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The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) has commissioned HCP/Aboard Publishing to write a book about the history of Caribbean holidays and the region's tourism industry, to mark the CHTA's 50th Anniversary next year.

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, HCP/Aboard Publishing has been selected to write and print a commemorative book about the history of Caribbean holidays and the region’s extensive tourism industry.

The book will be titled ‘From Pirates to Hoteliers’ and will bring to life significant events, places, programmes, people and traditions that all play a vital role in the Caribbean experience. The book celebrates the tourism industry that has helped with the development of the region’s economy and the success of Caribbean holidays over the decades.

President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, Josef Forstmayr, said: “We chose HCP/Aboard after several months of an exhaustive search for a company with the right resources to help write, print and assist with the funding of this important historic project.

“As part of our celebrations CHTA is commissioning HCP to print a glossy, 200+ page coffee-table quality book to record the events of the past 50 years in the Caribbean hospitality and tourism industry.”

The book will include an introduction written by the President of the CHTA and will feature historic images that mark key events throughout Caribbean history, with stories that date back to the earliest visitors to the Caribbean. These include the famous “pirates of the Caribbean”, the first international tourists to the islands, who rather than spending holidays in the Caribbean used them for burying their treasures. The book’s record of visitors also mentions the increase in tourism numbers following the Cuban revolution, the formation of the CHTA, and the more recent development of Caribbean islands being transformed into destinations for luxury holidays.

Several of the book’s chapters will be written by famous author and Executive Director of the Caribbean Council for Europe, David Jessop. The book will be released at the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Investment Conference (CHTIC), which is scheduled to take place in April 2012 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association was founded in 1962 and represents the private sector of the Caribbean hospitality and tourism industry including 26 national Caribbean hotel associations. The CHTA has 850 members from Caribbean hotels and resorts and offers approximately 125,500 rooms across the beautiful region.

The association organises numerous tourism-related annual events for its members, and offers a selection of training programmes and scholarships for Caribbean nationals through its Education Foundation.