Jamaican Student Wins CTO Youth Congress 2012
Jamaican student O’Brian Lewis has emerged winner of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO)’s Tourism Youth Congress, held here yesterday as part of the State of the Industry Conference.
Lewis, of Oberlin High School, put on a strong and energetic performance to lead a group of exceptional students from CTO member countries in the debate that mimics a meeting of the CTO Council of Ministers and Commissioners of Tourism. In second position was Christopher Morgan of Harrison College in Barbados, with Kirano Jivani of Learning Unlimited Preparatory School in St. Maarten and Arean Louis of Majorie Basden High School in the Turks and Caicos Islands, tied for third.
Fourteen visionaries aged 14-17 presented a number of exciting ideas on sports tourism, social media and celebrity endorsements. Among the recommendations were an annual Nature Islands Games to attract visitors to Dominica, a high level tennis academy in Antigua and a museum in Jamaica to honour the country’s sporting heroes.
“Imagine entering a black green building, where, at the entrance, you are greeted by cool reggae music, to the right, you see Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, to your left, you find cricketers Courtney Walsh or Chris Gayle,” Lewis said of his proposed museum.
This year’s Youth Congress was held at the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and was attended by Ministers, Commissioners and Directors of Tourism, senior tourism officials and 350 high school and tertiary students from the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis. It was chaired by last year’s winner, Kitwanie Carbon of Dominica.
About the Caribbean Tourism Organization
The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), with headquarters in Barbados and offices in New York and London, is the Caribbean’s tourism development agency comprising membership of over 30 governments and a myriad of private sector entities.
The CTO’s mission is to provide to and through its members, the services and information needed for the development of sustainable tourism for the economic and social benefit of the People of the Caribbean. The organization provides specialized support and technical assistance to members in the areas of sustainable tourism development, marketing, communications, advocacy, human resource development, research and information technology.
