Caribbean Week in New York (CWNY 2025) concluded on Thursday with high praise from Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) Chair Ian Gooding-Edghill, who declared the 2025 edition a powerful testament to regional unity, strategic vision, and forward-thinking leadership.
“This is my first Caribbean Week as Chairman of the CTO and based on all the feedback we received, it went extremely well,” said Gooding-Edghill, who also serves as Minister of Tourism and International Transport for Barbados. “We are certainly delighted that we’ve had so many participants (over 200) registered.
“It also tells us that the organization is going in the right direction.” Held under the theme “Caribbean Resilience: Crafting Tomorrow’s Tourism”, the week brought together tourism leaders, cultural influencers and media stakeholders for a series of high-level discussions, workshops, and networking events focused on shaping the region’s tourism future.
One of the event’s highlights was the Council of Ministers and Commissioners Meeting. “We were in the session for just over four hours, which speaks to the value of the contributions at that meeting,” said Minister Gooding-Edghill.
“We’ve also specifically laid out additional work that the CTO will have to undertake on (behalf of members).” Andrea Franklin, CEO of Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., presided over the Board of Directors meeting as Chair of the CTO Board.
Gooding-Edghill emphasized the importance of robust research and data in strategic planning: “Research plays a significant role in our day-to-day business ... and we discussed how we can finetune and get additional data and metrics ... and plan strategically to advance the Caribbean’s interests.” Caribbean Week also marked the launch of the CTO’s Reimagine Plan (2025-2027), which seeks to provide CTO’s strategic direction for the next three years.
It is anchored by five key pillars: advocacy, market competitiveness, tourism intelligence, sustainable and regenerative tourism, and people development. “We will continue to focus on the Reimagine program,” said Mr. Gooding-Edghill.
“It’s an exciting time for us as CTO ... ever so often you have to look back and you have to look internally and see where you are and where you want to go ... and that is the Reimagine plan for us.”
