The upcoming Caribbean Tourism Organisation State of the Industry Conference will give stakeholders an opportunity to discuss vital issues on a macro and micro level.
Sylma Brown-Bramble of the organisation said the three-day event taking place at St. Martin from 15 to 17 September was a crucial opportunity for all aspects of the industry to meet.
“The conference is one of the places that [these conversations] are likely to happen because we will have representatives from most, if not all, of our 33 Caribbean countries participating,” she said. “Suppliers, airline and cruise executives and others will have the perfect opportunity to meet with national leaders to talk about their programmes and priorities.
“At a macro level we can talk about regional tourism and at a micro level each country has the opportunity to meet with providers of services to their destinations and see how they could work a bit closer to ensure that the Caribbean remains competitive and continue to receive visitors from their markets,” Ms. Brown-Bramble said.
She said that tourism changed rapidly and the organisation wanted the opportunity to update on plans based on the state of the industry, so all stakeholders would have an input into those plans and sharing best practices.
“That is essentially what conferences are about: having experts come and see what works and doesn’t work in different circumstances,” she said. “We believe that webinars work and there are a lot of things we can do electronically – but nothing beats the opportunity for people to sit around a table, network with each other, put faces to names and brief them on the way forward.”
High level speakers
The schedule includes a keynote speech from British Airways CEO Keith Williams, who will speak to the global state of the tourism industry. Mr. Williams is one of many impressive speakers which range from communications experts to tourism authorities, public/private partnership experts and government heads.
“There is a high level of speakers; we have to bring people who are experiencing the same issues that the region experiences, companies that are serving the region to tell us what their challenges are. How can we work more closely to ensure that the Caribbean can remain competitive?
“There is quite a heavy focus on transportation at this conference. British Airways says it is committed to the Caribbean and they are coming to share their plan for the region. Intra-Caribbean travel is difficult and the cost involved is difficult but it is a major market for the region. So airlines and hotels that are responsible for providing intra-Caribbean travel will also be there to talk to us about what it is that the region needs to do and what they are doing to begin to make the destinations more affordable and accessible for travellers in the Caribbean. That is critical,” said the tourism professional.
She said talks continue about region-wide marketing and the ministers of tourism meetings that precede the conference will discuss the matter as well as a seminar on the final day of the conference itself.
The industry, concluded Ms. Brown-Bramble, is experiencing healthy visitor numbers according to the latest statistics available. However, the issue at hand remains that revenue is not recovering at the same level.
“It’s true that everybody is looking for deals and revenue has not caught pace with the numbers. We’re not back to 2007 revenues for tourism, but it is looking good.”
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