CHICAGO — The Caribbean & Mexico Meeting and Incentive Travel Exchange (CMITE), organized by Questex, made its long-awaited return Aug. 21-24 for the first time since 2019 when it was put on a pandemic-related hold. This year’s CMITE was held in Montego Bay, Jamaica at the Secrets Wild Orchid & St. James resorts, bringing together North American meeting and incentive buyers with Caribbean and Mexico-based travel suppliers.
“The 2023 event was a banner year for CMITE,” said Jill Birkett, Vice President, Travel + Wellness, Questex. “We’ve been coming to the Caribbean to host this unique event for 10 years now and every year this event overdelivers on experience, mostly due to our incredible partners including the Jamaica Tourist Board, World of Hyatt Collection and Sandals Resorts. We can’t wait to announce the 2024 event location and dates.”
Over the course of two and a half days, CMITE attendees had the opportunity to network and engage in pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings in private rooms. More than 800 meetings were scheduled throughout the event.
“The one-to-ones in suites makes a world of difference,” Tanesha Clarke, Director of Sales Marketing at Ocean Coral Spring & Ocean Eden Bay in Jamaica, said. “I could make personal connections so easily and can tell it will help lead to lots of business for us.”
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Corrine Statia Thomas, CMP, Strategic Meetings & Events Specialist & Business Advisor, Absolute Events By Corrine, also saw the benefit of the private meetings at CMITE. “My meetings were very productive, and I was able to meet with and learn from several hoteliers in the Caribbean region. While I was aware of the various countries, I was not aware of their capacity to host meetings and events from outside of the region. I was quite impressed and look forward to an opportunity to bring groups to the region for retreats and possibly incentives.”
The event kicked off with theatrical performance, music, dancing, and fireworks presented by the Jamaica Tourist Board. The following day, the Jamaica Tourist Board’s Director of Tourism, Donovan White, welcomed the attendees before they attended presentations from SITE Global and Voyage Charters, as well as a panel presentation, “Countdown to 2024: Finding Success in the New Era of Business Meetings.” The panel was moderated by Matt Turner, Editor, Questex Travel & Meetings Group, and featured Stacey Liburd, Director of Tourism, Anguilla Tourist Board; Alexia Alfaro, Group & Incentive Sales Executive, Enjoy Hotels of Costa Rica; Danene Dustin, Senior Global Sales Executive, Morris Meetings & Incentives; and Julia Chen, Senior Director of Conferences, TechGC.
Additional evening receptions were held at the Hyatt Ziva Rose Hall where CMITE attendees were treated to pan-Caribbean food and entertainment, and at Sandals Montego Bay, which featured a “BoHo night” theme, replete with local cuisine and dancing.
Guests were also able to explore local highlights, including a catamaran tour of Montego Bay courtesy of Amstar, which included encounters with dolphins and a snorkeling experience.
“It wasn’t just meetings. We really got immersed in the local culture and flavors here,” Statia Thomas said.
The CMITE 2024 dates will be announced in the coming weeks.
Reach Jill Birkett at (212) 895-8253 or jbirkett@questex.com
