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BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- The Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), the region’s tourism development agency, is moving to motivate Canadian travel agents more vigorously to sell the Caribbean as a luxury destination.

Up to 100 of the top selling travel agents in the Greater Toronto area will be exposed to opportunities for luxury travel in the Caribbean and how to persuade holidaymakers to choose the region at a workshop and trade show during Caribbean Week in Toronto next month.

The workshop -- Tapping into the Lucrative Niche of Luxury Travel -- is organized by the CTO’s New York office and will be conducted by the certified travel manager and travel blogger, Steve Gillick. Gillick is the architect and first president of the national organization, the Canadian Institute of Travel Counsellors, the educational trade association for the Canadian travel industry.

“There are millions of luxury travellers on the road and they are eager for new experiences. This is a multi-billion dollar industry that represents a tremendous opportunity for travel agents. In the Caribbean, luxury travel is growing significantly as more boutique hotels and resorts are being built to tap into this niche,” said Sylma Brown, CTO’s New York-based director of marketing for the Americas.

“This workshop is designed to help travel agents learn how to identify who these travellers are and where to find them. It is also an opportunity to network and quiz the feature speaker and the representatives of CTO member countries who will be there as well,” she added.

Brown added that CTO was organizing the workshop to support the efforts of member countries in the marketplace, in a bid to motivate the travel agents to persuade their clients to consider the Caribbean as a perfect destination for a luxury holiday.

As part of the workshop, Gillick will also focus on the value of luxury travel and where to find the people who travel on luxury holidays.

The programme will include a trade show and networking session during which the participating destinations and suppliers will have access to the leading travel agents.

Caribbean Week in Toronto is a dynamic explosion of Caribbean life and culture in the Canada’s largest city. It celebrates the Caribbean's vibrancy, diversity, energy and the other incomparable attributes - from its cuisine to its music to its people - wrapped up in one elegant package designed to tease the traveller to visit the region.

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