Business View Caribbean - December 2015 85
Talking Business:
Rosa Harris
30 minutes with the director of the Cayman
Islands Department of Tourism
BUSINESS VIEW: What was the reason that this posi-
tion was one that you wanted to go after and what is
your day-to-day role?
ROSA HARRIS:
I spent the last 14 years of full-time
employment in tourism, mainly hotels and the Depart-
ment of Tourism. The first seven years were with Hyatt
hotels, and the last eight have been with the Cayman
Islands Department of Tourism. The lion’s share of my
time in the department was spent in marketing and
promotions, and the latter part, prior to my appoint-
ment as director of tourism, I spent leading the prod-
uct development unit. That included national training,
tourism scholarships and education, tourism enhance-
ments through our hotel licensing, and also our prod-
uct development initiative, so, new projects coming
online. My history in tourism is quite diverse and it’s
been quite an exciting career so far. When the posi-
tion of director of the department of tourism opened,
it seemed like a natural fit for me to apply for the post.
BV: How much different is your role now than to
what it had been in previous points during those
eight years? Are you overseeing drastically more dif-
ferent things now or is it kind of a bit of a natural
evolution?
HARRIS:
I’ve just got out of a finance meeting with my
team and what is certainly very clear to me is that my
overall experience with the department very much pre-
pared me for the leadership role. I have a very good
understanding of the overall aims and objectives of
the department and how to support and guide the
management team, as well as the deliverable carried
out in the field. I would say that being very much in-
volved in marketing and product has helped me to get
a bird’s eye view in leading the strategic initiatives and
cultivating partnerships with our industry, as well as
media and the travel trade, to benefit the Cayman Is-
lands’ economy through tourism.
BV: So it wasn’t a gigantic leap or learning curve
when you got started, you pretty much had familiar-
ity with all of the various elements of the operation?
HARRIS:
In terms of the global team, I have an excel-
lent understanding of all of the markets that serve the
destination. I’ve also had very close working relation-
ships with our country managers who report into our
head office here in Grand Cayman. It wasn’t a quantum
leap – and it certainly has been a smooth transition.
What is very exciting about being the director of tour-
ism today is that we have two major re-development
projects on the horizon. The Department of Tourism is
in a support role for a cruise-berthing initiative, in re-
developing our port. We also have a project called the
