BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC:
THE CARIBBEAN Tourism Organisation (CTO) has named its long-time research director, Arley Sobers, to the post of acting secretary general, CTO Chairman Pamela Richards announced Thursday.
Sobers takes over running the CTO's Barbados secretariat from Deputy Secretary-General Karen Ford-Warner, who has resigned to return to her native Jamaica.
A brief statement from Richards said Sobers' appointment was effective "immediately".
"I would like to thank Mrs. Karen Ford-Warner for her efforts to guide this organisation towards excellence," Richards added. "Her wit, commitment and support will be missed."
Sobers will run the CTO in the interim until a permanent successor is appointed to succeed the retired secretary-general, Jean Holder.
Richards said she expected to formally announce the selection of a new secretary general during the CTO's May 29 June 5 "Caribbean Week" in New York.
The 16-year-old CTO is the Caribbean's leading tourism association, linking public and private sector industry players, from tourist boards to hotel associations. The agency conducts research and distributes data on the development of the regional industry.
The CTO was formed in 1989 with the merger of the Caribbean Tourism Association, which was founded in 1951, and the Caribbean Tourism Research and Development Centre, formed in 1974.
