Vanessa Ledesma: "Collaboration Is the Key to Recovery"

Vanessa Ledesma, acting CEO and Director General of the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association, stressed that the key to the success of the post-pandemic industry's recovery has been the collaboration between the private and public sectors, as well as between health and tourism authorities in the region.

That's what she assured in an exclusive interview with Caribbean News Digital during the Caribbean Travel Marketplace, which is being held Oct. 3-5 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

"In 2005 we created a unique relationship in the world with the Caribbean Health and Safety Agency and other instances, which was one of the first partnerships between health and tourism, so we had already worked on several programs to deal with health situations arising from diseases such as chikungunya, dengue and zika. No one was prepared for Covid, but we did have certain platforms and resources to deal with it better," she said.   

Meanwhile, collaboration in the area is also evident between the industry and the communities, something that was stepped up by the pandemic, according to Ledesma, as part of the special relationship between the Caribbean and its nature and the commitment to protect it together with the most autochthonous cultural and social values.

In this sense, she highlighted the case of St. Lucia, where the all-inclusive packages contemplate taking clients to eat at places outside the hotel, so that the people who work in those restaurants benefit, in what she defined as a multiplier effect.
On the other hand, she referred to the fact that during the pandemic there were some initiatives that sought to sell the Caribbean as a single product. Although all destinations have their own idea of how to market and highlight their offer, there is a little more interest in this collaboration, and there has been a lot of talk about concepts such as multi-destination.

In this regard, she said that there is still a lot of work to be done in order to achieve the longed-for intra-Caribbean connection, while analyzing possible applications of a dynamic tax whose rate depends on the amount of air traffic during certain periods of the year to favor travel to and from the interior of the region. 

Regarding the development of the Caribbean Travel Marketplace after Hurricane Ian passed through Puerto Rico, Mrs. Ledesma commented that after an intense dissemination of accurate information on the effects on the south-southwest of the island and its capacity to receive the event, it was possible to dispel the fears derived from the comparison between this and the Fiona event, whose effect was devastating.

"We had not met for two years and we needed to be together again in one place. Although digital platforms allow us to connect a little more, there is nothing like the opportunity to be face to face with our colleagues, understand what other destinations are doing in terms of marketing and enjoy the opportunity for destinations to collaborate in that aspect as well," said the director. 

The event has brought together 130 companies from 25 Caribbean countries, 159 companies with 210 hotels, as well as 125 companies representing 23 markets that visit the Caribbean.