PROFESSOR BRIAN WHEELLER

Brian Wheeller is Visiting Professor of Tourism at NHTV, Breda and Professor of Tourism at the University of Tasmania, Australia. He is Visiting Research Fellow at Leeds Metropolitan University, at Sheffield Hallam University and at the University of Plymouth. He holds degrees in Economics, in Applied Economics, in the Economic Impacts of Tourism, and in American Studies. His doctorate on Critiquing Eco/Ego/Sustainable Tourism contextualises the debate within tourism planning, policy and practice. Brian’s current research revolves around the links between travel, tourism and popular culture – in particular literature, art, film and music. His interests also embrace humour, image and use of the visual in tourism and tourism education (as exemplified by his recent works on Wallace and Gromit and on the postcards of Donald McGill and their respective relevance to contemporary tourism thinking).

MR. HUGH RILEY
Secretary General
Caribbean Tourism Organisation

Hugh Riley is the Secretary General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization, (CTO).  As the chief executive officer he oversees the CTO’s offices in Barbados, North America, the UK andEurope and leads the organization’s initiatives to strengthen relations with the tourism industry’s key strategic partners; these include hotels, airlines, cruise lines and all categories of retailers and wholesale packagers of the Caribbean’s tourism products.  His responsibility is to deliver the CTO’s mission as the Caribbean’s tourism development agency, providing specialized services and technical support to thirty-three governments and a variety of private sector members in the areas of marketing, human resource development, communication, research and statistics, information technology and sustainable tourism development.

Mr. Riley joined the staff of the CTO New York in 2002 as director of marketing, after having worked in a number of senior tourism positions in the U.S, Canada and the Caribbean over a period of twenty years.  He is credited with having instituted new air services from North and South America to his native Barbados and the Caribbean, and was responsible for engaging the Caribbean Diaspora and the traveling public through uniquely targeted events in major cities throughout North America.  He was honored by the New York City Council for his contribution to the cultural life of that City. 

In his current capacity he directs the activities of teams of tourism professionals in managing Caribbean tourism’s human and financial resources and raising public awareness of the Region as the world’s premier warm weather tourism destination.

Hugh Riley got his start in marketing communications as an account executive and a copywriter with McCann-Erickson Advertising and later in sales management for radio stations.  He is a BBC London trained broadcaster and worked as an on-air radio personality and interviewer.  He attended the City University of New York and Thomas Edison State College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in communication and studied tourism management at the University Of Surrey.  As a member of the Board of Directors of various travel, tourism and academic bodies, he is widely quoted in industry publications and is a frequent speaker at tourism-related events in the Caribbean and internationally.

DR. MARCELLA DAYE

Marcella Daye is Senior Lecturer in Tourism and Programme Manager for the MBA International Tourism at Coventry University in the United Kingdom. She holds a Masters with distinction and a Ph.D in Tourism from the University of Surrey, a postgraduate diploma in Mass Communications, and an undergraduate degree from the University of the West Indies. Marcella began her career as a radio journalist and then worked as a tourism practitioner for ten years in public relations and marketing at the Jamaica Tourist Board. She was also tourism consultant for the National Strategy on Biodiversity in Jamaica, which was commissioned by the UNDP. Marcella has published and presented conference papers in her main research interests of destination image and branding, consumer behaviour in tourism, and the relationship between tourism and the media. Dr. Daye is lead editor of recently published “New Perspectives in Caribbean Tourism” and since 2006, has been a Visiting Lecturer on the M.Sc. Tourism and Hospitality Management programme at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.