Business View Caribbean | May 2019

23 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN MAY 2019 Our challenge was to protect and enhance the Caribbean product on the whole, not just the physical infrastructure and hotel properties, but also the incredible natural beauty, the rich diversity of cultures, heritage, music, cuisine, the hospitality of our people - all that is strength of product. CHTA touches on many parts of what’s important to the success of the Caribbean as a destination. We subscribe strongly to collaboration - working closely with governments in the region, as well as all the various sub-sectors of our industry, to improve the attractiveness of the region, to continually reinvest in the product, and to help ensure the profitability of the tourism industry.” BVC: Tell us about your post-hurricane recovery fund? Comito: “That’s something we set up immediately after the hurricanes. Many of our members were involved in relief efforts, but our focus was to put together a recovery fund to address longer- term needs. We partnered with an international group called Tourism Cares, and with the general support of many people and friends in our industry, we raised monies for a variety of initiatives. One, early on, was to establish the Caribbean Job Bank to find temporary employment elsewhere in the Caribbean and the U.S. for people who were affected by the storms. Within a couple of months after the hurricanes, we had it up and running. It resonated well and we continue to post vacancies and open it up to applicants. “Some other neat things we’ve done with the recovery fund: We realized that some of the national hotel and tourism associations in the region were seriously affected with their facilities and equipment and we did capacity support for them. Some destinations had coral reef damage, so we’ve done training for coral reef restoration; we planted trees in the BVI and facilitated projects to improve parks and areas where people would conduct tours. We’re working, now, to fund upgrades and improvements to the Kalinago CAR I BBEAN HOTEL & TOUR I SM ASSOC I AT ION (CHTA)