The CTO Foundation is introducing this scholarship of up to $7,500 in the name of the late Jean Holder, who was considered by many as the father of Caribbean tourism development. Mr. Holder was instrumental in merging the Caribbean Tourism Research and Development Centre (CTRC), which he headed from its inception in 1974, with the Caribbean Tourism Association to form the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) in 1989. Holder was the CTO’s first Secretary General and served the region in that capacity until his retirement in 2004.

Subsequent to his retirement he served as Chairman of LIAT until 2019. Mr. Holder was a Cambridge educated Barbadian and visionary who served in the Barbados diplomatic corps prior to being seconded to the CTRC.

At the CTRC he promoted tourism education and training, tourism planning and research, as well as statistics, causes he continued to champion throughout his three decades as a servant of Caribbean tourism. While at the helm of the CTO, Mr. Holder was focused on making the region’s tourism product the envy other tourism destinations and felt that this could be achieved by changing the mindset in the Caribbean to understand that employment in the tourism industry provided a career of service. He stressed the need for Caribbean children to be taught the importance of tourism from a very early age so that they understood the importance of the sector as an economic driver. He was passionate about sustainable tourism in all of its aspects and was ahead of his time in encouraging the members of the organization to begin to put it into practice in their various countries. He was the architect of the region’s first eco-tourism conferences, and later, the Sustainable Tourism Conference. He was also instrumental in the establishment of the CTO Scholarship Foundation in 1997.

Mr. Holder served on the boards of the most important international tourism organizations and represented the Caribbean with pride, honour, skill and gravitas.

The Jean Holder Memorial Scholarship is being offered to a Caribbean national seeking to enhance their skill in any area of Sustainable Tourism Development.

The CTO Scholarship Foundation offers this scholarship of up to $5,000.00 in the name of the late Arley Sobers, who was the director of information management and research and acting secretary general at the CTO when he passed away suddenly in 2008.

Mr. Sobers dedicated over two decades of his working life to the service of the Caribbean Tourism Organization. He was very determined to ensure that tourism statistical information and research disseminated with respect to the Caribbean was accurate, reliable and properly validated, thus reflecting the very high standards which he demanded of himself and of those who worked with him and his high regard for the work of the organization..

He was of high intellect, analytical, and very fair in his deliberations with all. From very early on in his career, he clearly recognised tourism’s importance to the economies of the Caribbean, and while Mr. Sobers worked primarily in the area of research and statistics, his overall influence and contribution to Caribbean tourism was wide reaching.

The Arley Sobers Memorial Scholarship is being offered to Caribbean nationals seeking to enhance their skills in tourism research or statistics, data science, information technology or cybersecurity.

The CTO Scholarship Foundation is offering this scholarship of up to $5,000.00 in the name of the late Bonita Morgan who was director of resource mobilization and development at the Caribbean Tourism Organization, where she worked from April 1966 until her passing in 2018.

Mrs. Morgan had a great passion for the development of Caribbean youth and world class service and believed that Caribbean children should be introduced to the study of tourism, the major drive of the economy of the Caribbean, from a very young age. She dedicated the best part of her working life to helping release the potential of Caribbean people through education, training and professional development.

She advocated for having tourism on the curriculum of elementary schools, created the newsletter Caribbean Waves, to share tourism information with schools in the region, was instrumental in organizing the popular Caribbean Tourism Youth Congress and served as secretary of the CTO Foundation until her passing.

The Bonita Morgan Memorial Scholarship is being offered to Caribbean nationals seeking to enhance their skills in tourism education or human resources development.

CTO Scholarship Foundation Study Grant

Up to $2,500

The CTO Scholarship Foundation is offering these study grants to Caribbean nationals seeking financial assistance to improve their skills in any tourism related field of study that will enhance the development of a sustainable tourism industry and boost service excellence in the region. These include tourism marketing, aeronautics, media, agrotourism, horticulture, event planning, piloting and a wide range of other disciplines.

Study Grants amounts do not exceed $2,500.