization, representing a range of businesses and other entities with interest in the Caribbean tourism sector. Viewers are invited to this discussion covering the recovery of the Caribbean, where speakers will dissect global travel trends and place them in a Caribbean context. The webinar will cover how the pandemic has impacted and shaped Caribbean recovery, including:
– Identification of the main travel marketing cohorts post-pandemic
– New innovations, subscription travel, and their benefits
– Impact of the short-term rental market on local tourism
– The rising costs of travel
– Climate change and its influence on business travel
Speakers:
Rafat Ali is the CEO/founder of Skift, the most influential business media company in global travel, providing news, research, events, and marketing services. Previously, he was the founder/CEO of paidContent and ContentNext, which he sold to UK’s Guardian News and Media in 2008, and left in 2010. Prior to that, he was managing editor of Silicon Alley Reporter. Rafat was the Knight Fellow at Indiana University, where he completed his Masters in Journalism, 1999-2000. Prior to that, he completed his BSc in Computer Engineering, from AMU in Aligarh, India.
Lebawit Lily Girma is Skift’s global tourism reporter. Prior to joining Skift, Lily built a distinguished career as an award-winning travel journalist focused on sustainable tourism and the Caribbean region. In addition to Skift, her work has been published and referenced in major outlets, including BBC, CNN, Washington Post, and Travel and Leisure, among others. In 2020, Forbes featured Lily as one of “15 Black Travel Writers to Read Now, and she is also a recipient of the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s Marcia Vickery Wallace award for excellence in travel journalism.
