WESTERN BUREAU:As Caribbean tourism figures decline, the region's governments have been criticised for spending billions of dollars on the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup, while the regional marketing campaign could not even raise the necessary US$4 million for its crucial 'One Caribbean' promotion.
In addressing tourism stakeholders at the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association's (JHTA), annual general meeting at the Sunset Jamaica Grande Resort and Spa in Ocho Rios yesterday, St. Lucia's Minister of Tourism and Aviation, Allen Chastanet, said the West Indies Cricket Board did a better job convincing the heads of government to meet five times and coerced them to spend US$750 million on Cricket World Cup 2007.
Crisis meetings
"We should be crying, we should be in crisis meetings to figure out what went wrong," he told the gathering of hoteliers, tour and attraction operators.
Adding that the joke was on the people of the region, he said a reality check was necessary. "Here is something so incredible (the regional marketing campaign). Here is something so necessary, yet we couldn't manage to convince our leaders that tourism deserved that same type of attention," noted Chastanet, who was keynote speaker at the meeting.
He stated that in the last 15 years, Caribbean tourism has had a 3.7 market share, meaning it has been a dismal period, compared to the potential in the world growth, which is projected to grow by 4.5 per cent over the next 10 years. "While we have grown in absolute numbers, we have not kept with the world's market pace."
Not business as usual
Warning that it could not continue to be business as usual, he urged the JHTA members to become part of the change that is necessary to take the region forward.
Underscoring the importance of identifying Brand Caribbean, he noted that the name of the team was West Indies, yet there was talk of Caribbean. "It dawned on me that we kept doing the same thing, we don't understand branding." He questioned whether or not it would not be more profitable to use West Indies as a premium brand of Brand Caribbean.
He also urged the JHTA to start treating its association as a business and not a voluntary organisation. "Start professionalising what you are doing. We are stuck in the quagmire of years ago," Chastanet urged.
- J.S.
