sept-2016

42 September 2016 - Business View Caribbean

Business View Caribbean - September 2016 43

The Caribbean Hotel and

Tourism Association

Serving and representing the hotel and tourism industry in the Caribbean region

Recently, Business View Magazine talked with Frank

Comito, the CEO and Director General of the Caribbean

Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA). The following is

a transcript of a wide-ranging discussion that touched

on many issues and activities in which the Association

is engaged:

BVM: Can you give me some background on the his-

tory of the Association and how it may have changed

and grown over the years?

“The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association was

originally called the Caribbean Hotel Association. It

was founded in 1962, as part of a federation of na-

tional hotel and tourism associations in the region at

that time. And we continue, to this day, being a fed-

eration of 32 national hotel and tourism associations

with all of our respective memberships drawing from

that number, as well as individual members we garner

from international sources. It was founded, originally,

to help market the industry and to work collaboratively

on issues that affect its ability to drum up business.

So a lot of its emphasis, in the early stages, was on

marketing. But as time evolved, in the late ‘70s, ‘80s,

and early ‘90s, its mission expanded into other areas,

in particular: advocacy, research and information dis-

semination, workforce development, and overall prod-

uct development. And that expanded mission contin-

ues to today.

“About ten years ago, the Caribbean Hotel Association

changed its name to the Caribbean Hotel and Tour-

ism Association, in recognition of the broad reach that

tourism has on the economies of the Caribbean. Over

the years, we’ve also established a few related orga-

nizations and institutions, including the CHTA Educa-

tion Foundation, which has awarded over $5 million

worth of scholarships to the region’s residents and

has played an integral part in human resource devel-

opment. We also established a group called the Ca-

ribbean Society of Hotel Association Executives, which

is geared towards supporting the professional devel-

opment and the coordination amongst the various

national hotel association executives – information

sharing, best practices, and strengthening the two-way

links between the national hotel and tourism associa-

tions and CHTA. We also had a spin-off organization

called the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism

in the late 1990s, which focuses primarily on encour-

aging sustainable tourism practices. It’s the umbrella

for energy efficiency projects that we’ve done, energy

efficiency policies that we’ve advanced, best practices

on environmental standards, and so on.”

Can you elaborate on the Association’s advocacy re-

sponsibilities and activities?

“It’s an ongoing challenge to make sure that our poli-

cies regionally, as well as in individual countries, are

conducive to advancing the growth, development,

AT A GLANCE

WHO:

The Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Associa-

tion

WHAT:

Serving and representing the hotel and

tourism industry in the Caribbean region

WHERE:

Coral Gables, Florida, USA

WEBSITE