The Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) continues its strategic push to strengthen Barbados’ global presence by promoting the island’s offerings at international tradeshows and events.
As part of this annual initiative, members of the BHTA, in collaboration with the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., and key public and private sector partners, recently represented the island at two major industry events — TEAMS USA and IMEX America.
BHTA CEO Ryan Forde described Barbados’ participation at both events as extremely successful, noting that sports tourism accounts for approximately ten per cent of global travel. Similarly, the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) market represents more than seven per cent of global travel and contributes over US$1 trillion annually, through its wide-reaching impact on various sectors.
He said, “Since hosting the World Cup and major group business in June over the past two years, what was traditionally our softest month has now grown into a decent month of arrivals, extending the shoulder of summer.
“Barbados is well positioned to continue growth in both segments and others. We must now also focus on the other three slower summer months by working collectively and marketing the island’s offerings. It is also important that the various stakeholders continue to fine-tune their offerings, strengthen their service levels, focus on product development and building effective partnerships, to ensure that the island continues to maximise the benefits that come from these sectors.”
The CEO highlighted that attending tradeshows, roadshows and similar international events has consistently generated significant business for the island and enables the BHTA and its partners to explore opportunities, build new relationships and plan strategically for sustained growth.
“So far in 2025 the BHTA has represented the island at ITB Berlin, WTM Latin America, Connect Barbados and CHTA Marketplace, among others. At TEAMS alone, we met with more than 40 international sports event organisers and meeting planners, to explore opportunities to bring their events to our shores.
“From dance, cheerleading, water polo to golf, futsal, beach soccer, hockey and even new additions like dodge ball and pillow fighting, the interest in Barbados as a sports destination continues to grow. We also held valuable discussions focused on youth, senior persons, corporate and national team training experiences, promoting Barbados as the perfect destination for sports, business and more.”
BHTA Special Projects Manager Tessalee Moore noted that IMEX, the largest trade show in the United States dedicated to the MICE industry, also provided Barbados the ideal platform to engage with global professionals from the business events sector including event planners, professional conference organisers and corporate travel managers.
“We were able to focus on attracting group business, incentive travel and corporate events to the island, in our efforts to continue promoting our diversified tourism offerings and extend visitor arrivals beyond the traditional leisure market.
“The interest to bring incentive business to Barbados continues to grow year on year, so by showcasing Barbados’ world-class facilities, unique experiences and businessfriendly infrastructure, we aim to position the island as a leading destination for meetings and incentive travel within the Caribbean region.” (PR)
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