FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — At a recent Bahamas Ministry of Tourism Global Sales and Marketing meeting, the top executives of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism met with the emerging leaders of their tourism team to discuss and prepare them for the future of the tourism industry.
Mrs. Joy Jibrilu, Director General of the Ministry of Tourism, and Deputy Director General Ellison “Tommy” Thompson joined Executive Director of Global Sales, Mrs. Bridgette King, for the three-day gathering that brought together a cadre of talented young professionals that will help propel the Ministry of Tourism into the future.
Director General Jibrilu expressed her pleasure at the opportunity to meet with members of the team, some of whom are based at the Ministry of Tourism headquarters in Nassau, as well as the tourism offices around the world.
The global team representing many of the top origin markets for The Bahamas included New York, Atlanta, Florida, Houston, Toronto, Europe and Latin America as well as the departments of Sports, Groups, Weddings & Honeymoons and Communications.
In sharing the long- term objectives of the Ministry of Tourism, the Director General noted that “the tourism industry must be driven by initiative, innovation, and creativity,” adding that the role of the Ministry of Tourism is to “inspire vacationers to come to The Bahamas.”
She also emphasized that “this was also an incredible opportunity to expose our young sales leaders to cutting-edge trends in the travel space.”
Mrs. Bridgette King, Executive Director of Global Sales and Marketing, who coordinated and spearheaded the global meeting, said the sessions “were intended to invoke discussions around the future of travel and the disruptions that are reshaping the travel industry.”
“At a time when new technologies are emerging constantly and decoding travelers’ booking behavior has gotten so much harder to predict, our young leaders must be prepared for a future that is dynamic and volatile,” Mrs. King said. “So, we brought in some of the best in various travel categories like Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Travel Zoo, Trip Tuner and Association of Travel Advisors (ASTA) to share their expertise on the future of travel, the big data question, consumer booking funnels and the evolving travel industry.”
Other senior tourism executives who led training sessions included Mr. Ian Ferguson, Executive Director of Administration/Operations; Mia Lange, Executive Director of Global Communications; and Andre Miller, Director – Digital.
The three-day meeting culminated with highly competitive team presentations to solve a number of critical challenges facing The Bahamas. The winning team received prizes courtesy of the Margaritaville Resort, Nassau. Mr. Larry Magor, General Manager of the resort, was a sponsor along with the Nassau Paradise Island Promotion Board.
Deputy Director General Ellison “Tommy” Thompson described the gathering as “a huge success and a model for future meetings”.
