Despite the fact that tourism is the Caribbean’s economic engine, insufficient attention is given to a regional approach to market and develop the industry, says President of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA), Karolin Troubetzkoy.
She believes there is a need to continue to put forth the message to Government leaders and the Caribbean public that tourism is not only their ‘bread and butter’, but that it is the means to the Caribbean achieving great things.
“With many of the region’s jurisdictions facing high unemployment, excessive debt, and dwindling financial resources to address their socio-economic needs, tourism presents the greatest opportunity for turning the region’s economies around,” she stressed.
In 2016, the CHTA, working with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), commenced a collaborative public-private sector effort to develop and market the Caribbean brand while more systemically addressing key barriers to its marketability.
For 2017, the President revealed that the CHTA will accelerate a regional movement to advance a tourism strategy which focuses on marketing the region while addressing priority areas impacting competitiveness, primarily transportation, human resource development, cost of business issues, sustainability, and the development of small to mid-sized tourism enterprises.
Market Brand ‘Caribbean’
“This has been on past wish lists and has not gone far simply because of a lack of commitment by both the region’s public and private sectors to collaboratively pull their resources together to fund, and manage a sustained marketing campaign capitalizing on the untapped popularity of the Caribbean brand,” Troubetzkoy pointed out.
She is therefore assuring membership that CHTA commits to aggressively advance this in 2017, putting in place both an interim and long-term comprehensive marketing plan, with public and private sector commitments, which is sustainable.
Make travel to and within Caribbean better
The CHTA President also observed that the cost and ease of travel continues to be one of the greatest deterrents to Caribbean growth – not just for tourism but overall.
She said that CHTA, CTO, the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and the International Air Transport Association have all worked on various strategies to address this.
However, she stressed that all parties must resolve to advance those measures to improve the travel experience, while continuing to address the more difficult but essential matters of excessively high transportation-related taxes and fees. (TL)
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