Bridgetown, Barbados -- June 15, 2007 -- The organisers of the region’s only annual event entirely dedicated to promoting intra regional travel have decided to cancel the event for this year.

Co-ordinator of the event, Adrian Loveridge, cites the main reasons as the escalating intra Caribbean airfares and the reluctance from both the public and travel trade to pay rates that are now being asked by the merged LIAT/Caribbean Star.

Also that National Tourism Offices throughout the region have depleted marketing budgets due in part to the hosting of the CWC event and the reduced profits experienced by individual hotels and tourism partners from less than expected attendance to the various cricket matches.

Loveridge, added that already we are seeing a significant downturn in arrivals from our third most important market, the Caribbean. Add to this reduced long stay visitors from the United States, our second largest market and we are once again relying too heavily on the United Kingdom.

This would have been the third successive year for the show, which attracts exhibitors from 20 Caribbean countries and brings to the Barbados economy an estimated $1 million in foreign earnings.

The show has been rescheduled for May next year and hopefully during that time the various Ministers of Tourism throughout the region will address the problem of the current inhibitive high regional airfares.