Caribbean Hotel Exec Goes to Bat for Tourism Enhancement Funds

The establishment of a private sector-driven Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF) has the potential to be a "game changer" as Dominica rebuilds its vital tourism industry.

Addressing last week's open session of the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association's (DHTA) Annual General Meeting, Immediate Past President of the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association (SLHTA) Sanovnik Destang said if implemented effectively, the TEF resources collected from visitors could generate nearly EC $1 million to bolster tourism-related initiatives, creating employment and providing other socioeconomic benefits for the island in the aftermath of last year's Hurricane Maria.

Having served as the first Chairman of St. Lucia's TEF from 2013 to 2016, Destang hailed its virtues, disclosing the Fund has generated more than $7 million and fueled more than 500 projects.

The executive director of St. Lucia's award-winning Bay Gardens Resorts highlighted some of TEF's key projects, including its agricultural linkages program, workforce development and training programs, SLHTA young leaders program, sponsorship of the St. Lucia culinary team and the "Chefs in Schools" program, cleanup campaigns as well as local and regional disaster relief efforts, including assistance to Dominica in 2017.

He stressed SLHTA's success, which can be quantified in social and economic terms, has built tremendous goodwill and "has helped us to successfully argue that anything that helps improve the hospitality sector's performance can directly benefit society at large."

Noting other Caribbean nations have previously set up TEFs, he advised his Dominican counterparts to extensively consult with one another before applying a TEF 'to your own reality'. One option, Destang suggested, may be to make TEF contributions mandatory given the intimate size of the island's room stock.