Antigua and Barbuda will host Black Pineapple Awards in Canada in 2026

The Antigua and Barbuda Tourism’s (ABTA) Canada Office has announced that the 2026 edition of its Black Pineapple Awards (BPA) for travel advisors will be hosted in Toronto this year.

Speaking on a Facebook Live, ABTA’s Director of Tourism Tameka Wharton and Marketing and Communications Manager Kyle Christian revealed that the top producing advisors for Antigua and Barbuda from across Canada will be fully hosted at an awards gala in Toronto on December 1, 2026.

In explaining why the awards gala — which awarded international travel advisors in Antigua in 2024 and 2025 — will not be hosted in the destination this year, Wharton said that ABTA leadership decided that they would not have been able to satisfactorily facilitate the travel community, given that Antigua and Barbuda is hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the largest international meeting it has ever hosted, in November.

However, she explained that the global Black Pineapple Awards remains in place and is slated for 2027, though a date has not been announced yet.

Said Wharton: “You will be celebrated twice, possibly, because everybody who was awarded this year still has an opportunity to go to Antigua for the Black Pineapple Awards global, next year.”

For the travel advisors who were looking forward to the opportunity to earn themselves a trip to Antigua and Barbuda in 2026, Wharton announced that some deserving agents still will.

“On the second of December, the top, top sellers, will be going to Antigua right after (the Toronto awards Gala) … with a guest,” Wharton said.

In addition to the three standard categories of “Most Individual Bookings Made,” “Most Room Nights Booked,” and “Highest Total Value of Bookings,” the ABTA team announced that it will be adding two new categories, “Highest Group Booking Value” and “Top Performing Agency,” for circumstances where multiple agents book vacations but log them all together under one agency owner’s name.

Wharton encouraged agents to search their notes and records for Antigua and Barbuda bookings made between October 1, 2025 and November 6, 2026, the qualifying period for the awards, and to log them to have the best chance to win.

The team also reminded agents about their limited-edition ASAP (Admin Support for Agents Programme) concierge service. Agents needing assistance with logging bookings can email ABTA’s administrative team at [email protected] for more information.

To become a destination specialist and log bookings with the Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority, travel agents can visit www.AntiguaBarbudaTA.com.