CARIBBEAN/CHA: Parle calls for balance in tourism industry

Parle calls for balance in tourism industry

Web Posted - Fri Oct 24 2003

Caribbean cruise lines must do more for tourism and for the people of the 
Caribbean region. 

St. Lucian hotelier, Berthia Parle, president-elect of the Caribbean Hotel 
Association, made this impassioned call on New York radio recently. 

Speaking on WLIB’s Politics Live, Parle said the cruise sector is the only 
industry growing by leaps and bounds since September 11, 2001 while offering 
deeply discounted rates to voyagers. 

“The cruise lines have the economies of scale so they can use their buying 
power to secure food and beverage at substantially lower prices than the 
hotel sector can,” she said, while calling for some balance to the equation 
with the adoption of a US$20 per head cruise tax currently under 
consideration by Caribbean governments . The levy is specifically to 
contribute towards a fund which the Caribbean needs for sustainable tourism 
development for the entire region. All stakeholders, including cruise lines 
and suppliers to cruise lines will benefit. The plan involves support for 
strengthening environmental, cultural and heritage aspects of our tourism; 
for dealing with matters of health and security, human resource development, 
and generally improving infrastructure and promotion of the region, 
sustaining last year’s historic efforts to market the Caribbean as a single 
destination. 

“We believe the cruises are a very important sector of tourism ... but a lot 
more needs to be done by the cruise industry to contribute to the sustainable 
development of Caribbean tourism and enable governments to create more 
employment for the people of the region,” Parle said, lamenting the 
embarrassingly low numbers of Caribbean employees on these mega ships. 

Parle, who runs Bay Gardens Hotel in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, wants Caribbean 
islands to stand united on the tax levy and resist the temptation to yield to 
aggressive cruise lobbyists. 

“If we want to talk about Caribbean unity, we have to be able to address some 
of these things through a regional cruise committee so that the cruise lines 
cannot go and negotiate directly with the governments,” Parle said. 

She continued, “Governments must stop thinking about the next election and 
pandering to narrow tourism interests, but rather, understand the needs of 
hotel investors and wider stakeholders who continue to be marginalised by 
their actions.” 

Parle said the Life Needs, the Caribbean campaign, had a profound impact for 
the 2002-2003 winter season in the majority of Caribbean islands. The cruise 
lines were supposed to partner with public and private sector players in the 
region to extend the marketing programme to Canada and Europe, “But as usual 
it’s only the hotel sector, other allied partners and governments who are 
contributing,” she noted. 

The Caribbean Hotel Association Charitable Trust (CHACT) is a successful 
public/private sector alliance, uniting major hotel chains, airlines and 
credit card companies with the Caribbean Tourism Organisation, CARICOM 
(Caribbean Community) and non-CARICOM nations. Last fall, CHACT launched a 
multi-million dollar campaign to market and promote the region as a single 
destination. 

CARICOM heads of government have reiterated the importance of the tourism 
sector to the Caribbean economy and they recently reaffirmed the need to 
establish and mobilise resources for the Sustainable Tourism Development Fund 
to implement a strategic plan for tourism. 

Eighteen destinations participate in CHACT’s marketing campaign: Antigua and 
Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Grenada, 
Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. 
Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos and the 
United States Virgin Islands. 


SOURCE: Barbados Advocate