Industry Information

CARIBBEAN HOTEL ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVES DISCUSSCHALLENGES RESULTING FROM RECESSION, SLASHED BUDGETS;TO WORK TOGETHER TO AFFECT POSITIVE CHANGE

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO (May 12, 2010) – The challenges facing the Caribbean tourism industry as a result of the global economic crisis along with the subsequent decrease in marketing budgets from many of the region’s tourism departments has spurred the Caribbean Society of Hotel Association Executives (CSHAE) to ban together to try and affect a positive impact on their own.
The leadership role in which the private sector-led hotel and tourism associations play and must continue to exert in the industry’s development was the primary focus of the CSHAE Annual Leadership Conference held this week in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Staff and volunteer professionals from 21 destinations throughout the Caribbean spent two days in intensive training sessions, assessing their roles as private sector organizations as well as discussing ways to be more effective as agents of change within the industry and their destinations.  Attendees shared success stories and best practices to help one another to solve problems and become more efficient organizations.
“At no other time in our industry’s history has it been as essential for the private sector and organizations like our hotel and tourism associations to be a primary force for affecting positive change in our industry and our communities,” noted CSHAE President Frank Comito who serves as full time staff executive for the Bahamas Hotel Association.  
The conference provided the association professionals with a backdrop of the challenges facing the industry and their organizations which have been exacerbated by the global recession.  Executives are tasked with doing more with less financial resources.  Most governments in the region have slashed tourism budgets, adding even more pressure to the industry to fill gaps and find creative ways to leverage limited resources and partner with the public sector to address tourism’s marketing and product development challenges.
Conference sessions focused on developing strategies for successful association programs, addressing budget challenges without compromising services, developing dedicated private sector leadership, effective government relations, improving member benefits and offering meaningful programs and educational training to association members. 
Facilitating these sessions was Scott Joslove, CEO for the Texas Hotel and Lodging Association, the largest association in the United States.  Drawing on his successes and challenges, and those of many other associations he’s worked with over the years, Joslove was able to effectively engage the region’s professionals and ensure the issues, problems, challenges and solutions were reflective of the needs and situations of the local Caribbean hotel associations.
The conference was made possible thanks to the support of the CHTA and RCI, the event sponsors.
“All of the participants came away from the two days re-energized, recommitted to working on the fundamentals which are essential to the success of their associations, and enriched with new ideas and approaches to meeting the needs of their associations and their members,” stated Comito.
Hotel and Tourism Association professionals attending the conference included more than 30 representatives from:  Anguilla, Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Cancun, Cozumel, Belize, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Grenada, Suriname, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos and the United States Virgin Islands.