Bahamas Tourism and Aviation Minister Dionisio D’Aguilar has been named as the new chairman of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) during a press conference at Caribbean Week in New York City.

The CTO is the Caribbean’s tourism development agency comprising membership of over 30 countries and territories including Dutch, English, French and Spanish, as well as a myriad of private sector allied members. D’Aguilar will lead the charge for the next year.

Tourism Director General Joy Jibrilu serves as the Chair of the CTO Board of Directors. She was appointed in September 2016.

“I look forward to leading the charge for the region as we work together to further improve our tourism industry and address the many vexing challenges we face. We must work together to enhance our tourism product across the board and increase the number of stopover visitors to our region,” D’Aguilar said of his appointment.

In his role as CTO chairman, Minister D’Aguilar provided updates regarding the region’s performance and developments from CTO Caribbean Week.

Watch a video of his remarks at the press conference as well as footage from this week’s events in NYC here.