Stacey Liburd, Anguilla Tourist Board’s director of tourism, along with Verna Rogers, events manager at Belmond Cap Juluca, attended the Caribbean & Mexico Meeting and Incentive Travel Exchange (CMITE) in Montego Bay, Jamaica August 21–23, 2023. Organized by Questex Media in partnership with the Jamaica Tourist Board and Secrets Wild Orchid Montego Bay resort, the event convened North American meeting and incentive buyers from corporate direct, incentive houses and meeting/event management companies with Caribbean and Mexico-based travel suppliers for two and a half days of networking that included up to 20 one-to-one private appointments, cultural activities and educational opportunities.
“CMITE presented us with an excellent opportunity to engage with leading meeting and incentive planners who are actively seeking Caribbean destinations for their clients,” said Liburd. “The lucrative incentive market is one with tremendous potential for Anguilla, and we appreciate the support from our stakeholders, as evidenced by our partnership with Belmond Cap Juluca. Anguilla is an ideal incentive destination, and we are confident that our meetings will produce significant business for our island.”
Among the highlights was a panel presentation, “Countdown 2024: Finding Success in the New Era of Business Meetings,” moderated by Matt Turner, editor for Questex’s Travel + Meetings Group. The four-member panel comprised two supplier representatives, namely Stacey Liburd, and Alexia Alfaro, group & incentive sales executive, Enjoy Hotels of Costa Rica; and two buyer representatives, Danene Dustin, senior global sales executive, Morris Meetings & Incentives, and Julia Chen, senior director of conferences, TechGC.
The issues discussed included the importance of factors such as DEI and sustainability to decision makers, whether destinations should be wary of, or embrace, new technology such as AI, and their predictions for the industry in 2024. Liburd was uniquely positioned to address the issue of AI, given Anguilla’s singular position in this space: Anguilla’s websites end with the domain “.ai,” as assigned by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. Since the 1990s, Anguilla has overseen assigning internet addresses that end in “.ai” to residents and businesses looking to register websites, meaning anyone looking to use the domain for their company pays the island territory for the right. The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 sparked a significant spike in “.ai” domains, and the island now estimates it will earn between $25 million and $30 million for the year.
For more information, visit www.ivisitanguilla.com.
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