Karolin Troubetzkoy Named CHTA Acting President as Lee Steps Down

Following an October government change that included the appointment of a new prime minister less than one year after St. Maarten voters had elected a new government, St. Maarten hotelier Emil Lee has been named the country’s minister of labor, health and social affairs.

Following his naming to the post this week Lee, who is also president of the Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA), stepped down from that position. Karolin Troubetzkoy, a St. Lucia hotelier and CHTA’s president-elect, will assume the role of acting president. Troubetzkoy, whom CHTA’s membership named president-elect this summer, had been scheduled to assume the president’s position in June 2016.

CHTA’s board of directors will meet in January to vote on ratifying Troubetzkoy as CHTA’s official president. Lee was named to his post as part of a new cabinet in the government led by William Marlin, who succeeds Marcel Gumbs as prime minister. Gumbs’ administration collapsed following an October no-confidence vote in St. Maarten’s parliament.  Lee stepped down from CHTA before being sworn into his new position for St. Maarten.

"It is with a heavy heart that I leave my CHTA post as president, however I am proud of the advancements the organization has made during my tenure,” said Lee. “[I] am confident that Karolin Troubetzkoy will perpetuate this momentum going forward in the creation of a new CHTA engaged with the membership.”

Lee departs the office after more than 10 years as a CHTA board of directors member including two years as first vice president and 17 months as president, said CHTA officials in a statement.  CHTA has undergone “organizational changes and restructuring,” during Lee’s tenure including a strengthening of “public and private sector ties.” CHTA is currently poised to “play an even greater role in facilitating tourism's role as a socio-economic driver for the region,” officials said.

Source: Travel Pulse