Young people from across the Caribbean will take centre stage this week as Guyana hosts the Caribbean Tourism Organization’s State of the Tourism Industry Conference (SOTIC) 2026, with 19 participants in the Regional Tourism Youth Congress.

Senior Manager of Product Development at the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA) Candace Phillips said the Youth Congress is intended to give young people an active role in influencing the future of Caribbean tourism.

Speaking to Kiskadee Watch yesterday at the Atlantic Suites by Hyatt, Kingston, she shared that the youth programme forms part of the activities being held alongside SOTIC 2026, which officially opened in Guyana yesterday.

“This is the Regional Tourism Youth Congress Orientation Ceremony,” Phillips said, explaining that participants are between 14 and 17 years old and were selected through competitions in their respective countries to represent them at the regional event.

The young representatives have earned the designation of “Junior Minister of Tourism” for their respective territories and will participate in the Youth Congress on Thursday. The orientation was designed to give participants an overview of what they can expect during the week and prepare them for the competition.

At the Youth Congress, participants will deliver a three-minute presentation on a tourism-related topic they selected beforehand and they will also compete in a mystery round, during which they will be given a topic and one minute to speak on it.

Participants will be judged on areas including debating ability, eloquence and content, and the participant who emerges as the overall winner will earn the title and recognition as the region’s winning Junior Minister of Tourism, along with a scholarship and other prizes.

Phillips said the competition is expected to be highly competitive, particularly because participants are being encouraged to think beyond their individual territories and consider the future of tourism across the Caribbean. “The ultimate goal is to recognise that youths have an active part in shaping the future. And tourism is no different,” she said.

The programme allows young people to examine the current state of Caribbean tourism, consider how it aligns with their countries’ tourism strategies and offer their own perspectives on how the industry can evolve.

Phillips said the Youth Congress can also provide an avenue for innovative ideas to emerge from young people. “You see the youths really pushing out there with new pathways, new thoughts of how we can do tourism effectively,” she said, adding that countries across the region can learn from one another.

She pointed to the Future Leaders Forum held earlier in the day as an indication of the level of engagement expected from the young participants during the Youth Congress.

Phillips said the youths brought “so many questions, viewpoints, and different perspectives” to discussions about how tourism can be developed.

The Youth Congress is one of several activities being held during SOTIC 2026, which is being hosted in Guyana for the first time from October 5 to 9. 

More than300 delegateshave registered for the conference, including13 Caribbean tourism ministers, according to organisers. 

The conference brings together tourism ministers, industry leaders, policymakers and other stakeholders from across the Caribbean and beyond to examine the performance of the regional tourism industry and discuss priorities and opportunities for future growth.