At a recent Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation (MOTA) global sales and marketing meeting in Florida, the top executives of MOTA met with the emerging leaders of their tourism team to discuss and prepare them for the future of the tourism industry.

Director general at MOTA Joy Jibrilu, and deputy director general Ellison Thompson, joined executive director of global sales Bridgette King, for the three-day gathering that brought together the first cadre of talented young professionals that will help propel MOTA into the future.

Pictured: (from left) Andre Miller, director, global communications; Betty Bethel, director sales, Florida; Ian Ferguson, executive director, administrative operations; Mia Lange, executive director, global communications; Joy Jibrilu, director general; Ellison Thompson, deputy director general; Bridgette King, executive director, global sales & marketing; Eldece Clarke, director sports tourism development; and Greg Rolle, senior director, private aviation. (BIS Photo)

Jibrilu said it was a great opportunity to meet with members of the team, some of whom are based in Nassau, as well as the tourism offices around the world.

The global team representing many of the top origin markets for The Bahamas included New York, Atlanta, Florida, Houston, Toronto, Europe and Latin America, as well as the departments of sports, groups, weddings and honeymoons and communications.

In sharing the long-term objectives of MOTA the director general said that “the tourism industry must be driven by initiative, innovation, and creativity”. She added that the role of MOTA is to “inspire vacationers to come to The Bahamas,” and said that it was “incredible opportunity” to expose young sales leaders to cutting-edge trends in travel.

King, who coordinated and spearheaded the global meeting, said that “the sessions were intended to invoke discussions around the future of travel and the disruptions that are reshaping the travel industry.”

“At a time when new technologies are emerging constantly and decoding travellers’ booking behaviour has gotten so much harder to predict, our young leaders must be prepared for a future that is dynamic and volatile. So, we brought in some of the best in various travel categories to share their expertise on the future of travel, the big data question, consumer booking funnels and the evolving travel industry”.

The three-day meeting culminated with highly competitive team presentations to solve a number of critical challenges facing The Bahamas.

Thompson, described the gathering as “a huge success and a model for future meetings.”