December 2016 | Business View Caribbean

20 21 INTERVIEW: ROSA HARRIS BYANDRE BAREFIELD BUSINESS VIEW: What was the reason that this position was one that you wanted to go after and what is your day-to-day role? ROSAHARRIS: I spent the last 14 years of full-time employ- ment in tourism,mainly hotels and the Department 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 appointment as director of tourism, I spent leading the prod- uct development unit.That included national training, tourism scholarships and education, tourism enhancements through our hotel licensing, and also our product development initia- tive, so, new projects coming online.My history in tourism is quite diverse and it’s been quite an exciting career so far.When the position of director of the department of tourism opened, it seemed like a natural fit for me to apply for the post. BVM: Howmuch different is your role now than to what it had been in previous points during those eight years? Are you overseeing drasticallymore different 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 expe- rience with the department verymuch prepared 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 Talking Business: Rosa Harris 30 MINUTES WITH THE DIRECTOR OF THE CAYMAN ISLANDS DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM The Cayman Islands plays on our strengths. We are able to convey what you can do in the Cayman Islands. We understand that our neighbors offer the same warmweather and beautiful beaches, but we like to be able to say that this is how we do it in the Cayman Islands, and we do it with the charm, warmth and the friendliness of our people. ROSA HARRIS